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CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
Flow Charts................................133
Glossary.....................................139
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the Be Your Own It Computer Repair Guide. This guide is designed
to compliment the material in the Computer Repair Mastery Course. The sections
follow along in sequence with the order of the videos. In many sections, the guide
goes into greater depth and detail, and even dives into a few more topics that we
deemed relevant. These topics were included to improve the value of this guide as a
reference tool.
Though this guide is intended to be a useful tool, it is definitely not the only
guide available or needed. Most computer work can be accomplished with a simple
screwdriver set, but this is far from ideal. Some work will need specialty tools.
Tools that will help you easily and safely perform the repair tasks are recommended.
A good set of small screwdrivers will help you disassemble and reassemble
components. Contrary to common opinion, it is mostly safe to use magnetic
screwdrivers in a computer. A triple-pronged "grabber" will help you retrieve
small screws that you will inevitably drop into tight places. A power supply tester
will make it easy to check power supplies. Pliers can be used on many items but
especially when trying to take off heat sinks on clip lock motherboards. Toolkits can
be found at www.beyourownit.com/store.html.
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SECTION
1
GETTING
STARTED
In This Section:
1. Safety
2. Data Backup
3. Hardware Identification
4. PC Cleaning
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— COMPUTER REPAIR MASTERY COURSE —
1. SAFETY
Introduction
When dealing with computers, we often think of safety as keeping your computer safe from viruses, and
perhaps keeping your personal information out of the hands of identity thieves. However, this safety section
deals with how to keep your computer physically safe, and how to keep yourself safe while fixing your PC.
Surge Protectors
Plugging electronics into a surge protector is a pretty
common practice. The goal of a surge protector is to protect
your computer from high voltage power spikes caused by
nearby lightning strikes. The surge protector is plugged into
the wall outlet, and the computer’s power cable is plugged
into the surge protector. One mistake people often make,
however, is they only plug in the desktop computer itself.
They are only protecting the main unit when they do this.
If you do not plug it all in, you may as well have not plugged any of it in. As an Power strips
example, if your computer monitor was plugged directly in to the main outlet Power strip, also
unprotected, a power surge could be powerful enough to damage the monitor and known as a power bar,
gangplug or multibox,
also travel the connection into the PC. So, make sure to plug everything in.
is an electricity
Note: There is a distinction between power strips and surge protectors. Many power distribution device
that turns a single AC
strips and surge protectors look alike. However, a power strip only includes outlets
wall outlet into several
so you can plug multiple devices into it. When buying one, make sure the box says
multiple units.
surge protector.
Power conditioners
Power Conditioners An electrical device
configured between a
Power conditioners regulate voltage and ensure that the power coming to the computer and its power
computer is high quality. Surge protectors don’t regulate voltage, they just protect supply, typically a wall
against large spikes in power. Conditioners protect against things like power line outlet. Provides surge
flicker and reactive power. Power line flicker is when a light bulb constantly changes protection and main-
brightness due to fluctuations in its source. Reactive Power is when the power tains a continuous volt-
source is out of sync with itself, so that when work is attempted on a load, the age fed to the computer
power pulled is half positive and half negative; resulting in a null amount and no during brownout.
work is accomplished.
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— CHAPTER 1: Safety —
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— CHAPTER 1: Safety —
hose. The resistance is how wide the hose is. High pressure at low speed,
due to resistance (the size of the hose), will cause strain on the fire hose.
If the pressure is suddenly increased to high levels, the hose bursts. Even
Static electricity if the hose doesn’t completely shred, it’s still strained and accumulates
The buildup of electric damage over time. Going back to static electricity’s effect on electronics, a
charge on the surface of
sudden instance of high voltage and low current causes strain and eventually
objects. A process called
triboelectrification damages the electronic pathways in the components you are working on.
causes static electricity.
Processors and memory are more susceptible to ESD damage because they are
Electrostatic discharge
some of the more advanced parts in your computer. In an effort to constantly
(ESD) increase performance in new products, they are always being built on smaller
The sudden, rapid trans- scales (or processes). The smaller the component and the more complex, the
fer of electric current
smaller and more delicate the pathways are, and the less tolerant they are
between two objects or
surfaces that have come for overloads. The materials the components are made from will impact their
into direct contact with susceptibility to this type of damage as well.
one another or are close
enough to develop a Note: If the air is dry, such as during the winter in temperate regions, static
high electrostatic field accumulates more readily and it can be easier to accidentally discharge into
between them. components.
