Chs Nc2.basics

Computer Technician Training Course

Prepared by: Sir Philip

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.

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

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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 

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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 

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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 

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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 AGP Slot Expansion slots

FDD Socket Southbridge chipset System Panel Connector IDE Socket

ATX Power Connector Microprocessor socket

Northbridge

Memory slots CMOS Battery

Motherboard Parts 

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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 Keyboard port Com port Serial port

USB interface Firewire interface Parallel port printer

Blue – line in Pink – mic Lime – line out

LAN 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

Operating System  An operating system (OS) is a software program that manages the hardware and software resources of a computer.

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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              

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

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

8088

1979

29,000

3

5 MHz

16 bits 8-bit bus

0.33

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

Pentium

1993

3,100,000

0.8

60 MHz

32 bits 64-bit bus

100

Pentium II

1997

7,500,000

0.35

233 MHz

32 bits 64-bit bus

~300

Pentium III

1999

9,500,000

0.25

450 MHz

32 bits 64-bit bus

~510

Pentium 4

2000

42,000,000

0.18

1.5 GHz

32 bits 64-bit bus

~1,700

Pentium 4 "Prescott"

2004

125,000,000

0.09

3.6 GHz

32 bits 64-bit bus

~7,000

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