PC Repair Bench Book - Softcover

Gilster, Ron

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0764525786 ISBN 13: 9780764525780

Verlag: John Wiley & Sons, 2003

Inhaltsangabe

* A get-in, get-out Power Pack guide that focuses strictly on what PC technicians and serious hobbyists need to know to maintain, upgrade, and repair PCs
* Each chapter focuses on one particular hardware feature, briefly explaining its design, operation, characteristics, features, and purpose, with information and tips on installing, upgrading, troubleshooting, diagnosing, and problem solving
* Highly-illustrated approach-at least one figure for every two pages
* Find-a-Fix tool takes readers through all the most common symptoms of computer problems, helps them refine a diagnosis, and provides immediate solutions
* Ron Gilster is bestselling author of A+ Certification For Dummies, Second Edition (0-7645-0812-1) with more than 250,000 copies sold in all editions
* CD-ROM provides valuable diagnostic software, searchable text of the entire book and Find-a-Fix tool

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Ron Gilster has gained experience in virtually every aspect of computing technology during 35 years as a programmer, systems analyst, technician, manager, and executive in a variety of industries. He operates his own consulting business and has written more than a dozen books on hardware, software, programming, networking, and career certification.

Von der hinteren Coverseite

Your one-stop guide to
* Understanding and repairing motherboards, processors, chipsets, BIOS, and system resources
* Updating and optimizing memory and aging systems
* Diagnosing common PC problems and performing routine maintenance
* Installing and configuring system upgrades
* Working safely with the electrical components of a PC
* Troubleshooting peripherals, storage systems and devices, sight and sound systems, and more
 
Here's everything you need to know to fix or maintain a PC-and nothing you don't
 
If you're a PC technician, time is money. Bestselling author Ron Gilster trimmed every scrap of fat from this indispensable reference guide, packing it with clear, concise information that helps you do your job. Organized by hardware or component groups-motherboards, storage devices, printers, communications and networking, operating system software, and so on-it's liberally illustrated for faster comprehension. There's even a searchable e-version of the book on CD-ROM to help you diagnose problems. This is the one book you can't afford not to have on your repair bench.
 
CD-ROM Includes
* Find-a-Fix tool, which lists many common PC problems and their solutions
* Bonus content, including glossary and troubleshooting tips
* Evaluation versions of PC Certify Pro and ToolStar Test demo

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PC Repair Bench Book

By Ron Gilster

John Wiley & Sons

Copyright © 2003 Ron Gilster
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-7645-2578-0

Chapter One

Mastering the Motherboard

IN THIS CHAPTER

The motherboard, also known as the system board, main board, or planar board, is a large printed circuit board that includes or provides an interconnect to most of the essential components of the PC:

* Microprocessor (see Chapter 2)

* Expansion bus (see Chapter 2)

* Chipset (see Chapter 3)

* Memory sockets and RAM modules (see Chapter 6)

* Cache memory (see Chapter 7)

* Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE), Enhanced IDE (EIDE), or Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) controllers (see Chapter 11)

* Mouse and keyboard connectors (see Part VI)

* Parallel and serial ports (see Parts V and VI)

As this list shows, there is more to working with a motherboard than I can cover in just this one chapter. Motherboards are the glue that binds the PC's components together. I can safely say that virtually every component, internal or peripheral, that's installed on or connected to a PC has some connection (no pun intended!) to the motherboard.

Motherboard manufacturers attempt to differentiate their products and increase their value by integrating a varying combination of devices and controllers into their boards. The upside of including more on the motherboard is a wider compatibility to a wider range of systems and potentially a deeper list of features. The downside is that unless you're very careful when selecting a new motherboard, you might not get the combination or quality of processor or peripheral support that you intended.

Although I assume that you have some background in working with PCs and their components, I want to be sure that you and I are on the same page when it comes to motherboards. In the following sections, I cover what is likely some fundamental material. However, when it comes to motherboards, I'd rather be safe than sorry.

Differentiating Motherboard Designs

If PCs had only a single type and style of motherboards, the task of working with them would be greatly simplified. However, even though most of today's PCs use the ATX (see "Creating the new standard: The ATX" later in this chapter), you can expect to encounter different motherboard form factors on the job. If, after all else has failed, you decide to replace a PC's motherboard, you must match the form factor of the motherboard to the case and its mountings.

