There are some pedagogical texts out there that walk you through writing a toy bootloader, as a way
to get familiar with the boot process.

    http://wiki.osdev.org/Tutorials#Babysteps
        http://wiki.osdev.org/Category:Babystep

    http://wiki.osdev.org/Rolling_Your_Own_Bootloader

    http://linuxgazette.net/issue84/dashti.html

    http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/28067/Boot-Into-Your-Own-Hello-World-Application

    http://www.digitalthreat.net/2009/09/a-simple-bootloader/

    http://www.codeproject.com/KB/tips/boot-loader.aspx