Computer Maintenance Handout

Chapter 1 – Power Supplies

1.1. Introduction to System Components

• A typical PC system is depicted below. The PC is called a system because it

includes all the components required to have a functional computer:
o Input devices - Keyboard and mouse
o Computer - System unit
o Output devices - CRT monitor and printer
• Most PCs are modular by design, with allowances for adding or exchanging
modules so that the system can carry out specific functions.
• The system unit is the main portion of the microcomputer system and is the
basis of any PC system arrangement. The components surrounding it, referred
to as peripherals, vary from system to system depending on what particular
functions the system is supposed to serve. In the figure below, the keyboard,
monitor, mouse, printer, and speakers are considered peripheral devices.

A computer system comprising a system unit and peripherals

The components inside the system unit can be divided into four distinct subunits:
• a switching power supply,
• the disk drives,
• the system board, and
• the expansion adapter cards,
as illustrated in Figure below.
 Internal components of a system unit

• A typical system unit contains a single power-supply unit that converts

commercial power into the various levels required by the different units in the
system.
• The number and types of disk drives installed in a system varies according to
the intended use of the system. However, a single floppy disk drive (FDD) unit,
a single hard disk drive (HDD) unit, and a single CD-ROM drive are typically
installed to handle the system’s mass-storage requirements.
• The system board is the center of the system. It contains the portions of the
system that define its computing power and speed. System boards also are
referred to as motherboards, main boards, or planar boards.
• Plug-in options adapter cards (or just adapter cards) permit a wide array of
peripheral equipment to be added to the basic PC system. The most
frequently installed adapter cards in PC systems are video adapter cards.
• Adapter cards plug into expansion slot connectors located at the rear of the
system board. Peripheral devices, such as printers and modems, normally
connect to adapter cards through expansion slot openings in the rear of the
system unit.
1.2. Case

• Computer case is the outer covering of the system which holds every
component of the system unit. System units may be packaged in a number
of standard case designs. The key characteristics for case design include
mounting methods for components, ventilation characteristics, drive
capacity, and footprint (desk space they take up).
• The most familiar PC case style is probably the desktop case design. These
cases are designed to set horizontally on the desk (hence the name).
Variations of the basic desktop design include narrow cases, referred to as
baby AT cases, and short desktops, called low-profile cases.
• Tower cases sit vertically on the floor beneath the desk. This case design
came about to free up workspace on the desktop. Tower cases offer
extended drive bay capacities that make them especially useful in file server
applications where many disk, CD-ROM, and tape drive units may be desired.
Although tower designs are convenient, their ventilation characteristics tend
to be poor. Adapter cards are mounted horizontally in tower units and the
heat produced by the lower cards must rise past the upper cards, adding to
their heat build up. To compensate for this problem, most tower cases include
a secondary fan unit to increase airflow through the case and thereby
dissipate more heat.
• Mini towers and mid towers are short towers designed to take up less vertical
space. Full towers are common in server machines.

1.3. Power Supplies

• The system’s power-supply unit provides electrical power for every

component inside the system unit. It converts commercial electrical power
received from a 120V AC, 60Hz (or 220V AC, 50Hz) outlet into other levels
required by the components of the system. There are two basic types of
power supplies: traditional AT power supplies (designed to support AT-
compatible system boards) and ATX power supplies (designed according to
newer ATX design specifications).
• The AT power supply has two 6-pin system board power connectors (P8/P9),
whereas ATX power supplies use a single 20-pin power connector. In the AT-
compatible power supply, the cooling fan pulls air through the case from the
front and exhausts it out the rear of the power-supply unit.
• Conversely, the ATX design pulls air in through the rear of the power-supply
unit and blows it directly on the ATX system board. The desktop/tower power
supply produces four (or five) different levels of efficiently regulated DC
voltage. These are +5V, –5V, +12V and –12V. (The ATX design also provides a
+3.3V level to the system board.) The power-supply unit also provides the
system’s ground. The +5V level is used by the IC devices on the system board
and adapter cards. The +3.3V level is used by the microprocessor. The 12V
levels are typically used to power the motors used in hard and floppy disk
drives.
• System board power connectors provide the system board and the individual
expansion slots with up to 1 ampere of current each. The basic four voltage
levels are available for use through the system board’s expansion slot
connectors.
• In AT-compatible power supplies, two 6-wire bundles are typically marked P8
and P9. The physical construction of these power connectors significantly
differs from that of the other bundles. They are designed to be plugged into
the system board’s P1 and P2 power plugs, respectively. A good rule of
thumb to remember when attaching these two connectors to the system
board is that the black wires in each bundle should be next to each other in
the middle, as illustrated below.

P8 and P9 AT power connectors

• Apart from the system board’s power connector, there are auxiliary
connector bundles which are used to supply power to optional systems, such
as the disk and CD-ROM drives.
• In the ATX design, a special soft switch line is included that enables the system
to shut itself off under control of the system software. This allows power-
management components of the operating system software to manage the
hardware’s power usage. The ATX power supply is somewhat smaller in size
than the AT-style power supply, and their hole patterns differ. The system
board’s power connection is shown below. Note that the cable comes as
one bundle containing 20 cables, unlike AT power supplies which have the P8
and P9 cables.
• The power_good signal is carried by the gray wire. +5v is generated by this
wire if the internal circuitry of the power supply is OK. This takes place 100ms
to 500ms after we turn on the computer. In the absence of the power good
signal, the computer acts as if it’s reset button is pressed
• PS_ON signal is carried by the green wire and 5v StandBy is carried by the
purple wire. A working ATX power supply should have these voltages without
turning it on. These voltages enable features to be implemented, such as
 Wake on Ring or Wake on LAN, in which a signal from a modem or network
adapter can actually cause a PC to wake up and power on.

• In February 2000, Intel created the ATX/ATX12V power supply specification

1.0, adding an optional 4-pin +12V connector at the same time (those with
the +12V connector were called ATX12V supplies). The ATX12V 2.0
specification (February 2003) changed the main power connector to 24 pins,
and made Serial ATA power connectors a requirement as well.
• See figure below on the main changes from normal ATX power supply.

