Learn Computer Pre-Tech

Copyright 2008 by C. M. Vining

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 1 of 96

Table of Contents
Introduction to Computer Pre-Tech........................4 The BIOS Chip and BIOS Recovery................42
Acronyms................................................................5 The BIOS business...........................................43
Curriculum Outline Computer Pre-Tech.................6 CMOS...............................................................43
Rules for Fighting Fires..........................................9 ROM BIOS......................................................43
How to Operate an Extinguisher......................10 POST (Power On Self Test).............................44
The Fire Triangle..............................................11 Undocumented FDISK:....................................44
Classes of Fires.................................................12 FDISK /MBR...................................................44
Computer Equipment Recycling...........................13 Boot Sequence:.................................................44
A+ Exams..............................................................14 Bus Structure.........................................................46
Exam details.....................................................14 First generation.................................................46
Identifying hardware components....................14 Second generation............................................46
Identifying Operating Systems.........................15 Third generation...............................................46
Registering for the PCTalk Support Forum..........16 Expansion buses or Slots..................................47
Logging in to the forum........................................19 Techniques of interacting............................47
Help with using the forum.....................................21 Interrupts..........................................................50
Numbering Systems:.............................................22 Some INTEL Microprocessor Characteristics:.....51
Identifying Computer Components.......................24 Intro to the Console Internals (Lab)......................53
Typical PC hardware........................................24 Memory Systems...................................................54
Motherboard/Logicboard/Mainboard..........25 Characteristics of storage.................................54
Power supply...............................................25 Volatility......................................................54
Storage controllers.......................................25 Differentation...............................................54
Video display controller..............................25 Mutability....................................................55
Removable media devices...........................26 Accessibility................................................55
Internal storage............................................26 Addressability..............................................55
Sound card...................................................26 Capacity.......................................................55
Input/Output Devices...................................27 Performance.................................................55
Basic Electronics...................................................28 Common DRAM modules................................56
Understanding electricity..................................28 Memory:...........................................................56
Table 1: Water versus Electrical Forces...........29 Non-Volatile................................................56
Counting electrons............................................29 Volatile........................................................56
Table 2: Common Electrical Measurements....29 Parity Checking...........................................57
Measuring the current.......................................29 Error Correct Code (ECC)...........................57
Switching from AC to DC................................29 Types of RAM packages.............................57
Power Supply Unit:..........................................30 Storage Systems....................................................59
Full Wave Bridge Rectifier...................................31 Characteristics of storage.................................59
Basic Operation................................................31 Magnetic storage media....................................59
Output smoothing.............................................33 Optical storage media.......................................60
Motherboard power connector(s):....................35 Hard Drives......................................................60
Tools......................................................................36 Hard Drive Interfaces..................................60
Motherboard..........................................................37 Hard drive error messages................................62
Components and functions...............................38 Changing hard drives........................................63
Motherboard Form Factors...............................39 Working with Disks..............................................64
Integrated peripherals.......................................40 I/O Ports................................................................65
Components of the motherboard......................41 Expansion Boards..................................................67
BIOS......................................................................42 Video Cards......................................................67

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 2 of 96

 Modem Cards...................................................68 Ethernet Function.........................................83
Removable Media and Disk Drives......................69 Token Ring..................................................83
Floppy Disk Drives..........................................69 ARCNet ......................................................83
CD-ROM Drives..............................................69 AppleTalk....................................................84
ATAPI (attachment package interface)............69 Network connectivity.......................................84
Other Removable Drives..................................69 Hubs.............................................................84
Back up Systems..............................................70 Bridges (layers 1-2).....................................84
Types............................................................70 Routers (layers 1-3).....................................84
Backup Policy..............................................70 Brouters (layers 1-3)....................................84
Rotation method...........................................71 Gateways (layers 1-4)..................................84
Backup Types..............................................71 CSU/DSU....................................................85
Storage.........................................................71 Firewall........................................................85
Peripheral Devices................................................72 OSI model.........................................................85
Primary Input Devices......................................72 OSI Example....................................................86
Keyboards (FRU).........................................72 Network Media.................................................87
Mouse (FRU)...............................................72 Twisted pair.................................................87
Primary Output Devices...................................72 Coaxial.........................................................87
CRT-based Monitors (Cathode Ray Tube)..72 Fiber Optic (FDDI)......................................87
Printers.........................................................73 Fixing faulty network cables ......................87
Other I/O devices.........................................75 Wireless Communication.................................87
Portable Computing..............................................76 Network Adapters (NIC) (OSI layer 2)............88
Portable Computers..........................................76 Typical Ethernet NICs.................................88
PDA’s...............................................................77 Half and Full Duplex Communications.......88
PC cards............................................................77 Network Communication Protocols.................88
Power Management..........................................77 TCP/IP.........................................................88
Power Management Systems............................78 Classes of IP addresses:..........................89
Lab Notes..............................................................79 IP addresses for internal use only:..........89
Networking............................................................80 Sub-Nets..................................................89
Types................................................................80 IPX/SPX......................................................90
Specialized network servers.............................80 NetBEUI......................................................90
Network Licensing...........................................80 Common Network Problems.......................90
Network Models...............................................80 Sample System Resource Map..............................91
Network Topologies.........................................81 Alphabetical Index................................................92
Infrared Communications.................................82 Illustration Index...................................................94
Network Architecture Standards......................82 Student Forum information sheet..........................95
Ethernet Description....................................83 Receipt for Pre-Tech Class books.........................96

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 3 of 96

Introduction to Computer Pre-Tech
Over the next few weeks you will be studying Computer Pre-Tech. I have created this workbook as a
classroom aid because some of the concepts presented are best practiced as often as possible. Without
good notes they may be hard to remember, so I have tried to set everything up such that any particular
idea that has been presented will have its own, easy to find section. This is about 50/50 lecture and
hands-on activities course, so I've also tried to leave plenty of room for student notes.

Just remember, if you fail to write something down, that's no guarantee that it won't be on a test.

All examples, documents, and images used in this course are available for download from:
http://pctalk.info/Classes/Spock/Tech/

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 4 of 96

Acronyms
Acronyms are abbreviations that are formed using the initial components in a phrase or name. Make a
note of all acronyms mentioned in class on this page.
Acronym Definition of Acronym

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Curriculum Outline Computer Pre-Tech
Version 2.9

Combined Class Lecture and Lab time will be 2.5 hours per class. If Lecture ends early, remaining time will be
used for Lab.
# Topics Notes/Chapter Workbook
1 Intro Workbook Case edges may be sharp, electrical
A. General Safety Guidelines safety. Get forum registration
B. Fire Safety information.
C. Computer Equipment Disposal
2 A+ Fundamentals Workbook
A. What do A+ Exams Cover? Chapter 1-1
3 Internet Access Workbook Register for forum. Talk about search
http://pctalk.info/ and education.
http://google.com/
http://www.hardwarecentral.com/
4 Fundamentals Workbook Numbering Systems are sometimes hard
A. Numbering Systems 1 Chapter 1-2 to understand, so extra time has been
B. When to/not to upgrade allowed for teaching them.
C. Identifying components
5 Fundamentals Workbook An understanding of this lesson is
A. Numbering Systems 2 Chapter 1-2 essential to understanding later lessons.
B. Basic Electronics
6 Fundamentals Workbook Talk about a UPS.
A. Basic Electronics Chapter 1-2 Student tools will be shown.
B. Tools
7 Inside the Box Workbook
A. Motherboard Chapter 1-3
B. BIOS Chapter 1-4
8 Inside the Box Workbook
A. Bus Structures Chapter 1-5
B. Microprocessors Chapter 1-6
9 Lab Class Talk about drawing diagrams and why it
A. Intro to the console internals is important.
10 Inside the Box Chapter 1-7
A. Memory Systems
11 Inside the Box Workbook Bring SuperDisk and FlashDrive for
A. Storage Systems Chapter 1-8 demo.
12 Inside the Box Workbook
A.Power Chapter 1-9
13 Outside the Box Workbook
A. Ports Chapter 1-10
14 Outside the Box Chapter 1-11 Bring camera to class.
A. Input Devices Chapter 1-12
B. Output Devices
15 Disassembly Workbook
Students disassemble and reassemble
practice computers.
16 Outside the Box Workbook Bring Notebook computer to class.
A. Printers Chapter 1-13
B. Portable Systems Chapter 1-14

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 # Topics Notes/Chapter Workbook
17 Disassembly Workbook
A. Diagramming the computer prior to Chapter 1-15
disassembly
B. Removing and replacing cards.
18 Disassembly Workbook
A. Students disassemble and Chapter 1-16
reassemble practice computers.
19 Disassembly Workbook
A. Students disassemble and Chapter 1-17
reassemble practice computers.
20 Networking Chapter 1-18
A. Hardware side of Networking
21 Preventive Maintenance Workbook
B. Hardware and Software
22 Software Workbook
A.Windows Operating System Basics Chapter 2-1
23 Software Chapter 2-2
A. Windows 9x and ME
24 Software Chapter 2-3
A. Windows 2000 and XP Chapter 2-4
25 Networking Workbook
A. Making the Network Connection Chapter 2-5
26 Troubleshooting and Review Workbook
A. Procedures and practices
B. BIOS beep codes
C. Course Review
27 Final Part 1 Rebuild a lab computer.
28 Final Part 2 Written test.

1) Each student will be responsible for supplying his or her own pens or pencils and notebook. Text used is “A+
Certification for Dummies”. Each student should make every attempt to purchase their own copy, as they will
find highlighting sections of the reading to be most helpful. Your instructor can get the books and is willing to
collect money and purchase the books as requested if anyone is interested. Books may also be checked out of
a library or borrowed from others if possible, but you would not be able to use it as effectively. There is also a
class workbook that will cost $10 for materials. These books are required.

2) The Chapters listed next to each lesson are those recommended for reading prior to the start of that class.
“Workbook” indicates that some of the material presented will not be from the book. All chapters in the book
will be covered and thorough knowledge of their contents is encouraged.

3) It is the instructor’s job (and desire) to teach and therefore must be easy to understand. It is the student’s job
to ensure they get the required information. If you have any questions pertaining to the lecture content during
the lecture, please ask. There will be others, not nearly as brave, who will appreciate your questions.

4) Attendance will be taken each class and the presentation of a certificate of completion depends upon at least
80% attendance, good quiz scores, and a passing Final Exam grade. This course will be extremely challenging
and any student who must miss a class will be expected to arrange an immediate one-on-one make up session
with the instructor. Though not guaranteed, the students who do well and apply themselves may be able to
pass the A+ Certification test. A+ Certified Technicians with some work experience can expect to earn
anywhere from $25,000 to $40,000 a year.

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5) The computers in the lab are owned by the City of Annapolis and each student must read forms and agree to
limitations of use. Students will use the networked computers, as needed, during class for Internet access to
find drivers, upgrades, hardware information, etc. There are several, disconnected computers in the room that
will be used for practice. Each student should create a named folder on the computer they normally use to
hold any work they do in class or anything downloaded during class. The folder should be created in the form
My Documents\ ClassTech\ <StudentName>.

6) Students must all have their own email addresses and Internet access. All lab computers that are set up along
the walls have Internet access. Students may use classroom computers already connected to the Internet to
search for required hardware information.

7) The instructor will do his best to stay on-track with the syllabus but will also try not to discourage spirited
classroom discussions that pertain to learning anything important having to do with basic computer repair. If a
student has an immediate need for certain information, ask. The question can easily be worked into the course
material.

8) Pre-Tech Students are expected to learn how to use the available forum as a means of getting and giving
technical help. This can prove to be a valuable resource even after the class is over. One new post, either
asking or answering a tech question, will be required for each class day.

9) Students tool kits are for use in the classroom only. Since there are only a few sets, some students may be
required to share. Tools will be inventoried and returned to the storage drawer at the end of each class.

10) Students are expected to practice outside of the classroom to help them gain the additional skills they need.
There are computers in the lab that have been left there specifically for the students to work on and learn
from. They should not be touched, though, until the students have learned proper procedures.

11) Quizzes will normally be given every week. The quizzes are to assist the instructor in determining how well
you are doing with the material. Some are open book, open notes, so well thought out and legible notes will
help you to do well on these quizzes. Some are from memory only. All quizzes and both finals must be taken.
A Certificate of Completion will not be issued if one is missing. Any missed Quizzes must be taken as soon
as possible.

12) Students may desire to obtain a Flashdrive. If they do not have one and wish to purchase one, the instructor
has access to Sam's Club where they are available far cheaper than anywhere else locally. Several students
may wish to pool their resources to purchase a card of 4 and then divide them amongst themselves.

13) How to create an Emergency Boot Disk using floppies will be demonstrated by the instructor. If students wish
to create one of their own, they need to bring a 3½” HD floppy disk to class. You may also download one
from bootdisk.com

14) Students should do their best to arrive on time for class 14 and may want to dress up a bit as the instructor
will bring a Digital Camera to class to demonstrate Digital Photography by taking class pictures which will be
made available to the students at the end of the course.

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Rules for Fighting Fires
Fires can be very dangerous. You should always be sure that you would not place yourself or anyone else
at risk if you decide to try and extinguish a fire. These rules will help you make a safe decision if you
discover a fire at home or your workplace.
[ http://www.rocknet.net.au/~sollittr/ohs/Fire_exting/fe_rules.html ]

A. Assist any person in immediate danger, to get to safety, if it can be accomplished without risk to yourself.
B. Call the Fire brigade by dialing 000 (Australia) or 911 (United States), and activate the building fire alarm
system (or designating someone else to do this for you).
C. Ensure people in the building are aware of the emergency and are starting to move out.
D. Only after having done these three things, and if the fire is small, should you attempt to use an extinguisher to
put it out.

If you decide to fight the fire, keep these rules in mind:

ALWAYS
Operate the extinguisher briefly as you approach the fire, to ensure that it working properly.
(With dry chemical powder type extinguishers it is possible that when initially operated, the powder may not allow the
valve to fully close again, therefore you should be approaching the fire when you test the extinguisher.)
Obtain assistance if possible before you fight the fire.
Make sure that there is a clear escape path behind you.

NEVER ATTEMPT TO FIGHT A FIRE IF:

You don't know what is burning. If you don't know what is burning, you don't know what type of
extinguisher to use or what other hazards to expect. There may be something burning that will explode or
perhaps produce toxic fumes. Unless you know what is on fire then let the fire brigade handle it when they
arrive.
The fire has started to spread rapidly. A portable extinguisher is only useful for small fires. If the fire is
already spreading quickly, it is best to simply close the doors and windows to slow down the spread of the
fire and evacuate the building.

Do Not Fight the Fire If:

You don't have adequate or appropriate equipment. If you don't have the correct type or large enough
extinguisher, it is best not to try to fight the fire. (Always test the extinguisher to ensure it is serviceable
before you go near to the fire)
You might inhale toxic smoke. If the fire is producing large amounts of smoke that you would have to
breathe in order to fight it, it is best not to try. Any sort of combustion will produce some amount of carbon
monoxide, but when synthetic materials such as the nylon in carpeting or foam padding in a sofa burn, they
can produce highly toxic gases such as hydrogen cyanide, acrolein, and ammonia in addition to carbon
monoxide. These gases can be fatal in very small amounts.
Your instincts tell you not to. If you are uncomfortable with the situation for any reason, just let the fire
department do their job.
The final rule is to always position yourself with an exit or means of escape at your back before you
attempt to use an extinguisher to put out a fire. In case anything unexpected happens, you need to be
able to get out quickly, and you don't want to become trapped. Just remember, always keep an exit at
your back.

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How to Operate an Extinguisher

PASS It's easy to remember how to use a fire extinguisher if you can remember the
acronym PASS, which stands for Pull, Aim, Squeeze, and Sweep.
[ http://www.rocknet.net.au/~sollittr/ohs/Fire_exting/fe_use.html ]

Pull the pin. This will allow you to operate the extinguisher.

Aim at the base of the fire. This is where the fuel is.

Squeeze the top handle or lever. This releases the

pressurized extinguishing agent in the extinguisher.

Sweep from side to side until the fire is completely

extinguished. Start using the extinguisher from a safe distance away, then
move forward. Once the fire is out, keep an eye on the area in case it re-
ignites.

You should always test the extinguisher briefly, to ensure that it operates correctly, before taking
it to the fire.

If you are in a position where there is a high fire risk (e.g. working with flammable materials or heat),
then you should arrange to attend a hands-on fire extinguisher training program.

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The Fire Triangle
In order to understand how fire extinguishers work, you first need to know something about fire.

Fire is a chemical reaction involving rapid oxidation (burning) of a fuel

Four things must be present at the same time in order to produce fire:
• FUEL - any combustible material - solid, liquid or gas. Most solids and liquids must vaporize
before they will burn.
• OXYGEN - Sufficient oxygen must be present in the atmosphere surrounding the fuel for fire to
burn.
• HEAT - Sufficient heat energy must be applied to raise the fuel to its ignition temperature
• Chemical, exothermic reaction - This reaction can occur when all three of the above elements
are present in the proper conditions and proportions. Fire (rapid oxidization) is the result of this
chemical reaction.

The combination of these three elements is frequently referred to

as the "fire triangle". Add in the fourth element, the chemical
reaction, and you actually have a fire "tetrahedron." The important
thing to remember is that if any one of these four things can be
removed there will be no fire or the fire will be extinguished.

Essentially, fire extinguishers put out fire by taking away one

or more elements of the fire triangle/tetrahedron.

Illustration 1: The Fire Triangle

Fire safety, at its most basic, is based upon the principle of keeping fuel sources and ignition sources
separate.

[ Ross’s Fire Safety Page: http://www.rocknet.net.au/~sollittr/ohs/Fire_exting/fe_triang.html ]

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Classes of Fires
http://www.orp.doe.gov/fire/safety/extingrs.htm

Fires are classified according to the material that is being burned. The four classes of fires, with the
American and International symbols, are as follows:

Class A: Ordinary Combustibles - cloth, wood, paper, rubber, many

plastics.
Extinguisher: will put out fires in ordinary combustibles, such as wood and
paper. The numerical rating for this class of fire extinguisher refers to the
amount of water the fire extinguisher holds and the amount of fire it will
extinguish.

Class B: Flammable Liquids - Gasoline, Oil, Oil-based paint, Cooking

Oil.
Extinguisher: should be used on fires involving flammable liquids, such as
grease, gasoline, oil, etc. The numerical rating for this class of fire
extinguisher states the approximate number of square feet of a flammable
liquid fire that a non-expert person can expect to extinguish.

Class C: Energized electrical equipment, including appliances, wiring,

circuit breakers, and fuse boxes.
Extinguisher: suitable for use on electrically energized fires. This class of
fire extinguisher does not have a numerical rating. The presence of the letter
“C” indicates that the extinguishing agent is non-conductive.

Class D: Combustible metals such as magnesium, sodium, lithium,

hafnium, powdered aluminum, etc.
Extinguisher: designed for use on flammable metals and are often specific
for the type of metal in question. There is no picture designator for Class D
extinguishers. These extinguishers generally have no rating nor are they
given a multi-purpose rating for use on other types of fires.

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 12 of 96

Computer Equipment Recycling
There are many components inside a computer console, monitor, printer, etc that are harmful to the
environment. There are also a few valuable, recoverable materials as well. Instead of throwing your old
computer system in the dumpster so it ends up in the local landfill, why not consider donating it or have
it recycled. ComputerHope.com offers not only advise on how to dispose of system components but also
give contact information for those companies who will accept your old system for recycle or donation
purposes.

http://www.computerhope.com/disposal.htm

Below are a few of the Recycle/disposal companies that can help provide you with information or help
you recycle your computer equipment.

Battery Solutions ( http://www.batteryrecycling.com )

Phone: (734) 467-9110
Fax: (734) 467-9104
Batteries Recycled: Able to manage every type of spent battery manufactured today.

