Chapter 3

Computer cases and motherboard

• Computer cases: A computer case contains the
framework to support a computer’s internal
components while providing an enclosure for added
protection.
• Computer cases typically are made of plastic, steel,
and aluminum and are available in a variety of styles.
• The size and layout of a case is called a form factor.
There are many types of cases, but the basic form
factors for computer cases include desktop and tower.
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 Types of Cases
1. Desktop Cases
• Classic case with four drive bays and six expansion slots

• Motherboard is on bottom of case

• Power supply is near the back

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 Types…
2. Tower Cases
• Often used for servers and PCs users anticipating
upgrading
• Maximum space for working and moving
components
• Midsize, or mid towers, are most popular
– Six expansion slots, four drive bays
• Minitower, or micro tower, is the smallest
– Does not provide room for expansion
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Tower…

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 Notebook Cases
• Portable computers with all components of a
desktop computer
• Difficulties in expansion
• Designs focus on
– Conserving space
– Portability
– Use of less power
– Producing less heat

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• Desktop cases may be slim line or full-sized, and
tower cases may be mini or full-sized.

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 Cases….
Computer cases are referred to in a number of ways:
• Computer chassis
• Cabinet
• Tower
• Box
• Housing
In addition to providing protection and support, cases
also provide an environment designed to keep the
internal components cool.

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 Cases…
• Case fans are used to move air through the
computer case
• As the air passes warm components, it absorbs heat
and then exits the case.
• This process keeps the computer’s components from
overheating.
You must consider many factors when choosing a case:
• The size of the motherboard
• The number of external or internal drive locations,
called bays
• Available space 8
 Cases…
When choosing a computer case, consider the
following:
I. Model type: there are two main case models.
desktop PCs and the tower computers. The type of
motherboard you choose determines the type of
case that can be used. The size and shape must
match exactly.
II. Size: If a computer has many components, it needs
more room for airflow to keep the system cool

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 Cases…
iii. Available space: Desktop cases allow space
conservation in tight areas, because the monitor
can be placed on top of the unit. The design of the
desktop case may limit the number and size of the
components that can be added.
iv. Power supply: You must match the power rating
and connection type of the power supply to the
type of motherboard you have chosen.

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Appearance: There are many case designs to
choose from if it is necessary to have a case
that is attractive.
Status display: LED indicators that are mounted on the
front of the case can tell you if the system is
receiving power, when the hard drive is being
used, and when the computer is on standby or
sleeping.
Vents: All cases have a vent on the power supply.
Some cases have more vents to dissipate an
unusual amount of heat.
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 Cases…
• Note: You should select a case that matches the
physical dimensions of the power supply and
motherboard.
Opening the case
• There are different methods of opening cases.
• Most computer cases are opened in one of the
following ways:
I. The computer case cover can be removed as one
piece.
II. The case’s top and side panels can be removed.
III. The top of the case may need to be removed before
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 Cases…
• Don’t forget to wear an anti-static wrist strap or
touch the metal case occasionally to prevent ESD

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 The Motherboard
• The motherboard is the main printed circuit board.
• It contains the buses, or electrical pathways, found
in a computer.
• These buses allow data to travel between the
various components that comprise a computer.
• A motherboard is also known as the system board,
backplane, or main board

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 Mother…
• The motherboard accommodates the central
processing unit (CPU), RAM, expansion slots, heat
sink/fan assembly, BIOS chip, chip set, and the
embedded wires that interconnect the
motherboard components.

• Sockets, internal and external connectors, and

various ports are also placed on the motherboard

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 Mother…
• All devices
– Communicate with the motherboard
– Are either installed directly on it or linked by a cable

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Mother…

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Mother…

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Mother…

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 Troubleshooting the motherboard
• Motherboard may fail b/c of time, dust and
manufacturing defect

• Installing cards, electrostatic discharge, flexing the

motherboard one time too many when swapping
out RAM or drives—any of these factors can cause a
motherboard to fail.