Laying out the mainboard

Essentially, the two basic design approaches to PC motherboards are the mainboard (or the true mother-of-all-boards) design and the backplane design.

A mainboard design, like the one in Figure 1-1, incorporates the PC's primary system components on a single circuit board. This type of motherboard contains most of the circuitry of a PC and acts as the conduit through which all the PC's operations flow.

On a typical motherboard (see Figure 1-1), you will find the microprocessor, the Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) ROM, the chipset, RAM, expansion cards, perhaps some serial and parallel ports, disk controllers, connectors for the mouse and the keyboard, and possibly a few other components as well.

TIP

Mainboard motherboard designs, although somewhat standard, do vary in the inclusion and placement of system components and interfaces. Before you charge down the road to diagnose, troubleshoot, or replace any motherboard, be very sure that you can at least identify the components indicated in Figure 1-1 on your PC's mainboard.

Connecting to the backplane

There are actually two types of backplane mainboards: passive and active. A passive backplane mainboard is only a receiver card with open slots into which a processor card (which contains a central processing unit [CPU] and its support chips) and input/output (I/O) cards that provide bus and device interfaces are plugged. These add-in cards are referred to as daughterboards.

The backplane interconnects the system components through a bus structure and provides some basic data buffering services. The backplane design is popular with server-type computers because it can be quickly upgraded or repaired. The backplane design provides the advantage of getting a server back online with only the replacement of a single slotted card, instead of replacing an entire mainboard!

An active backplane design, also called an intelligent backplane, adds some CPU or controller-driven circuitry to the backplane board, which can speed up the processing speed of the system. Even on an active backplane, the CPU is on its own card to provide for easy replacement.

The utility of the backplane design is being challenged by newer motherboards that incorporate the slot-style mountings of Pentium-class processors. The advantage of the active backplane is that the processor can be easily accessed and replaced, but the slot-style motherboards also offer this same advantage.

NOTE

For purposes of clarity and because they are the most commonly used in PCs, when I refer to a motherboard, I am referring to the mainboard design. When referring to a backplane design, I will specifically say so.

Factoring in the motherboard form

When the original IBM PC was introduced in 1981, it had a simple motherboard designed to hold an 8-bit processor (the Intel 8088), five expansion cards, a keyboard connector, 64-256K RAM (from individual memory chips mounted on the motherboard), a chipset, BIOS ROM, and a cassette tape I/O adapter for permanent storage. The PC was designed to be a desktop computer, and its system case layout dictated the first of what are now called motherboard form factors. Simply, a form factor defines a motherboard's size, shape, and how it is mounted to the case. However, form factors have been extended over time to include the system case, the placement and size of the power supply, the power requirements of the system, external connector placements and specifications, and case airflow and cooling guidelines.

Table 1-1 lists the common form factors that have been and are being used in PCs.

SETTING THE STANDARD: THE IBM AT

When IBM released its first 16-bit computer, the PC AT, the circuitry added to the motherboard of its predecessor (the PC XT) increased the size of its motherboard and case to 12 inches wide by 13 inches deep. During this time, many clone (non-IBM) manufacturers also began releasing XT-compatible motherboards, which included keyboard connectors, expansion slots, and mounting holes to fit into AT cases. The AT's size, shape, and mounting placements became the first motherboard form factor standard, a standard that has essentially continued through today. Nearly all present-day motherboard form factors are a derivative of the early AT standard.

BRINGING UP THE BABY AT

It wasn't long before clone manufacturers began releasing their own 16-bit PCs and motherboards with higher integration in the supporting chipsets that allowed their motherboard to take a smaller form. This smaller form was called the Baby AT, shown in Figure 1-2, a more compact motherboard that was compatible with AT cases. The Baby AT became very popular because of its size and flexibility and joined the AT motherboard as a de facto standard.

TAKING THE STANDARD ONE STEP SMALLER

Most of the PC cases manufactured between 1984 and 1996 were made to house a Baby AT motherboard. However,...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: John Wiley & Sons
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2003
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0764525786
• ISBN 13: 9780764525780
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Auflage: 1
• Anzahl der Seiten: 792
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar