Diagnose and Troubleshoot Computer System (Pick The Date)
Diagnose and Troubleshoot Computer System (Pick The Date)
Diagnose and Troubleshoot Computer System (Pick The Date)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Module 1: Safety Precaution, Basic Test Instrument and Hand tools
Occupational Health and Safety (OHS)………………………………………………….
Hand Tools……………………………………………………………………………….
Module 5: Techniques and Procedure in Diagnosing Different Types of Computer System Errors
Techniques in diagnosing computer system……………………………………………
Different types of computer system error………………………………………………
Procedure in diagnosing computer system errors………………………………………
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COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY 2
Course Objectives
The course primarily aims to familiarize the students’ in the world of computer
hardware and software. The course also aims to develop the student’s skills in handling and managing
hardware and software problem and strategies necessary for the maintenance of a Computer System
and Network.
Course Outline
Text Reference
Optical Drives
The word “Optical” refers to lasers, which can "see" and read data on optical discs. These
discs include CDs and DVDs, which are made up of millions of small bumps and dips. Optical
drives have lasers that read these bumps and dips as ones and zeros, which the computer can
understand.
Some common types of optical drives include CD-ROM, CD-RW, DVD-ROM, DVD-
RW, and Blu-ray drives. CD and DVD writers, such as CD-R and DVD-R drives use a laser to
both read and write data on the discs. The laser used for writing the data is much more powerful
than the laser that reads the data, as it "burns" the bumps and dips into the disc. While optical
drives can spin discs at very high speeds, they are still significantly slower than hard drives,
which store data magnetically.
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1. Compact Disc (CD) Drive – The basic task of the CD drive is to install
software onto the computer, but with available technology, they can be used
for several other tasks as well. A CD drive can perform a variety of tasks.
With the advent of writeable and rewriteable compact disk technology, users
could use the drive to back up important data or entire hard drives.
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CD-R – is a type of write once, read many compact disc format that
allows one-time recording on a disc. A standard CD-R is a 1.2 mm
(0.047 in) thick disc made of polycarbonate with a 120 mm (4.7 in) or
80 mm (3.150 in) diameter.
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Hard drives are designed to store large amounts of digital information. This is
accomplished by writing the binary data to a series of rotating magnetic platters. When the
platters containing data are spun, the magnetic profile is read and the data can be detected and
reconstructed by the computer. Hard drives are attached to the computer's motherboard, which
governs the writing and reading of information.
All of the data displayed on a computer, including pictures, music, video and text, are
stored on the hard drive. Additionally, the applications that display this content and allow users
to modify it are themselves stored on the hard drive.
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Transfer rates for Serial ATA begin at 150MBps. One of the main design advantages of
Serial ATA is that the thinner serial cables facilitate more efficient airflow inside a form factor
and also allow for smaller chassis designs. In contrast, IDE cables used in parallel ATA systems
are bulkier than Serial ATA cables and can only extend to 40cm long, while Serial ATA cables
can extend up to one meter.
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The jumpers for hard disk(s) and CD/DVD drives are located on the back of the drive.
The jumper is a small metal slider covered by a rectangular piece of plastic. Jumpers for hard
drives are designed to slide over and connect the two metal pins together so that electricity can
flow between them.
Before you can use the jumpers, you must know the hard drive setting for each pair of pins.
Pin information might be printed directly on the hard drive label, the hard drive PCA board
under the pins, or etched in the surrounding plastic or metal near the pins. Some drives use a
default setting when there is no jumper attached. The hard drive settings can be, but are not
limited to, the following:
MS, MA, DS, 0, or M = Master or Device 0. The drive is the first drive to be used on the
cable/channel (connected to the end connector on an IDE cable).
SL, PK, 1, or S = Slave or Device 1. The drive is the second drive to be used on the
cable/channel (connected to the middle connector on an IDE cable).
CS, CSEL = Cable Select. The drive can be automatically set up by a capable system.
If you cannot find the names of the hard drive settings for the pins, you will need to refer to
information from the drive manufacturer – either from the drive manufacturer’s support Web site
or from any available manuals that came with the drive when it was purchased.
The pins are usually located on the back of the drive next to the ribbon cable connector. The
drive should have three or four pairs of pins for setting the drive.
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Next, you need to know the location and type of each available channel connector on the
motherboard. There are two main types of connectors used by drives:
IDE and SATA. An IDE ribbon cable plugs into either a primary or secondary IDE
connector on the mother board. Each IDE cable supports up to two IDE compatible hard
drives
A SATA cable plugs into a SATA connector. Each cable supports one drive. Generally, no
jumper configuration is necessary.