Back Thru The Future Microcomputers, Inc. ( http://www.backthruthefuture.com )

Phone: (408) 453-4511
Fax: (408) 453-4511
Address: Refer to web page (multiple locations)
Note: Back Thru The Future Microcomputers is one of the largest computer recyclers in the United
States and are a women's owned business. The company recycles microcomputers for corporations,
educational institutions, government, and individuals. With millions of microcomputers being displaced
each year by newer technology, Back Thru The Future has committed itself to finding uses for this older
technology and preventing it from becoming a high tech waste.
Parts capable of recycling: All computer equipment. For corporations, educational institutions,
government, and individuals.

National Revitalization Services ( http://www.natrs.com/ )

Phone: (973) 275-1786
Address:
108 Baker Street
Suite 500
Maplewood, New Jersey 07040
Note: Company capable of recycling almost all non remanufactured laser and inkjet printer cartridges.

Share The Technology: ( http://sharetechnology.org )

Phone: (856) 234-6156
Fax: (856) 234-5809
Address:
P.O. Box 548
Rancocas, NJ 08073
Note: See web site with database of organizations looking for donated computers.

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 13 of 96

A+ Exams
The A+ certification demonstrates competency as a computer technician. CompTIA A+ certification is a
vendor neutral certification. It requires two tests to be passed: the A+ Essentials exam and a choice of
one of three elective exams. CompTIA is vendor neutral but leans towards Microsoft operating systems
although some Apple questions do appear on this new exam.

Exam details
The A+ certification exam was updated in late 2006, so the structure of the exam is different than it had
been for the three years prior to the update. The good news is the old 2003 exams had an average pass
rate of between 3% --> 10% depending on your sources. The new A+ exam has been redesigned to have
a 30% pass rate. A+ certification currently entails two tests: A+ Essentials (220-601) and one of three
elective exams, IT Technician (220-602), Remote Support Technician (220-603), or Depot
Technician (220-604). Both of these tests must be passed in order to receive A+ certification. CompTIA
suggests that one take the A+ Essentials exam before the other, but they can be taken in either order.

For the 2006 exam, the total cost was $158.00 for each test. If you are a student check with your school's
Career Tech program, most public schools are Jobs+ sites. If your school is a Jobs+ site you can get the
A+ voucher for half the price as you would retail. Also a lot of companies that offer training are
CompTIA affiliate which can sell you the voucher to take the exam for less than retail. The CompTIA
A+ Essentials consists of 100 questions, and the elective consists of 90 questions. A passing score on the
CompTIA A+ Essentials exam is 675, on any of the electives is 700.

The test consists of 8 "domains":

Domain Percentage of exam
Personal computer components 21
Laptop and portable devices 11
Operating systems 21
Printers and scanners 9
Networks 12
Security 11
Safety and environmental issues 10
Communication and professionalism 5
Total 100

Identifying hardware components

One of the essential requirements for A+ Certification is identifying names, purposes, and characteristics
of specific hardware components, including the following:
• Floppy disk drive
• Hard disk drive
• Optical disk drive
• Motherboard
• Power supply
• Cooling system
• CPU
• RAM

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 14 of 96

 • Display devices
• Adapter card
• Ports
• Cables
This is not a device:
• IRQ

Identifying Operating Systems

Although the examination focuses almost exclusively on Microsoft's Windows Operating System (OS),
one should also know about differences among other operating systems.

Microsoft operating systems:

• Legacy Windows OS's (need only to know upgrade paths):
• Windows 95
• Windows 98
• Windows ME
• Windows NT 4.0
• Current Windows OS's (focus on these for the new exam):
• Windows 2000
• Windows XP
• Windows Vista (not on the 2006 objectives)

Apple operating systems:

• Mac OS X (which is based on Unix-like system-exam question)
• Mac OS 9

Unix-like operating systems:

• BSD (and derivations like FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and NetBSD)
• NextStep
• GNU/Linux

For more information, see the Wikipedia page at http://certification.comptia.org/a/default.aspx

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 15 of 96

Registering for the PCTalk Support Forum
1) Open your Browser and go to http://pctalk.info/,
2) Click on the Support Forum button in the Navigation Bar on the right,

Illustration 2: PCTalk Support Forum button

3) Click on the Register link on the right side of the page,

Illustration 3: Register

4) Click on the Before button to indicate the date you were born. If you are 13 or under (not too likely

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 16 of 96

 in this class) you must bring a note from your parent or guardian giving you permission to join the
forum,

Illustration 4: Before

5) Read the Registration agreement and click on the "I agree to these terms" button,

Illustration 5: I agree

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 17 of 96

6) Fill in the Registration form. You may use the tab key to move from one block to another but you
must never use the Enter key. The only information that must be accurate is your email address.
The registration will send you an email to respond to and if it bounces registration will be denied,

Illustration 6: Registration Form

7) The Username may be anything you wish it to be but I recommend you do not use anything that
might enable anyone to know your identity, i.e., do not use your real name. My Username is Spock
for various reasons that I will explain in class. You should start with a capital letter and should make
it short enough to be convenient for you. Remember, you will have to type it in every time you login.
Write it down on the Student Forum Information sheet at the end of this workbook,
8) The Email address will have to be entered twice for verification,
9) Your password may again be anything you wish it to be but it should be easy for you to remember. If
you do forget, there will be a link you can click on that will send an email to your registration Email
reminding you what your Username and Password is. Write it down on the Student Forum
Information sheet at the end of this workbook,

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 18 of 96

10) The Language and Timezone entries should be left as is,
11) Enter the code you can see in the colored rectangle into the white box underneath it. There will be
various letters (possibly in mixed case) and numbers at odd angles. This is designed to attempt to
keep computers from automatically registering for multiple accounts so they can get free advertising
on the forum. Sorry, you may have to try multiple times before getting this portion right. If you get it
wrong, an error message saying, "The confirmation code you entered was incorrect." and you will
have to reenter a new confirmation code to try again,
12) Click on the Submit button.

You should receive an email shortly welcoming you to the forum and repeating for you the Username
and Password you used to register. Keep it in a safe place for future reference in case you forget your
password. Once you receive your registration email, there will be a link in the email you must click on
to activate your new account. Once that is done, you may now login to the forum.

Logging in to the forum

1) Open your Browser and go to http://pctalk.info/,

2) Click on the Support Forum button in the Navigation Bar on the right,

3) Click on the Login link on the right of the page or, if you prefer, there is a place for your username
and password at the bottom of the page,

Illustration 7: Login Start

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 19 of 96

4) On the Login page, Enter your
Username,

5) Enter your Password

(remember, case counts),

6) If you have forgotten your

password and lost your
registration email, you can
click on the "I forgot my
password" link to receive a
reminder to the same email
address you registered with,

7) If you are using a safe

computer that no one else uses
and is password protected,
you might want to select the
"Log me on automatically
each visit" selection box.
Please never do this on a
public computer or one where
others may gain access to
your account,

8) There is another selection box

that you should probably
never select. That is the "Hide
my online status this session".
Illustration 8: Login page
It hides your online identity to
other forum members and the public only. All Admins and Super Moderators will know who you are
regardless but none of the other members will know you are there,

9) Click on the Login button to now gain access to the forum.

When you first access the forum, you will be in a "holding" area called Prospective Members. This is an
area that is hidden to all full forum members and is what I call part of my Spam Trap. You must make at
least one post in there telling me who you are, where you found out about the forum, and why you want
to join before I move you up to full membership. While restricted to the Prospective Members forum,
you will have very limited access to the forum tools.

As members of my class, I will know what your usernames are, so almost anything will be accepted but
your "acceptance post" will be moved out of Prospective Members and into the New Users forum to
introduce you to the other forum members. You should never give out any personal information but you
might want to give enough information so others with similar interests will want to strike up a
friendship.

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 20 of 96

Help with using the forum

Illustration 9: Using the forum

1) You are now logged into the forum, you know this because you can see the Logout link next to your
username.

2) There is a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) link that may answer some of your questions about
how to use a forum.

3) Every time I login to the forum, the first link I click on is the "View new posts" link to see what has
been posted since I was last in the forum. I find that if I do that every time I login, I will be able to
keep up with what has been happening. If you login and then logout almost immediately, all posts
will be marked as read, even if you haven't read them. The link should probably indicate, "View new
posts since last login" to be most accurate.

4) There is a User Control Panel (UCP) where you may update certain information about your account
such as changing your password, adding or changing an avatar, etc. If you change your email
address, you will be locked out of the forum until your new email is verified, so it is not a good idea
to change it unless you let me know first as the re-authorization process has to be done manually.

5) There is an area where any new Personal Messages (PM) will appear. Click on the link to access old,
new, and sent. There is a limit to how many of each may be stored on the forum. Once that limit is
reached, old ones will be removed to make room for new ones. If you want to keep any for any
reason, you might want to selectively prune them yourself.

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 21 of 96

Numbering Systems:
Binary:
N 2N
0 1
1 2
2 4
3 8
4 16
5 32
6 64
7 128
8 256
9 512
10 1024
11 2048
12 4096
13 8192
14 16384
15 32768

16 65536
65536 32768 16384 8192 4096 2048 1024 512 256 128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1

Hex:
Decimal Binary Octal Hex
N 16N 0 0000 0 0
0 1 1 0001 1 1
1 16 2 0010 2 2
3 0011 3 3
2 256
4 0100 4 4
3 4096 5 0101 5 5
6 0110 6 6
4 65536 7 0111 7 7
65536 4096 256 16 1 8 1000 10 8
9 1001 11 9
10 1010 12 A
11 1011 13 B
12 1100 14 C
13 1101 15 D
1 BIT = 1 Binary digit 14 1110 16 E
1 Nybble = 4 BITs 15 1111 17 F
1 Byte = 8 BITs or 2 Nibbles 16 10000 20 10

1 Nybble uniquely defines a single Hex digit.

Binary: Base 2 number system.
Octal: Base 8 number system.
Decimal: Base 10 number system.
Hexidecimal: Base 16 number system.

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 22 of 96

Practice session:

3778 = 25510 Prove it!

7 x 80 =7x 1 = 7
7 x 81 =7x 8 = 56
3 x 82 = 3 x 64 = 192
25510

Now, Convert the following numbers to all other bases:

Binary Octal Decimal Hexadecimal

03F816
2218
102410
110110112
2216
468
3110
111011102
51210

Rules: (X = any number)

1. X times 0 = 0
2. X0 = 1
3. X1 = X
4. X2 = X times X
5. X3 = X times X times X

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 23 of 96

Identifying Computer Components
Computer hardware is the physical part of a computer, including the digital circuitry, as distinguished
from the computer software that executes within the hardware. The hardware of a computer is
infrequently changed, in comparison with software and hardware data, which are "soft" in the sense that
they are readily created, modified or erased on the computer. Firmware is a special type of software that
rarely, if ever, needs to be changed and so is stored on hardware devices such as read-only memory
(ROM) where it is not readily changed (and is, therefore, "firm" rather than just "soft").

Most computer hardware is not seen by normal users. It is in embedded systems in automobiles,
microwave ovens, electrocardiograph machines, compact disc players, and other devices. Personal
computers, the computer hardware familiar to most people, form only a small minority of computers
(about 0.2% of all new computers produced in 2003).

Typical PC hardware
A typical personal computer consists of a case or chassis in a tower shape (desktop) and the following
parts:

Illustration 10: Internals of a typical Personal Computer

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 24 of 96

Motherboard/Logicboard/Mainboard

Motherboard - the "body" of the computer, through which all other components interface.
Central processing unit (CPU) - Performs most of the calculations which enable a computer to
function, sometimes referred to as the "brain" of the computer.
Computer fan - Used to lower the temperature of the computer; a fan is almost always attached
to the CPU, and the computer case will generally have several fans to maintain a constant
airflow. Liquid cooling can also be used to cool a computer, though it focuses more on individual
parts rather than the overall temperature inside the chassis.
Random Access Memory (RAM) - Fast-access memory that is cleared when the computer is
powered-down. RAM attaches directly to the motherboard, and is used to store programs that are
currently running.
Firmware is loaded from the Read only memory ROM run from the Basic Input-Output System
(BIOS) or in newer systems Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) compliant.
Internal Buses - Connections to various internal components.
PCI
PCI-E
USB
HyperTransport
CSI (expected in 2008)
AGP (being phased out)
VLB (outdated)
External Bus Controllers - used to connect to external peripherals, such as printers and input
devices. These ports may also be based upon expansion cards, attached to the internal buses.
Parallel port (outdated)
Serial port (outdated)
USB
Firewire
SCSI (On Servers and older machines)
PS/2 (For mice and keyboards, being phased out and replaced by USB.)
ISA (outdated)
EISA (outdated)
MCA (outdated)

Power supply
A case that holds a transformer, voltage control, and (usually) a cooling fan, and supplies power to run
the rest of the computer, the most common types of power supplies are AT and BabyAT (old) but the
standard for current PC's are ATX and micro ATX. smps (Switch Mode Power Supply)

Storage controllers
Controllers for hard disk, CD-ROM and other drives like internal Zip and Jaz conventionally for a PC
are IDE/ATA; the controllers sit directly on the motherboard (on-board) or on expansion cards, such as a
Disk array controller. IDE is usually integrated, unlike SCSI which is found in most servers. The Floppy
drive interface is a legacy MFM interface which is now slowly disappearing. All these interfaces are
gradually being phased out to be replaced by SATA (Serial AT Attachment) and SAS.

Video display controller

Produces the output for the visual display unit. This will either be built into the motherboard or attached
in its own separate slot (PCI, PCI-E, PCI-E 2.0, or AGP), in the form of a Graphics Card.

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 25 of 96

Removable media devices
CD - the most common type of removable media, inexpensive but has a short life-span.
CD-ROM Drive - a device used for reading data from a CD.
CD Writer - a device used for both reading and writing data to and from a CD.
DVD - a popular type of removable media that has the same dimensions as a CD but stores up to 6
times as much information. It is the most common way of transferring digital video.
DVD-ROM Drive - a device used for reading data from a DVD.
DVD Writer - a device used for both reading and writing data to and from a DVD.
DVD-RAM Drive - a device used for rapid writing and reading of data from a special type of
DVD.
Blu-ray - a high-density optical disc format for the storage of digital information, including high-
definition video.
BD-ROM Drive - a device used for reading data from a Blu-ray disc.
BD Writer - a device used for both reading and writing data to and from a Blu-ray disc.
HD DVD - a high-density optical disc format and successor to the standard DVD. It was a
discontinued competitor to the Blu-ray format.
Floppy disk - an outdated storage device consisting of a thin disk of a flexible magnetic storage
medium.
Zip drive - an outdated medium-capacity removable disk storage system, first introduced by Iomega
in 1994.
SuperDisk - an outdated storage device also known as the LS-120 and the later variant LS-240, the
SuperDisk was introduced by 3M's storage products group (later known as Imation) circa 1997 as a
high-speed, high-capacity alternative to the 90 mm (3.5 in), 1.44 MB floppy disk. SuperDisk's main
claim to fame was that in addition to being able to read and write its native 120 MB (later 240 MB)
disks, the drives could read and write the 1.44 MB and 720 KB floppy formats that were still popular
at the time. They also seemed to read and write faster to these sorts of disks than conventional 1.44
MB or 720 KB floppy drives. The newer LS-240 drives also have the ability to read and write
regular 1.44 MB floppies at much higher densities.
USB flash drive - a flash memory data storage device integrated with a USB interface, typically
small, lightweight, removable and rewritable.
Tape drive - a device that reads and writes data on a magnetic tape, usually used for long term
storage.

Internal storage
Hardware that keeps data inside the computer for later use and remains persistent even when the
computer has no power.

Hard disk - for medium-term storage of data.

Solid-state drive - a device similar to hard disk, but containing no moving parts.
Disk array controller - a device to manage several hard disks, to achieve performance or reliability
improvement.

Sound card
Enables the computer to output sound to audio devices, as well as accept input from a microphone. Most
modern computers have sound cards built-in to the motherboard, though it is common for a user to
install a separate sound card as an upgrade.

For more information, see the Wikipedia page at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_hardware

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 26 of 96

Input/Output Devices
(This page intentionally left blank for classroom notes.)

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 27 of 96

Basic Electronics
Embedded in the fundamentals of computer troubleshooting, repair, and maintenance is a knowledge
and understanding of electricity, electronics, and number systems. You need to have a basic knowledge
of electricity and electronic principles to even begin preparing yourself for the A+ Certification exams.
Although no specific electronics or electricity questions are on the test, many questions assume a basic
understanding of electricity concepts and terminology and the function of a few electronic components.
Even if you know enough about electricity to repair a PC without destroying either the equipment or
yourself, you may need a refresher on the names, definitions, concepts, and applications of electricity
and electronics.

Note that binary and hexadecimal number systems are used in the PC for addressing and data display. You may be asked to
convert a binary number or two on the exam, and you can count on seeing binary and hexadecimal references in several
questions.

Understanding electricity
Everything inside or attached to the PC system unit runs on electricity. Electricity is both the lifeblood
and the mysterious evil of the personal computer. It's a flowing entity, measured in amps, ohms, and
volts that should be approached with respect, if not outright fear.

Nothing helps you understand a complex technical topic better than a real-life analogy that you can
relate to. Electricity flowing through a circuit is very much like water running through a hose. When you
open a water faucet, the pressure in the water line forces the water to flow at some gallons-per-minute
rate into the hose. Friction reduces the force and rate of the water before it exits the hose. When
electricity flows into a wire from a source such as a battery, some of its pressure is lost to resistance in
the wire.

The "electricity is like water in a hose" analogy points out the forces of electricity that can be measured.
These forces are measured in volts, amps, and ohms. At the risk of running the analogy into the ground,
Table 1 lists the water hose analogous element against its electrical equivalent.

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 28 of 96

Table 1: Water versus Electrical Forces
Water Forces Electrical Forces
How much pressure? What's the voltage? Table 2 may put this analogy
How much water is flowing? What's the volume of the electrical current in into a little better perspective.
amps? The electrical measures are
Is there any friction in the What's the wire's resistance in ohms? listed with a description and an
hose? example of how they're applied
on the PC.

Counting electrons
The forces of electricity inside the computer can be measured, and each type of measurement tells you
something different about the computer. The electrical measurements in Table 2 provide you with an
introduction to these units of measurement.

Table 2: Common Electrical Measurements

Measurement Description Application
Measures a current's The amount of current needed to operate a device; for example, a hard-disk
Amps
strength or rate of flow drive needs 2.0 amps to start up, but only 0.35 amps for typical operation.
Measures a conductor's Resistance of less than 20 ohms means that current can flow through a
Ohms
resistance to electricity computer system.
Measures the electrical A PC power supply generates four levels of voltage: +5 volts (V), –5V, +12V,
Volts
pressure in a circuit and –12V.
Measures the electrical
Watts A PC power supply is rated in a range of 200 to 600 watts.
power in a circuit
Indicates the existence of One of the pins in a DIN connector registers 5V on a digital voltage meter
Continuity
a complete circuit (DVM or multimeter) when grounded to another pin.

Measuring the current

The primary measurements of electricity are volts and amps. Volts measure pressure, and amps measure
current. Current isn't needed to have voltage. When a water faucet is off, water pressure still exists.
There is just no current. Likewise, when an electrical circuit is open, voltage (pressure) is still in the line
although no current is flowing. If you touch the wire and close the circuit, the current begins to flow, and
you can feel all of its pressure as a shock.
You can use a variety of devices to read the power and fury of an electrical current. Ammeters, ohmmeters, and voltmeters
measure specific properties, but using a multimeter or DVM is more efficient for you to use because it combines these
instruments into one tool.

Switching from AC to DC
Current is the flow of electrons in a wire. Electricity has two current types: AC (alternating current) and
DC (direct current). AC is what you get from the outlets in your house or office, and DC is the type used
inside the computer.

In alternating current, the current changes directions about 60 times per second, moving first one-way,
and then the other. The voltage changing rapidly from a positive charge to a negative charge causes the

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 29 of 96

current to also switch the direction of its flow in the wire. AC power exists because it has advantages for
the power company and for your household electrical appliances, but these advantages have little value
on a low-voltage system like a PC.