1.3.1. Power Supply Specifications

1. Wattage – the more wattage the power supply has, the more devices you
can connect to your PC. Typical power supply wattages increment by 50
units, 250W, 300W, 350W, 400W, etc.
2. Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) or Mean Time To Failure (MTTF) - the
calculated average interval, in hours, that the power supply is expected to
operate before failing.
3. Input Range (or Operating Range)- The range of voltages that the power
supply is prepared to accept from the AC power source. For 220v current, a
180v–270v range is typical.
4. Efficiency - The ratio of power input to power output, expressed in terms of a
percentage. Values of 65%–85% are common for power supplies today.

1.3.2. Power Cycling

• Should you turn off a system when it is not in use?
• Frequently powering a system on and off does cause deterioration and
damage to the components. It causes temperature or thermal shock.

Thermal expansion and contraction
• As a general rule, do not power the systems off for lunch, breaks, or any other
short periods of time.

1.3.3. Power Supply Troubleshooting

The following is a list of PC problems that often are related to the power supply:
1. Any power-on or system startup failures or lockups
2. Spontaneous rebooting or intermittent lockups during normal operation
3. Hard disk and fan simultaneously failing to spin (no +12v)
4. Overheating due to fan failure
5. Small brownouts that cause the system to reset
6. Electric shocks felt on the system case or connectors
7. Slight static discharges that disrupt system operation
8. System that is completely dead (no fan, no cursor)
9. Smoke
10. Blown circuit breakers
Follow these simple guidelines to help you zero in on common power supply–
related problems:
1. Check the AC power input. Make sure the cord is firmly seated in the wall
socket and in the power supply socket. Try a different cord.
2. Check the DC power connections. Make sure the motherboard and disk
drive power connectors are firmly seated and making good contact.
Check for loose screws.
3. Check the DC power output. Use a digital multimeter to check for proper
voltages. If it’s below spec, replace the power supply.
4. Check the installed peripherals. Remove all boards and drives and retest
the system. If it works, add items back in one at a time until the system fails
again. The last item added before the failure returns is likely defective.

1.3.4. Power-Protection Systems

• Power protection systems protect your equipment from the effects of power
surges and power failures. Most high-quality power supplies (or the attached
systems) will not be damaged by the following occurrences:
o Full power outage
o Any voltage drop (brownout)
o A spike of up to 2,500v
• The following are types of power-protection devices
o Surge suppressors
o Phone-line surge protectors
o Line conditioners
o Uninterruptible power supplies (UPS)

• Surge suppressors - can absorb the high-voltage transients produced by

nearby lightning strikes and power equipment. They have limited protection.
• Phone-line surge protectors - In addition to protecting the power lines, it is
critical to provide protection to your systems from any connected phone
lines. In many areas, the phone lines are especially susceptible to lightning
strikes, which are the leading cause of fried modems and damage to the
computer equipment attached to them.
• Line conditioner (Stabilizer) - It filters the power, bridges brownouts, suppresses
high-voltage and current conditions, and generally acts as a buffer between
the power line and the system. A line conditioner provides true power
conditioning and can handle myriads of problems. It contains transformers,
capacitors, and other circuitry that can temporarily bridge a brownout or
low-voltage situation.
• Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS) - the best overall solution to any power
problem. UPSes are known as online systems because they continuously
function and supply power to your computer systems. In a true UPS, your
system always operates from the battery. A voltage inverter converts from
12v DC to 110v AC. You essentially have your own private power system that
generates power independently of the AC line.
• UPS cost is a direct function of both the length of time it can continue to
provide power after a line current failure and how much power it can
provide.

Chapter 2 – Motherboards
• Think of a motherboard as a scale model of a futuristic city with many
modular plug-in buildings, each using power from a common electrical
system. The motherboard is the data and power infrastructure for the entire
computer. Different motherboards of different vintages typically have
different form factors.
• The form factor is essentially the size, shape and design of the actual
motherboard. Some form factors include: BTX, microBTX, picoBTX, ATX, Mini-
ATX, microATX, FlexATX, mini-ITX, NLX

The figure below shows the components of a motherboard.

Components of a motherboard
2.1. Chipsets

• If you think of the processor as the brain, the chipset is the spine and central
nervous system. The chipset is the main hub and central nervous system of
the PC. The chipset defines the motherboard characteristics; therefore, any
two boards with the same chipsets are functionally identical.
• The chipset usually contains the processor bus interface (called front-side bus,
or FSB), memory controllers, bus controllers, I/O controllers, and more. All the
circuits of the motherboard are contained within the chipset.
• The chipset represents the connection between the processor and
everything else. The processor can't talk to the memory, adapter boards,
devices, and so on without going through the chipset.
• Because the chipset controls the interface or connections between the
processor and everything else, the chipset ends up dictating which type of
processor you have; how fast it will run; how fast the buses will run; the speed,
type, and amount of memory you can use; and more.

2.2. System Buses

• The heart of any motherboard is the various buses that carry signals between
the components. A bus is a common pathway across which data can travel
within a computer. This pathway is used for communication and can be
established between two or more computer elements.
• Most of the internal system components, including the processor, cache,
memory, expansion cards and storage devices, talk to each other over one
or more "buses".
• When we want to measure the performance of a bus, we have to keep three
things in mind
o Bus Width - A bus is a channel over which information flows. The wider
the bus, the more information can flow over the channel, much as a
wider highway can carry more cars than a narrow one. Bus width is
measured in bits, we say 8-bits wide or 32-bits wide etc.
o Bus Speed - The speed of the bus reflects how many bits of information
can be sent across each wire each second. This would be analogous
to how fast the cars are driving on our analogical highway. Bus speed
is measured in Hertz, typically in MHz.
o Bus Bandwidth, also called throughput, refers to the total amount of
data that can theoretically be transferred on the bus in a given unit of
time. Using the highway analogy, if the bus width is the number of
lanes, and the bus speed is how fast the cars are driving, then the
bandwidth is the product of these two and reflects the amount of
traffic that the channel can convey per second.
2.3. Expansion Slots
• The I/O bus or expansion slots enable your CPU to communicate with
peripheral devices. The bus and its associated expansion slots are needed
because basic systems can't possibly satisfy all the needs of all the people
who buy them.
• The I/O bus enables you to add devices to your computer to expand its
capabilities. The most basic computer components, such as sound cards and
video cards, can be plugged into expansion slots.
• You can identify different types of I/O buses by their architectures. The main
differences among buses consist primarily of the amounts of data they can
transfer at one time and the speeds at which they can do it. The following
sections describe the various types of PC buses. These are:
o ISA
o EISA
o PCI
o AGP
o PCI-Express
• Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) Bus
o One of the oldest bus
o Slow performance (8-bits wide and runs at 16MHz max)
o Obsolete nowadays
• Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) Bus
o Developed by Compaq
o Didn’t become as popular as ISA because of its proprietary nature
o ISA cards will work in EISA slots.
o 32 Bit Bus Width
o Plug and Play
• Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) Bus
o Currently by far the most popular local I/O bus
o developed by Intel and introduced in 1994
o high performance general I/O bus due to several factors
o High Bandwidth Options
o The PCI bus offers a great variety of expansion cards
o 32-bit and speed starts at 33MHz
• Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP)
o To combat the eventual saturation of the PCI bus with video
information, a new interface had been pioneered by Intel, designed
specifically for the video subsystem.
o 3D acceleration and full-motion video playback were possible
o Addressed the requirement for large memory by accessing the main
system RAM
o Dedicated only for video cards
o 32-bit and speed starts at 66MHz and runs upto 533MHz
o Has improved speeds like 2X, 4X and 8X.

