Computer Hardware

Servicing
 Computer Fundamentals
 Computer
- An electronic device that stores, retrieves, and processes data, and can be
programmed with instructions
- A computer is composed of hardware and software, and can exist in a
variety of sizes and configurations.

 Hardware
- The physical equipment of a computer system, including the central
processing unit, data-storage devices, terminals and printers.

 Software
- Written coded commands that tell a computer what tasks to perform. For
example, Word, PhotoShop, Picture Easy, and PhotoDeluxe are software
programs.
 PC Fundamentals
Parts of The Personal Computer
System Unit External MODEM Monitor

Scanner
Keyboard
CD ROM Drive

Floppy Disk Drive

Mouse
 PC Fundamentals
 Other PC peripherals

AVR Printer
PC External Sound Systems
 Hardware Functions
 System Unit
- The case that houses the processor, motherboard, internal hard- and
floppy disks, power supply, and the expansion bus.
 Monitor
- A peripheral device with a screen for the visual display of information.
 Mouse
- a computer pointing device used to select and point on a computer screen.
 Floppy Disk Drive
- A drive that reads from or writes to separate diskettes which the user
inserts. Information is stored on the diskettes themselves, not on the drive.
 CD ROM Drive
- A piece of hardware attached to a computer which allows it to read or play
a Compact Disk.
 Hardware Functions
 Scanner
- A device that reads a printed page and converts it into a graphics image for
the computer.
 Printer
- A device that puts computer data onto paper.
 External MODEM
- A piece of hardware that lets a computer talk to another computer over a
phone line.
 Automatic Voltage Regulator
- A device that regulates the amount of voltage needed for a certain device
to function well.
 PC external Sound Systems
- A system of speakers and woofers to make an output of sound from the
computer’s activity.
 Internal PC Hardware
 Motherboard
- The main circuit board inside a computer, which contains the central
processing unit, the bus, memory sockets, expansion slots, and other
components.
 Memory Modules
- A piece of circuit board that contains Memory chips for storing/retrieving
data randomly.
 Video Card
- An adapter card used to manage the display on the monitor.
 Ethernet Card
- An expansion card that is used to communicate with the other computers
 Internal MODEM
- A piece of hardware that lets a computer talk to another computer over a
phone line connected directly to the motherboard.
 Parts of the Motherboard
ROM Chip
ATX Power
AGP Slot Connector

Microprocessor
Expansion
socket
slots

FDD Socket
Northbridge

Southbridge
chipset Memory slots
System Panel
Connector CMOS Battery
IDE Socket
 Motherboard Parts
 ROM chip
- The chip or IC which contains and stores critical programs such as
the program that boots the computer and BIOS.
 AGP Slot
- Accelerated Graphics Port supports 1.5 V
- Slot refers to a unit of space in a motherboard that supports AGP
cards and it yields a throughput rate of 266 MBps.
 Expansion Slot (PCI or ISA)
- A socket on the motherboard that accepts an expansion card.
* PCI – Peripheral Component Interconnect is a high-speed
connection for devices including modems, sound cards, LAN cards
etc. It can run at clock speeds of 33 or 66 MHz. At 32 bits and 33
MHz, it yields a throughput rate of 133 MBps.
 Motherboard Parts
 FDD Connector/Socket
- A socket for Floppy Disk Drive cable connector or interface.
 Southbridge
- is the chip that controls all of the computers I/O functions, such as
USB, audio, serial, the system BIOS, the ISA bus, the interrupt
controller and the IDE channels. In other words, all of the functions
of a processor except memory, PCI and AGP. They do not normally
come with a heat sink.
 Northbridge
- a Chip that connects to a CPU to memory, the PCI bus, Level 2
cache and AGP activities. The Northbridge chips communicate with
the CPU through the FSB.
 Motherboard Parts
 System Panel Connector
- This connector accommodates several front panel functions

a. System Power LED

b. HDD Activity
c. ATX Power Switch
d. Reset Switch

 IDE Connector Socket (Intelligent Drive Electronics or Integrated Drive

Electronics)
- A socket for IDE Cable connector/interface
 Motherboard Parts
 ATX Power Connector Socket
- A socket for the ATX Power Supply Cable Connector
 Microprocessor Socket
- is the connector that interfaces between a computer's motherboard
and the processor itself. Most CPU sockets and processors in use
today are built around the pin grid array (PGA) architecture, in which
the pins on the underside of the processor are inserted into the
socket, usually with zero insertion force (ZIF) to aid installation.