When the flow of the electricity is in one direction only, it is direct current. What happens in direct
current is that negatively charged particles seek out and flow toward positively charged particles,
creating a direct electrical current flow. DC power maintains a constant level and flows in only one
direction — always, predictably, and measurably, from a negative charge to a positive charge.

For example, wire a light bulb to a battery, and the current flows from the negative terminal to the
positive terminal through the light bulb. Because the current of electricity causes heat and light in the
right materials, the lighter materials in the light bulb glow.

The PC uses DC power. The PC's power supply converts power from the AC wall outlet into DC power
for the computer. Peripheral devices, such as printers, external modems, and storage drives, including
CD-ROM and Zip drives, use an AC power converter to convert AC power into DC power.

Okay, so the computer runs on direct current electricity. What does this fact have to do with the A+
exam?

When answering a question about the power supply, you must know what 3.3V, –5V, +5V, –12V, and +12V represent (3.3
volts, minus 5 volts, plus 5 volts, minus 12 volts, and plus 12 volts, which are DC power levels produced by the power
supply).

Focus on the following electrical terms or concepts:

A. Voltage and volts
B. Amperes or amps
C. Electrical resistance
D. Ohms
E. Watts
F. Alternating current
G. Direct current
H. 5 or 12 volts DC current

Power Supply Unit:

• Field Replaceable Unit (FRU) - never service.
• AC - coming from wall.
• DC - PSU changes from AC to DC and lowers the voltage.

Type Measured in Symbol Formula

Power Watts/Wattage P I*E
Volts Volts/Voltage E or V I*R
Current Amps/Amperes I E/R
Resistance Ohms R E/I
• If R is constant - as E increases, so do P and I
• If V is constant - as R increases, I and P decrease, and vice-versa.
• Good circuit = 0 ohms; blown fuse will read about 1 ohm.

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 30 of 96

Full Wave Bridge Rectifier
A diode bridge or bridge rectifier is an arrangement of four diodes connected in a bridge circuit, that
provides the same polarity of output voltage for any polarity of the input voltage. When used in its most
common application, for conversion of alternating current (AC) input into direct current (DC) output, it
is known as a bridge rectifier. The bridge rectifier provides full wave rectification from a two wire AC
input (saving the cost of a center tapped transformer) but has two diode drops rather than one reducing
efficiency over a center tap based design for the same output voltage.

The essential feature of this arrangement is that for both polarities of the voltage at the bridge input, the
polarity of the output is constant. The following description uses hole flow rather than electron flow.
Electron flow would show the arrows in the opposite directions.

Basic Operation
When the input
connected at the
left corner of the
diamond is
positive with
respect to the one
connected at the
right hand
corner, current
flows to the right
along the upper
colored path to
the output, and
returns to the Illustration 11: Full-wave Bridge Rectifier, positive cycle
input supply via the lower one.

When the right

hand corner is
positive relative
to the left hand
corner, current
flows along the
upper colored
path and returns
to the supply via
the lower colored
path.
Illustration 12: Full-wave Bridge Rectifier, Negative cycle.

In each case, the upper right output remains positive with respect to the lower right one. Since this is
true whether the input is AC or DC, this circuit not only produces DC power when supplied with AC
power: it also can provide what is sometimes called "reverse polarity protection". That is, it permits
normal functioning when batteries are installed backwards or DC input-power supply wiring "has its

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 31 of 96

wires crossed" (and protects the circuitry it powers against damage that might occur without this circuit
in place).

Prior to availability of integrated electronics, such a bridge rectifier was always constructed from
discrete components. Since about 1950, a single four-terminal component containing the four diodes
connected in the bridge configuration became a standard commercial component and is now available
with various voltage and current ratings.

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 32 of 96

Output smoothing
For many applications, especially with single phase AC
where the full-wave bridge serves to convert an AC input
into a DC output, the addition of a capacitor may be
important because the bridge alone supplies an output
voltage of fixed polarity but pulsating magnitude (see
diagram to the right).

The function of this capacitor, known as a 'smoothing

capacitor' (see also filter capacitor) is to lessen the variation
in (or 'smooth') the raw output voltage waveform from the
bridge. One explanation of 'smoothing' is that the capacitor
provides a low impedance path to the AC component of the
output, reducing the AC voltage across, and AC current
through, the resistive load. In less technical terms, any drop
in the output voltage and current of the bridge tends to be
cancelled by loss of charge in the capacitor. This charge
flows out as additional current through the load. Thus the change of load current and voltage is reduced
relative to what would occur without the capacitor. Increases of voltage correspondingly store excess
charge in the capacitor, thus moderating the change in output voltage / current. Also see rectifier output
smoothing.

The simplified circuit shown has a well deserved reputation for being dangerous, because, in some
applications, the capacitor can retain a lethal charge after the AC power source is removed. A
practical circuit should always include an assured way to safely discharge the capacitor. If the normal
load can not be guaranteed to perform this function, perhaps because it can be disconnected, the circuit
should include a so-called bleeder resistor connected as close as practical across the capacitor. Because a
bleeder sets a minimum current drain, the regulation of the circuit, defined as percentage voltage change
from minimum to maximum load, is improved.

The capacitor and the load resistance have a typical time constant τ = RC where C and R are the
capacitance and load resistance respectively. As long as the load resistor is large enough so that this time

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 33 of 96

constant is much longer than the time of one ripple cycle, the above configuration will produce a well
smoothed DC voltage across the load resistance. In some designs, a series resistor at the load side of the
capacitor is added. The smoothing can then be improved by adding additional stages of capacitor–
resistor pairs, often done only for sub-supplies to critical high-gain circuits that tend to be sensitive to
supply voltage noise.

The idealized waveforms shown above are seen for both voltage and current when the load on the bridge
is resistive. When the load includes a smoothing capacitor, both the voltage and the current waveforms
will be greatly changed. While the voltage is smoothed, as described above, current will flow through
the bridge only during the time when the input voltage is greater than the capacitor voltage. For
example, if the load draws an average current of n Amps, and the diodes conduct for 10% of the time,
the average diode current during conduction must be 10n Amps. This non-sinusoidal current leads to
harmonic distortion and a poor power factor in the AC supply.

In a practical circuit, when a capacitor is directly connected to the output of a bridge, the bridge diodes
must be sized to withstand the current surge that occurs when the power is turned on at the peak of the
AC voltage and the capacitor is fully discharged. Sometimes a small series resistor is included before the
capacitor to limit this current.

Output can also be smoothed using a choke, a coil of conductor enclosed by an iron frame (similar to a
transformer in construction). This tends to keep the current (rather than the voltage) constant. Due to the
relatively high cost of an effective choke compared to a resistor and capacitor this is not employed in
modern equipment. Some early console radios created the speaker's constant field with the current from
the high voltage ("B +") power supply, which was then routed to the consuming circuits, rather than
using a permanent magnet to create the speaker's constant magnetic field. The speaker field coil thus
acted as a choke.

For more information, see the Wikipedia page at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diode_bridge

Normally the ac input is

actually the output of a
transformer as shown here.

Illustration 15: Transformer used for input to Bridge Circuit.

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 34 of 96

Motherboard power connector(s):
One of the following will be found:
AT -Two smaller connectors labeled P8 and P9 (2 black wires go together). Supplies +/-12V and +/-5V.
The fan pulls air from inside the computer and blows it out through the fan leading to dust buildup on
internal components. Should be plugged in while working on inside of case to provide the best ground.
Can leave plugged in while servicing. No power to the motherboard.

ATX - A single, keyed connector. Supplies +/-12V, +/-5V, and +3.3V. The fan sucks air into the case
thereby semi-pressurizing the case, which helps to keep the internal components cleaner. There are also
additional voltage and power lines used to signal and control the power supply. It is turned on and off
electronically, not with a power switch. Should be unplugged because the power supply applies power to
the motherboard even when turned off. It must be unplugged while servicing. Power is still applied to
the motherboard even if the PC is turned off.

Connectors:
Molex - standard peripheral connector for powering internal hard drives, CD-ROM drives, and DVD
drives. Used for devices that need more power.

Berg - a small, flat connector typically used for powering floppy drives and internal Zip and SuperDisk
drives. Used in devices that need less power.

Color or Voltage
component
Yellow wire +12
Blue wire -12
Red wire +5
Purple wire +5VSB
White wire -5
Orange wire +3.3VDC
Brown wire +3.3VDC default Sense
Grey wire PWR_OK
Motor +/-12
Circuitry +/-5

Misc.
• ESD (electrostatic discharge) can destroy circuits, memory, processors, and transistors.
• ESD is very high in dry non-humid environments.
• Don’t wear ESD wrist strap when working on CRT monitor.
• You should use an (UPS) uninterruptable power supply, it protects against power interruptions
(brownouts and failures), overvoltages (spikes), and undervoltages (sags).
• Be aware of EMI (electromagnetic interference) and RFI (Radio Frequency Interference).
• These cause spikes that exceed the computer’s capability.
• Use a line conditioner to control against EMI and RFI (not blackouts).
• To protect against damage from lightning-disconnect all external cables.

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 35 of 96

Tools
Use this page to create an inventory of the tool pouch and explain what each tool is and for what it is
used.

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 36 of 96

Motherboard
A motherboard is the central or primary circuit board (PCB) making up a complex electronic system,
such as a modern computer. It is also known as a mainboard, baseboard, system board, planar board, or,
on Apple computers, a logic board, and is sometimes abbreviated as mobo.

Most motherboards produced today are designed for so-called IBM-compatible computers, which held
over 96% of the global personal computer market in 2005.

A motherboard, like a backplane, provides the electrical connections by which the other components of
the system communicate, but unlike a backplane also contains the central processing unit and other
subsystems such as real time clock, and some peripheral interfaces.

A typical desktop computer is built with the microprocessor, main memory, and other essential
components on the motherboard. Other components such as external storage, controllers for video
display and sound, and peripheral devices are typically attached to the motherboard via edge connectors
and cables, although in modern computers it is increasingly common to integrate these "peripherals" into
the motherboard.

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 37 of 96

Components and functions
The motherboard of a typical desktop consists of a large printed circuit board. It holds electronic
components and interconnects, as well as physical connectors (sockets, slots, and headers) into which
other computer components may be inserted or attached.

Most motherboards include, at a minimum:

• Sockets (or slots) in which one or more microprocessors (CPUs) are installed.
• Slots into which the system's main memory is installed (typically in the form of DIMM modules
containing DRAM chips).
• A chipset which forms an interface between the CPU's front-side bus, main memory, and peripheral
buses.
• Non-volatile memory chips (usually Flash ROM in modern motherboards) containing the system's
firmware or BIOS.
• A clock generator which produces the system clock signal to synchronize the various components.
• Slots for expansion cards (these interface to the system via the buses supported by the chipset).
• Power connectors and circuits, which receive electrical power from the computer power supply and
distribute it to the CPU, chipset, main memory, and expansion cards..

Illustration 17: The Octek Jaguar V motherboard.

The Octek Jaguar V motherboard shown above is from 1993. This board has 6 ISA slots but few onboard peripherals, as
evidenced by the lack of external connectors.
Additionally, nearly all motherboards include logic circuitry and connectors to support commonly-used
input devices, such as PS/2 connectors for a mouse and keyboard. Early personal computers such as the
Apple II or IBM PC included only this minimal peripheral support on the motherboard. Occasionally

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 38 of 96

video interface hardware was also integrated into the motherboard; for example on the Apple II, and
rarely on IBM-compatible computers such as the IBM PC Jr. Additional peripherals such as disk
controllers and serial ports were provided as expansion cards.

Given the high thermal design power of high-speed computer CPUs and components, modern
motherboards nearly always include heatsinks and mounting points for fans to dissipate excess heat.

Motherboard Form Factors

PCXT - 1st motherboard. It had no 16-bit slots.

AT - A motherboard patterned after the original IBM AT motherboard. It only has a single on-board
connector, the 5-pin DIN keyboard connector, uses CMOS for configuration, and early versions only
used DIP memory chips and DIP CPUs and co-processors. Later versions might be configured with any
or all of the following: ISA (16 bit)/EISA (32 bit) slots, PCI slots, AGP slot, PGA CPU socket, AT and/
or ATX power connector, I/O connectors, SDRAM slots, SIMM slots, and DIMM slots. Any ports are
on the motherboard but must be connected internally, using the proper cables, to either internal devices
or to connectors attached to the card-edge connectors. Usually 12” x 13.8”

Baby AT - A smaller version of the AT motherboard used in clone machines. These boards can be
found in a wide variety of configurations just as with the AT motherboards. Since they are smaller they
do not have as many expansion slots as a full sized board would have.

LPX (low profile or slimline) - Developed about the same time as the Baby AT boards, the LPX uses a
riser card to install expansion cards into so the case could be lower than the expansion cards. Also uses
the PS/2 style keyboard connector instead of the 5-pin DIN connector. The LPX and mini-LPX were
developed for use in the Slimline and low-profile desktop cases. (Video, parallel, and 2 serial ports are at
the rear of the board).

NLX - Replacement for the LPX board designed around the Pentium II processor. IT supports DIMM
and AGP technology.

ATX - Smaller like the Baby AT board, but installed with a 90-degree rotation. This motherboard allows
for easier installation of full-length expansion cards and cables because the CPU is positioned out of the
path of long expansion cards and is easier to cool. It is also extremely easy to identify even when the
case is on the computer. It is the only board, so far, that has most of the basic peripheral connectors
attached to the motherboard at the board edge. On the board edge you will find:
• PS/2 keyboard and mouse (6-pin mini din),
• At least 1 (possibly 2) serial DB-9,
• A Parallel DB-25,
• Sometimes even a pair of USB connectors, and
• Sound card I/O.

Other ATX features:

• Power supply to motherboard w/ 1 keyed 20-pin connector.
• CPU is closer to cooling fan on PSU.
• I/O ports are integrated into motherboard.

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 39 of 96

Integrated peripherals
With the steadily declining
costs and size of integrated
circuits, it is now possible to
include support for many
peripherals on the
motherboard. By combining
many functions on one PCB,
the physical size and total
cost of the system may be
reduced; highly-integrated
motherboards are thus
especially popular in small
form factor and budget
computers.

For example, the ECS

RS485M-M, a typical
modern budget motherboard
for computers based on
AMD processors, has on-
board support for a very
large range of peripherals:
disk controllers for a floppy
disk drive, up to 2 PATA
drives, and up to 6 SATA
drives (including RAID 0/1
support)
• integrated ATI Radeon
graphics controller
supporting 2D and 3D
graphics, with VGA and
TV output
• integrated sound card
supporting 8-channel
(7.1) audio and S/PDIF output
• fast Ethernet network controller for 10/100 Mbit networking
• USB 2.0 controller supporting up to 12 USB ports
• IrDA controller for infrared data communication (e.g. with an IrDA enabled Cellular Phone or
Printer)
• temperature, voltage, and fan-speed sensors that allow software to monitor the health of computer
components

Expansion cards to support all of these functions would have cost hundreds of dollars even a decade ago,
however as of April 2007 such highly-integrated motherboards are available for as little as $30 in the
USA.

For more information, see the Wikipedia page at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motherboard

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 40 of 96

Components of the motherboard
• BIOS - used to configure Hardware
• Processor slots - CPU installed here
• Memory slots-where system RAM is installed
• L2 Cache- where CPU stores frequently used data and instructions
• PCI slots- slots for 32 bit PCI cards
• ISA slots- slots for 16 bit ISA cards
• Keyboard connector- 5 pin DIN or PS/2 Port (6-pin mini DIN)
• Mouse connector- PS/2 port
• Serial Port- DB9 or DB25 male (D-shaped connector)
• Parallel Port- DB25 female connector
• USB Port- peripheral designed to be PnP and to eliminate Expansion cards
• Chipset- integrated circuit. Provides system board’s core functionality
• AGP slot- video card adapter slot
• Power supply connector-connects power to system board
• Floppy drive connector-connects floppy drive to system
• EIDE connectors-connects fixed hard drives (IDE/EIDE) and removable drives (just EIDE) (i.e. CD-
ROM) to the system board

Enclosure Styles:
Desktop, Full tower, Mid tower, Micro tower

CPU - brains of the PC. 3 parts:

1. Retrieves programmed instructions from PC’s memory, decodes, and executes the instruction.
2. Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALU).
3. Sends results back to rest of PC.

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 41 of 96

BIOS
BIOS (pronounced baious), in computing, stands for Basic Input/Output System.

BIOS refers to the firmware code run by an IBM PC when first powered on. The primary function of the
BIOS is to identify and initiate component hardware (such as hard disk, floppy and optical disk drives).
This is to prepare the machine so other software programs stored on various media can load, execute,
and assume control of the PC. This process is known as booting, or booting up, which is short for
bootstrapping.

BIOS can also be said to be a coded program embedded on a chip that recognizes and controls various
devices that make up x86 personal computers. Among other classes of computers, the generic terms boot
monitor, boot loader or boot ROM were commonly used. Some Sun and Macintosh PowerPC computers
used Open Firmware for this purpose. There are a few proposed alternatives for Legacy BIOS in the x86
world: Extensible Firmware Interface, Open Firmware (used on the OLPC XO-1) and coreboot.

The term first appeared in the CP/M operating system, describing the part of CP/M loaded during boot
time that interfaced directly with the hardware (CP/M machines usually had a simple boot loader in
ROM, and nothing else). Most versions of DOS have a file called "IBMBIO.COM" or "IO.SYS" that is
analogous to the CP/M disk BIOS.

The BIOS Chip and BIOS Recovery

Before 1990 or so BIOSes were held on ROM chips that could not be altered. As its complexity and
need for updates grew, BIOS firmware was subsequently stored on EEPROM or flash memory devices.
The first flash chips attached to the ISA bus. Starting in 1998, the BIOS flash moved to the LPC bus, a
functional replacement for ISA, following a new standard implementation known as "firmware hub"
(FWH). In 2006, the first systems supporting a Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) appeared, and the BIOS
flash moved again.

EEPROM chips are advantageous because they can be easily updated by the user; hardware
manufacturers frequently issue BIOS updates to upgrade their products, improve compatibility and
remove bugs. However, this advantage had the risk that an improperly executed or aborted BIOS update
could render the computer or device unusable. To avoid these situations, more recent BIOSes use a
"boot block"; a portion of the BIOS which runs first and can not be altered by updates. This code
verifies if the rest of the BIOS is intact (using hash checksums or other methods), before transferring
control to it. If the boot block detects any corruption in the main BIOS, it will typically warn the user
that a recovery process must be initiated by booting from removable media (floppy, CD or USB
memory) so the user can try flashing the BIOS again. Some motherboards have a backup BIOS
(sometimes referred to as DualBIOS boards) to recover from BIOS corruptions. In 2007, Gigabyte
began offering motherboards with a QuadBIOS recovery feature.

Due to the limitation on the number of times flash memory media can be flashed, a flash-based BIOS is
vulnerable to "flash-burn" viruses that repeatedly write to the flash, permanently corrupting chip content.
Such attacks can be prevented by some form of write-protection, the ultimate protection being the
replacement of the flash memory with a true ROM.

The size of the BIOS, and the capacities of the ROM, EEPROM and other media it may be stored on,
has increased over time as new features have been added to the code; BIOS versions now exist with
sizes up to 8 megabytes.

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 42 of 96

The BIOS business
The vast majority of PC motherboard suppliers license a BIOS "core" and toolkit from a commercial
third-party, known as an "independent BIOS vendor" or IBV. The motherboard manufacturer then
customizes this BIOS to suit its own hardware. For this reason, updated BIOSes are normally obtained
directly from the motherboard manufacturer.

Major BIOS vendors include American Megatrends (AMI), General Software, Insyde Software, and
Phoenix Technologies (which bought Award Software International in 1998).

CMOS
CMOS (Complimentary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) is a special memory area with battery backup
used to store system configuration and set up settings that the PC refers to every time it’s turned on.
• You can write new information to CMOS.
• You can configure/store information about physical memory and new drives, etc. (usually
automatically detected during POST).
• CMOS still has power when PSU is off due to the on-motherboard battery.
• If you remove the CMOS battery, the system goes back to system defaults.
• Settings stored in CMOS are:
Password-2 types:
• System (User) password-allows user to access system
• Set-up (Supervisor)-restricts access to CMOS set-up, can also set a User password and set
User Setup to “View Only”
Drive order (boot sequence)-checked by POST
Memory-how much RAM is installed
Drive types and size
Display or monitor type
Hard Drive Space
Date/Time
Port settings

ROM BIOS
• Acts as an interface between hardware (CPU and chips) and the OS (DOS, Windows 95, etc.)
• Its function is to boot up the system
• ROM BIOS upgrade- in the past-replace chip; now-Flash ROM is re-programmed (need update for
MMX-enabled CPU)
• Top reasons to upgrade BIOS:
Hardware problems,
Video card upgrade
• Boot Block-uneraseable part of flash ROM BIOS.

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 43 of 96

POST (Power On Self Test)
Detects interrupts, I/O address, or base memory address conflicts. The Power On Self Test will test the
following areas of a computer in the indicated order.
1) Processor-if test fails, system halts w/o message.
2) BIOS ROM-check sum series are computed-if they don’t match up, then system halts.
3) DMA Controller-system halts if failure.
4) Interrupt Controller-if fails-long beep and then short beep, system halts.
5) System Timing-if fails, system halts.
6) BASIC ROMs (if present).
7) Video card-if fail, long beep and then 2 short beeps, if successful then ROM BIOS are copied into
RAM.
8) Expansion board initialization-if necessary, the exp. Board’s ROM gets copied into upper memory.
9) RAM-counts and tests RAM by writing a bit to each memory bit.
10) Keyboard-presence of keyboard and any stuck keys.
11) Floppy drives-signal is sent to adapter to activate floppy drive motor.
12) Ports-parallel and serial ports are queried, system looks for an OS to load.
13) System Software: DOS, Windows 2000, Windows NT.
14) Program Software: Windows 95 (works on top of DOS).
15) Application software: Microsoft Works, Excel, games, e-mail, graphics, etc. Software allows you
to do something.
16) Driver Software: Software that drives peripherals (CD-ROM drives, printer device drives).
17) Firmware: software that is stored in the ROM memory chips even when the power is off. Firmware
is read into memory from the hard drive and instructs computer how to load OS.

Undocumented FDISK:
FDISK is a very powerful program. In DOS 5 and later, including Windows 9x/ME, Windows NT, and
Windows 2000, it gained some additional abilities. Unfortunately, these capabilities were never
documented in any of the Microsoft documentation for Windows or DOS. The most important
parameter in FDISK is the /MBR (Master Boot Record) parameter, which causes FDISK to rewrite the
Master Boot Record code area, leaving the partition table area intact.

The /MBR parameter is tailor-made for eliminating boot-sector virus programs that infect the Master
Boot Record (cylinder 0, head 0, sector 1) of a hard disk. To use this feature, enter the following:

FDISK /MBR

FDISK then rewrites the boot record code, leaving the partition tables intact. This should not cause any
problems on a normally functioning system, but just in case, you should back up the partition table
information to floppy disk using a third-party product such as Norton Utilities.

Boot Sequence:
The BOOT process is a cycle that runs from the moment the power switch is turned on to the moment
the DOS command prompt (C:\>) or the Windows Desktop appears. In order for this process to be a
success, all hardware must be working. Below is a list of events the computer runs through during the
BOOT process:
1) Power is turned on or the computer is restarted,
2) A surge of electricity wakes up the Central Processing Unit (CPU),
3) The CPU runs the Power On Self Test (POST) from the Basic Input Output System (BIOS),

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 44 of 96

4) POST then checks to see if the major hardware components are working. Once completed, you
should hear one beep. If POST detected a problem, then it would give off a series of long and short
beeps followed by an error message displayed on the screen (if the screen is working),
5) Next, the BIOS loads the operating system from an active partition or disk. During this step, the
Operating System (OS) is loaded onto the computer.
6a). The loading of Disk Operating System (DOS) can be broken down into the following steps:
a) Scan drive A, then drive C to find the ready drive.
b) If drive C is selected, the Master Boot Record (MBR) is loaded. If drive A is selected, skip to
step d).
c) The program in the MBR is executed and the bootable partition is located.
d) The DOS Boot Record (DBR) is loaded from the first sector of the DOS partition or from the
first sector of the DOS bootable floppy.
e) Control is passed to the DBR.
f) DBR loads the hidden files (IO.SYS and MSDOS.SYS).
g) The first hidden file, IO.SYS, loads all other hidden files.
h) The first hidden file, IO.SYS, loads and interprets CONFIG.SYS, including device drivers.
i) The COMMAND.COM file is then loaded.
j) Finally, COMMAND.COM loads and executes the AUTOEXEC.BAT file.

6b). The loading of Windows 9x can be broken down into the following steps:
a) Power initialization – The motherboard chipset keeps the CPU off until the power supply
stabilizes.
b) BIOS startup – The processor reads the jump address and starts the BIOS program.
c) POST (Power-On Self Test) – The BIOS checks the hardware system – any errors are signaled
with error beep codes.
d) Video and peripheral BIOS – The video card and any other device BIOS execute.
e) System check – After displaying its startup screen, BIOS checks memory, storage drives, ports,
and other devices – any errors are signaled with error messages on the screen.
f) Plug and Play (PnP) check – If BIOS supports this standard, it detects and configures any Plug
and Play devices.
g) Summary screen – The BIOS displays a summary of the PC’s configuration. On some systems, it
displays long enough to read, but on many others it usually flashes by very quickly and is
unreadable.
h) Boot device – The BIOS scans for the active boot device in the specified order as set in CMOS
and looks for the master boot record (MBR) on drive c: or the volume boot sector (VBS) on any
other defined device.
i) OpSys running – Control passes to the boot sector code and the operating system.
j) DOS Boot Record (DBR) loads the hidden files (IO.SYS and MSDOS.SYS).
k) The first hidden file, IO.SYS, loads all other hidden files.
l) The first hidden file, IO.SYS, loads and interprets CONFIG.SYS, including device drivers.
m) The COMMAND.COM file is then loaded.
n) Finally, COMMAND.COM loads and executes the AUTOEXEC.BAT file.
o) After the Autoexec.bat file executes, COMMAND.COM executes windows.

For more information, see the Wikipedia page at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BIOS

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 45 of 96

Bus Structure
In computer architecture, a bus (bidirectional universal switch) is a subsystem that transfers data or
power between computer components inside a computer or between computers, and a bus typically is
controlled by device driver software. Unlike a point-to-point connection, a bus can logically connect
several peripherals over the same set of wires. Each bus defines its set of connectors to physically plug
devices, cards or cables together.

Early computer buses were literally parallel electrical buses with multiple connections, but the term is
now used for any physical arrangement that provides the same logical function as a parallel electrical
bus. Modern computer buses can use both parallel and bit-serial connections, and can be wired in either
a multidrop (electrical parallel) or daisy chain topology, or connected by switched hubs, as in the case of
USB.

First generation
Early computer buses were bundles of wire that attached memory and peripherals. They were named
after electrical buses, or busbars. Almost always, there was one bus for memory, and another for
peripherals, and these were accessed by separate instructions, with completely different timings and
protocols.

One of the first complications was the use of interrupts. Early computers performed I/O by waiting in a
loop for the peripheral to become ready. This was a waste of time for programs that had other tasks to
do. Also, if the program attempted to perform those other tasks, it might take too long for the program to
check again, resulting in loss of data. Engineers thus arranged for the peripherals to interrupt the CPU.
The interrupts had to be prioritized, because the CPU can only execute code for one peripheral at a time,
and some devices are more time-critical than others.

Second generation
"Second generation" bus systems like NuBus addressed some of these problems. They separated the
computer into two "worlds", the CPU and memory on one side, and the various devices on the other,
with a bus controller in between. This allowed the CPU to increase in speed without affecting the bus.
This also moved much of the burden for moving the data out of the CPU and into the cards and
controller, so devices on the bus could talk to each other with no CPU intervention. This led to much
better "real world" performance, but also required the cards to be much more complex. These buses also
often addressed speed issues by being "bigger" in terms of the size of the data path, moving from 8-bit
parallel buses in the first generation, to 16 or 32-bit in the second, as well as adding software setup (now
standardized as Plug-n-play) to supplant or replace the jumpers.

Third generation
"Third generation" buses are now in the process of coming to market, including HyperTransport and
InfiniBand. They also tend to be very flexible in terms of their physical connections, allowing them to
be used both as internal buses, as well as connecting different machines together. This can lead to
complex problems when trying to service different requests, so much of the work on these systems
concerns software design, as opposed to the hardware itself. In general, these third generation buses tend
to look more like a network than the original concept of a bus, with a higher protocol overhead needed
than early systems, while also allowing multiple devices to use the bus at once.

Buses such as Wishbone have been developed by the open source hardware movement in an attempt to

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 46 of 96

further remove legal/patenting constraints from computer design.

Expansion buses or Slots

Interacting w/ the host system - a device gains the attention of the host CPU and then transfers data.

Techniques of interacting
1. Interrupts - signals CPU that the adapter card, system hardware, or application software needs
attention There are 3 types of interrupts:
a) Hardware interrupt-system hardware (keyboard, system clock) and from adapter cards. Each
adapter has its own IRQ (Interrupt ReQuest) number.
b) Exception interrupt-used mainly by CPU itself to handle error conditions
c) Software interrupts-sent by application that is running on PC
2. I/O addresses - after interrupt is established, the adapter communicates with host by I/O addresses
(Base I/O address, I/O port). Each adapter has its own non-overlapping I/O address which is a range
of conventional memory from 4-32 bits.
3. Base Memory Addresses - memory address of any memory on an adapter card. Ranges from
640KB-1MB in the upper memory bank (UMB) on the host computer. Each adapter card must have
a unique BMA and operate in the same mode (8 bit or 16 bit) (can’t have an 8 bit sound card and a
16 bit video card together).
4. Direct Memory Access (DMA) - DMA controller is on a chip set and relieves the CPU of
responsibility of transferring data between adapter and system memory. Each adapter needs a unique
DMA channel to communicate w/ the DMA controller.

Interface - place on PC where other devices (disk drives, modems, keyboard, mouse, etc.) are
connected. 2 types: 1. Built in, or 2. Interface card (adapter card)-card that is inserted into a slot that
connects to CPU.

Buses - collection of wires that make the connection and the rules that describe how data should flow
through the wires.
• Buses specify the placement of connections, the electric signals that are allowable on each computer,
and what those signals mean.
• Configured with
1. jumpers,
2. switches,
3. software (setup software communicates w/ special circuitry on the adapter card via pulsed
signals. After settings are configured (IRQ, DMA), they are stored in EEPROM on the card), or
4. PnP - configure set up by OS’s. BIOS need to support PnP in order to use PnP. PnP OS’s –
Windows 95, 98, and NT(sort of), Win2k, WinXP, Windows Vista.

• 8-bit bus - Not many (if any) left. Will only support single slot cards using an 8-bit data bus, 8
interrupts, and 4 DMA channels. Should not be on the exam! Presented here just to be complete.

ISA (Industry Standard Architecture) – operates at 8 Mhz, 16-bit data bus, uses a double slot connector
(has 1 notch). The additional connector added 8 more IRQ lines and 4 more DMA lines. Cards
using the slots usually used jumpers or DIP switches to set things like IRQ, memory I/O ranges,
and DMA numbers. ISA also separated the bus clock from the CPU clock to allow the slower
data bus to operate at its own speed. ISA slots are found on anything from 286 systems up
through and including some of the earlier Pentium systems. ISA buses communicate w/ the host

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 47 of 96

 system in 2 steps: 1. They signal that they are @ ready to transfer data and then 2. They transfer
data 1 byte at a time. The process is repeated until all data is sent. ISA is not a good choice for a
server. It has limited transfer rate and memory limits.

EISA (Extended Industry Standard Architecture) – 32-bit bus but operates at only 8-10 MHz to be
backward compatible with the 16-bit ISA bus that it also uses. More notches than ISA. Offers 3
additional modes of transfer: 1. Burst mode - uses 1 signal for transfer of more than 1 byte of
data, 2. Streaming mode - transfers a block of data at up to 40 Mbps, and 3. Multiplexed
streaming mode - transfer data up to 64 Mbps.

• EISA is more suitable for servers than clients PC. Configurations are saved in CMOS on a (SCI-
System Configuration Information File) and also in on-board ROM.

• EISA allows for bus mastering-1 adapter takes control and bypasses the CPU (if an expansion
card has its own built-in processor, it can operate independently from the CPU. A bus-mastering
board can control the bus and act as if it were the entire system, which allows for very fast
throughput).

MCA (Micro Channel Architecture) – introduced with the IBM PS/2, it was the first 32-bit option and
featured bus mastering and a 10 MHz bus clock for expansion cards. Uses an asynchronous bus-
does not depend on the system timing.

VLB (VESA or Video Local Bus) – first used on 486 systems and used to place a port directly on the
system bus or a processor direct slot. The only difference between this and EISA is the fact that
it is directly on the system bus and can run at the speed of the CPU. They are mostly proprietary
and support only expansion cards from the PC’s manufacturer. Tied to the 486 chip set, limited
to an actual speed of about 33 MHz, and very sensitive to electrical fluctuations. Usually limited
to a maximum of three per motherboard. VESA = Video Electronics Standards Association.

PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) – introduced with the Pentium processor, it supports either a
32 or 64-bit bus, which allows it to be used with both 486 and Pentium processors. Creates a
high speed data path between the peripheral and the CPU.

AGP (Advanced Graphics Port/Processor) – Similar to the PCI slot but it is located on the system RAM
bus and is designed specifically for video cards only. There will only be one per system. Speeds
up 3-D graphics.

USB (Universal Serial Bus) – newest. Designed to provide PnP capability to peripherals from outside
the case. New peripherals can be “hot-swapped” without installing interface cards or even
turning off the system. Can chain up to 127 serial peripherals to one central hub. Carries power
supply as well. Cables should be 5 meters or less in length, supports up to 127 devices.

Firewire – Will replace SCSI technology because devices do not have to be terminated or assigned ID
numbers. Can chain up to 63 devices and uses a 6 prong connector. *Firewire has an internal
(backplane bus) with speeds of 12.5, 25, and 50 Mbps, external speeds of 100, 200, and 400
Mbps. See Hard drive Interfaces.

Local buses are PCI, ISA, EISA, VL.

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 48 of 96

PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card Industry Association) – designed to give laptop and
notebook computers an expansion capability. Currently only 4 standard types:
Type I – 3.3 mm (RAM), thin card used for memory
Type II – 5 mm (I/O cards such as modems), thicker card used for interface adapters
Type III – 10.5 mm (hard drives), thickest card used for hard drives
Type IV – greater than 10.5 mm (not yet standardized as of 1998)

Bus Bus Speed (MHz) Configured # of # of DMA

(bits) IRQ’s channels
8-bit 8 8 Jumpers or Switches 8 4
ISA 16 8 Jumpers or Switches, newer ISA’s 16 8
use software
EISA 32 8-10 Software
MCA 16/32 10 (book says 20) Software
VLB 32 Up to 50 (really Jumpers or Switches or software
33)
PCI 32/64 CPU Plug and Play
AGP (1.0) 32 66, 133 Plug and Play
AGP (2.0) 32 266 Plug and Play
USB 1.0 1 (4 12 Mbps Plug and Play
pins)
USB 2.0 1 (4 480 Mbps Plug and Play
pins)
Firewire 1 (6 * 400 Mbps Plug and Play
pins)
PCMCIA 16/32 33 Plug and Play
ISA – Industry Standard Architecture. VESA – Video Electronics Standards Association.

For more information, see the Wikipedia page at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus_(computing)

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 49 of 96

Interrupts
IRQ BIN Hex Device Address DMA POST Recommended
0 System Timer 0040-0043
0 0000 0
1 Keyboard 0060-0064 3XX
1 0001 1
2 Cascade from 9 00A0-00A1
2 0010 2 Video Card 5XX
3 Com 2 (primary) 02F8-02FF Modem
3 0011 3 Com 4 (secondary) 02E8-02EF
4 Com 1 (primary) 03F8-03FF Serial Mouse
4 0100 4 Com 3 (secondary) 03E8-03EF
5 Sound Card 0220-022F 0/1/5 Sound Card
5 0101 5 LPT 2 0278-027F
6 Floppy Drive 03F0-03F7 2 6XX FDD Controller
6 0110 6
7 LPT 1 0378-037F 3 (ECP Mode) 14XX LPT1
7 0111 7
8 RTC 0070-0071
8 1000 8
9 Redirect IRQ 2 NIC
9 1001 9 NIC 0300-030F
10 USB
10 1010 A
11 SCSI Host
11 1011 B
12 PS/2 Mouse 0238-023F 86XX Mouse
12 1100 C
13 Math Coprocessor 00F0-00FF
13 1101 D
14 Primary IDE 01F0-01F7 17XX
14 1110 E
15 Secondary IDE 0170-0177
15 1111 F
1XX-system board
2XX-main memory
-Anything that is on IRQ’s 8-15 is on IRQ 2.
-The lower the IRQ #, the higher the priority it is.
-I/O ports use address range 0-255 (hex-0h-FFh)
-All other devices use address range 9256-65,535 (hex-100h-FFFFh)

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 50 of 96

Some INTEL Microprocessor Characteristics:
Year to CPU Chip Package Speed Internal Address Memory Multi Cache (K) Socket/
Year (MHz) Data Bus (MB) CPUs Slot Type
Bus (bits) RAM Used
1978 8086 DIP 4.77-8 16 20 1 No 0
1982 80286(intro. of real PGA 8 to 20 16 24 16 No 0
and protected mode)
1985 386DX PGA 40 32 32 4096 or No 0
4 GB
1988 386SX PGA 25 16 24 16 No 0
1989 486DX PGA 25 to 50 32 32 4096 No 8
(intro of heat sink, L1
cache on die CPU,
burst mode, and math
coprocessor)
1991 486SX PGA-169 pin 16 to 50 32 32 4096 No 8 Socket 1
1992 486DX2 PGA 40 to 80 32 32 4096 No 8
1993 P5 - Pentium (586)- SPGA-273 or 60 to 64 32 4096 2 16K Socket 4
two 486’s 296 pin 66
1994 486DX4 PGA 75 to 32 32 4096 No 16
120
1994 P54 PGA - 296 or 75 to 64 32 4096 2 16 Socket 7
1995 321 pin 120
1995 Pentium Pro (intro. of SPGA-387 150 to 64 64/36 65536 4 16L1 + Socket 8
L2 cache) pin 200 or 64 256 to
GB 1ML2
1997 Pentium MMX PGA - 296 or 133 to 64 64/32 4096 2 32K L1 Socket 7
321 pin 300
1997 Pentium II SEC 233 to 64 64/36 65536 2 32 L1 + Slot 1
450 512 L2
1998 Celeron PPGA/SECC 333 to 64 64/36 65536 No 32 L1 + Slot 1,
700 128L2 Socket
370
1999 Pentium III PPGA/SECC 450 to 64 64/36 65536 2 32K L1 + Slot 1
1400 512L2
1999 P III Xeon SECC 550 to 64 64/36 65536 8 32L1 + Slot 2
L2 cache on die 1000 256K to
2MBL2
2000 P3 Celeron FC-PGA 533 to 32 L1 + Socket
3600 128 L2 370
2000 P4 PGA423, 1300 to 256 - Socket
2008 PGA478 3800 512L2 423, 478
2003 Pentium 4- M Micro- 900 to 64L1 + Socket
2008 FCBGA 2260 1000L2 479
1998 Celeron M 266 to 64L1 + Slot 1,
Current 3600 512L2 Socket M
2006 Dual-Core 1400 to LGA 775,
Current 2600 Socket M
Notes:
• 80186 - Unsuccessful due to numerous compatibility problems but they combined 15 to 20
system components that were used in the 8086 series CPUs, so paved the way for the 80286
CPUs.
• Pentium is basically two 486 chips in the same package that creates the possibility of onboard
parallel processing.
• Pentium and Pentium Pro added parallel processing.
• Pentium II/III Xeon processors have more L2 cache (512KB, 1 MB, or 2 MB) and run at full
core speed .