• Troubleshooting a motherboard problem can be

very difficult and time-consuming. 20
 Symptoms
• Motherboard failures commonly fall into three types:
catastrophic, component, and ethernal.

• With a catastrophic failure, the PC just won’t boot. It

happens due to manufacturing defects

• Component failure happens rarely, but appears as flaky

connections between a device and motherboard, or as
intermittent problems

 A hard drive plugged into a faulty controller on the motherboard

might show up in CMOS auto detect, but be inaccessible in 21
 Symp…

• Ethernal: The most difficult of the three types of

symptoms

– The PC reboots itself.

– You get blue screens of death in the midst of heavy
computing

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 Identifying motherboard problems

• Three general types of failures are directly related to

the motherboard.

– Failures relating to the motherboard are often distinguished

as component failures during the boot sequence

– Motherboard-related failures are typically identified during

the (POST) process by a BIOS beep code and any related
messages

– the three primary boot sequence failure modes: no beep-

no boot, beep-no boot, and beep boot-bam. 23
 Identify… NO BEEP-NO BOOT

• The PC’s power is on, you can see lights on the front panel,
but the POST process did not run.

– Check the main power cord

– Check the power source outlet for proper voltage with a multi
meter or digital voltage meter

– Check the power supply’s fan to see whether it’s turning.

– Check the motherboard’s power connection

– Verify that the power connectors from the power supply are firmly
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 Identify… NO BEEP-NO BOOT…
– Check for a mis mounted or missing processor

– Disconnect all external connectors — serial, parallel,

USB, keyboard, mouse, and so on — and reboot the
system.

If the system boots, begin a cycle of replacing the

connectors one at a time and cold booting the PC each
time until the problem reoccurs.

If the system fails after a certain device is attached,

troubleshoot the connector or the device
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 Identify… BEEP-NO BOOT

• If the PC powers up but the POST process appears to halt after

sounding one or more beep:

– Make sure that the PC’s monitor is on, connected, and operating okay

– Look up the pattern used on the BIOS in your PC

– Check to make sure that the CMOS battery jumper is in the correct
position.

– Inspect the CMOS battery for leaks, corrosion, or burns.

– Check the video card by removing and reinstalling it.

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– Check for a text message
 Identify… BEEP-NO BOOT…

– Remove the RAM chips or modules and try booting with

different combinations of memory modules in different
slots on the board

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 Identifying…BEEP-BOOT-BAM
• In this situation, the PC is powered on

• the POST completes and signals

• but the PC fails at the beginning of the startup

sequence or right after the boot completes

– Study the BIOS information displayed on the monitor

and verify that the boot drive sequence is set correctly

– Check the hard disk drives to ensure that you have only
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one master disk and one slave disk on each IDE cable
 BIOS BEEP CODES
• If the boot sequence continues successfully, the single beep
means that no problems exist

• Each BIOS producer has its own collection of POST error beep
codes

• Four primary sets of beep codes are used on computers: IBM

standard, AMI, Award, and Phoenix.

• Each BIOS beep code set uses a different sound pattern to

indicate different problems.

• They involve short beeps, long beeps, and a varying number

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 BIOS BEEP CODES…..
Beep code Meaning
No beep Power supply or system board failure

Repeating short beeps Power supply or system board failure

1 long, 1 short System board error

STANDARD IBM BIOS BEEP CODES

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 BIOS BEEP CODES…
Beep Code Meaning
1 short POST is okay
5 short Motherboard failure

AMI BIOS BEEP CODES

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 BIOS BEEP CODES…
Beep code Meaning
The beep code that indicates a possible error in the BIOS ROM is 1-2-2-
3, which would sound something like beep, pause, beep-beep, pause,
beep-beep, pause, beep-beep-beep

1-2-2-1 Motherboard error; initializing keyboard controller

1-2-3-3 Motherboard error; initializing DMA controller

1-3-1-1 Motherboard error; memory refresh test
1-4-1-3 Motherboard error; CPU bus clock frequency test

PHOENIX BIOS BEEP CODES

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