• PCI Express
 o PCI Express is now destined to be the dominant PC bus architecture
designed to support the increasing bandwidth needs in PCs over the
next 10–15 years.
o PCI Express is another example of how the PC is moving from parallel
to serial interfaces.
o PCI Express is a very fast serial bus design that is backward-compatible
with current PCI parallel bus software drivers and controls.
o PCI Express is designed to augment and eventually replace many of
the buses currently used in PCs.
o Up to 4000MBps bandwidth.

Chapter 3 – I/O Ports

• Ports are means by which the system connects to external devices. There are
numerous types of I/O ports found on a PC. They are shown below.

I/O ports on a computer

These ports include:

• PS/2
• Serial/COM Port
• Parallel/Printer/LPT Port
• Mini Jacks
• VGA Connector
• RJ-45 & RJ-11
• AUI & BNC
• Game Port
• USB
• Firewire

3.1 Standard Serial and Parallel Ports

• Traditionally, the most basic communications ports in any PC system have

been the serial and parallel ports, and these ports continue to be important.
• Serial ports (also known as communication or COM ports) originally were used
for devices that had to communicate bidirectionally with the system. Such
devices include modems, mice, and scanners.
• Newer parallel port standards now allow the parallel port to perform high-
speed bidirectional communications.
• The asynchronous serial interface was designed as a system-to-system
communications port which uses bit-by-bit communication
• Each bit lines up in a series to be sent.
• The interface is a DB-9 or DB-25 male connector
• Parallel ports are normally used for connecting printers to a PC. Parallel ports
are so named because they have eight lines for sending all the bits that
comprise 1 byte of data simultaneously across eight wires. The only problem
with parallel ports is that their cables can’t be extended for any great length.
• Parallel port interface is DB-25 female.

3.2 USB and Firewire

Both of these ports use serial communication. So why is modern technology

moving towards serial rather than parallel? These are some of the answers.
 Increasing the clock speed of a serial connection is much easier than
increasing that of a parallel connection.
 Parallel connections in general suffer from several problems, the
biggest being signal skew and jitter. Skew and jitter are data
corruptions due to long distance and high speed propagation.
 With a serial bus, the data is sent 1 bit at a time (no worry about when
each bit will arrive, the clocking rate can be increased dramatically).
 Parallel cabling is more expensive than serial cabling.
• USB and Firewire bring Plug and Play (PnP) capability for attaching
peripherals externally to the PC. They also save important system resources
such as interrupts (IRQs). Regardless of the number of devices attached to a
system’s USB ports, only one IRQ is required.
• USB allows up to 127 devices to run simultaneously on a single bus.
• USB devices are considered either hubs or functions, or both. Functions are
the individual devices that attach to the USB, such as a keyboard, mouse,
camera, printer, telephone, and so on. Hubs provide additional attachment
points to the USB, enabling the attachment of more hubs or functions.
• The figure below shows this concept.
 USB hubs and functions

• IEEE-1394 / Firewire / [Link] - Uses serial transmission like USB. The key
advantage of 1394 is that it’s extremely fast; the current standard supports
data transfer rates up to an incredible 400/800Mbps. The proposed 1394b
standard is expected to support transfer rates of 1,600Mbps. A maximum of
63 devices can be connected to a single IEEE-1394 adapter card by way of
daisy-chaining or branching.
• 1394 devices, unlike USB devices, can be used in a daisy-chain without using
a hub. Just as with USB, 1394 is fully PnP, including the capability for hot-
plugging (insertion and removal of components without powering down). The
types of devices that can be connected to the PC via 1394 mainly include
video cameras; editing equipment; and all forms of disk drives, including hard
disk, optical, floppy, CD-ROM, and DVD-ROM drives.
• The main reason1394 will survive in conjunction with the USB 2.0 interface is
that USB is normally PC-centric, whereas 1394 is not. In other words, USB
requires a PC as the host, whereas 1394 can connect two devices directly
without a PC between them. As such, 1394 can be used to directly connect
a DV camcorder to a DV-VCR for dubbing tapes or editing.

3.3 Other Connectors

VGA Connectors
• DB-15 (5 pins in 3 rows) female connector and DVI connector which are used
only for connecting Monitors (output only).

Modem Connections
• RJ-11 is used for connecting telephone lines to modem. It has a maximum of
4 pins.
• A typical modem connection is shown below.
• The telephone apparatus is connected to the phone jack and the incoming
line is connected to the line jack.

Network Connectors
• RJ-45 is used for connecting PCs via NIC. It has 8 pins. The other type of
connection of a network is the BNC connector which is used in older networks
using bus topology and coaxial cable. The figure below shows the details.