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 51 of 96

CPU’s are either:
1. CISC (Complex Instruction Set Computer)-instructions are not a fixed length, or
2. RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer)-instructions are a fixed length. There is also SIMD
(Single Instruction Multiple Data) with Pentium MMX.

CPU packages are either:

1. Slot based, or
2. Socketed (100 lbs. of force to install-socket 1; Zero Insertion Force-sockets 2-8) Socket 6 was never
used.

DIP - Dual Inline Package. Socketed.

PGA - Pin Grid Array, the 486 uses a 169-pin package; the Pentium mounts in either a 273-pin or 296-
pin socket; and the Pentium Pro uses a 387-pin socket. This changes the physical size of the chip. There
is a CPGA (ceramic), a PPGA (plastic), or a FCPGA (flip chip). Socketed.

SPGA - Staggered Pin Grid Array. Socketed.

SECC - Single Edge Contact Cartridge, the processor mounts as a single module into a special slot on
the motherboard.

Cache- area of memory reserved for storing data that the CPU determines it will be using frequently.

Math Co-processor - In the table above the first CPU to incorporate an onboard MPU was the 486DX.

MMX (Multimedia Extensions) - added 57 new instructions to improve video, audio, and graphics
capability; added SIMD (Single Instruction Multiple Data) technology, in which one instruction can
control several data items; and Cache was doubled to 32K.

Chipset - a set of microchips that work as a unit to set or control the amount of memory and the type of
RAM chips that can be used, and provide support for certain types of peripherals. Chipset is commonly
used to mean the basic functions of a motherboard. If the chipset doesn’t support an upgrade you will be
required to change the motherboard.

Thermal grease - a compound used to conduct heat from the CPU to the cooling fins of a heat sink. It is
mercury-based so you should avoid getting any on your skin.

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 52 of 96

Intro to the Console Internals (Lab)
Page left blank for Lab drawings.

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 53 of 96

Memory Systems
Computer data storage, often called storage or memory, refers to computer components, devices, and
recording media that retain digital data used for computing for some interval of time. Computer data
storage provides one of the core functions of the modern computer, that of information retention. It is
one of the fundamental components of all modern computers, and coupled with a central processing unit
(CPU, a processor), implements the basic computer model used since the 1940s.

In contemporary usage, memory usually refers to a form of semiconductor storage known as random
access memory (RAM) and sometimes other forms of fast but temporary storage. Similarly, storage
today more commonly refers to mass storage - optical discs, forms of magnetic storage like hard disks,
and other types slower than RAM, but of a more permanent nature. Historically, memory and storage
were respectively called primary storage and secondary storage.

The contemporary distinctions are helpful, because they are also fundamental to the architecture of
computers in general. As well, they reflect an important and significant technical difference between
memory and mass storage devices, which has been blurred by the historical usage of the term storage.

Characteristics of storage
Storage technologies at all levels of the storage hierarchy can be
differentiated by evaluating certain core characteristics as well
as measuring characteristics specific to a particular
implementation. These core characteristics are volatility,
mutability, accessibility, and addressability. For any particular
implementation of any storage technology, the characteristics
worth measuring are capacity and performance.

Volatility
• Non-volatile memory - Will retain the stored information
even if it is not constantly supplied with electric power. It is
suitable for long-term storage of information. Nowadays
used for most of secondary, tertiary, and off-line storage. In
1950s and 1960s, it was also used for primary storage, in the
form of magnetic core memory.
• Volatile memory - Requires constant power to maintain the
stored information. The fastest memory technologies of
today are volatile ones (not a universal rule). Since primary Illustration 19: A 1GB DDR RAM memory
storage is required to be very fast, it predominantly uses module
volatile memory.

Differentation
• Dynamic memory - A form of volatile memory which also requires the stored information to be
periodically re-read and re-written, or refreshed, otherwise it would vanish.
• Static memory - A form of volatile memory similar to DRAM with the exception that it does not
refresh on occasion.
• Side note: most modern PC system developers have gone with DRAM as the standard with SDRAM
and SRAM being slowly phased out of the common marketplace as new motherboards are not being
built to support these styles of chips.

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 54 of 96

Mutability
• Read/write storage or mutable storage - Allows information to be overwritten at any time. A
computer without some amount of read/write storage for primary storage purposes would be useless
for many tasks. Modern computers typically use read/write storage also for secondary storage.
• Read only storage - Retains the information stored at the time of manufacture, and write once read
many (WORM) storage allows the information to be written only once at some point after
manufacture. These are called immutable storage. Immutable storage is used for tertiary and off-line
storage. Examples include CD-ROM and CD-R.
• Slow write, fast read storage - Read/write storage which allows information to be overwritten
multiple times, but with the write operation being much slower than the read operation. Examples
include CD-RW.

Accessibility
• Random access - Any location in storage can be accessed at any moment in approximately the same
amount of time. Such characteristic is well suited for primary and secondary storage.
• Sequential access - The accessing of pieces of information will be in a serial order, one after the
other; therefore the time to access a particular piece of information depends upon which piece of
information was last accessed. Such characteristic is typical of off-line storage.

Addressability
• Location-addressable - Each individually accessible unit of information in storage is selected with its
numerical memory address. In modern computers, location-addressable storage usually limits to
primary storage, accessed internally by computer programs, since location-addressability is very
efficient, but burdensome for humans.
• File addressable - Information is divided into files of variable length, and a particular file is selected
with human-readable directory and file names. The underlying device is still location-addressable,
but the operating system of a computer provides the file system abstraction to make the operation
more understandable. In modern computers, secondary, tertiary and off-line storage use file systems.
• Content-addressable - Each individually accessible unit of information is selected with a hash value,
or a short identifier with a number pertaining to the memory address where the information is stored.
Content-addressable storage can be implemented using software (computer program) or hardware
(computer device), with hardware being a faster but more expensive option.

Capacity
• Raw capacity - The total amount of stored information that a storage device or medium can hold. It
is expressed as a quantity of bits or bytes (e.g. 10.4 megabytes).
• Density - The compactness of stored information. It is the storage capacity of a medium divided with
a unit of length, area or volume (e.g. 1.2 megabytes per square inch).

Performance
• Latency - The time it takes to access a particular location in storage. The relevant unit of
measurement is typically nanosecond for primary storage, millisecond for secondary storage, and
second for tertiary storage. It may make sense to separate read latency and write latency, and in case
of sequential access storage, minimum, maximum and average latency.
• Throughput - The rate at which information can be read from or written to the storage. In computer
data storage, throughput is usually expressed in terms of megabytes per second or MB/s, though bit
rate may also be used. As with latency, read rate and write rate may need to be differentiated. Also
accessing media sequentially, as opposed to randomly, typically yields maximum throughput.

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 55 of 96

Common DRAM modules
Common DRAM packages as illustrated to the right,
from top to bottom:
1. DIP 16-pin (Dual Inline Package)
2. SIPP (Single Inline Pin Package)
3. SIMM 30-pin (Single Inline Memory Module)
4. SIMM 72-pin (so-called "PS/2 SIMM", usually
EDO RAM)
5. DIMM 168-pin (SDRAM, Dual Inline Memory
Module)
6. DIMM 184-pin (DDR SDRAM)
7. RIMM 184-pin (Rambus Dynamic RAM
Memory)
8. DIMM 240-pin (DDR2 SDRAM/DDR3
SDRAM)

Memory:
• internal storage areas in the computer.
• memory chips are made of up millions of
transistors, which conduct electricity (1) or do not
conduct electricity. (0).

Non-Volatile
• ROM (Read Only Memory)-special permanent
memory used to store programs that boot the PC
and perform diagnostics. It can be re-written.
• PROM (Programmable ROM)-programmed Illustration 20: Common DRAM modules
only once by applying high voltages that alter
circuits and store desired program.
• EPROM (Erasable PROM) is erased by
exposure to ultraviolet light.
• EEPROM/Flash (Electrically Erasable
PROM)-erased electronically-1 bit at a time- Illustration 21: RAMBUS memory with integrated heatsink
used in printers. Most new BIOS are
flashable.

Firmware is stored in ROM.

Volatile
• RAM (Random Access Memory)-main
memory. Can be read or written over. Needs
constant source of electricity
• DRAM (Dynamic RAM) – Most common Illustration 22: DDR2 SDRAM Packages
type of RAM, uses 1 transistor and one
capacitor, refreshed every 16 milliseconds.
• SRAM (Static RAM) – Very fast RAM, Used in L1 and L2 Cache, CMOS, etc. Uses 6 transistors,
not refreshed, charged from system board memory.
• SDRAM (Synchronous DRAM) – Faster than DRAM, may operate at the speed of the CPU. On a

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 56 of 96

 video card, has a clock that is coordinated with the system clock.
• RDRAM (Rambus Dynamic RAM) – new memory to support speeds up to 800MHz. Needs to be
refreshed. Has a 0 wait state.
• EDO RAM (Extended Data Output RAM) – will not discharge unless written to, faster than other
memory.
• VRAM (Video RAM) – two access paths to a single memory location enabling simultaneous read
and write.
• WRAM (Window RAM) – optimized for display adapters, specifically as a video graphics
accelerator for Windows 3.x. Same structure as VRAM.

DRAM, EDO RAM, WRAM, SDRAM, DDR SDRAM, and SGRAM are also types of video RAM.

Parity Checking
• 9th bit that verifies the integrity of previous byte. It verifies 1 byte at a time w/ no corrections.
• Odd parity-parity bit is 0 and there is an odd number of 1’s; data is valid and the p-bit is removed
and data is sent.
• Even parity-parity bit is 1 and there is an even number of 1’s; data is invalid and a parity error is
generated.

Error Correct Code (ECC)

• type of memory that checks parity of segments of code and corrects 1 bit errors. Used in high-end
servers.

Types of RAM packages

• DIP (Dual Inline Package) – a family of rectangular, integrated-circuit flat packages that have leads
on the two longer sides. Either plastic or ceramic, DIP memory chips hold 16KB to 1024KB (1MB).

• SIPP (Single Inline Pin Package) – a small circuit board with pins across the bottom. No longer
manufactured.

• SIMM (Single Inline Memory Module) – a group of DRAM memory chips on a small Printed
Circuit (PC) board with a single row of input/output contacts. Only one side of the module makes
contact with the computer. They must be installed in pairs. All SIMM’s run at the speed of the
slowest SIMM.
30-pin – about 9 DIP chips, 256KB to 16MB.
72-pin – about 36 DIP chips, 4MB to 64MB.
SIMM’s transfer data at 32 bits at a time

DIMM (Dual Inline Memory Module) – an array of memory chips on both sides of a small PC board
with two rows of input/output contacts. The contacts are located on both sides of the module board.
They have 168 pins and range in size from 8MB to 256MB. Transfer data 64 bits at a time with a 64
bit or wider memory bus.

• RIMM (Rambus Inline Memory Module) – a 184-pin, 2.5 volt, 600 or 800 MHz, 16-bit and 18-bit
memory module for Direct Rambus Dynamic Random Access Memory (Direct RDRAM). ID
numbers and up to 63 devices can be chained. Uses a 6-prong power connector.

• If memory module is divisible by 8 it’s non-parity; if divisible by 9 it includes parity bit (Parity
checking is set up in CMOS).

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 57 of 96

For more information, see the Wikipedia page at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_data_storage

and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDR2_SDRAM

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 58 of 96

Storage Systems
Secondary storage, or Storage in popular usage, differs from primary
storage in that it is not directly accessible by the CPU. The computer
usually uses its input/output channels to access secondary storage
and transfers desired data using intermediate area in primary storage.
Secondary storage does not lose the data when the device is powered
down - it is non-volatile. Per unit, it is typically also an order of
magnitude less expensive than primary storage. Consequently,
modern computer systems typically have an order of magnitude
more secondary storage than primary storage and data is kept for a
longer time there.

In modern computers, hard disks are usually used as secondary Illustration 23: A hard disk drive with
protective cover removed.
storage. The time taken to access a given byte of information stored
on a hard disk is typically a few thousandths of a second, or milliseconds. By contrast, the time taken to
access a given byte of information stored in random access memory is measured in thousand-millionths
of a second, or nanoseconds. This illustrates the very significant access-time difference which
distinguishes solid-state memory from rotating magnetic storage devices: hard disks are typically about
a million times slower than memory. Rotating optical storage devices, such as CD and DVD drives,
have even longer access times.

Some other examples of secondary storage technologies are: flash memory (e.g. USB sticks or keys),
floppy disks, magnetic tape, paper tape, punch cards, standalone RAM disks, and Zip drives.
The secondary storage is often formatted according to a file system format, which provides the
abstraction necessary to organize data into files and directories, providing also additional information
(called metadata) describing the owner of a certain file, the access time, the access permissions, and
other information.

Most computer operating systems use the concept of virtual memory, allowing utilization of more
primary storage capacity than is physically available in the system. As the primary memory fills up, the
system moves the least-used chunks (pages) to secondary storage devices (to a swap file or page file),
retrieving them later when they are needed. As more of these retrievals from slower secondary storage
are necessary, the more the overall system performance is degraded.

Characteristics of storage
The characteristics of storage for Primary Storage also apply to Secondary Storage.

Magnetic storage media

Magnetic storage uses different patterns of magnetization on a magnetically coated surface to store
information. Magnetic storage is non-volatile. The information is accessed using one or more read/write
heads which may contain one or more recording transducers. A read/write head only covers a part of the
surface so that the head or medium or both must be moved relative to another in order to access data. In
modern computers, magnetic storage will take these forms:
• Magnetic disk
• Floppy disk, used for off-line storage
• Hard disk, used for secondary storage
• Magnetic tape data storage, used for tertiary and off-line storage

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 59 of 96

In early computers, magnetic storage was also used for primary storage in a form of magnetic drum, or
core memory, core rope memory, thin film memory, twistor memory or bubble memory. Also unlike
today, magnetic tape was often used for secondary storage.

Optical storage media

Optical storage, the typical Optical disc, stores information in deformities on the surface of a circular
disc and reads this information by illuminating the surface with a laser diode and observing the
reflection. Optical disc storage is non-volatile. The deformities may be permanent (read only media ),
formed once (write once media) or reversible (recordable or read/write media). The following forms are
currently in common use:
• CD, CD-ROM, DVD, BD-ROM: Read only storage, used for mass distribution of digital
information (music, video, computer programs)
• CD-R, DVD-R, DVD+R BD-R: Write once storage, used for tertiary and off-line storage
• CD-RW, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD-RAM, BD-RE (Blu-Ray Disc Rewritable): Slow write,
fast read storage, used for tertiary and off-line storage
• Ultra Density Optical or UDO is similar in capacity to BD-R or BD-RE and is slow write, fast
read storage used for tertiary and off-line storage.

Magneto-optical disc storage is optical disc storage where the magnetic state on a ferromagnetic surface
stores information. The information is read optically and written by combining magnetic and optical
methods. Magneto-optical disc storage is non-volatile, sequential access, slow write, fast read storage
used for tertiary and off-line storage.

3D optical data storage has also been proposed.

Hard Drives
• have 2 motors
To turn the platters, and
Stepper motor to stop. Also has a voice coil (similar to an audio speaker) which allows data to be
written close together.
• Physical Characteristics
form factor- 8, 5 ¼, and 3 ½ inch disks;
height- full, ½ or 1” height drives.
• Configuring Hard Drives
set jumpers. 1st drive is the master, 2nd drive is the slave,
hook up cables [power (molex) and control (40 pin cable)].
• Setting up Hard Drives
low level format sets up hard drive to accept data,
high level format sets up segments (smallest unit of storage). Uses a File Allocation Table
(FAT).

Hard Drive Interfaces

ST-506/ST-412 – One of the oldest legacy drive interfaces still in use. One drive per controller used two
drive cables, a 34-pin data cable and a 20-pin control cable.

ESDI (Enhanced Small Device Interface) – Similar to the ST-506 but allowed two drives per controller
card. A termination resistor required for the last drive in the chain.

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 60 of 96

SCSI (Small Computer System Interface) Standards
• SCSI has a logical and an electrical interface.
• Connects either on system board or SCSI adapter card is added into PCI slot.
• Connection made by 50 pin ribbon connector (internal SCSI), or 50 pin Centronics or 68 pin HD D
connector or 25 pin connector(external connections).
• One SCSI controller (which is really an adapter called the host bus adapter) can control up to 7
devices on 1 cable.
The host bus adapter connects data from the system bus to the SCSI bus and vice versa.
Each SCSI device has its own ID# from 0-7 (0-15 on SCSI-III).
Either 0 or 7 is the ID# used by the host bus adapter.
LUN (Logical Unit Numbers)-a sub-device of SCSI which allows you to have up to 7 sub-
devices per each SCSI ID#.
• SCSI can be either 8, 16, or 32 bit versions.
• SCSI must be terminated and can only be attached to SCSI controller.
• SCSI does not use BIOS, so drive is not configured in BIOS.
You can boot from a SCSI drive without using BIOS. SCSI has its own BIOS chip.

Single-ended device – one wire per data bit. Noise a problem, 6 Meters max.
HVD (High Voltage Differential) – two wires per data bit, could damage Single-ended devices if put on
the same chain, 25 Meters max.
LVD (Low Voltage Differential) – two wires per data bit, can be used with single-ended devices, 12
Meters max.

Description /Standard Bus Width Transfer rate Max. # Devices Cable Type Max Cable Length
SCSI-1 8-bits 5MBps 8 25-pin 6 Meters
SCSI-2 8-bits 5MBps 8 50-pin 6 Meters
Fast SCS-3 8-bits 10MBps 8 50-pin 3 Meters
Wide SCSI-2 16-bits 10MBps 16 68-pin 3 Meters
Ultra 8-bits 20MBps 8 50-pin 1.5 Meters
Fast Wide 16-bits 20MBps 16 68-pin 3 Meters
Ultra-2 8-bits 40MBps 8 50-pin 3 Meters
Ultra Wide 16-bits 40MBps 16 68-pin 3 Meters
Wide Ultra-2 16-bits 80MBps 16 68-pin 3 Meters

IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) – also known as the ATA interface, two hard drives max (one master
and one slave), no other devices accepted, 504 MB maximum drive size. (the boot drive should
be on IDE1).
• IDE needs to go through the CPU and chipset.
• IDE connections are made with 40 pin ribbon cable; Max. Cable length is 2 ft.

LBA (Logical Block Addressing/WD) or ECHS (Extended Cylinder Head Sector/Seagate) – procedure
used to bypass the 504MB limitation of IDE drives. Maximum size is 8.4GB. It uses a method of
sector translation that gives the BIOS incorrect information about the devices addresses.

Int13 (Interrupt 13/Phoenix) – New BIOS commands allow hard drive sizes to 137GB.

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EIDE (Enhanced IDE) or (ATA-2 or Fast ATA/WD) – Allows up to 8GB drives, it has 2 connectors,
each w/ dual host interface controllers (allows up to 4 devices, and CD-ROM and tape drives are
an option). Not limited to just hard drives.
• EIDE needs to go through the CPU and chipset.
• EIDE connections are made with 40 pin ribbon cable; Max. Cable length is 2 ft.

PIO Mode - programmed Input Output Mode

• Set in the BIOS when IDE/EIDE drives are installed.

Standard PIO Mode Transfer Rate

ATA 0 3.3 Mbps
ATA 1 5.2 Mbps
ATA 2 8.3 Mbps
ATA-2 3 11.1 Mbps
ATA-2 4 16.6 Mbps

Ultra DMA (UDMA)

• configuring and troubleshooting p.217-219 Core text
• supported by BIOS
• drive protocol for hard drive data on IDE/EIDE drives
• UDMA plugged into IDE/EIDE is limited to 16.6 Mbps.
• BIOS and drivers need to be upgraded to maximize speed
• UDMA connector is blue
• UDMA/33 has 40 wires/40 pin cables(7 pins for grounding)
• UDMA/66 and UDMA/100 has 80 wires/40 pin cables(40 extra wires are to assist with grounding
and to keep signal noise and crosstalk down.
• UDMA can go directly to memory, but you need certain chipsets to be UDMA compatible.
Standard Year Transfer Rate
DMA/33 1996 33.3 Mbps
DMA/66 1998 66 Mbps
DMA/100 2000 100 Mbps

Firewire – Will eventually replace SCSI technology because devices do not have to be terminated or
assigned.