Each of the connectors is labeled on the motherboard. Your computer might have one or no IDE
connectors as well as no SATA or many SATA connectors. The capabilities of attaching a hard
drive to your computer are limited by the number and type of IDE and SATA connectors on the
motherboard. For example you cannot connect 2 SATA drives if there is only one SATA
connector available on the motherboard.
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Lastly, the type of cable used might also affect the configuration of your drives.
For SATA drives, all that is needed is to connect the SATA cable to the motherboard connector
and the drive.
2 – SATA cable and connector (90 degree type, connector type might vary)
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For IDE drives, however, use an IDE ribbon cable (40 wire standards or 80 wires Ultra-IDE or
EIDE). The ribbon cable connects a hard drive or CD/DVD drive to the motherboard. It is
possible to connect up to two devices on the same ribbon cable, as long as the cable has three
connectors (one that plugs into the motherboard and two that plug into the back of the drives).
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Memory (RAM)
Memory (RAM)
Types of RAM
1. Static RAM – Static RAM is a type of RAM that holds its data without external refresh, for as
long as power is supplied to the circuit. This is contrasted to dynamic RAM (DRAM), which
must be refreshed many times per second in order to hold its data contents.
2. Dynamic RAM - Dynamic RAM is a type of RAM that only holds its data if it is continuously
accessed by special logic called a refresh circuit. Many hundreds of times each second, this
circuitry reads the contents of each memory cell, whether the memory cell is being used at that
time by the computer or not. Due to the way in which the cells are constructed, the reading action
itself refreshes the contents of the memory. If this is not done regularly, then the DRAM will
lose its contents, even if it continues to have power supplied to it. This refreshing action is why
the memory is called dynamic.
Simplicity: SRAMs don't require external refresh circuitry or other work in order for
them to keep their data intact.
Speed: SRAM is faster than DRAM.
Cost: SRAM is, byte for byte, several times more expensive than DRAM.
Size: SRAMs take up much more space than DRAMs.
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Motherboard
Motherboard is the central printed circuit board in many modern computers and holds
many of the crucial components of the system, providing connectors for other peripherals. The
motherboard is sometimes alternatively known as the main board, system board, and planar
board. The motherboard serves to connect all of the parts of a computer together.
The CPU, memory, hard drives, optical drives, video card, sound card and other ports and
expansion cards all connect to the motherboard directly or via cables.
Motherboard
Parts of a Motherboard
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PS2 (Mouse + Keyboard) – The physical PS/2 port is one of two styles of connectors:
The 5-pin DIN or the 6-pin mini-DIN. Both connectors are completely (electrically)
similar; the only practical difference between the two is the arrangement of pins.
USB Ports –A USB port is a standard cable connection interface on personal computers
and consumer electronics. USB ports allow stand-alone electronic devices to be
connected via cables to a computer (or to each other).
Serial Port –A port, or interface, that can be used for serial communication, in which
only 1bit is transmitted at a time.
Parallel Port –A parallel interface for connecting an external device such as a printer.
Most personal computers have both a parallel port and at least one serial port.
LAN Port –a port connection that allows a computer to connect to a network using a
wired connection.
PCI Slots –Peripheral Component Interconnect, a local bus standard developed by Intel
Corporation.
AGP Slots –is a high-speed point-to-point channel for attaching a video card to
a computer's motherboard, primarily to assist in the acceleration of 3D computer
graphics.
CMOS Battery Slot – is the term usually used to describe the small amount of memory
on a computer motherboard that stores the BIOS settings.
IDE Connector – a standard electronic interface used between a computer motherboard's
data paths or bus and the computer's disk storage devices.
AT/ATX Power Connector –designed to connect a computer’s power supply to an
AT/ATX motherboard.
Memory Slot –this is where computer memory is placed into on the
computer motherboard or I/O Board.
CPU Fan/Heat Sink – metallic device that sits directly on the CPU, drawing heat away
from the chip into its cooler, aluminum, fin-like structure. The CPU fan attaches to the
heat sink, pulling air through the fins.
CPU Socket –is a mechanical component that provides mechanical and electrical
connections between a microprocessor and a printed circuit board (PCB).
1. Pin Grid Array (PGA) – the CPU's circuits are integrated inside a
ceramic layer with an array of pins on the surface.
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Motherboard Chipsets
1. Southbridge Chipset – is one of the two chips in the core logic chipset on a personal
computer (PC) motherboard, the other being the Northbridge. The Southbridge typically
implements the slower capabilities of the motherboard in a
Northbridge/Southbridge chipset computer architecture.
