Copyright 2004 CertTalk.com/Adaptive Learning Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Domain 1 Installation, Configuration, and Upgrading

Identify the names, purpose, and characteristics, of
system modules.
1. System modules refer to items like Motherboard, Firmware,
Power supply, Processor, Memory, Storage devices, Display
devices, Adapter cards, Ports, Cases and Riser cards.
2. Instructions written to a ROM chip and are unchangeable
under any circumstances are called firmware.
3. Riser card occupies less space and is ideal for small desktop
chassis.
Identify basic procedures for adding and removing
field-replaceable modules for desktop systems.
4. Modules should be in an antistatic bag before use.
5. After replacement, go to Device Manager to check and see if
it is working.
6. Beware of ESD (Electrostatic Discharge) can damage the
integrated circuits. Use anti-static wrist and ankle straps
whenever possible.
7. The procedures are: uninstalling your current device's
drivers, removing your current device, installing your new
device, and installing the new device 's drivers.
8. Many portable computers use proprietary components.
9. Type I cards are 3.3mm thick and have a single row of
connectors.
10. Type II cards are 5mm thick and have two rows of
connectors.
11. Type III cards are up to 10.5mm thick and have four rows of
connectors.
Identify typical IRQs, DMAs, and I/O addresses, and
procedures for altering these settings when installing and
configuring devices.
12. When you install a new device, it is assigned an IRQ number
to allow the CPU to know which device is interrupting and
requesting service.
13. Some devices may share an IRQ as long as they do not
attempt to interact with the CPU at the same time.
14. DMA channels allow certain types of devices to bypass the
CPU and access main memory directly.
15. Two devices cannot share a single DMA channel.
16. The CPU uses the I/O address to send a command to the
device. In theory, each device can have only one I/O
address.
17. You need to memorize the IRQ numbers and the I/O
addresses.
Install and configure server hardware devices.
18. << Memory Addressing >>.
COM1 3F8-3FFh
COM2 2F8-2FFh
COM3 3E8-3Efh
COM4 2E8-2Efh
LPT1 378-37Fh
LPT2 278-27Fh
19. << IRQ's >>.
0 System Timer
1 Keyboard
2 Cascade to IRQ 9
3 Com2 / Com4
4 Com1 / Com3
5 Available - sound card or LPT2
6 Floppy Disk Controller
7 Parallel Port - LPT1
8 Real-time clock
9 Redirected IRQ2 / Cascade
10 Available
11 Available
12 PS/2 Mouse
13 Math Coprocessor
14 Hard Disk Controller
15 Available
20. << DMA >>.
0 DRAM refresh
1 Sound card
2 Floppy disk drive
3 ECP or EPP parallel port
4 DMA controller
5 Sound card
6 Available
7 ISA IDE Hard Drive Controller
Identify the names, purposes, and performance
characteristics, of standardized/common peripheral ports,
associated cabling, and their connectors.
21. You need to know the following ports and cables: Serial,
Parallel, USB and IEEE 1394 Firewire.
22. Both USB and Firewire are hot-swappable serial interfaces,
but the later provides much higher bandwidth.
23. USB ports can supply power to the USB devices. IEEE 1394
is primarily used for video capture applications.
24. Both serial and parallel ports can accommodate DB25
connectors.
25. Nowadays the PS/2 connector is for connecting mouse only.