Hard drive error messages

Non-system disk or disk error-occurs when non-system boot up disk is in floppy drive during boot
process
Invalid Media Type-occurs when drive is partitioned, but not formatted
Invalid drive specification-occurs when drive has not been partitioned at all
Invalid Configuration-press F1 to continue-BIOS settings in CMOS do not match the hardware
Fixed disk error-improper BIOS setting for the drive or bad cable

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Changing hard drives
... from one PC to another PC
1) If drive was slave on PC1 and going to be master on PC2
a) Jumpers need to be reconfigured before installation
b) CMOS- you must let PC know which type of hard drive you want to use as the master
c) You must format the hard drive with OS (it was not the boot drive in PC1)
2) If drive was master in PC1 and will be master in PC2
a) Jumpers should stay the same.
b) CMOS-you might need to check.
c) Drive already has OS installed.
3) If drive was master and now it's going to be the slave drive.
a) Jumpers should be reconfigured.
b) CMOS should auto-detect the slave drive.
c) You can leave the OS, but it will decrease memory on slave drive.

Ways to designate a hard drive as a master or slave

1) Set master jumper to on (master) or off (slave).
2) On newer hard drives, plug a Cable Select cable into either the master or slave connector (missing
pin 28) on the back of the hard drive.

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 63 of 96

Working with Disks
A floppy disk has been the standard of storage for personal computers since
1971 when an 8-inch disk held 79KB of data. The standard, reached in 1987 for
a 3½" Floppy disk was 1.44 MB. Though storage up to 200 MB was reached by
1999, the Floppy disk has slowly been replaced by solid-state electronic devices
currently capable of storing over 8 GB in a device potentially much smaller than
a Pink Pearl Eraser!
Illustration 24: Pink
Think of a mechanical computer storage device as an onion cut across the rings. Pearl Eraser
You can see how the tracks (A) in the image to the right appear to be different
layers in an onion. A geometrical sector (B) is then formed by two lines
from the center to the outer edge. A track sector (C), or simply a Sector, is
where a Track and a geometrical sector intersect. This is the smallest unit of
storage on a Floppy Disk. A Cluster (D) is the smallest logical amount of
disk space that can be allocated to hold a file.

For a 1.44MB Floppy disk, the Cluster is equivalent to a Sector and is 512
Bytes. 512 Bytes is approximately ½ of an 8½" x 11" sheet of single spaced
typed paper, and there are 2,847 Sectors on a 3½" Floppy Disk. It can hold
an equivalent to over 1423 typed pages in ASCII (American Standard Code
for Information Interchange) format! That would be one BIG book!

A standard Floppy Disk is shown in cut-away form to the right. The components
are as follows:
1) Write-protect tab 5) Paper ring
2) Hub 6) Magnetic disk
3) Shutter 7) Disk Sector
4) Plastic housing

To give you some reference of

advancements in technology, look at this harddrive from 1956 and
compare that to our modern equivalents.

Illustration 27: September 1956 5MB

IBM Harddrive

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 64 of 96

I/O Ports
how data is transmitted.
Serial transmission - data is sent and received 1 bit at a time over a single wire. Each bit is transmitted
as a voltage. Sent at a rate of 115,000bps. Serial cable can be up to 50 ft.

Parallel Transmission - 1 byte at a time is sent over 8 wires. Max. distance for cables 10-15 ft. (for the
test 10 ft.). to keep crosstalk down. Anything over 10 ft, you need good quality cables.

PS/2 port or 6 pin mini DIN - keyboard (IRQ1) and mouse (IRQ12) connections on ATX board; 5 pin
DIN on AT boards. Output voltage is +/- 5 volts DC. On older ports mice were on serial ports.

There is also a MIDI (Musical Instrument Device Interface) port and a SCSI (Small Computer System
Interface) port.

Serial Ports - most common device is the modem (enables 2 computers to communicate over a phone
line).
• In order for 2 computers to communicate, they must use the same settings for: 1 bps (data rate-how
much data is transferred in 1 sec), 2. Data bits, 3. Parity, 4. Stop bus, and 5. flow control.
• data rate vs. baud rate-baud rate is the number of signal changes on a data transmission line in 1 sec.
• Synchronization - receiver must know how frequently to read the data line. If receiving device is not
in synch with signal, then the signal will be misread.

2 types of Synchronization:
1. Synchronous transmission - receiver’s clock and transmitter’s clock must be in synch.
2. Asynchronous transmission - transmitter adds a start, parity, and stop bit to the data line, which is
called a data frame. This process is called framing. Asynch. Transmission also involves flow control
(uses handshaking- rec. sends a signal using a separate wire to let the transmitter know it’s ready to
receive).

Serial port standards

• RS232 Standard-standard way to connect computer to modems. It describes: 1.mechanical
characteristics (wiring, connection pin arrangements, and cable connections, i.e. DB25 male or DB9
male), 2. Signaling techniques, 3. Function of support circuits, and 4. Procedures used to
communicate over RS232 lines (handshaking).
• Connectors - most common DB9 male connector.

Parallel Ports - most common device is the printer (uses Centronics standard (36 pins connector to the
printer and a DB25 pin connector to the computer).
• connectors:-most common DB25 female connector.
• SPP-standard parallel port. Originally data only flowed to the printer (unidirectional) or other
devices
• EPP-Enhanced Parallel Port) was bi-directional. (Needed for CD-ROM’s and network adapters).
ECP-Enhanced Capabilities Port-10x faster, defined by IEEE 1284 Standard-which defines 3 types
of connectors:
1) Type A-DB 25 pin connector,
2) Type B- 36 pin conductor, 0.085 centerline clamp with bale locks, and
3) Type C-36 pin conductor, 0.050 centerline mini connector with clip latches.

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 65 of 96

USB (Universal Serial Bus) Ports - used to connect common I/O devices. Can connect up to 127
devices to 1 USB port by using USB hubs.
• Has a 4 pin socket on the PC. There are 2 types of USB plugs: 1. Type A-rectangle, which connects
to the host or hub and 2. Type B-D-shaped which connects to the peripheral.
• USB runs at 12Mbps.
• USB is PnP compatible.

Advantages of USB:
1. No new expansion cards need to be installed,
2. Devices can be hot-swapped, no installation of new drivers is needed, or no configuring IRQ and
DMA addresses.
• This is because OS software supports and manages USB host controller and USB hub controller,
which then manages the USB ports.
• The host controller is: 1. on the system board or 2. a PCI slot card can be added to the system The
CPU is totally out of the picture.
• USB has 2 main modules: 1. (SIE-Serial Interface Engine)-responsible for the bus protocol and 2.
The root hub-used to expand the # of USB ports.
• USB cable can be no longer than 5 meters between devices.
• Troubleshooting is done through the BIOS (for Win95-you need Win95 OEM service release 2.1
and 2.5 CD’s).

Firewire Ports - IEEE 1394 specification. Faster than USB and SCSI.
• hot-swappable.
• It has 2 levels of interface: 1. Internal (backplane) bus and2. External bus.
• Firewire runs internally at 12.5, 25, or 50 Mbps and externally at 100, 200, or 400 Mbps.
• IEEE 1394b-speeds up to 800 Mbps, 1.6 Gbps, or higher.
• Advantages of Firewire over SCSI:
1. It automatically assigns addresses
2. It doesn’t require termination
3. It is hot swappable
4. It is PnP because there are no addresses or DMA channels to assign.

Firewire is a viable solution for digital cameras, video cameras, printers, TVs, network cards, and mass
storage devices.
• Cable can only be up to 4.5 meters between devices.
• Firewire uses a 6 conductor cable (2 pair of wires for transporting data and 1 pair for power).

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Expansion Boards
Video Cards
• controller - convert digital signal to analog (DAC)
• used in VGA
• usually only one connector on the back of the card

Video Display Components

1. Adapter that goes in the expansion bus slot
2. Monitor or Display

Components determine the capability of the computer including

1. Display mode
2. Number of characters that can be displayed
3. Resolution (number of graphic dots on display or pixels).
4. Number of colors on display
5. Scan rate-how frequent the display image is refreshed.

Standards
1. MDA (Monochrome Display Adapter)
2. CGA-(Color Graphics Adapter) - 16 colors in text and graphics mode
3. EGA (Enhanced Graphic Array) - higher resolution
4. VGA (Video Graphics Array) - up to 256 colors at high resolution (800x600). Original VGA
640x480, 16 colors.
5. SVGA (Super VGA) and UVGA (Ultimate VGA) - even higher resolutions

Monitors
1. TTL - transistor to transistor logic (MDA)
2. RGB - red, green, blue (CGA)
3. Enhanced Color Display monitor (EGA)
4. VGA monitor (VGA) - Connectors:-DB15 pin connector, 3 rows
5. Number of monitors per CPU, Win98 = 9, Win 2000 = 10

To look at type of video card

1. At MSDOS prompt type
• debug
• dc000:00
• dc000:70
• quit (to return to DOS prompt)

Sound Cards (IRQ 5) - Convert digital signal to sound waves, Soundblaster is the standard.
Connections
• Mic-in - receive signal from external microphone
• Speaker out - sends signal to speaker/headphone
• Line-in - receives signal from output of an external sound device
• Line-out - sends signal from soundcard to external sound device
• CD-Audio - Receives digital signal audio from audio source
• IDE port - connects an IDE CD ROM drive to sound card
• Game port - Usually a DB-15 is used to connect sound/game/joystick/and MIDI devices.

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Modem Cards
• allows 2 computers to communicate over phone lines
• use a D to A Converter (DAC) and an A to D Converter (ADC)

Types
1. Asynchronous - most common
• uses serial transmission
• more prone to errors and therefore uses a parity bit
2. Synchronous - less errors

Standards
V.42- error checking standard; V.42bis- compression standard; V.34-28K modem; x2, 56 flex, and V.90
– 56 Kbps modem standards
-MNP standards-defines class 1-5
-Each class differs in levels of error correction and detection and data compression

Attention (AT) Commands

• AT - attention used at start of modem command lines
• DT - dial using a touch tone
• H - hang-up
• *70 - disables call waiting
• many others available

Configuring Modems
1. Start\Settings\Control Panel\Modem Utilities,
2. Select UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter) to set receiver and transmitter buffers.

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Removable Media and Disk Drives
Floppy Disk Drives
• 8”, 5 ¼”, and 3 ½”
• FDD can be set up in CMOS
• 5 ¼” high density-1.2 MB of memory; low density-360 KB of memory
• 3 ½” high density-1.44MB of memory; low density-720KB of memory

Cables
Connects - A drive after twist, B drive before twist; set both to B drive (twist reverses setting to A) the
other connector goes to motherboard.

CD-ROM Drives
• Basically use SCSI attached to EIDE drive
• Standard CD-ROM holds 700 MB; after formatted it holds approximately 533MB (direct CD)
• CD-R - read only
• CD-RW - read/write
• Direct CD will only work in CD-RW
• Internal CD-ROM-device is connected to EIDE drive
• External CD-ROM-device is connected to parallel or SCSI port (SCSI is better and faster)
• ASPI (Advanced SCSI Programming Interface) enables use of a singular ASPI device driver for
multiple SCSI devices
• Power connector for CD-ROM drive is a molex because of current required by laser

ATAPI (attachment package interface)

• Extension to EIDE that enables support for CD-ROM drives (including CD-R and CD-RW) and tape
drives on an IDE controller
• Installed as if it were another EIDE drive
• Doesn’t need to be configured in CMOS, it configures automatically.
• ATAPI can be set up as a master or slave on primary or secondary drive controllers
• DVD’s also require MPEG (Movie Picture Experts Group) decoder to decode MPEG files
• MPEG standards
MPEG1-video resolution of 352X240 at 30 frames/sec
MPEG2-video resolution of 720X480 or 1280X720 at 60 frames/sec.

Other Removable Drives

Zip drive
• slightly larger and 2x as thick as 3 ½ “ disk
• can only read zip disks
• memory of 100MB-250MB
• initially they were connected to parallel ports; now parallel, SCSI, USB, ATAPI, or network

Syquest Drives
1. SparQ-1GB memory cartridge for PC’s w/ parallel port or EIDE interface. Speed is equivalent to the
hard drive
2. SyJet-1.5 GB cartridge for PC and MAC interface choices include parallel, SCSI, EIDE
3. Average transfer rate is 3.8 MBps
4. EzFlyer-230MB cartridge for PC and MAC. Interface at parallel or SCSI ports (MAC’s only SCSI)

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5. Transfer rate of 2.4 MBps
6. Jaz Drives-1-2GB memory. Comes in Ultra SCSI PCI, SCSI ISA, SCSI to parallel, and SCSI to
PCMCIA. Transfer rate is same as hard drive
7. SuperDisk Drives-120 MB per disk. Can also read regular 3 ½” 1.44 MB disks. Available w/
parallel, SCSI, internal, and PCMCIA connections

Back up Systems
Types
1. Quarter Inch Cartridge (QIC) technology-oldest, most standardized, and most reliable
• available in 60, 150, 250, 525 MB and larger
• detractions cost and speed
• mm DAT (Digital Audio Tape)-offers higher storage capacities at a lower cost
• memory capacities range from 1-4 GB and more
• detractions are less reliable than QIC and vulnerable to heat and moisture

2. 8mm (Exabyte)
• storage capacity of 2.2-10 GB per cartridge
• tapes are only slightly larger than 4mmDAT tapes and are more reliable
• detractions are expense
• popular w/ UNIX

3. DLT (Digital Linear Tape)- ½” cartridge w/ a single hub

• 128-208 linear tracks holding 10-35 GB of data
• Also a Super DLT that holds up to 50 GB
• DLT transfer rates are in the 1.25-5 MBps

4. CD-ROM
• 700 MB of storage
• Better than tape drives because tapes have a tendency to lose data over time.

Tape Drives are usually connected through SCSI adapter.

Backup Policy
1. Considerations in choosing Backup method:
2. Appropriate hardware for your environment
3. Who is responsible for backup administering
4. Determining minimal backup frequency
5. Choosing the appropriate backup type
6. Determine the number of tapes or other media (backup set) required to complete a backup
7. Determining when to perform backup
8. Labeling backup media and storing safely (data identification)
9. Occasionally testing backup data
10. Determining hardware and media maintenance (or replacement)
11. Laying out a recovery operation plan for complete recovery of data
12. Structuring how to backup media are rotated in and out of schedule (backup method) - Weekly,
monthly, yearly

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Rotation method
1. Grandfather method
• Backup every day (Mon-Thurs)- next week re-use daily backup tapes
• Friday backup entire week- next month re-use weekly backup tapes
• At the end of every month the month is backed up-next year re-use the monthly backup tapes
2. Tower of Hanoi method
• Use 5 media sets
1) Set A-every other day,
2) Set B-every 4 days,
3) Set C-every 8 days,
4) Set D-every 16 days, and
5) Set E-alternated w/ Set D

Backup Types
1. Full - all information is backed up regardless of whether it was backed up before. Resets archive bit.
2. Incremental - new files and files created/modified since last full or incremental back up are backed
up. Resets archive bit.
3. Differential - All files that were created/modified since the last full backup are backed up. Doesn’t
reset the archive bit.

Backup Type Relative Time Necessary to Perform a Relative Time Necessary to

Full Backup Perform a Full Restore
Full back up only Longest Shortest
Incremental back up with Shortest Longest
full back up
Differential back up with Time increases each day; shorter than Shorter than incremental, but
full back up full, longer than an incremental longer than full back up

Storage
1. Move at least 1 full back up set per week offsite.

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Peripheral Devices
Primary Input Devices
Keyboards (FRU)
• IRQ 1
• usually plugs into PS/2 keyboard port
• manufacturing techniques
1. coiled metal springs
2. rubber/plastic membrane

Settings
• Sticky keys - can only press one key at a time
• Filter keys - ignores common keyboard errors
• Toggle keys - gives an audible signal when keys are pressed while Caps, Num, and Scroll Locks are
set

Preventative Maintenance
• Use mild glass cleaner or isopropyl alcohol
• Do not spray cleaner onto keyboard

Mouse (FRU)
• IRQ 12
• usually plugs into PS/2 mouse port
• how motion is detected-motion detecting rollers are connected to small disks that have evenly spaced
slots cut in them. As these disks spin, the slots repeatedly break a light beam going from an LED to a
photo-detector. The number of times the beam is broken is proportional to the distance the mouse
travels. The rate that the light beams is broken tells the computer how fast the mouse is going.

Preventative Maintenance
• wash ball in warm, soapy water;
• shake any loose dirt from inside mouse;
• remove any dirt or lint from axles,
• keep mouse pad clean.

Alternatives
1. Bus mouse w/ interface card,
2. USB mouse,
3. Trackball,
4. Joystick,
5. Touch pad,
6. Mouth control mouse substitute,
7. Light pens, and
8. gloves to full body suits

Primary Output Devices

CRT-based Monitors (Cathode Ray Tube)
• display images using phosphorous dots with a scanned electron beam
• monitors have 3 guns shooting independent streams of electrons at tiny colored phosphors on the
screen that produce Red,Green, or Blue dots

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• pixel - smallest discrete element on a video display.
• Dot pitch- the distance between 2 RGB groups on the screen. The lower the dot pitch, the better the
picture quality.
• Color info. for each pixel is stored in video memory.
• RAMDAC on the video card reads the bytes of video data in the card’s memory and converts digital
data in memory to continuous analog signals that tell the monitor what to display.
• Vertical Scan Rate - how fast it takes to fill up the entire screen (75 Hz = 75 cycles/sec)
• Horizontal Refresh Rate - how many lines can be painted per sec. (75 KHz = 75,000 cycles/sec)
• Persistence-how long the phosphor glows after the electron passes it.
You need the persistence to be low and the scan rate to be high.
• Refresh rates for Multiscan and Multisync monitors
1. Interlaced - refresh every other line in each vertical pass down the screen
2. Non-interlaced - refresh every line on the screen every time
• Screen ratio of width:height should be 4:3 (aspect ratio) 320X200=8:5; 1600X1200=4:3.
• Monitor specifications - DB 15 high density VGA connector is the most common connector for PC
monitors (it has 3 rows).
• Color Depth - how many different colors you can display at once. It is a function of dot pitch and
resolution
• Color Memory - comes in .5, 1, 2, 4, or 8 MB. Modern cards have as much as 256 MB or more.
Calculated by multiplying the # of pixels displayed by the # of bytes used to represent the color
of each pixel.
Resolution Height x # of colors Bytes/pixel (B) AxB Video
width (A) Memory
needed
640X480 307,200 256 1 307200 0.5 MB
800X600 480,000 65,536 (High 2 960,000 2 MB
color)
1,024X768 786,432 16 mill (True 3 2,359,296 4 MB
Color)
1600X1200 1,920,000 16 mill (True 3 5,760,000 8 MB
Color)
• 64 MB video memory is used for 3-D (several layers of 2-D. 4 layers of 2-d at 8MB requires 32 MB
of video memory

Preventative Maintenance
• Turn off monitor
• Used gentle cleaner sprayed onto a lint free cloth

Alternatives
• LCD (liquid Crystal Device)-flat screen
disadvantages - not as bright as CRT’s and must sit directly in front of them
advantages - uses less energy and do not emit electromagnetic radiations
• Virtual Reality games with special glasses as monitors
• Projectors

Printers
Problems can come from many different sources
1. Something physically wrong with the printer.