2. Northbridge Chipset – usually contains the CPU interface and the memory controller. This
chip is clearly larger in size compared to the Southbridge, because hundreds of data paths are
needed for the processor and the RAM.
Chipset Illustration
Kinds of Motherboard
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CPU Sockets
Slot 1 / SC242 242 Intel Celeron, Pentium II, 233 - 1133 66 - 133
Pentium III
Socket 370 / PGA370 370 Intel Celeron, Pentium III 300 - 1400 66 - 133
VIA C3
Socket 462 / Socket 462 AMD Athlon, Athlon 4, Athlon MP, 550 - 3200 200 - 400
A Athlon XP, Athlon XP-M, Duron,
Mobile Athlon, Mobile Duron,
Sempron
Socket 479 / 479 Intel Celeron M, Core 2 Duo 866 - 2333 133 - 667
mPGA479M Mobile,
Core Duo, Core Solo, Mobile
Celeron,
Pentium Dual-Core Mobile,
Pentium III-M, Pentium M,
VIA C7
Socket 563 / PGA563 563 Athlon XP-M 1000 - 1800 200 - 333
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CPU Sockets
Socket 775 (LGA775) 775 Intel Celeron 1600 - 3800 533 - 1600
Intel Celeron D
Intel Celeron Dual-Core
Intel Core 2 Duo
Intel Core 2 Extreme
Intel Core 2 Quad
Intel Pentium 4
Intel Pentium 4 Extreme Edition
Intel Pentium D
Intel Pentium Dual-Core
Intel Pentium Extreme Edition
Intel Xeon
Socket 1366 1366 Intel Core i7 1600 - 4400 2400 (QPI) - 3200
(LGA1366) Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition (QPI)
Intel Xeon
Socket AM2 940 AMD Athlon 64, Athlon 64 FX, 1000 - 3200
Athlon 64 X2, Mobile Athlon 64
X2,
K8 Sempron, Phenom X3,
Phenom X4, Second Generation
Opteron
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CPU Sockets
Socket S1 (S1g4) 638 Athlon II Dual-Core Mobile, 1600 - 3200 1600 - 1800 (HT)
Phenom II Dual-Core Mobile,
Phenom II Quad-Core Mobile,
Phenom II Triple-Core Mobile,
Sempron Mobile,
Turion II Dual-Core Mobile,
V Series for Notebook PCs
Socket M / 478 Intel Celeron M, Core 2 Duo 1466 - 2333 533 - 667
mPGA478MT Mobile,
Core Duo, Core Solo,
Pentium Dual-Core Mobile
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Expansion Cards
Video Card – responsible for taking information from the CPU and convert it to an
image, and then send that image to your monitor. Without video cards, modern gaming
would be impossible. While a CPU can render simple 3D images, the video card excels at
drawing complex scenes very fast. The video card installs in an expansion slot on the
motherboard. While most video cards are of the PCIe format, video cards come in other
formats as well, including PCI and AGP.
Video Card
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Sound Card
A sound card is an internal computer component that processes audio files in order to
provide high-quality playback through computer speakers. A sound card plays voice as well as
music files, and can handle various audio file formats including .wav, .mp3 and .cda to name but
a few. The typical sound card has an interface available at the back of the computer with various
input and output ports. The quality of the sound card and speakers both affect the
overall sound quality of the computer system. Speakers plug directly into the back of the
sound card.
A sound card also has a line-in port for listening to or recording from an external
device such as a digital audio player. If the source device does not have a line-out port to connect
to the sound card, a stereo cable can be run from the headphone jack on the source device to the
line-in port on the sound card. Software configurations may be required to hear the device
playing.
Sound Card
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LAN Card
A Local Area Network (LAN) card is used to provide wireless Internet access to
computer users in home or roaming networks. It works by exchanging signals with a router,
which transmits the signals over a physically wired line. The LAN card became ubiquitous in
Western society in the early part of the twenty first century, when the cards became affordable
due to wireless networks springing up everywhere, from coffee shops to airports.
A LAN card communicates with the router using radio waves and an antenna. The
computer converts data into binary form and sends it to the LAN card, which in turn broadcasts
the signal to be picked up by the router. The router sends the information on in the form of
packets of information, and bundles information for return to the computer via the LAN card in
the same way. Usually wireless networks transmit at a relatively high frequency, ranging
between 2.4 and 5 Ghz, designed to accommodate the more rapid transfer of large amounts of
data. When purchasing a router or LAN card, the packaging will indicate the frequency of the
signal it uses.
LAN Card
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