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— CHAPTER 1: Safety —
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10. Dry
Before any parts are reinstalled they need to dry completely. Let them dry
naturally during a 48-hour time period. A dehumidifier may be used in the
room to speed up the process. Do not wipe excessively to dry, and don’t use
a heat source like a heat lamp or hair dryer because these may cause more
problems.
11. Reassemble and Test
After reassembling the machine, test it to make sure everything is working
properly. If it doesn’t work, and your are confident that it has been
reassembled properly, it most likely sustained critical damage during the spill
and will have parts that need to be replaced. In severe cases the entire unit
may need to be replaced.
Heat Precaution
One final concern in the safety of our machines is the heat they produce and
how it is handled. Simple things first: It is generally preferable for a laptop
to be on a solid flat surface. The reason for this is that most laptops draw Thermal Expansion
The tendency of matter
cool air in through the bottom of the case, and vent the hot air out the to change in volume in
backside of the case. response to the change
in temperature.
For this reason, you don’t want to set laptops on blankets or beds because
it’s difficult for the fans to bring cool air in. If you are just checking email
Electromigration
for a bit, it probably won’t hurt it too much; however, watching movies, The result of the
gaming, or running multiple programs are all potentially dangerous to an transfer of momentum
under-cooled machine. Netbooks tend to do okay on beds simply because from electrons through
they don’t put out much heat. the electric field to
the ions which make
Why does heat hurt a computer so much? The answer lies in two issues: up the interconnective
thermal expansion and electromigration. Thermal expansion deals with the material.
growing and shrinking of parts as they heat up and cool down. The laptops
cooler kicks into high as soon as it realizes that the temperature has gone up
over the safety limits and cools it down. Repeated heating and cooling wears
out components, which causes electromigration. Electromigration is the
gradual decay of the pathways in a component, and ultimately occurs when a
component’s temperature goes over 80 degrees Celsius. As you can see, it is
definitely in your best interests to keep your laptop cooled properly.
Fun Fact: There are a few laptop models that draw air in through the
backside of the case, allowing you to place the laptop on many different
surfaces, without having to worry about overheating. The Asus G73 is one
example.
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2. DATA BACKUP
Introduction
A computer is just a fancy calculator in a sense. Without the programming
and data that make up its purpose and abilities, it is only worth as much as
the hardware it is constructed from. Essentially, the software and data in a
computer is worth much more than the replacement cost of the machine. The
inherent value of the software and data is why we back up data. Knowing
this, you should not hesitate to backup data even before the hardware tests
are run.
What to Backup
Operating System
My Documents First and foremost, the most important thing to be able to restore on a
A special Microsoft computer is the Operating System. It may not be the most expensive or seem
Windows folder on the to be the most important piece of software on the machine, but without
computer’s hard drive
it, your ability to repair the machine in the event of the software being
that stores documents,
photos, music, videos corrupted or the data storage failing are largely compromised. The most
downloads and other common ways to restore an Operating System is either from the retail discs
files. you got when you purchased the Operating System or the files contained
in the system restore partition you were given when you purchased the
My Pictures computer as a whole. Many new computers do not come with restore "disks"
A Microsoft Windows per se, but instead come with a partition that includes the disc images. This
folder where users can is actually the first thing you should backup when you buy a new computer.
store images.
If you do not use the built-in software and create a set of restore disks from
the built in partition, your restores will be lost in the event of a hard drive
My Videos
failure and will subsequently require you to purchase a new set from your
A Microsoft Windows
folder where the computer manufacturer. You may also want to keep a copy of the driver disk
system normally stores if the restore disk and the drivers are separate media.
downloaded videos.
Personal Information
The next thing you want to have backed up is any personal information. This
would include things from as important as family photos and tax returns all
the way to the seemingly unimportant things like music or bookmarks. What
gives a computer its intrinsic value is the combination of its setup, its data,
and its familiarity. The more of each of these fields that can be maintained
between the previous version and the new version, the less recovery time
there is before the user is operating at full capacity within their comfort
zone again.
Most personal information is stored in the user’s account folders. Many
applications used to store user data in the program folders themselves, but
this has been on the decline. When backing up user data, be sure to check
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the "My Documents" folder first. This folder will be located under the user’s folders in the "Users"
folder in Vista and Windows 7 and under "Documents and Settings" in XP. Inside of this folder will
be more folders such as "My Music", "My Pictures", and "My Videos". The "Favorites" folder is where
Internet Explorer holds its bookmarks. This may seem like an obvious step, but it is important
to check this folder because many programs storing user data today use their own folder in "My
Documents" or in the "Application Data" folder.