Chapter 4 – Memory
• Memory is the workspace for the computer’s processor. It is a temporary
storage area where the programs and data being operated on by the
processor must reside. Memory storage is considered temporary/volatile
because the data and programs remain there only as long as the computer
has electrical power or is not reset. Before being shut down or reset, any data
that has been changed should be saved to a more permanent storage
device (usually a hard disk) so it can be reloaded into memory in the future.
• Memory often is called RAM, for random access memory. This means you can
randomly (as opposed to sequentially) access any location in memory. This
designation is somewhat misleading and often misinterpreted. Read-only
memory (ROM), for example, is also randomly accessible, yet is usually
differentiated from the system RAM because it maintains data without power
and can’t normally be written to. Disk memory is also randomly accessible,
but we don’t consider that RAM either.
• RAM can be made of DRAM or SRAM chips. One of the characteristics of
DRAM chips is that they store data dynamically, which really has two
meanings. One meaning is that the information can be written to RAM
repeatedly at any time. The other has to do with the fact that DRAM requires
the data to be refreshed (essentially rewritten) every 15ms (milliseconds) or so.
A type of RAM called static RAM (SRAM) does not require the periodic
refreshing.
• People new to computers often confuse main memory (RAM) with disk
storage because both have capacities that are expressed in similar
megabyte or gigabyte terms. The best analogy to explain the relationship
between memory and disk storage is to think of an office with a desk and a
file cabinet. The file cabinet represents the system’s hard disk, where both
programs and data are stored for long-term safekeeping. The desk represents
the system’s main memory, which allows the person working at the desk
(acting as the processor) direct access to any files placed on it.

4.1. Physical memory

• Physically, the main memory in a system is a collection of chips or modules

containing chips that are usually plugged into the motherboard. Three main
types of physical memory are used in modern PCs:
o ROM. Read-only memory
 o DRAM. Dynamic random access memory
o SRAM. Static RAM
• Read-only memory, or ROM, is a type of memory that can permanently or
semipermanently hold data. It is called read-only because it is either
impossible or difficult to write to. ROM also is often referred to as nonvolatile
memory because any data stored in ROM remains there, even if the power is
turned off. ROM is an ideal place to put the PC’s startup instructions. Note
that ROM and RAM are not opposites, as some people seem to believe. The
main ROM BIOS is contained in a ROM chip on the motherboard, but there
are also adapter cards with ROMs on them as well. Most systems today use a
type of ROM called electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM),
which is a form of Flash memory.
• Dynamic RAM (DRAM) is the type of memory chip used for most of the main
memory in a modern PC. The main advantages of DRAM are that it is very
dense, meaning you can pack a lot of bits into a very small chip, and it is
inexpensive, which makes purchasing large amounts of memory affordable.
The memory cells in a DRAM chip are tiny capacitors that retain a charge to
indicate a bit. If the capacitor is charged, the cell is read to contain a 1; no
charge indicates a 0. The charge in the tiny capacitors is constantly draining,
which is why the memory must be refreshed constantly. Refreshing the
memory unfortunately takes processor time away from other tasks because
each refresh cycle takes several CPU cycles to complete.
• SRAM stands for static RAM, which is so named because it does not need the
periodic refresh rates like DRAM. SRAM is much faster than DRAM and fully
capable of keeping pace with modern processors. SRAM memory is
available in access times of 2ns or less, so it can keep pace with processors
running 500MHz or faster! The SRAM design calls for a cluster of six transistors
for each bit of storage. The use of transistors but no capacitors means that
refresh rates are not necessary because there are no capacitors to lose their
charges over time. So, why don’t we use SRAM for all system memory?
o Compared to DRAM, SRAM is much faster but also much lower in
density and much more expensive.
o The lower density means that SRAM chips are physically larger and
store fewer bits overall.
• Basically, SRAM is up to 30 times larger physically and up to 30 times more
expensive than DRAM. The high cost and physical constraints have
prevented SRAM from being used as the main memory for PC systems.

DRAM and SRAM comparison

4.2. CPU Cache

• Even though SRAM is too expensive for PC use as main memory, PC designers
have found a way to use SRAM to dramatically improve PC performance.
SRAM memory, which can run fast enough to match the CPU, can be used
as a high speed memory, called cache memory. The cache runs at speeds
close to or even equal to the processor and is the memory from which the
processor usually directly reads from and writes to. During read operations,
the data in the high-speed cache memory is re-supplied from the lower-
speed main memory or DRAM in advance.
• Cache effectiveness is expressed as a hit ratio. This is the ratio of cache hits to
total memory accesses. A hit occurs when the data the processor needs has
been preloaded into the cache from the main memory, meaning the
processor can read it from the cache. A cache miss is when the cache
controller did not anticipate the need for a specific address and the desired
data was not preloaded into the cache. In that case the processor must
retrieve the data from the slower main memory, instead of the faster cache.
• To minimize the processor being forced to read data from the slow main
memory, two stages of cache usually exist in a modern system, called Level 1
(L1) and Level 2 (L2). The L1 cache is also called integral or internal cache
because it is directly built into the processor and is actually a part of the
processor die (raw chip). Because of this, L1 cache always runs at the full
speed of the processor core and is the fastest cache in any system. L2 cache
is also called external cache because it is external to the processor chip.
Originally, this meant it was installed on the motherboard, as was the case
with all 386, 486, and Pentium systems. In those systems, the L2 cache runs at
motherboard speed because it is installed on the motherboard. In the interest
of improved performance, later processor designs from Intel and AMD have
included the L2 cache as a part of the processor.
• Cache speed is very important, so systems having L2 cache on the
motherboard were the slowest (on board cache). Including L2 inside the
processor made it faster (on chip cache), and including it directly on the
processor die (rather than as chips external to the die) is the fastest yet (on
die cache). Most new processors have on die cache.

Chapter 5 – BIOS
 BIOS is a term that stands for basic input/output system, which at the most
basic level consists of low level software that controls the system hardware.
BIOS is essentially the link between hardware and software in a system. BIOS
code is burned or flashed into a ROM chip that is both nonvolatile and read-
only. A PC system can be described as a series of layers—some hardware
and some software—that interface with each other. In the most basic sense,
you can break a PC down into four primary layers, each of which can be
broken down further into subsets.
 The purpose of the layered design is to enable a given operating system and
applications to run on different hardware. The figure shows how two different
machines with different hardware can each use different drivers (BIOS) to
interface the unique hardware to a common operating system and
applications. The hardware layer is where most differences lie between
various systems. It is up to the BIOS to mask the differences between unique
hardware so that the given operating system (and subsequently the
application) can be run.