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2. Printer driver may be faulty.
3. Printer settings in the Printer Control Panel may contain unwanted values
4. Page set up specifications in the application that is trying to print may not match the printer’s
capabilities
5. When upgrading-you need to install the software drivers

Types of Printers
1. Impact Daisy wheel
2. Dot Matrix - forms images out of dots that are created by a set of pins that strike an inked ribbon
• heads contain 9 or 24 pins, initially 8 pins.
• Repair-keep a well inked ribbon in the printer and keep mechanical parts free of dust and debris.
• Print quality is Near Letter Quality.
• usually limited to printheads.
3. Ink jet - aka bubble jet.
• major appeal over laser printer. It can print in color for the same price as a B/W laser printer
• ink is forced out of carefully aimed nozzles onto the paper
• Methods of releasing ink:
thermal, or
piezoelectric
• the higher the resolution, the smaller the drop of ink that is sprayed.
• problem - if paper gets wet, color will run
• solution - ink jet printers with wax cartridge
• Repair - replace ink cartridge and use quality paper
4. Laser - print 1 page at a time using a combination of electrostatic charges, toner, and laser light.
• It has several FRU’s-toner cartridge, laser scanning assembly, high voltage power supply, DC
power supply, paper transport assembly, transfer corona assembly, fusing assembly, and the
formatter board.
• use fully formed characters and print in letter quality (LQ)
• Process the laser printer uses to produce the finished page:
1) Cleaning - the Electrostatic Photographic (EP) drum is cleaned with a rubber blade.
2) Charging or Conditioning- the EP drum is given a neg. charge (@-600 volts) by the
primary corona wire.
3) Writing - laser beam write to the EP drum causing portions of the drum to become
almost positively charged (formed characters).
4) Developing - toner is attracted to the areas of the drums that were hit by the laser light
5) Transferring - transfer corona wire charges the paper with a positive charge. The EP
drum turns as the paper runs beneath it and loses its toner to the paper.
6) Fusing -The paper runs through the fusing assembly that is heated to 350 Degrees F. The
fuser’s high temperature and pressure fuses and melts the toner into the paper.

Connecting Printers
• Serial, parallel, USB, or infrared port, also via network.
• parallel port using parallel cable or USB port using USB cable.
• usually uses a 25 pin connector (DB25) to connect to the computer’s parallel port and a Centronics
connector to connect to printer.
• can use the RJ-45 connector on printers that have built-in Ethernet network interface connection.
• network connections need to have NIC on the computer appropriate for the topology of the network.
• data transfer rate for a parallel port is 150 KBps.

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Other I/O devices
• Scanner - device that can convert printed images into a computer readable format. Takes a picture
and stores it as a bmp file in the computer

types
1. flatbed,
2. hand held,
3. sheet fed,
4. film scanners,
5. photo scanners

interfaces
1. parallel (easy to use , but slow),
2. serial
3. SCSI port,
4. and USB

• Digital Cameras - image is captured digitally and stored as a file on a floppy disk or removable
memory card.

• Still/Video Capture - desktop digital cameras capture still or video images directly through the PC
3D image-provides realistic 3D images through stereo viewing on systems ranging from PC
screens to large screen projections.

• DVD (digital video device) - uses patterns of tiny pits on the disk’s surface to represent data, which
is then read by a laser beam.
Use a shorter wavelength than CD’s so they can store more info.
PCI controller card decodes the information stored on the disc and separates it into sound and
video data. It sends the sound data to be converted to an analog signal for the speakers, while
sending the video data to the video controller card for the monitor.

• CD-R (recordable)/CD-RW (re-writeable)

CD-R’s can play CD’s as well as record them. CD’s can only be recorded on once.
CD-RW’s drives record on CD’s that may be rewritten many times.

• Microphones - input to the sound card. Microphones change sound energy to electrical energy that
sound card changes into digital info. Mic’s are useless without a sound card.

• Speakers - output to the sound card.

• Multi-function Machines - combo. Scanner, printer, copier, and fax.

• TV tuners - converts TV signal into picture you can see on the computer’s monitor.

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Portable Computing
Portable Computers
• every one should have a PCMCIA slot.
• battery power is biggest limitation.

• Types
Desktop replacement,
Notebook, and
Sub-notebook.

• Modes
Quick start - power saving mode.
Deep sleep mode - drastically reduced power mode. Entered into after certain conditions
(prolonged activity) have been met.
Speed step - technology that enables 2 different modes (maximum performance mode and
Battery optimized mode.
Maximum mode - processor runs at its highest speed and normal internal voltage.
Battery optimized mode - the processor runs at a reduced speed and reduced internal voltage.

• Storage systems - portable hard drives capable of holding up to 25 GB of memory. Many hard
drives are replaceable. Removable storage can be added to existing port, PCMCIA slot, or to floppy
disk or CD-ROM drive.

• Memory - portables use either SIMM’s or DIMM’s (usually custom designed for each system)

• Display - portable use LCD (requires less power)

1. Active Matrix - has 1 transistor for each pixel. Each transistor maintains the state of the pixel.
Very clean image, better than CRT. Requires a lot of power.
2. Passive Matrix - relies on persistence to maintain the state of the pixels between scans
has 2 groups of transistors (1 across the top of monitor and 1 across the left side of the
monitor).
wires form a matrix that interconnect the rows and columns.
less expensive and less power hungry.
limited to 256 colors-Pointing Devices-trackball, trackpoint, trackpad.

• Harddrives - typically 2.5 inches.

• Peripherals - portables can’t add expansion cards inside the computer.
• Alternatives - PC card, docking station, and ports.
• Docking Station (multi-port) - if full power, heavy duty peripherals are needed. The portable slides
into docking station.
• Port Replicator - device that contains typical PC ports to enable user of portable to travel between
multiple locations.

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PDA’s
• Personal Digital Assistants or palmtops.
• consist of a display/input area, a processor, and RAM.
• function as an electronic calendar, address book, calculator, maintain "to do" lists, send and receive
e-mails, send and receive faxes, and take notes. Newer models are also cell phones and pagers. Other
applications can be installed.
• used a pen based interface (stylus) or handwritten recognition.

PC cards
• credit card-sized devices connect to and draw power from the portable through a 68 pin male/female
arrangement.
• can be hot-swapped.

• Types of slots
Type I - can hold 1 type I card.
Type II - can hold 1 type II card or 2 type I cards.
Type III - can hold 1 type III card or 2 type II’s.

• Cards
Type I-3.3 mm thick, one row of sockets, used primarily to add to memory (RAM or ROM)
Type II-5 mm thick 2 rows of sockets, typically used for memory, i/o devices, NIC, LAN
adapters, and SCSI connections. These usually have a pop out connection for an RJ-11c or RJ-45
connector.
Type III-10.5 mm thick, has 3 rows of sockets, most commonly used for hard drives or support
adapters for external CD-ROM, DVD, and tape drives.
Extended cards also allow addition of components, which must remain outside the system
(antennas, for wireless applications).

• Start up:
BIOS are permanent firmware. CMOS is controlled by a separate battery, RAM settings changed
by BIOS need the battery to maintain settings.

Power Management
Batteries
1. NiCad (Nickel Cadmium)-lasts 3-4 hrs, up to 12 hrs to recharge, lasts 700-1000charge/recharge
cycles. Memory effect.
2. NiMH (Nickel Metal Hydride)-environmentally friendly, 50% more power than NiCad, 400-500
charge/recharge cycles. No memory loss.
3. Li-Ion (Lithium Ion)-current industry standard.
4. Lithium Polymer-uses jelly like material as an electrolyte instead of liquid.
5. Zinc Air.

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Power Management Systems
1. Advanced Power Management-provides several power saving options including
• shutting off the display or hard drive,
• suspending to RAM (Sleep mode or Instant mode). The system writes the data to memory and
shuts everything down while keeping the data alive with a minute amount of power from the
battery. Data could be lost if battery goes dead,
• suspending to disk (hibernate) system writes data to disk and shuts off completely, no power is
used, no data can be lost, turns on slower than suspend to RAM,
• slowing the processor-system is on, but not involved in heavy duty calculations. Processor slows
down, but can still handle user’s needs.

2. ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface) - has 6 states. States S0-S5. S1-S4 are sleeping
states.

S# State Power use Software Hardware System Context

Resumption Latency
S0 Fully Full power Not stopped Not Not stopped
operational stopped
S1 Sleep Slight reduction processor Control restarts 2 secs. All retained
and bus clocks are off where left off
S2 Deeper Processor loses all power Starts from 2 sec. or CPU context and
sleep so data in its cache is lost processor’s more system cache contents
restart vector are lost
S3 Much Processor and some Starts from 2 sec. or Only system memory
deeper system chips lose power processor’s more is retained; CPU
sleep restart vector context, cache
context, and chip set
context are lost
S4 Hibernate Power to all devices is Restarts from Long, must OS context; however,
turned off saved software power up is maintained in a
file everything hibernate file
S5 Shut down Power off Must reboot Long None retained

Both APM and ACPI are BIOS based interfaces. They interact between OS and hardware

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Lab Notes
Page left blank for Lab notes.

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 79 of 96

Networking
• server-computer on a network that manages resources for other computers on the network (ex. File
server-stores files); Web server-sends out Web pages; e-mail server-organizes e-mail.
• Common hardware and software components of a network: server, client, media (physical means of
communication between computer), resources, network adapter, network protocol, and network
topology.

Types
1. LAN (Local Area Network) - usually cable based computers are directly linked together and housed
in a clearly defined geographic area,
2. WAN (Wide Area Network) - usually satellite up link, fiber optic cable, routers, repeaters involved
across the country or around the world (Internet is ultimate WAN),
3. MAN (Metropolitan Area Network) - confined to a single municipality,
4. SAN (Storage Area Network)-specialized LAN. Links several servers that are dedicated to storing
large amounts of data in a central place,
5. VAN (Value Added Network) - provides both network access and additional proprietary services
that are available only to its users,
6. EWN (Enterprise-Wide Network) - private network that connects all of an organization’s computers
no matter what the conditions.

Specialized network servers

• network server
• print server - manages network printers and print jobs.
• communication server - manages access to modems or other types of comm links.
• database server - stores large databases and runs database applications.
• application servers - any server that runs an application for access across the network.
• mail server
• Internet or Web server - both public Internet and private Intranet.

Network Licensing
• Either by seat (each person has a license) or by server (certain number of licenses per server) OS
servers usually do not have client OS, but do have network OS.
• grouping by their capability to do more than 1 thing at a time.
• Multi-user - support 2 or more users at once.
• Multiprocessing - supports running a program on more than 1 CPU.
• Multitasking - supports more than 1 program running concurrently (time slicing).
• Multi-threading - supports different parts of a single program running concurrently.

Network Models
1. Peer to Peer Architecture
a) can be set up in DOS, Win3.1, etc.
b) limited to 10 computers or less.
c) usually uses Net BIOS.
d) one PC can transmit 1 bit of data at a time, which lowers throughput.
e) allows for sharing of expensive peripherals, storage space, as well as having network security
features.
f) limitations: each computer needs to be available to support the needs of the other users, lots of

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 80 of 96

 people are responsible for maintaining, controlling, and administering different parts of the
network, security is not centralized.
2. Client-Server Architecture
a) One centralized server manages resources and security for the other network users and
computers.
b) Everything that everyone uses is on the server.
c) Uses network protocols instead of net BIOS (peer to peer).
d) Word processing package is on the server (minimal files on individual PC’s).
e) Database files can go on the server.
f) Important data should be on server, so it can be backed up by Admin Staff..
g) It is possible to have multiple servers.
h) Types of Client-server Servers:
• PDS (Primary Domain Server)-keeps track of domains, passwords, usernames, and
security.
• Print server-controls the printer.
• Application server-application is not stored in local workstation. Your workstations goes
out to the server to get application and then loads it onto your PC.
3. Combination Network Architecture - hybrid of 1 and 2.
4. Hierarchical Networks - one or more central computers (mainframe) provides all the processing
and resources to all other network nodes. Nodes can only perform specified sets of tasks (ATM
machine).

Network Topologies
1. Point to point - computer to printer or computer to modem, etc.
2. Star topology - LAN
• All nodes are individually connected to a central computer, multi-port repeater, concentrator, or
hub.
• Nodes can be added/removed easily; it will not affect the rest of the network.
• If hub fails-the entire network fails.
3. Bus topology - LAN
• Single main bus cable (backbone) transmits data to all nodes on the network.
• Every node is directly connected to the main bus cable. Each segment of wire goes from NIC
(Network Interface Card) on the computer to the bus cable.
• Bus topology must be terminated on both ends (50 ohm resistor).
• A break or faulty piece of cable anywhere can prevent all of the computers on the segment from
being able to communicate.
4. Ring topology-LAN topology
• All nodes are connected on a continuous loop w/ no end points and no terminators.
• A packet called a token is passed from station to station. Only the machine w/ the token can
transmit data over the network.
• No other machine can send signals that will interfere with the signal from the machine with the
token.
5. Mesh topology
• Every node is connected to every other node in a point to point connection.
• Redundant.
6. Hybrid topology-LAN topology that combines 2 or more or the other topologies.

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Infrared Communications
• Technology that uses a beam of light to transmit data instead of cables,
• It uses a line of sight technology,
• Uses IrDA standards,
• Most commonly used to connect computers to printers,
• Data is transferred at a range of 4 Mbps (slow IrDA)- 9.6 Kbps (fast IrDA),
• Why bits? It is a serial transmission,
• Limited to 3-9 ft. between devices,
• An infrared connection must also be configured in Windows (2000, 98, and CE),
• Problems-object in the line of sight, devices are too far away from each other, bad or incompatible
drivers.

Network Architecture Standards

• 802.XX-refers to network architecture (Ethernet)

Illustration 28: Ethernet, Straight-Through connection

Illustration 29: Ethernet, Crossed-Over connection

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 82 of 96

Ethernet Description
• Is a LAN protocol that uses a bus or star topology.
• Most popular LAN technology in use today.
• Several standards in use:

Name Max. data transfer Max. length of Other info.

speed cables
10base5 (ThickNet) 10 Mbps 500 meters Orig. standard, uses coax cable. 15 pin AUI conn.
10base2 (Thinnet) 10 Mbps 185 meters (607 ft) Uses 50 ohm coaxial cable (RG –58 A/U). Also uses
BNC connector, any unused connection must be
terminated and needs to be terminated at the end and
grounded at one end
10baseT (Twisted 10 Mbps 100 meters Also called twisted pair Ethernet, connects w/ RJ-45
Pair Ethernet) connectors
Fast Ethernet 100 Mbps Different lengths Also have 100baseT4(2 pairs of twisted pair wires)
(100baseT) and 100baseFL (fiber optic cables).RJ-45
Gigabit Ethernet 1000 Mbps (1Gbps)

Ethernet Function
Three basic elements:
1. Physical medium (cables) used to carry signal
2. Set of media access control (MAC), which is a mechanism where rules are embedded in each
Ethernet interface that allow multiple computers to fairly arbitrate access to the shared Ethernet
channel.
• Each MAC mechanism uses a system called CSMA/CD (Carrier Sense Multiple Access w/
Collision Detection).
• Each Ethernet network interface card has a unique 48 bit address assigned to it by manufacturer
(IEEE determines the 1st 24 bits and the company assigns the 2nd 24 bits). The 48 bit address is
called the MAC address.
3. An Ethernet transmission consists of a standardized set of bits used to carry data over the system
• 5-4-3 rule-guideline for limiting network size w/ multiple Ethernet segments.
• Server and node should not be separated by more than 5 segments, 4 repeaters, and 3 populated
segments.

Token Ring
• Type of computer network in which all the computers are connected in a continuous loop (ring
topology).
• All stations on a Token Ring must transmit data at the same speed. If you want to upgrade a ring,
you must update all network cards on the network.
• Token Ring uses MSAUs (Multi Station Access Units) (also MAUs) to connect network stations.
They are similar to hubs w/ 8 port to connect stations and a Ring In and Ring Out port to daisy chain
MSAUs.
• If Ring In or Ring Out ports fail, stations connected to that MSAU won’t be able to communicate .

ARCNet
• Attached Resource Computer Network.
• One of the oldest, simplest, and least expensive LAN technologies.
• Can connect up to 255 nodes in a star topology using twisted pair or coaxial cabling.
• Originally could transmit at 2.5 Mbps; now ARCNet Plus transfers at 20 Mbps.
• Uses token technology.

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AppleTalk
• LAN protocol.
• Currently transfer speeds are at 235 Kbps.

Network connectivity
The following connection devices fit into the OSI model at layers 1-3 (Network, Data Link, and
Physical).
Hubs
Types:
1. Passive hub - (layer 1) simply forwards network messages. It does not process, modify, or
regenerate signals at all.
2. Active hub (repeater or multi-port repeater-layers 1-2) - regenerates or amplifies in order that data
bits maintain a strong signal that might otherwise deteriorate over a long distance. It allows
computer on a network to be further apart.
3. Intelligent hub - provides intelligent functioning as well as forwarding signals. Provides bridging,
routing, switching, and even more complex functions like network management and LAN.

Bridges (layers 1-2)

• Controls the flow of information between LAN segments or networks (even if they are different
types of networks using different communication protocols).
• Allows a message to cross from one network to another if it is addressed to the other side.
• Local messages are not sent across the bridge, which makes traffic flow more efficient (switching-
layers 1-2).
• Bridges build and maintain address tables of the nodes on the network to speed up the flow of data
• Bridges cannot determine the most efficient path.

Routers (layers 1-3)

• Determines the best path for the data packet to be sent from one network to the other.
• A router stores the electronic message, then reads the network destination address stored in the
message, examines all possible paths to the destination address, chooses a path based on current
traffic and # of other routers, and finally sends the message.
• Server with specific software that can function as a router.
• A router is smarter than a bridge. It takes more time to send message (slows down processing speed).
Brouters (layers 1-3)
• Functions as both a bridge and a router depending on which function is needed.
• Used on networks on which there is mixed protocol traffic and for networks that use protocols that
do not support routing (NetBEUI).

Gateways (layers 1-4)

• Protocol converter that supports communication between networks that use different protocols.
• Gateways completely convert messages in one protocol to a message in a second protocol that is
used by the destination network.
• Types of gateways:
1) Protocol-connects networks that use different protocols.
2) Format-connects networks that use different formats.
3) Address-connects networks that use different file systems and directory structure.

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CSU/DSU
(Channel Service Unit/Digital Service Unit)
• Service organization, either private or public, to assist with transmission media needs.
• You connect to their media to save yourself the installation and maintenance of your own.
• These organization sometimes require their customers to use CSU/DSU.
• CSU/DSUs are designed to shield network users from electric voltages and interference, and to
ready data for transmission.
• CSU/DSU operates like a modem, but it’s a digital-to-digital device (not digital-to-analog).
• Used with digital WAN links.
• Typically a CSU/DSU connects to a router or remote bridge.

Firewall
• Control network access both inbound and outbound.
• Used to prevent unauthorized access between Intranets and the Internet or an extra net.

OSI model
The Open System Interconnection has 7 layers with 7 sets of standards:

Layer Name Function

7 Application Responsible for program to program communication.
6 Presentation Manages data representation conversions of codes and formats
5 Session Responsible for establishing and maintaining communication Channels
4 Transport Responsible for end to end integrity of data transmission.
3 Network Routes data from 1 node to another.
2 Data Link Responsible for physically passing data from 1 node to another.
1 Physical Manages putting data onto the network media and taking the data off.
Provides the rules for transmission.

