Network Card

A network interface card (NIC) is a circuit board or card that is installed in a computer so that it can be connected to a network. 

A network interface card provides the computer with a dedicated, full-time connection to a network. Personal computers and workstations on a local area network (LAN) typically contain a network interface card specifically designed for the LAN transmission technology 

Input/Output Address

All computers have number of I/O devices attached to them such as printers, scanners, floppy drives, hard disks, and just about every other component you can think of Each of these devices requires a unique I/O
address.  An I/O address is the hexadecimal address of an area of memory that is used by the peripheral device to exchange information with other device in the system.  You can think of it as a kind of mail slot for the device.

I/O Address	Device
1F0-1F8	Hard disk Controller
200-207	Game I/O
278-27F	Parallel Port (LPT2)
2F8-2FF	Serial Port (COM2)
320-32F	Hard drive Controller,8 bit ISA
378-37F	Parallel Port (LPT1)
3B0-3BF	Monochrome Graffics Adapter
3D0-3DF	Color Graphics Adapter
3F0-3F7	Floppy Drive controller
3F8-3FF	Serial Port (COM1)

Not only does each component require an I/O address, but each component must use a unique I/O address.  This means that when a new device such as a network card or modem is installed in the system, I cannot be assigned an I/O address already being used by another device,  If two devices are assigned the same I/O address, one or both devices will fail to function. 

PORTS

Ports  refer to physical connector the system uses to communicate with other system devices.  Ports of this nature carry names such as COM1 or COM4,and are used by devices like the mouse or modem to communicate with the system.  Another port type, LPT  ports, can be used by printers to facilities  communication between the printer and the computer. 

BIOS

The BIOS Firmware is  stored in the complementary metal oxide semiconductor a special chip on the motherboard that holds the various BIOS settings.  These settings include things like the parameters for the hard disks, the boot order, and the status (either enabled or disabled) of on board devices.  Because BIOS is firmware.  It can be updated, though it requires a special program to achieve this,  The process of upgrading the BIOS is referred to as flashing.  The BIOS can be flashed to provide additional functionality or to correct a problem with the current version of the  BIOS.  The procedure for upgrading the BIOS is covered later in this chapter.

Firmware

Firmware is a program(Software) That is store on a chip(Hardware) but is not considered to be hardware and software.  In other words, it is between hardware and software--in between hard and soft comes firm.
The terms BIOS  and firmware have been used interchangeably and serve to confuse the issue. Firmware simply refers to the programs the are stored in chips and not on hard disks or other such devices.