BIOS masks different hardware platforms and makes them appear identical to
the operating system
 The BIOS itself is software running in memory that consists of all the various
drivers that interface the hardware to the operating system. The BIOS in a PC
comes from three possible sources:
o Motherboard ROM
o Adapter card ROM (such as that found on a video card)
o Loaded into RAM from disk (device drivers)
 The motherboard BIOS usually includes drivers for all the basic system
components, including the keyboard, floppy drive, hard drive, serial and
parallel ports, and more. As systems became more complex, new hardware
was added for which no motherboard BIOS drivers existed. Rather than
requiring a new motherboard BIOS that would specifically support the new
devices, it was far simpler and more practical to copy any new drivers that
were necessary onto the system hard disk and configure the operating
system to load them at boot time. This is how most CD-ROM drives, sound
cards, scanners, printers, and so on are supported.
 Some people confuse BIOS with the CMOS RAM in a system. The BIOS on the
motherboard is stored in a fixed ROM chip. Also on the motherboard there is
a chip called the RTC/NVRAM chip, which stands for real-time
clock/nonvolatile memory. This is where the BIOS Setup information is stored,
and it is actually a digital clock chip with a few extra bytes of memory. It is
usually called the CMOS chip because it is made using CMOS
(complimentary metal-oxide semiconductor) technology. When you enter
your BIOS Setup, configure your hard disk parameters or other BIOS Setup
settings, and save them, these settings are written to the storage area in the
 RTC/NVRAM (otherwise called CMOS RAM) chip. Every time your system
boots up, it reads the parameters stored in the CMOS RAM chip to determine
how the system should be configured. A relationship exists between the BIOS
and CMOS RAM, but they are two distinctly different parts of the system.

5.1. Motherboard BIOS

 The BIOS is a collection of programs embedded in one or more chips,

depending on the design of your computer. That collection of programs is
the first thing loaded when you start your computer, even before the
operating system. The BIOS in most PCs has four main functions:
o POST (power on self test). The POST tests your computer’s processor,
memory, chipset, video adapter, disk controllers, disk drives, keyboard,
and other crucial components.
o Setup. The system configuration and setup program is usually a menu-
driven program activated by pressing a special key during the POST,
and it enables you to configure basic system settings.
o Bootstrap loader. A routine that reads the disk drives looking for a valid
master boot sector. This master boot sector program then continues
the boot process by loading an operating system boot sector, which
then loads the operating system core files.
o BIOS (basic input/output system). This refers to the collection of actual
drivers used to act as a basic interface between the operating system
and your hardware when the system is booted and running.
 Several popular BIOS manufacturers in the market today supply the majority
of motherboard and system manufacturers with the code for their ROMs.
Several companies have specialized in the development of a compatible
ROM BIOS product. The three major companies that come to mind in
discussing ROM BIOS software are American Megatrends, Inc. (AMI), Phoenix
Technologies, and Award Software (now owned by Phoenix Technologies).
 Many OEMs (original equipment manufacturer) have developed their own
compatible ROMs independently. Companies such as Compaq, AT&T, and
Acer have developed their own BIOS products that are comparable to those
offered by AMI, Phoenix, Award, and others. Most OEMs have their BIOS
written for them by a third-party company. For example, Hewlett-Packard
contracts with Phoenix to develop the motherboard BIOSes for some HP PCs.
 Modern BIOS is made of EEPROM. By using an EEPROM, or flash ROM, you can
erase and reprogram the motherboard ROM in a PC without removing the
chip from the system or even opening up the system chassis. In most cases,
you download the updated ROM from the motherboard manufacturer’s
Web site and then run a special program it provides to update the ROM.
5.2. Beep Codes

• When a computer is booted, the basic input/output system (BIOS) performs a

check on all of the internal components. This check is called a power-on self
test (POST).
• Whenever a POST fails the BIOS may indicate the error through a blank
screen, or a visual error message on the video display, or through an audio
response (beep codes) produced by the system’s speaker. Different beep
codes are generated depending on the device which has failed to respond
to the POST. This translation between beep codes and the device involved is
primarily referred from the mainboard’s manual. If every device tested is
operating correctly a single beep sound is heard. In PCs, you can use the
single beep that most PCs produce between the end of the POST and the
beginning of the boot-up process to separate hardware problems from
software problems.
• Errors that occur, or are displayed, before this beep indicate that a hardware
problem of some type exists. This conclusion should be easy to understand
because up to this time, only the BIOS and the basic system hardware have
been active. The operating system side of the system does not come into
play until after the beep occurs. If the system produces an error message or a
beep code before the single beep, for example, the system has found a
problem with the RAM hardware.
• Here’s an example of beep codes produced by a particular BIOS version
from American Megatrends (AMI)

Beep codes for an AMI BIOS

Chapter 6 – Drives
6.1. IDE Interface

• The interface used to connect a hard disk drive to a modern PC is typically

called IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics). An interesting fact is that the true
name of the interface is ATA (AT Attachment). Integrated Drive Electronics
refers to the fact that the interface electronics or controller is built into the
drive and is not a separate board, as with earlier drive interfaces. Today, ATA
is used to connect not only hard disks, but also CD and DVD drives, high-
capacity SuperDisk floppy drives, and tape drives.
• ATA is a 16-bit parallel interface, meaning that 16 bits are transmitted
simultaneously down the interface cable. A new interface called Serial ATA
was officially introduced in late 2000 and is being adopted in systems starting
in 2002. Serial ATA (SATA) sends 1 bit down the cable at a time, enabling
thinner and smaller cables to be used and providing higher performance due
to the higher cycling speeds allowed. The primary advantage of ATA drives
over the older, separate controller-based interfaces and newer host bus
interface alternatives, such as SCSI and FireWire, is cost.
• ATA interface is integrated within the motherboard chipset South Bridge or
I/O Controller Hub chip. There are two types of IDE interface standards:
o Serial AT Attachment (SATA)
o Parallel AT Attachment (ATA) IDE (based on 16-bit ISA)

Parallel ATA
• In a parallel ATA drive configuration, you get only 16-bit transfers between the
drive and the motherboard-based host interface. The parallel ATA interface
has evolved into several successive standard versions, introduced as follows:
o ATA-1 (8MBps)
o ATA-2 (16MBps)
o ATA-3 (16MBps)
o ATA-4 (33MBps; also called Ultra-ATA/33)
o ATA-5 (66MBps; also called Ultra-ATA/66)
o ATA-6 (100MBps; also called Ultra-ATA/100)
o ATA-7 (133MBps; also called Ultra-ATA/133)
• Each version of ATA is backward-compatible with the previous versions.
• A 40-conductor ribbon cable is specified to carry signals between the bus
adapter circuits and the drive (controller). To maximize signal integrity and
eliminate potential timing and noise problems, the cable should not be
longer than 18'' (0.46 meters). If the cable is too long, you can experience
data corruption and other errors.
• Two primary variations of IDE cables are used today: one with 40 conductors
and the other with 80 conductors. Both use 40-pin connectors, and the
additional wires in the 80-conductor version are simply wired to ground. The
 additional conductors are designed to reduce noise and interference and
are required when setting the interface to run at 66MB/sec (ATA/66) or faster.
The drive and host adapter are designed to disable the higher-speed ATA/66,
ATA/100, or ATA/133 modes if an 80-conductor cable is not detected. The 80-
conductor cable can also be used at lower speeds; although this is
unnecessary, it improves the signal integrity. Therefore, it is the recommended
version no matter which drive you use.