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OSI Example
7 - Employees on the 7th floor convert input from 7 – Workers here identify the receiving
a terminal or application program into a “message terminal or application program and display
block”, which includes the data (message the message on the screen of the network
contents) along with the sender’s and receiver’s user’s microcomputer or pass it to the
addresses. When the block is complete, they pass application program.
it to the 6th floor. Application programs or 6 – On the 6th floor employees convert code
terminals access the network only at this floor. (ASCII to EBCDIC) and, if required,
6 – Workers on the 6th floor convert code decompress and decrypt the message.
(EBCDIC to ASCII or vice versa), define the 5 – 5th floor workers hold all message blocks
format of the data, and (when requested) encrypt until they have received the entire message,
the data and compress it before passing the which they pass to those on the 6th floor.
message block to the 5th floor. 4 – Those on the 4th floor recalculate
checksums to confirm receipt of all message
5 – Those on the 5th floor mark the beginning and blocks and request retransmission of a block
ending of message blocks, set up a session that appears damaged or is missing.
connecting two terminals (log-in, passwords, user
3 – The 3rd floor workers recount incoming
ID, etc.), end sessions, and determine whether the
packets for error, security, and billing
transmission will be half duplex or full duplex
purposes, and reconvert the packets to
before passing the message blocks to the 4th floor.
message blocks.
4 – 4th floor employees divide very long message 2 – On the 2nd floor they recalculate the
blocks into shorter message blocks for checksum, request frame retransmission if
transmission, add a sequence number to each there is an error, confirm arrival, and log-in
block, add a checksum for error detection, check the frame.
for duplicate blocks, retransmit the blocks after an 1 – 1st floor employees reconvert the bits into
error or timeout, add security to message blocks, frames.
and pass the message blocks to the 3rd floor.
3 – 3rd floor employees resize the message blocks
into packets (usually 128 characters) to meet
specific network requirements, attach the
addresses and sequence numbers to each packet,
identify routes for packets through the network,
and then pass the packets to the 2nd floor.
2 – Workers here supervise the transmission.
They insert the packet into a frame that becomes
the envelope for carrying the packet during
transmission, add a frame sequence number,
confirm checksums for error detection, keep a
copy of the frame to use for retransmission in case
of error, and the pass the completed frame to the
1st floor for transmission.
1 – The 1st floor is concerned with hardware,
whereas the upper floors are concerned with
software. The hardware on the 1st floor includes
the RS-232 connector cables, modems, and
circuits. What began on the 7th floor as a long
message block is now sent over the circuits as a
frame containing a packet in the form of a serial Packet/Frame
stream of bits. ► 1001010 ►
This depicts the OSI model as a seven-story office building in which people handle messages instead of
software programs doing the work. A message to be sent across the network enters the OSI software at
the seventh floor, travels down to the first floor, goes out the front door, travels across the network, and
reaches the other building, where it travels through the front door and up to the receiving terminal on the
seventh floor of that building.

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Network Media
Twisted pair
• Consists of 2 independently insulated 22-26 gauge wires twisted around one another.
• One wire carries the signal, the other is ground and absorbs signal interference.
• Least expensive.
• UTP (unshielded twisted pair)no shielding ; lower price, but higher electrical interference).
• STP (shielded twisted pair) wrapped in a metal sheath for extra protection from external interfering
signals.
• TP is connected w/ RJ-45.
• 10baseT and 100baseT Ethernet standards are based on TP cables.
• Cat-5 (category-5)-network cabling that consists of 4 TPs of wire terminated by an RJ-45 connector.
• Used in Token Ring, 1000baseT, and 10baseT networking.

Coaxial
• Single conductor which is surrounded by insulation and a conductive shield, w/ heavy protective
covering over the shield.
• More expensive, but can carry more data w/ less resistance.
• BNC connector are used to connect coaxial cables (like RG 58 A/U) into a network.
• 10base5 and 10base2 Ethernet standards use coaxial cable.

Fiber Optic (FDDI)

• Glass core w/ 2 layers of buffers.
• Carries a pulse of laser light (light waves) through bundles of glass or clear plastic threads which is
encoded w/ a digital signal.
• Not affected by electrical interference and electromagnetic radiation.
• Differs from TP because TP carries electrical signals through metal wires which are subject to
electrical interference and electromagnetic radiation.
• Fiber optics can carry much more data, faster, and over greater distances.
• Support data rate of up to 100Mbps and 1000 Mbps (1Gbps).
• More fragile and more expensive, difficult to maintain.
• Uses FDDI (Fiber Distributed Data Interface)-set of ANSI protocols for sending digital data over
fiber optic cable.
• FDDI networks are typically the backbone for WANs.

Fixing faulty network cables

Tools needed:
1. Digital Volt Meter - measures AC and DC voltage, resistance, and current flow.
2. Time Domain Reflector - tests cable integrity by sending electrical signals into it and analyzing their
reflections.
3. Oscilloscope - also used to test cable integrity. It provides a graphical output.

Wireless Communication
• Networks not connected by wires.
• Enabled by packet radio, spread spectrum, cellular technology, satellites, and microwave towers.
• Infrared is also considered wireless.
• CDPD (Cellular Digital Packet Data)-data transmission technology that uses unused cellular
channels (in the 800-900 MHz range) to transmit data in packets.
• Offers transfer rates up to 19.2 Kbps, quicker call set up, plus better error correction than modems

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 and analog cellular channels.
• MMDS (Multichannel Multi-point Distribution Service or Microwave Multi-point Distribution
Service).
• Sending and receiving stations must be in sight of each other, up to 30 miles apart.
• LMDS (Local Multi-point Distribution Service).
• Extremely fast wireless communication.
• Requires line of sight between transmitter and receiver antenna from 1-4 miles.

Network Adapters (NIC) (OSI layer 2)

• Connect directly to the cable carrying the electronic signal throughout the network.
• They are either built into the system boards circuitry or added into a slot on the system board.
• Can also connect through parallel port, or special PC card in portables.

Typical Ethernet NICs

• Fits into any ISA or PCI slot.
• Sends/receives data at 10 Mbps and/or 100Mbps.
• NICs have an integrated transceiver built into board that allows data to be sent/received over the
network cable.
• NICs also have software to support MAC data link protocol built into firmware on the card.
• Every NIC has a permanent, unique Ethernet address burned into PROM on the card.
• The electronics on the card determine the type of media that the card will connect to.
• If it supports 10base5(thick Ethernet) - use a 15-pin AUI (Attachment Unit Interface) that connects
to an external transceiver that connects with a ½” thick coaxial cable.
If it supports 10base2 (thin Ethernet) - use a BNC connector.
• If it supports 10baseT - use an RJ-45 connector that uses UTP cables.
• 100BaseTX - supports 100 Mbps through 2 pairs of wires in Cat-5 twisted cable.
• 100baseT4 supports 100 Mbps on 4 pair of wires in Cat-3, 4, or 5.
• If the card supports 10base FL or 10baseF-the card will have a socket to which the fiber optic cable
is attached.
• Wireless cards go into slots on the system board and have an antenna built in.
• Other Ethernet adapters can communicate to the computer through the USB port and parallel ports.

Half and Full Duplex Communications

• Half Duplex-possible to transfer data in 2 directions, but only 1 at a time.
• Full Duplex-data can be sent and received over the same medium at the same time (typically uses
CSMA/CD) to deal w/ data transmission collisions.

Network Communication Protocols

TCP/IP
(Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol)
1. Uses binary.
2. Used to connect hosts on the Internet and is now the global standard for communication
protocols.
3. Supported by all network OS's.
4. TCP/IP uses several protocols, including 2 transport protocols:
a) TCP provides transport functions, which ensures that the complete message is received
correctly at the other end.
b) UDP (User Datagram Protocol)-alternate transport that does not guarantee delivery.

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 Used when a reliable delivery is not needed.
5. IP specifies the format of packets (datagrams) and the addressing scheme.
6. An IP address identifies a computer or device on a TCP/IP network.
7. The TCP/IP protocol routes messages based on the IP address of the destination node.
8. IP address is made up of 4 bytes (32 bits).(ex. 145. 231.76.139).

Classes of IP addresses:
Designated by using varying portions of the IP address to identify network (domain) and host (client).
1. Class A - 1st byte identifies network (domain) address; the other 3 bytes define host (client) address.
• Supports only a small # of network (domain) addresses-254 (2 to the 8th-2); support a lot of host
addresses-16,777,214 (2 to the 24th-2).
• Example: 255.0.0.0
• Range for 1st byte in decimals-1-127.

2. Class B - 1st 2 bytes are for network (domain) address; the other 2 are for host (client) addresses.
• Supports medium # of network-65,534 (2 to the 16th-2) and host addresses (65536-2 to the16th)
• Example: 255.255.0.0
• Range for 1st byte in decimals 128-19.

3. Class C - 1st 3 bytes are for network (domain) address; the other 1 is for host (client) addresses
• Supports a large amount of network addresses-16,777,214 (2 to the 24th-2) and small amount of
host addresses - 254 (2 to the 8th-2).
• Example: 255.255.255.0
• Range for 1st byte in decimals-192-223.
4. There are Classes D and E, but not supported by Microsoft.

IP addresses for internal use only:

• Class A - 10
• Class C - 192.16.32.XX

Sub-Nets
• Network segments are called subnets if each network segment’s address must be derived from a
Single IP network address.
• Sub-netting (segmenting if not connected to Internet)- subdividing a single network address to allow
for unique network addresses on each subnet (segment).
• Subnet mask-tells you which class network (domain) address you are in.

Reasons for sub-netting

1. Reduce traffic by dividing a large network into smaller segments by using a router.
2. Avoids physical limitations such as max. cable length or max. # of computers on a segment
3. Decreases CPU load.
4. Helping with troubleshooting by minimizing the impact of a subnet problem on other subnets.
5. Increasing security by limiting sensitive network traffic to one network.
6. Connecting different topologies such as Ethernet, Token Ring, and FDDI together via routers:
• To be able to assign unique network addresses to each network-you need to use subnet masking.
• Enables you to restructure how each IP address in your organization is divided between the
network portion and the host portion

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IPX/SPX
• IPX (Internetwork Packet Exchange)-works at layer 3 of OSI model.
• Routes datagrams from 1 node to another, and does not guarantee delivery of complete message.
• IPX packets contain the network addresses of the sending and destination nodes, so packets can be
routed from 1 network to another.
• SPX (Sequenced Packet Exchange)-usual transport layer 4 protocol that works with IPX to
guarantee that packets that were sent can be accurately assembled into the entire message by the
destination node.

NetBEUI
(NetBIOS Enhanced User Interface):
• Works at layer 4 (transport layer) of OSI model.
• Not a routable protocol.

Common Network Problems

1. Reduced performance due to reduced bandwidth:
a) Bandwidth is the max. amount of data that can be sent across the network cable per second.
b) The higher the bandwidth, the higher the throughput.
c) All devices share the available bandwidth and the max. cannot be exceeded.
d) Reduced bandwidth is typically the result of too much traffic (either from increased user activity
or malfunctioning device (bad NIC)) on the network cable.
e) Transmissions may time-out, software may freeze, and users will notice a decrease in
performance.
f) Use network or protocol analyzers to identify where the loss is happening:
• bad device - replace it.
g) Heavy usage - you can increase the available bandwidth by changing the network’s speed (need
to replace NICs, hubs, and possibly cabling).
h) Separate high traffic network segments from low traffic network segments and upgrade only the
high traffic segments.
2. Loss of data occurs due to malfunctioning equipment (defective NICs, damaged cabling, non-
working hubs, interference, missing terminators, and so on). Also could be due to packet collision:
a) Use a network analyzer to identify problem and also check the collision lights on the hubs.
b) Breaking up the network can reduce incidence of collisions.
3. Network slowdown means the network has suddenly become slow.
a) Could be caused by excessive traffic on the network, but usually this slowdown would be
gradual.
b) Suspect a hardware problem if slowdown is sudden.

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Sample System Resource Map
PC Make and Model: ____________________________________________

Serial Number: ____________________________________________

Date: ___________________
IRQ IRQ Channels I/O Addresses
0 Timer Circuits 040 - 04B
1 Keyboard/ Mouse Controller 060 - 064
2 2nd 8259 IRQ Controller 0A0 - 0A1
8 Real-time Clock/CMOS RAM 070 - 071
9
10
11
12
13 Math Coprocessor 0F0 - 0FF
14
15
3
4
5
6
7
Devices not using Interrupts I/O Addresses
Mono/EGA/VGA Standard Ports 3B0 - 3BB
EGA/VGA Standard Ports 3C0 - 3CF
CGA/EGA/VGA Standard Ports 3D0 - 3DF

DM DMA Channels
A
0
1
2
3
4 DMA Channel 0 – 3 Cascade
5
6
7

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 91 of 96

Alphabetical Index
Alphabetical Index
A 45, 51, 53, 54, 60, 63, 66, 70, 72-74, 77, 78, 85,
A+............................................1, 5, 6, 13, 26, 28, 95 88
Acronyms............................................................1, 4 PCI..............23, 36, 38, 45, 46, 58, 63, 67, 72, 85
Acronyms.................................................................. PCI-E................................................................23
ADC..................................................................65 PCMCIA...............................................46, 67, 73
AGP..........................................23, 36, 38, 45, 46 PDA..............................................................2, 74
ASCII..........................................................61, 83 PGA......................................................36, 48, 49
AT.............................................23, 32, 36, 62, 65 PROM.........................................................53, 85
ATAPI..........................................................2, 66 PS/2..................23, 35, 36, 38, 45, 47, 53, 62, 69
ATX................................................23, 32, 36, 62 RAM 1, 13, 23, 24, 38, 40, 41, 45, 46, 48, 49, 51,
BD..............................................................24, 57 53, 54, 56, 57, 74, 75, 88, 93
BIOS.....1, 5, 6, 23, 35, 38-42, 44, 53, 58, 59, 63, RAM.................................................................74
74, 75, 77, 78 RDRAM...........................................................54
BIOS.................................................................35 RGB............................................................64, 70
BIT....................................................................21 RIMM.........................................................53, 54
CD. . .2, 23, 24, 28, 32, 38, 39, 41, 52, 56, 57, 59, RISC.................................................................49
62-64, 66, 67, 72-74, 80, 85 ROM.. .1, 2, 22-24, 28, 32, 35, 38-41, 45, 52, 53,
CISC.................................................................49 57, 59, 62, 64, 66, 67, 73, 74
CPU13, 23, 35, 36, 38, 40-46, 48, 49, 51, 53, 56, SATA..........................................................23, 37
58, 59, 63, 64, 75, 77, 86 SCSI......23, 45, 47, 58, 59, 62, 63, 66, 67, 72, 74
DAC............................................................64, 65 SDRAM....................................36, 51, 53-55, 93
DIMM.......................................35, 36, 53, 54, 73 SECC..........................................................48, 49
DIP......................................36, 44, 48, 49, 53, 54 SIMM.............................................36, 53, 54, 73
DRAM..................................1, 35, 51, 53, 54, 93 SIPP............................................................53, 54
DVD.............................24, 32, 56, 57, 66, 72, 74 SPGA..........................................................48, 49
ECC..............................................................1, 54 SRAM.........................................................51, 53
EDO RAM..................................................53, 54 SVGA...............................................................64
EEPROM..............................................39, 44, 53 UART...............................................................65
EIDE.....................................................38, 59, 66 USB.23, 24, 36-39, 43, 45-47, 56, 63, 66, 69, 71,
EISA...............................................23, 36, 45, 46 72, 85
EPROM............................................................53 VESA..........................................................45, 46
ESDI.................................................................57 VGA...............................................37, 64, 70, 88
FRU..................................................2, 28, 69, 71 VLB......................................................23, 45, 46
I/O.......1, 2, 36, 41, 43, 44, 46, 47, 62, 63, 72, 88 VRAM..............................................................54
IDE...............................23, 38, 47, 58, 59, 64, 66 WRAM.............................................................54
IRQ.........................14, 44, 46, 47, 63, 64, 69, 88 Asynchronous..................................................62, 65
ISA....................23, 35, 36, 38, 39, 44-46, 67, 85 B
LBA..................................................................58 Bridge Rectifier...........................................1, 29, 93
MCA.....................................................23, 45, 46 Byte...........................................................21, 61, 70
MMX....................................................40, 48, 49 C
NIC.................................2, 47, 71, 74, 78, 85, 87 Cache...................................................38, 48, 49, 53
OS......................14, 40-42, 44, 60, 63, 75, 77, 85 D
OS.....................................................................77 Display................................................14, 40, 64, 73
PC. 1, 2, 22, 23, 26-28, 32, 35, 36, 38-40, 42, 44, Dynamic....................................................51, 53, 54

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 92 of 96

E Optical disk...........................................................13
Email...............................................................17, 94 P
F Parallel.................................................23, 36, 38, 62
Firewire.........................................23, 45, 46, 59, 63 Parallel port...........................................................23
Floppy disk..........................................13, 24, 56, 61 Parity...........................................................1, 54, 62
Forum..................................................15, 17, 18, 94 Ports.......................................1, 5, 14, 41, 62, 63, 88
H Power supply...................................1, 13, 23, 36, 38
Hard disk...................................................13, 24, 56 S
I Sector.....................................................................61
I/O ports..........................................................47, 88 Serial port........................................................23, 62
M Spam......................................................................19
Motherboard........1, 5, 13, 23, 32, 34, 36, 37, 53, 59 Static................................................................51, 53
N SuperDisk..............................................5, 24, 32, 67
Number Systems....................................................... Synchronous..............................................53, 62, 65
Binary...............................................................21 T
Decimal............................................................21 Tape drive..............................................................24
Hex.............................................................21, 47 Track.....................................................................61
Hexidecimal......................................................21 V
Octal.................................................................21 Volatile........................................................1, 51, 53
Nybble...................................................................21 Z
O Zip drive..............................................24, 28, 56, 66

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 93 of 96

Illustration Index
Illustration Index
The Fire Triangle...................................................10 The Octek Jaguar V motherboard.........................35
PCTalk Support Forum button..............................15 Diagram of a modern motherboard, which supports
Register.................................................................15 many on-board peripheral functions as well as
Before....................................................................16 several expansion slots..........................................37
I agree....................................................................16 A 1GB DDR RAM memory module....................51
Registration Form..................................................17 Common DRAM modules....................................53
Login Start.............................................................18 RAMBUS memory with integrated heatsink........53
Login page.............................................................19 DDR2 SDRAM Packages.....................................53
Using the forum.....................................................20 A hard disk drive with protective cover removed. 56
Internals of a typical Personal Computer..............22 Pink Pearl Eraser...................................................61
Full-wave Bridge Rectifier, positive cycle............29 Disk Structure........................................................61
Full-wave Bridge Rectifier, Negative cycle..........29 Floppy Disk Structure...........................................61
Rectified waveforms.............................................30 September 1956 5MB IBM Harddrive..................61
Output smoothing..................................................30 Ethernet, Straight-Through connection.................79
Transformer used for input to Bridge Circuit.......31 Ethernet, Crossed-Over connection......................79
ASRock K7VT4A Pro Mainboard........................34

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 94 of 96

Student Forum information sheet
Full Student Name:________________________________________________

Phone number:___________________________________________________

Active Student Email account:_______________________________________

Student Email password:___________________________________________

Student Forum Username:__________________________________________

Student Forum Password:__________________________________________

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 95 of 96

Receipt for Pre-Tech Class books
At one time there was some question about whether or not a book had been ordered and paid for. In
order to overcome any problem of this type in the future, I have decided to include a receipt here that
can be filled out and signed by both the Student and the Instructor to record any transaction. I am not
here to make money from book sales. If you would prefer to purchase your own books, you are free to
do so. If you want me to purchase them for you, I will require cash in advance and this receipt must be
filled in properly.

Please be advised that if the books are not in stock it may take as much as 7 business days before they
are available. I will take orders the first week of class and will pick all books up at the same time. If you
do not place an order but would like to get the books later, you may get them from Barnes and Noble
Booksellers.

Student copy: Student Name:

Book Name Retail Tax Total Class cost Amount given instructor
Price (Both initial)
A+ Certification for Dummies $34.99 $2.10 $37.09 $31.50
Class Workbook $10.00 $10.00
Total $47.09 $41.50

Book(s) delivered to student:

Student signature:_________________________________________________

Instructor Signature:_______________________________________________
───────────────Cut here─────────────────
Instructor copy: Student Name:
Book Name Retail Tax Total Class cost Amount given instructor
Price (Both initial)
A+ Certification for Dummies $34.99 $2.10 $37.09 $31.50
Class Workbook $10.00 $10.00
Total $47.09 $41.50

Book(s) delivered to student:

Student signature:_________________________________________________

Instructor Signature:_______________________________________________

Pre-Tech v1.1 Page 96 of 96