PGA - A feature of a CPU socket whereby the pins are aligned in

uniform rows around the socket.
Pin Grid Array
 Land Grid Array
 The land grid array (LGA) is a physical interface for
microprocessors of the Intel Pentium 4 and AMD Opteron families.
Unlike the pin grid array (PGA) interface found on most AMD and
Intel processors, there are no pins on the chip; in place of the pins
are pads of bare gold-plated copper that touch pins on the
motherboard.
 Motherboard Parts
 Memory Slots
- A space for place the memory modules

 CMOS Battery

- CMOS & Clock Backup batteries perform the same function in

desktop and laptop computers: when the computer is turned off, the
battery maintains the time and date, thus insuring their accuracy
when the system is once again restarted. More importantly, the
battery saves the computers BIOS setup configuration, which allows
the system to efficiently reboot once it is restarted.
 Rear Panel I/O

Mouse
port
p/s 2 USB interface LAN port
Keyboard Firewire interface
port Parallel port
printer Blue – line in
Pink – mic
Com port Lime – line out
Serial port
PC Rear Panel
How PC works?
 BIOS
 BIOS
- stands for Basic Input/Output System or Basic Integrated
Operating System. BIOS refers to the software code run by a
computer when first powered on. The primary function of BIOS is to
prepare the machine so other software programs stored on various
media (such as hard drives, floppies, and CDs) can:

 load,
 execute,
 control of the computer.

- This process is known as booting up.

BIOS
jumper
 1. Shut down your computer and disconnect the power plug
2. Now identify where the jumpers are located, then check
the present pin location and the location of the jumper on
those pins to determine their default location. As an
example, the default location on the above motherboard
is to have the jumper across pins #1 and #2. Write it down!
3. Next, move the jumpers from the their default location
(Example: from across pins #1 and #2 as above) and then
place the jumper across pins #2 and #3.
4. Leave the jumper in place for 6 to 30 seconds and then
return it to its default location.
5. Now plug the power cord back in and restart the computer.
 Operating System
 An operating system (OS) is a software program that manages the
hardware and software resources of a computer.
 A software that provides a software platform on top of which other
programs, called application programs, can run.

The OS performs basic tasks, such as:

 controlling and allocating memory
 prioritizing the processing of instructions
 controlling input and output devices
 facilitating networking
 managing files.
 OPERATING SYSTEM
-
 Operating System
 Linux / Variants
 MacOS
 MS-DOS
 IBM OS/2 Warp
 UNIX / Variants
 Windows CE
 Windows 3.x
 Windows 95
 Windows 98
 Windows 98 SE
 Windows ME
 Windows NT
 Windows 2000/server
 Windows XP/2003 server
 DOS
 DOS
- Disk operating system, the original system used for
PCs. You type in commands instead of pointing and
clicking.
- A disk operating system is an operating system that
resides on a disk.

n example of MS-DOS's command-line interface, this one showing that the

current directory is the root of drive C.
 DOS Family
 PC-DOS, MS-DOS, FreeDOS, DR-DOS, Novell-DOS,
OpenDOS, PTS-DOS, ROM-DOS and several others.
 MS-DOS from Microsoft was the most widely used
 MS-DOS Family
 MS-DOS 3.0, released in September 1984, first supported 1.2Mb
floppy disks and 32Mb hard disks. MS-DOS 3.1, released
November that year, first supported networking

 MS-DOS 3.2, released in April 1986, was the first retail release of
MS-DOS. It added support of 720K 3.5" floppy disks. Previous
versions had been sold to computer manufacturers, who pre-loaded
them on their computers. This is because operating systems were
considered part of a computer, not an independent product.

