A+ Guide to Hardware: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting

CompTIA A+ Essential 2006 Examination Objectives     viiCompTIA A+ 220-602 2006 Examination Objectives     xixCompTIA A+ 220-603 2006 Examination Objectives     xxviiCompTIA A+ 220-604 2006 Examination Objectives     xxxivIntroduction     xxxixHardware Needs Software to Work     1Hardware Needs Software to Work     2PC Hardware Components     3Hardware Used for Input and Output     4Hardware Inside the Computer Case     7The Motherboard     8The Processor and the Chipset     10Storage Devices     11Motherboard Components Used for Communication Among Devices     18Interface (Expansion) Cards     23The Electrical System     24Instructions Stored on the Motherboard and Other Boards     26PC Repair Fundamentals     35PC Support Technician Tools     36Recovery CDs     37Loop-back Plugs     38Cleaning Pads and Solutions     38Post Diagnostic Cards     40Personal Computer Preventive Maintenance     40When a PC Is Your Permanent Responsibility     41Creating a Preventive MaintenancePlan     45Dealing with Dust     47Preparing a Computer for Shipping     48Disposing of Used Equipment     49How to Work Inside a Computer Case     49Static Electricity     50Steps to Take apart a Computer     54Steps to Put a Computer Back Together     64Understanding the Boot Process     66Booting a Computer     66Choosing Between a Hard Boot and a Soft Boot     66The Startup BIOS Controls the Beginning of the Boot     67Changing the Boot Sequence     71How to Troubleshoot a PC Problem     72Steps to Solving a PC Problem     73Troubleshooting a Failed Boot     78My Computer Won't Boot     78Troubleshooting Major Subsystems Used for Booting     79Form Factors and Power Supplies     89Computer Case, Motherboard, and Power Supply Form Factors     90Types of Form Factors     91Types of Cases     98Measures and Properties of Electricity     101AC and DC     101Hot, Neutral, and Ground     102Some Common Electronic Components     104Protecting Your Computer System     106Static Electricity     107EMI (Electromagnetic Interference)     107Surge Protection and Battery Backup     107Surge Suppressors     108Energy Star Systems (The Green Star)     111Power-Management Methods and Features     112Energy Star Monitors     114Troubleshooting the Electrical System     115Problems with External Power     115Problems with Loose Internal Connections     116Problems That Come and Go     116Problems with an Inadequate Power Supply     117Problems with the Power Supply, Boards, or Drives     117Problems with the Power Supply Fan     117Power Problems with the Motherboard     118Problems with Overheating     118Replacing the Power Supply     121Processors and Chipsets     129Processors     130How a Processor Works     131The Intel Processors     138AMD Processors     142VIA and Cyrix Processors     144Processor Sockets and Slots     148The Chipset     150Heat Sinks and Cooling Fans      153Installing a Processor     157Voltage to the Processor     157CPU Voltage Regulator     158Installing a Pentium II in Slot 1     159Installing a Pentium 4 in Socket 478     162Installing a Pentium 4 in Socket 775     164Motherboards     175Selecting a Motherboard     176Configuring and Supporting a Motherboard     181Buses and Expansion Slots     181Hardware Configuration     188Flashing ROM BIOS     199Motherboard Drivers     202Replacing a Motherboard     202Preparing the Motherboard to Go into the Case     204Installing the Motherboard in the Case     205Completing the Installation     210Troubleshooting the Motherboard and Processor     210Problems with Installations     211Problems with the Motherboard and Processor     212Upgrading Memory     221RAM Technologies     222SIMM Technologies     225DIMM Technologies     225RIMM Technologies     227Error Checking and Parity     228CAS Latency and RAS Latency     229Tin or Gold Leads     230Memory Speeds     230How to Upgrade Memory     231How Much and What Kind of Memory to Buy     231Installing Memory     241Troubleshooting Memory     243Upgrade Problems     243Recurring Problems     244Hard Drives     249Learning from Floppy Drives     250How Floppy Drives Work     250How to Install a Floppy Drive     255How Hard Drives Work     257Tracks and Sectors on the Drive     259Low-Level Formatting     260Calculating Drive Capacity on Older Drives     261Drive Capacity for Today's Drives     262Hard Drive Interface Standards     262The ATA Interface Standards     262SCSI Technology     272Other Interface Standards     274Selecting and Installing a Hard Drive     276How to Select a Hard Drive     276Installations Using Legacy BIOS     277Steps to Install a Parallel ATA Hard Drive     278Serial ATA Hard Drive Installations     291Installing a Hard Drive in a Wide Bay     293Troubleshooting Hard Drives      294Problems with Hard Drive Installations     294How to Approach a Hard Drive Problem After the Installation     295Hard Drive Hardware Problems     297Troubleshooting Floppy Drives and Disks     303Installing and Supporting I/O Devices     309Basic Principles to Support