Identify proper procedures for installing and configuring
common IDE devices.
26. Make sure the master and slave jumpers are properly set.
27. Each IDE channel can support two IDE devices. You have 2
channels on each motherboard.
28. For performance reason, CDROM and hard drive should be
on different channels.
Identify proper procedures for installing and configuring
common SCSI devices.
29. The SCSI interface is a shared-bus configuration that
supports a wide variety of peripherals, but the actual
controllers are built into each SCSI device.
30. Each device on the SCSI chain must be identified by a
unique ID number.
31. A SCSI device must not use the same ID number as another.
32. SCSI-1 allows for 8 devices to be connected to a single SCSI
cable. SCSI-2 supports up to 16 devices.
33. Both ends of the SCSI chain must be terminated with
resistors to prevent signal reflections.
Identify proper procedures for installing and configuring
common peripheral devices.
34. Common peripheral devices may include Modems and
transceivers, External storage, Digital cameras, PDAs,
Wireless access points, Infrared devices, Printers, UPS
(Uninterruptible Power Supply) and suppressors,
Monitors...etc. You need to have the corresponding drivers
handy during configuration.
35. Devices like scanners, printers, camera ...etc mostly
support USB connections.
36. As a safety measure, turn off the power of the computer
before installing these devices.
Identify procedures to optimize PC operations in specific
situations.
37. Use RAID to increase disk subsystem performance. RAID 0
/ Data Striping interleaves data across multiple drives, while
RAID 5 / Data Striping additionally stores parity bits from
two drives on a third drive for fault tolerance. They are both
fast.
38. Fast CPU and high capacity hard drives require extensive
cooling.
39. Not all OS support dual CPU configuration. Win 2000, WinXP
and most Linux distributions do support dual CPUs. Win 98
and Win ME do not.
Determine the issues that must be considered when
upgrading a PC.
40. Hardware compatibility is one thing will the new device
work with your existing hardware? Also, do you have the
driver for your legacy devices?
41. OS support is another issue did you check the hardware
compatibility list of your OS?

Domain 2 Diagnosing and Troubleshooting
42. Recognize common problems associated with each module
and their symptoms, and identify steps to isolate and
troubleshoot the problems.
43. Always make sure that the CPU cooling fan is running
smoothly.
44. RAM errors always show up in the same address. Errors
caused by drivers or other hardware tend to show up in
multiple different memory areas.
45. For other devices, always check the power, cable
connectivity and BIOS settings. Also check to see if there is
any IRQ / DMA / IO address conflicts.
Identify basic troubleshooting procedures and tools, and
how to elicit problem symptoms from customers.
46. In order to determine whether it is a hardware or software
problem, you must gathering information from user
regarding the environment of use, the symptoms/error
codes, and the situation when the problem occurred. The
key to success is problem isolation.


Cram Guide for Exam 220-301 A+ Core Hardware

Copyright 2004 CertTalk.com/Adaptive Learning Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Domain 3 PC Preventive Maintenance, Safety, and
Environmental Issues
Identify the various types of preventive maintenance
measures, products and procedures and when and how to
use them.
47. Regularly clean the contacts of your components with
denatured alcohol.
48. Plastic surfaces can be cleaned with mild soap and water.
49. Use non-static vacuum to get the dust out of your PC.
50. Use UPS and surge protector to protect against power sags
and power surges.
Identify various safety measures and procedures, and
when/how to use them.
51. Ground yourself to prevent the effects of ESD by touching
the exterior of the computer power supply.
52. Never touch the high voltage capacitors in the power supply,
monitors and printers.
53. Dont wear anti-static wrist strap when working on the CRT.
Ideally, unplug and discharge the CRT before doing anything
on it.
Identify environmental protection measures and
procedures, and when/how to use them.
54. Portable batteries and toner cartridges have hazardous
chemicals. CRTs have hazardous leads. They should either
be recycled or be treated as hazardous waste.