• Dual-drive ATA installations can be problematic because each drive has its
own controller and both controllers must function while being connected to
the same bus. The primary drive (drive 0) is called the master, and the
secondary drive (drive 1) is called the slave. You designate a drive as being
master or slave by setting a jumper or switch on the drive. Setting the jumper
to master or slave enables discrimination between the two controllers by
setting a special bit (the DRV bit) in the Drive/Head Register of a command
block. Most IDE drives can be configured with four possible settings:
o Master (single-drive)
o Master (dual-drive)
o Slave (dual-drive)
o Cable select

Serial ATA
• Sending data at rates faster than 133MBps down a parallel ribbon cable is
fraught with all kinds of problems because of signal timing, electromagnetic
interference (EMI), and other integrity problems. The solution is called Serial
ATA, which is an evolutionary replacement for the venerable parallel ATA
physical storage interface. Serial ATA is software-compatible with parallel
ATA. Serial ATA uses much smaller and thinner cables with only seven
conductors that are easier to route inside the PC and easier to plug in with
smaller, redesigned cable connectors.

6.2. Small Computer System Interface (SCSI)

• The Small Computer System Interface (SCSI, often referred to as “scuzzy”)

standard, like the IDE concept, provides a true system level interface for the
drive. The SCSI interface can be used to connect diverse types of peripherals
to the system. As an example, a SCSI chain could connect a controller to a
hard drive, a CD-ROM drive, a high-speed tape drive, a scanner, and a
printer. Additional SCSI devices are added to the system by daisy-chaining
them together, i.e the input of the second device is attached to the SCSI
output of the first device, and so forth.
• Usually SCSI interface is not found on the motherboard, it comes in a PCI host
adapter card, shown below.
• The SCSI specification permits up to eight SCSI devices to be connected
together. The SCSI port can be daisy-chained to allow up to six external
peripherals to be connected to the system. To connect multiple SCSI devices
to a SCSI host, all the devices, except the last one, must have two SCSI
connectors: one for SCSI-In, and one for SCSI-Out. Each SCSI device in a
chain must have a unique ID number assigned to it.

6.3. Hard-Disk Storage

• A hard disk drive is a sealed unit that a PC uses for nonvolatile data storage.
Nonvolatile, or semi-permanent, storage means that the storage device
retains the data even when no power is supplied to the computer. A hard
disk drive contains rigid, disk-shaped platters, usually constructed of aluminum
or glass. Unlike floppy disks, the platters can’t bend or flex—hence the term
hard disk.

Components of a hard disk

• A hard disk is comprised of four basic parts:
o platters,
o a spindle,
 o read/write heads, and
o integrated electronics.
• Platters are rigid disks made of metal or plastic. Both sides of each platter are
covered with a thin layer of iron oxide or other magnetizable material. The
platters are mounted on a central axle or spindle, which rotates all the
platters at the same speed.
• Read/write heads are mounted on arms that extend over both top and
bottom surfaces of each disk. There is at least one read/write head for each
side of each platter. The arms jointly move back and forth between the
platters’ centers and outside edges; this movement, along with the platters’
rotation, allow the read/write heads to access all areas of the platters.
• The integrated electronics translate commands from the computer and
move the read/write heads to specific areas of the platters, thus reading
and/or writing the needed data.

6.3.1. Preparing a hard disk drive

• Preparing a hard disk drive, for data storage involves three steps:
1. Low-level formatting (LLF):- A hard disk’s physical formatting (also
called low-level formatting) is usually performed by the manufacturer.
Physical formatting divides the hard disk’s platters into their basic physical
elements:
 tracks,
 sectors, and
 cylinders.

2. Partitioning:- After a disk has been physically formatted, it can be

divided into separate physical sections or partitions. Each partition
functions as an individual unit, and can be logically formatted with any
desired file system.

3. High-level formatting (HLF):- Logical formatting places a file system on

the disk, allowing an operating system (such as DOS, OS/2, Windows, or
Linux) to use the available disk space to store and retrieve files. Different
OSs (operating systems) use different file systems, so the type of logical
formatting you apply depends on the OS you plan to install. High-level
formatting is not really a physical formatting of the drive, but rather the
creation of a table of contents for the disk.

• Some of the most common file systems are the following:

o FAT (File Allocation Table)
o FAT32 (File Allocation Table 32)
o NTFS (New Technology File System)
o HPFS (High Performance File System)
o NetWare File System
o Linux Ext2 and Linux Swap
6.4. Optical Storage

• There are basically two types of disk storage for computers: magnetic and
optical. Magnetic storage is represented by the standard floppy and hard
disks installed in most PC systems, where the data is recorded magnetically
on rotating disks. Optical disc storage is similar to magnetic disk storage in
basic operation, but it reads and records using light (optically) instead of
magnetism. Although most magnetic disk storage is fully read- and write-
capable many times over, many optical storage media are either read-only
or write-once. Optical storage has proven to be much slower and far less
dense than magnetic storage and is much more adaptable to removable-
media designs.