I/O Devices     310Working with Keyboards     311How Keyboard Keys Work     312Keyboard Connectors     312Installing Keyboards     314Cleaning the Keyboard     314The Mouse and Other Pointing Devices     314Mouse Technologies     315Cleaning a Mouse     317Touch Screens     317Other Pointing Devices     318Specialty Input Devices     318Barcode Readers     318Fingerprint Readers and Other Biometric Devices     319Monitors, Projectors, and Video Cards     322Monitors     322Using a Projector     330Video Cards     331Using Ports and Expansion Slots for Add-On Devices     341Using Serial Ports     342Infrared Transceivers     346Using Parallel Ports      347Using USB Ports     349Using IEEE 1394 Ports     355Installing and Supporting Expansion Cards     358Troubleshooting I/O Devices     366Troubleshooting Keyboards     367Troubleshooting a Touch Screen     368Troubleshooting a Mouse or touchpad     368Troubleshooting Monitors and Video Cards     369Multimedia Devices and Mass Storage     381Multimedia on a PC     382CPU Technologies for Multimedia     382Sound Cards and Onboard Sound     382Digital Cameras and Flash Memory Devices     393Web Cameras and Microphones     396MP3 Players     398MIDI Devices     401TV Tuner and Video Capture Cards     402Optical Storage Technology     406Using CDs     406Using DVDs     414Caring for Optical Drives and Discs     417Hardware Used for Backups and Fault Tolerance     419Tape Drives     420Removable Drives     425Fault Tolerance, Dynamic Volumes, and Raid     428Troubleshooting Multimedia Devices     432Problems with CD, CD-RW, DVD, or DVD-RW Installation     432Problems When Burning a CD     432Troubleshooting Sound Problems     433Troubleshooting Tape Drives     435PCs on a Network     443Physical Network Architectures     444Sizes of Networks     444Networking Technologies     444Additional Terms Used in Networking     447Introducing Ethernet     448Wireless Networks     457Telephone Networks     461Token Ring and FDDI     464Windows on a Network     466Four Suites of Protocols     466Addressing on a Network     468Installing a NIC and Connecting to a Network     471Installing a NIC Using Windows 2000/XP     472Installing a NIC Using Windows 9x/Me     478Installing a Wireless Adapter in a Notebook     481How to Set Up Your Own Wireless Network     492Security on a Wireless LAN     492Choosing a Wireless Access Point     493Configure and Test Your Wireless Network     494Troubleshooting a Network Connection     497Notebooks, Tablet PCs, and PDAs     507Supporting Notebooks      508Tips for Buying a Notebook     508Special Considerations When Servicing Notebooks     509Caring for Notebooks     517Connecting Peripheral Devices to Notebooks     527Replacing and Upgrading Internal Parts     539Three Approaches to Dealing with a Broken Internal Device     539Upgrading Memory     542Replacing a Hard Drive     546Replacing the LCD Panel     549Replacing a Mini PCI Card     556Other Field Replaceable Units for Notebooks     557Troubleshooting Notebooks     558Problems with the Power System     558Problems with Video     560A Notebook Gets Wet     562The Notebook Is Dropped     562Protecting and Retrieving Data     562More Errors and What to Do About Them     563Online Resources for Troubleshooting Notebooks     565Surveying Tablet PCs     565Surveying PDAs     568Battery Life on a PDA     569Applications on a PDA     570Connecting a PDA to a PC     570PDA Manufacturers and Operating Systems     571Supporting Printers and Scanners      577How Printers and Scanners Work     578Laser Printers     578Inkjet Printers     583Dot Matrix Printers     585Thermal Printers and Solid Ink Printers     585Introducing Scanners     587Installing and Sharing a Printer     590Installing a Local Printer     590Sharing a Printer with Others in a Workgroup     594Maintaining Printers and Scanners     601Printer Languages     601Using Windows to Manage Printers     602Routine Printer Maintenance     606Supporting Scanners     613Troubleshooting Printers and Scanners     617Printer Does Not Print     618Problems with Laser Printers     623Problems with Inkjet Printers     625Problems with Dot Matrix Printers     627Troubleshooting Scanners     627How an OS Uses System Resources     635Interrupt Request Number (IRQ)     636Memory Addresses     640I/O Addresses     641DMA Channels     642Electricity and Multimeters     643Electricity: A Basic Introduction     644Voltage      645Amps     646Ohms     647Wattage     647Measuring the Voltage of a Power Supply     648Using a Multimeter     648How to Measure the Voltage of a Power Supply     650Practicing Measuring the Output of Your Power Supply     655Supporting SCSI and Legacy Devices     657All About SCSI     658Signaling Methods Used on SCSI Cables     658Connectors Used with SCSI Cables     660Termination     662SCSI-1, SCSI-2, and SCSI-3     663Using ISA Expansion Slots     664Using Legacy Drivers     667Disassembling a Notebook     669Disassembling an Older ThinkPad     670Disassembling a Newer Dell Notebook     674CompTIA A+ Acronyms     679Glossary     687Index     717