Domain 4 Motherboard/Processors/Memory
Distinguish between the popular CPU chips in terms of
their basic characteristics.
55. CISC( complex instruction set computer) CPU uses
microcode to execute very comprehensive instruction set.
X86 is CISC based.
56. RISC (reduced instruction set computer) CPUs keep
instruction size constant and small, thus capable of
executing instructions very fast. Power PC is RISC based.
57. Some processors have 2 levels of caches while the latest
processors have 3.
58. Superscalar architecture allows the circuitry for each stage
of the pipeline to be duplicated so that multiple instructions
can pass through in parallel.
Identify the types of RAM (Random Access Memory), form
factors, and operational characteristics.
59. Extended Data Out (EDO) RAM is common in most earlier
Pentium PCs.
60. Synchronous DRAM (SDRAM) is common in the earlier
Pentium II PCs and is tied to the system clock speed.
61. Rambus DRAM (RDRAM) is a proprietary DRAM technology
developed by Rambus that supports memory speeds of up
to 3.2Gbps.
62. Synchronous Link DRAM (SLDRAM) is an enhanced version
of SDRAM memory that uses a multiplexed bus to transfer
data at a much higher rate than SDRAM.
63. In the 486 era we have 30-pin SIMM and 72-pin SIMM as the
mainstreams. DIMM had replaced SIMM as the memory
module standard for Pentium / Pentium II computers. The
latest proprietary RIMM connectors have a form factor
similar to DIMMs but have 184 pins compared to a DIMM's
168.
Identify the most popular types of motherboards, their
components, and their architecture (bus structures).
64. AT is a motherboard patterned after the original IBM PC AT
motherboard.
65. Baby AT is a smaller version of AT and is used mostly in
smaller desktop PC.
66. ATX is similar in size to the Baby AT but allows for easier
installation of full-length expansion cards. It is now the
industry standard.
67. Micro ATX is a smaller form of ATX for use mainly in book
size PC.
68. AGP operates at the speed of the processor bus, which can
be at least two times faster than the PCI clock speed.
69. Most motherboards have one AGP slot only. You use AGP
port only for graphic display. Other boards use PCI.
Identify the purpose of CMOS (Complementary
Metal-Oxide Semiconductor) memory, what it contains,
and how and when to change its parameters.
70. CMOS is a separate block of memory made from very low
power consumption material and is used to store basic
information about the PC's configuration.
71. The clock, CMOS RAM and battery are usually built into a
single chip.
72. You can change its parameters by entering into the BIOS
setup program during system boot.

Domain 5 Printers
Identify printer technologies, interfaces, and
options/upgrades.
73. Dot matrix printers print characters by forming a group of
hard-wire pins into the pattern of human readable
characters and striking the entire pin group through a
ribbon, thus forming the character on the paper.
74. Inkjet printers produce relatively higher quality prints
without the noise of the dot-matrix printers by heating ink
into steam and jetting it onto the paper. It is popular
because of reasonable prices.
75. Laser printers produce very high-quality outputs at very
high price tags. You may improve laser printer throughputs
by upgrading the memory.
76. Most laser printers have network interfaces. HP Jet Direct is
a popular example.
77. Most printers in the market support parallel or USB
interfaces. Serial printers are not common these days.
Recognize common printer problems and techniques used
to resolve them.
78. Common printer problems include paper jam, paper feeding
problems, and other print quality issues.
79. Printing of garbage characters signals printer driver
problems.
80. Cleaning the printer regularly can prevent most physical
problems.

Domain 6 Basic Networking
Identify the common types of network cables, their
characteristics and connectors.
81. Patch Cables can connect computers to UTP faceplates or
patch panel to hubs. They should be kept as short as
possible.
82. Crossover Cables can connect two network devices together.
They are the same as patch cables except that two pairs of
wires were switched before the RJ45 connector was
crimped.
83. RJ45 is the most popular type of connector. You use it with
UTP (unshielded twisted pair) cable.
84. Fiber optics requires different types of cables and switches
and is more common for campus backbone network.
Identify basic networking concepts.
85. The bus topology has a single cable that connects all
workstations on the LAN. If one computer goes down, the
entire network goes down.
86. In a token ring network, an electronic token is passed
around the network for transmitting data. There is no
contention for the network, but performance is poor.
87. A star network has a central point (hub or switch) that
connects all workstations on the LAN. If there is a break in a
cable, only the computer on the involved segment is
affected. It is the most popular LAN topology nowadays.
88. A mesh network has multiple paths to the same destination.
It is very costly to build and maintain.
Identify common technologies available for establishing
Internet connectivity and their characteristics.
89. Internet connectivity may be made through modem dialup,
DSL, ISDN and cable TV system.
90. Modem dialup is slow and unreliable. DSL gives abundant
dedicated bandwidth. ISDN has stable performance but is
slower (but more costly) than DSL. Connections through
cable TV system can be fast, but the bandwidth is shared.
91. Offices that need persistent connections can go for a T1 line
or a lower cost fractional T1. In Europe the corresponding
standard is known as E1.
92. Multiple computers can share a single internet connection
through hardware router or software (such as Windows ICS
and Wingate).