The "Application Data" folder can be located by setting Windows to show all hidden folders. Here’s
where to find it in Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.
Windows XP
Open any folder link, either "My Documents" or "My Computer" will work fine. Locate the Tools
menu and drop down to Folder Options" and click on it. Select the "View" tab and find the
entry named "Hidden Files and Folders". Select the radio button labeled "Show Hidden Files
and Folders". Click OK. If you go to C:\Documents and Settings\username, you will now find the
application data folder exposed.
Windows Vista and Windows 7
Open a folder link. Look to the left side of the Explorer window and click on the Organize menu
item. In that menu you will find an item named "Folder and Search Options”. After clicking on
it you can select the tab labeled "View" and find the entry named "Hidden Files and Folders".
Select the radio button labeled "Show Hidden Files and Folders". Click OK. If you go to C:\Users\
Username\ the application data folder should now be exposed.
The now exposed "Application Data" folder holds things like the bookmarks for Mozilla Firefox and
Google Chrome in their respective profile folders. When backing up this data it may be easier just
to grab the whole folder and look for the bookmarks afterwards, as they are inside. Outlook Express
stores its address book in Application Data\Microsoft\Address Book.
If you back up a level and go back into the "User" folder you will notice another folder called
"Local Settings". "Local Settings” has another "Application Data" folder inside of it. In this folder
is mostly a collection of configuration files; however, in the Local Settings/Application Data/
Microsoft/Outlook path is where Outlook Express and Outlook store their mailboxes. If you are
backing up email messages you need to grab all of these files.
If possible, it is best to do the data backup with the user present so that they can think through
what you are backing up while you do it. This allows them to remember things they might not
have remembered if they had not been completely committed to the process. This, however, is not
usually possible. If there is money involved, make sure that the customer writes down what they
want backed up before you start backing up data. Have them sign off on this as it is easy to miss
something that is placed in an odd spot. You should always have a customer sign off on the data
that is going to be backed up so that you cannot be held responsible for it. If a customer requests
that you backup a certain applications data, by all means do some research and find out how to
properly backup the data contained within it.
In addition, you’ll also need to explain to a customer that applications cannot be backed up unless
they were written in a special way to make them portable. Most applications write entries to the
registry that need to be preset for the program to run. Explain it in plain terms that they will need
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— CHAPTER 2: Data Backup —
to reinstall the applications or at the very least bring the applications they
want reinstalled to you if you are going to need to do a restore.
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Windows 7
Start > Control Panel > System and Security > Backup and Restore is the link
for this program. This can also be accessed by typing in backup into the
run/search bar and clicking the link that shows up. Click on "Setup Backup".
Chose the backup destination, and then click on the help link "Guidelines
for choosing a backup destination" if you have questions about them. You
can then pick the files you want to backup or let Windows choose. Letting
Windows choose the files to backup means Windows selects your documents
and includes a system image to restore the system from scratch. After you
select these files, you can then decide when you would like to run the External hard drive
backup. To restore the files, you can click "Restore my files" and then select Stand-alone magnetic
which backup you would like to restore from. After selecting the files, you disk drive having its
may then select the location to restore them to. If the hard drive dies and own power supply and
fan mounted outside
you have the restore disc available, you can boot from it and then provide the computer system
the system image to restore from. enclosure and connected
to the computer by a
Some software can also be setup to do automatic incremental backups of cable.
data, similar to what Window’s built in software can do. Synctoy is a piece
of software written by Microsoft to keep files synchronized on the same Batch file
versions across multiple devices. It was released for free and can be used to A set of DOS commands
keep automatic backups where it only copies files that have changed for less that automatically
overhead. runs in sequence
once the batch file is
Other software is sometimes bundled with the hardware it is meant to be executed. Batch files
are usually created to
used with. Western Digital’s Worldbook external hard drives are an example
execute commands for
of a device meant for external storage with its own backup software. The operations that the user
software can be configured to backup a file whenever it is written to in order has a repeated need.
to keep the backup current.