CD
• CD-ROM, or compact disc read-only memory, is an optical read-only storage
medium based on the original CD-DA (digital audio) format first developed
for audio CDs. Other formats, such as CD-R (CD-recordable) and CD-RW (CD-
rewritable), are expanding the compact disc’s capabilities by making it
writable. Additionally, new technologies such as DVD (digital versatile disc)
are making it possible to store more data than ever on the same size disc.
CD-ROM discs are capable of holding up to 74 or 80 minutes of high-fidelity
audio or up to 682MB (74-minute disc) or 737MB (80-minute disc) of data.
• A CD is made of a polycarbonate wafer, 120mm in diameter and 1.2mm
thick, with a 15mm hole in the center. This wafer base is stamped or molded
with a single physical track in a spiral configuration starting from the inside of
the disc and spiraling outward. If you examined the spiral track under a
microscope, you would see that along the track are raised bumps, called
pits, and flat areas between the pits, called lands.
• The recorded data is read from the disc by scanning it with a lower power,
continuous laser beam. The laser diode emits the highly focused, narrow
beam that is reflected back from the disc. The reflected beam passes
through a prism, and is bent 90 degrees, where it is picked up by the diode
detector and converted into an electrical signal. Only the light reflected from
a land on the disc is picked up by the detector. Light that strikes a pit is
scattered and is not detected.

• A CD-ROM drive operates by using a laser to reflect light off the bottom of
the disc. The reflected light is then read by a photo detector. The overall
operation of a CD-ROM drive is as follows

• CD-ROM drives that operate at the speed of a conventional audio CD player

are called single-speed (1×) drives. Advanced drives that spin twice, and
three times as fast as the typical CD player are referred to as double-speed
(2×) drives, triple-speed (3×) drives, and so forth. Single-speed drives transfer
data at a rate of 150KB per second. Double-speed drive transfers occur at
 300KB per second, and so on. Most manufacturers are now focusing on 50×
and 52× drives.

DVD
• DVD stands for digital versatile disc and in simplest terms is a high-capacity
CD. In fact, every DVD-ROM drive is a CD-ROM drive; that is, they can read
CDs as well as DVDs. DVD uses the same optical technology as CD, with the
main difference being higher density.
• DVD discs can hold up to 4.7GB (single layer) or 8.5GB (dual layer) on a single
side of the disc, which is more than 11.5 times greater than a CD. Double-
sided DVD discs can hold up to twice that amount, although you currently
must manually flip the disc over to read the other side. The DVD disc’s pits
and lands are much smaller and closer together than those on a CD,
allowing the same physical-sized platter to hold much more information.

Difference in density between DVD and CD

Chapter 7 - Symptoms and

Troubleshooting

• For effective troubleshooting repair, one must fulfill the following

o Workspace
 a clear, flat workspace
 Good lighting
o Organizational Aids
 A parts organizer to keep track of small parts,
 A roll of athletic or masking tape to make tags and labels to
help identify parts
 A small note pad or notebook to keep track of your
assembly/troubleshooting steps.
o Diagnostic and Repair Tools
 Hand Tools
 Multimeter
 Computer maintenance kit

7.1. Information Gathering and Inspection

• One of the most important aspects of troubleshooting anything is the

gathering of information about the problem at hand and the symptoms it is
showing. Ask the user about…
o environment the system is being used in
o any symptoms or error codes produced by the system
• Successful troubleshooting results from careful observation. Effective
troubleshooting of electronic equipment is a matter of combining good
knowledge of the equipment and its operation with good testing techniques
and deductive reasoning skills. Steps followed
o First, always try the system to see what symptoms you produce.
o Second, you must isolate the problem to either software- or hardware-
related problems.
o Finally, you should isolate the problem to a section of the hardware or
software.

Visual Inspection
• Check the outside of the system first. Look for loose or disconnected cables.
• Consult all the external front-panel lights. If no lights display, check the power
outlet, the plugs and power cords, as well as any power switches that may
affect the operation of the system.
• If part of the system is active, try to localize the problem by systematically
removing peripheral devices from the system.
• Try swapping suspected devices with known good parts from another
computer of the same type.
• Consult any additional user or operations manuals liberally.
Observing the Boot Procedure
• The observable actions of a working system’s cold-boot procedure are listed
as follows, in their order of occurrence:

1. When power is applied, the power-supply fan activates.

2. The keyboard lights flash as the rest of the system components are
being reset.
3. A BIOS message displays on the monitor.
4. A memory test flickers on the monitor.
5. The floppy disk drive access light comes on briefly.
6. The hard disk drive access light comes on briefly.
7. The system beeps, indicating that it has completed its Power-On Self-
Tests and initialization process..
8. The floppy disk drive access light comes on briefly before switching to
the hard drive. At this point in the process, the BIOS is looking for
additional instructions (boot information), first from the floppy drive and
then from the hard drive (assuming that the CMOS setup is configured
for this sequence).
9. For Windows machines, the Starting Windows message appears
onscreen.

Isolating Hardware and Software Problem

• One of the earliest steps in troubleshooting a computer problem (or any other
programmable system problem) is to determine whether the problem is due
to a hardware failure or to faulty programming. You can use a significant
event that occurs during the bootup process as a key to begin separating
hardware problems from software problems: the single beep that most PCs
produce between the end of the POST and the beginning of the boot-up
process (step 7 in the preceding list).
• Errors that occur, or are displayed, before this beep indicate that a hardware
problem of some type exists. You can still group errors that occur before the
beep into two distinct categories: Configuration errors & Hardware failures

7.2. Hardware Problems

• Configuration problems - A special category of problems tends to occur

whenever a new hardware option is added to the system, or when the
system is used for the very first time. It is also called setup problems. It results
from mismatches between the system’s programmed configuration, held in
CMOS memory, and the actual equipment installed in the system.
• If you cannot confirm a configuration problem, the problem most likely is a
defective component. The most widely used repair method involves
substituting known good components for suspected bad components.
• Errors that occur between the beep and the presentation of the operating
system’s user interface (command prompt or GUI) generally have two
possible sources:
o Hardware failure
o Corrupted or missing operating system files
• Hardware Failures - Many companies produce disk-based diagnostic routines
that check the system by running predetermined tests on different areas of its
hardware. The diagnostic package evaluates the response from each test
and attempts to produce a status report for all the system’s major
components. If a diagnostic program indicates that multiple items should be
replaced, replace the units one at a time until the unit starts up.