 MS-DOS 3.3, released in April 1987, featured logical disks. A

physical disk could be divided into several partitions which are
considered as independent disks by the operating system. Support
was also added for 1.44Mb 3.5" floppy disks.
 MS-DOS Family
 MS-DOS 4.0, released in July 1988, supported disks up to 2GB
(note that typical disk sizes were typically 40-60Mb in 1988), and
added a full-screen shell called DOSSHELL. Similar or better shells,
like Norton Commander and PCShell, already existed in the market.
This release had been considered very buggy. On November 1988,
Microsoft addressed many bugs in a service release, MS-DOS 4.01.

 MS-DOS 5.0, released in April 1991, included the full-screen BASIC

interpreter QBasic, which also provided a full-screen text editor
(previously, MS-DOS had only line-based text editor), disk cache
utility, undelete capabilities, and other improvements. It had severe
problems with some disk utilities, fixed later in that year. The fixed
version had been called MS-DOS 5.01.
 MS-DOS Family
 MS-DOS 6.0 had been released, On March 1993. also featured the
disk defragmenter DEFRAG, backup program MSBACKUP, memory
optimization with MEMMAKER, and rudimentary virus protection via
MSAV
 MS-DOS, 6.21 (released March 1994), appeared due to legal
problems.
 MS-DOS 6.22 which was released in May 1994 was the last stand-
alone version of MS-DOS available to the general public. MS-DOS
was removed from marketing by Microsoft on November 30, 2001.
 Microsoft also released versions 6.23 to 6.25 for banks and American military
organizations. These versions introduced FAT32 support. Since then, MS-DOS
exists only as a part of Microsoft Windows versions based upon Windows 95 (e.g.,
Windows 98, Windows Me).
 MS-DOS Command
 Microsoft DOS (Disk Operating System) is a command line user
interface.

 Command line
- A prompt where the user types in a command, as opposed to using
the mouse to perform a command.

Below is a listing of the MS-DOS commands most commonly used and

that you will most likely use during a normal DOS session. 
- cd,
- dir,
- copy,
- del,
- format
 MS-DOS Command
cd
- CD (Change Directory) is a command used to switch directories
in MS-DOS.
dir
- The dir command allows you to see the available files in the
current and/or parent directories.
copy
- Allows the user to copy one or more files to an alternate
location.
You can only copy files which in their extension modes
del
- is a command used to delete files from the computer.
format
- Format is used to erase all of the information off of a computer
diskette or fixed drive.
 Memory
 Primary Memory

- is directly connected to the central processing unit of the computer.

a. RAM – Random Access Memory
b. ROM – Read Only Memory

 Secondary Memory

- requires the computer to use its input/output channels to access

the information, and is used for long-term storage of persistent
information.
a. Magnetic disk/storage
b. Optical disk
 Memory
 Optical disc storage is non-volatile and sequential access.

The following forms are currently in common use:

 CD, CD-ROM, DVD: Read only storage, used for mass distribution
of digital information (music, video, computer programs)

 CD-R, DVD-R, DVD+R: Write once storage, used for tertiary and
off-line storage

 CD-RW, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD-RAM: Slow write, fast read

storage, used for tertiary and off-line storage
 Random Access Memory
 This type of RAM is usually in the form of integrated circuits (IC).
These are commonly called memory sticks or RAM sticks, memory
modules or memory, because they are manufactured as small circuit
boards with plastic packaging.

Common RAM modules

Common RAM packages as illustrated to the right, from top to bottom:
 DIP 16-pin (RAM chip, usually pre-FPRAM)
 SIPP (usually FPRAM)
 SIMM 30-pin (usually FPRAM)
 SIMM 72-pin (so-called "PS/2 SIMM", usually EDO RAM)
 DIMM 168-pin (SDRAM)
 DIMM 184-pin (DDR SDRAM)
 Random Access Memory
 DIP 16-pin (RAM chip, usually
pre-FPRAM)

 SIPP (usually FPRAM)

 SIMM 30-pin (usually FPRAM)

 SIMM 72-pin (so-called "PS/2

SIMM", usually EDO RAM)
 DIMM 168-pin (SDRAM)

 DIMM 184-pin (DDR SDRAM)

 Random Access Memory
Two Common PC Major RAMs

 SRAM – Static Random Access Memory

- is a type of semiconductor memory. The word "static" indicates
that the memory retains its contents as long as power remains
applied, unlike dynamic RAM (DRAM) that needs to be periodically
refreshed.

 DRAM – Dynamic Random Access Memory

- Because of this refresh requirement, it is a dynamic
memory as opposed to SRAM and other static memory.

Most commonly used as the main memory is:

DRAM
 Dynamic Random Access Memory

Most Common DRAM used in PC’s are:

Synchronous Dynamic RAM (SDRAM)

1. Single Data Rate (SDR) SDRAM is a synchronous form of DRAM.

2. Double data rate (DDR) SDRAM was a later development of

SDRAM, used in PC memory from 2000 onwards. DDR2 SDRAM
is a minor enhancement on DDR-SDRAM that mainly affords
higher clock speeds and somewhat deeper pipelining.
 Microprocessor
 The microprocessor is the brain or heart of any normal computer,
whether it is a desktop machine, a server or a laptop. The
microprocessor you are using might be a Pentium, a K6, a
PowerPC, a Sparc or any of the many other brands and types of
microprocessors, but they all do approximately the same thing in
approximately the same way.
 Microprocessor
Name Date Transistors Microns Clock speed Data width MIPS

8080 1974 6,000 6 2 MHz 8 bits 0.64

16 bits
8088 1979 29,000 3 5 MHz 0.33
8-bit bus

80286 1982 134,000 1.5 6 MHz 16 bits 1

80386 1985 275,000 1.5 16 MHz 32 bits 5

80486 1989 1,200,000 1 25 MHz 32 bits 20

32 bits
Pentium 1993 3,100,000 0.8 60 MHz 100
64-bit bus

32 bits
Pentium II 1997 7,500,000 0.35 233 MHz ~300
64-bit bus

32 bits
Pentium III 1999 9,500,000 0.25 450 MHz ~510
64-bit bus

32 bits
Pentium 4 2000 42,000,000 0.18 1.5 GHz ~1,700
64-bit bus

32 bits
Pentium 4 "Prescott" 2004 125,000,000 0.09 3.6 GHz ~7,000
64-bit bus
 Microprocessor
What CPU can do:
 Using its ALU (Arithmetic/Logic Unit), a microprocessor
can perform mathematical operations like addition,
subtraction, multiplication and division. Modern
microprocessors contain complete floating point
processors that can perform extremely sophisticated
operations on large floating point numbers.
 A microprocessor can move data from one memory
location to another.
 A microprocessor can make decisions and jump to a new
set of instructions based on those decisions.
 Front Side Bus
- is a term for the physical bi-directional data bus that carries all
electronic signal information between the central processing unit
(CPU) and other devices within the system such as random access
memory (RAM), the memory containing the system BIOS, AGP
video cards, PCI expansion cards, hard disks, etc.

 Most modern front side buses serve as a backbone between the

CPU and a chipset. This chipset (usually a combination of a
northbridge and a southbridge) is the connection point for all other
buses in the system. The PCI, AGP, and memory buses all connect
to the chipset to allow for data to flow between the connected
devices.
 Pentium III - 133 MHz FSB, 100 MHz FSB
 Pentium 4 - 400 MT/s, 533 MT/s, 800 MT/s
END OF THE HOT TOPICS