7.3. Troubleshooting System Board

• Typical symptoms associated with system board hardware failures include the
following:
1. The On/Off indicator lights are visible, the display is visible on the monitor
screen, but there is no disk drive action and no boot up.
2. The On/Off indicator lights are visible, the hard drive spins up, but the
system appears dead and there is no boot up.
3. The system locks up during normal operation.
4. The system produces a beep code of 1 long and 3 short beeps.
5. The system will not hold date and time.
6. An 8042 Gate A20 Error message displays—error getting into protected
mode.
7. An Invalid Switch Memory Failure message displays.
8. A DMA Error message displays—DMA controller failed page register test.
9. A CMOS Battery Low message displays, indicating failure of CMOS battery
or CMOS checksum test.
10. A CMOS System Option Not Set message displays, indicating failure of
CMOS battery or CMOS checksum test.
11. A CMOS Checksum Failure message displays, indicating CMOS battery
low or CMOS checksum test failure.
12. A 201 error code displays, indicating a RAM failure.
13. A parity check error message displays, indicating a RAM error.

7.4. Troubleshooting RAM

• RAM failures basically fall into two major categories and create two different
types of failures.
o soft-memory errors, are caused by infrequent and random glitches in
the operation of applications and the system. You can clear these
events just by restarting the system.
 o hard-memory errors, are permanent physical failures that generate
NMI errors in the system and require that the memory units be checked
by substitution.
• You can swap the RAM modules out in a one-at-a-time manner, to isolate
defective modules. Take care when swapping RAM into a system for
troubleshooting purposes to make sure that the new RAM is the correct type
of RAM for the system and that it meets the system’s bus speed rating.

7.5. Troubleshooting Microprocessor

• In the case of the microprocessor, the system may issue a slow, single beep,
with no display or other I/O operation. The only way to remedy the problem is
to replace the microprocessor.
• If the system consistently locks up after being on for a few minutes, this is a
good indication that the microprocessor’s fan is not running or that some
other heat buildup problem is occurring.
• The fact that most microprocessors, as well as the BIOS chips, are mounted in
sockets brings up for these items to be pulled and reseated in their sockets, if
they seem to be a possible cause of problems.

7.6. Troubleshooting ROM

• When you encounter a dead system board, examine the BIOS chip(s) for
physical damage. If these devices overheat, it is typical for them to crack or
blow a large piece out of the top of the IC package.
• Another symptom of a damaged BIOS is indicated by the boot up moving
into the CMOS configuration, but never returning to the boot-up sequence. In
any case, you must replace the defective BIOS with a version that matches
the chipset used by the system.
• Corrosion also can affect the system clock over time. If a system refuses to
maintain time and date information after the backup battery has been
replaced, check the contacts of the holder for corrosion.
• Two types of batteries are commonly used for CMOS backup:
o Nickel-Cadmium (Ni-Cad)
o Lithium batteries.
• Of the two, Ni-Cads have historically been the most favored. Conversely,
lithium batteries are gaining respect due to their long-life capabilities when
installed in systems designed to recharge lithium batteries. However, lithium
battery life is noticeably short when they are installed in systems designed for
the higher current drain Ni-Cads. Therefore, you should always use the correct
type of battery to replace a system board battery.

7.7. Troubleshooting Video

• Information intended for the video display monitor moves from the system
board, to the video adapter card, by way of the system board’s expansion
slots, and then to the monitor.
• Basically, three levels of troubleshooting apply to video problems:
o the DOS level,
o the Windows level, and
o the hardware level.
• In the case of hardware problems, the components associated with video
problems include the video adapter card, and the monitor. To a lesser
degree, the system board, and optional adapter cards, such as sound and
scanner cards, can cause video problems.
• Other common symptoms associated with display problems include the
following:
1. No display.
2. Wrong characters displayed onscreen.
3. Diagonal lines onscreen (no horizontal control).
4. Display scrolls (no vertical control).
5. An error code of 1 long and 6 short beeps is produced by the system.
6. A Display Switch Setting Not Proper—Failure to Verify Display Type error
displays.
7. A CMOS Display Mismatch—Failure to Verify Display Type error displays.
8. An error code of 1 long and 2 short beeps indicates a display adapter
problem.
• If you suspect a video display hardware problem, the first task is to check the
monitor’s On/Off switch to see that it is in the On position. Also, check the
monitor’s power cord to see that it is either plugged into the power-supply’s
monitor outlet, or into an active 120V/220V (AC) commercial outlet. Also
check the monitor’s intensity and contrast controls to make certain that they
are not turned down.
• The next step is to determine which of the video-related components is
involved. On most monitors, you can do this by just removing the video signal
cable from the adapter card. If a raster appears onscreen with the signal
cable removed, the problem is probably a system problem, and the monitor
is good. Monitors that possess this power-saving feature revert to a low power
mode when they do not receive a signal change for a given period of time.
Exchange the monitor for a known good one of the same type. If the display
is still not correct, exchange the video controller card with a known good one
of the same type.

7.8. Troubleshooting Hard Disk Drives

• Typical symptoms associated with hard disk drive (HDD) failures include the
following:
1. The computer does not boot up when turned on.
2. The computer boots up to a system disk in the A: drive, but not to the hard
drive, indicating that the system files on the HDD are missing or have
become corrupt.
3. No motor sounds are produced by the HDD while the computer is running.
(In desktop units, the HDD should always run when power is applied to the
system—this also applies to portables because of their advanced power-
saving features.)
4. An IBM-compatible 17xx error code is produced on the monitor screen.
5. An HDD Controller Failure message displays, indicating a failure to verify
hard disk setup by system configuration file error.
6. A C: or D: Fixed Disk Drive Error message displays, indicating a hard disk
CMOS setup failure.
7. An Invalid Media Type message displays, indicating the controller cannot
find a recognizable track/sector pattern on the drive.
8. A No Boot Record Found, a Non-System Disk or Disk Error, or an Invalid
System Disk message displays, indicating that the system boot files are not
located in the root directory of the drive.
9. The video display is active, but the HDD’s activity light remains on and no
boot up occurs, indicating that the HDD’s CMOS configuration
information is incorrect.
10. An Out of Disk Space message displays, indicating that the amount of
space on the disk is insufficient to carry out the desired operation.
11. A Missing Operating System, a Hard Drive Boot Failure, or an Invalid Drive
or Drive Specification message displays, indicating that the disk’s Master
Boot Record is missing or has become corrupt.
12. A No ROM BASIC—System Halted, or ROM BASIC Interpreter Not Found
message displays, followed by the system stopping, indicating that no
Master Boot Record was found in the system. This message is produced
only by PCs, XTs, and some clones.
13. A Current Drive No Longer Valid message displays, indicating that the
HDD’s CMOS configuration information is incorrect or has become
corrupt.