Exterrnal drive
Manual Backup Device that reads and
Manual backups are good for one-off projects that have a set amount of data or writes data onto a disk
contained in a separate
a specific group of easily locatable files that need to be backed up at irregular enclosure from the
intervals. If data needs to be backed up every week, it should be automatically computer system. Some
handled. If it only needs to be backed up when it’s worked on and there is no examples of external
set schedule of work, then a manual backup can usually work just fine. drives include hard
drives, optical drives
Manual backups can be done in a few different ways. A manual backup could and magnetic disk
be anything from simply dragging the data you wish to be backed up on to a drives.
different drive or burning it onto DVDs. Backup programs that lack automatic
scheduling functions like DirSyncPro can be considered a manual backup, or
even something as simple as a script or batch file can run to move large
quantities of data from a location and copy it to a backup.
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— CHAPTER 2: Data Backup —
3. Choose what to backup or let Windows decide 4. Choose how often to run the backup
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fails you won’t lose your data backups as well. Storing the backup on the same storage device
defeats most of the intended functions of a backup in the sense that we are covering here.
In fact, the further away from your computer you can store your backups the safer they are from
things that could potentially take out all of your data in one shot. For instance, if you have two
hard drives in a machine and it catches on fire, the backups you made would hypothetically get
burned along with the original data stored on the machine. If it is stored in another machine in
the building, then it is much less likely that a fire in your work PC will reach the other machine.
Better yet, if the data is stored offsite and is remotely accessible then the fire which consumed
your machine and maybe the building will not touch your backups. Many businesses store data in
this offsite manner to provide exceptional security and safety to their intellectual property and
records.
This also describes another concept which is known under a variety of names and terms. We are
going to refer to it as Availability, Reliability, and Cost. Each one of these three concepts is an
important aspect of your backup solution. Availability is the likelihood that the original data will
be available at all times, or what percentage of time the backup will be useable. If you use a RAID
1 system where the drive is a copy of another drive, this availability is increased; however, this
is not a backup. If anything happens to the data on one drive it will be replicated on the other
drive. If anything happens to the machine it will take down both drives and render the Operating
System unavailable. When considering hard drive failure though, the hard drives are twice as likely
to experience a failure as there are now two drives. The catch is that the probability of both drives
failing at the same time is less than the added probability of having the extra drive fail. This
means that the probability of having your system down and unavailable due to drive failure has
been reduced. In terms of backups, this statistic would be in regards to how hard the backup is to
access and how likely there is to be a backup always accessible.
Reliability is how likely the data is to be retrievable and the backup to work properly. The more
easily accessible and more in contact your backup is with its host system, the more chances there
are for things to go wrong.
Cost is actually going to be an inverse attribute for this discussion as the more accessible and the
more reliable a backup is, the higher the cost will be. This means that the more resources pushed
toward lowering the cost lowers the other attributes of the backup. Cost also has a large amount to
do with how relevant the backup is. Cost is not only in money but in time as well.
In the end, this means that the cheapest and most reliable backups will be the most inaccessible
to the system. Offsite backups that are not connected via internet are most reliable as they have
had no opportunity to be corrupted by the system. However, with such an inaccessible backup
there may be problems with using the backup solution such as downtime or old backups. Backups
that are accessible and reliable tend to cost quite a bit.
Some users and even some companies use several side by side methods of backing up their
systems. They have a single backup of the system image that is used for restoring the PC. Normal
users would know this as a restore CD or a System Image. They then use smaller backups for
personal data. This helps to assure that the system is available and the backups are reliable while
attempting to keep costs down.
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— CHAPTER 2: Data Backup —
Backup Media
When creating these backups, we tend to use whatever media is most convenient for us. Different
types of media, however, tend to have strengths and weaknesses when compared to other types of
media. Here are the various types:
Flash Drives
Flash drives are small storage devices based off of Non Volatile Memory modules. These devices are
usually low-cost and relatively reliable for their price. Currently they are available in sizes ranging
from 512 MB all the way to 256 GB. The breaking point for price hikes is currently around 8 GB to
16 GB.
When using a flash drive for a data backup device it will show up as a standard hard drive. This
allows you to use manual or automatic style backups with this type of drive.
Flash drives are convenient and easy to use. However, when you are dealing with important data
it may not be enough to have a single backup on a flash drive as they can be damaged from any
number of things. Flash drives can be electrically damaged by power surges, they can be lost or
stepped on, and they can be stolen.
Due to these problems, it is smart to have more backups than just a single USB flash drive. It can
work fine for your average home user and is more than capable of storing your data while you
restore an Operating System. For sensitive information or large amounts of data you may want a
more permanent backup solution.
External Hard Drives
External hard drives can be considered reliable as and even more reliable than standard drives
inside a computer. The benefit is that they can be moved around and do not necessarily have to be
left on the entire time that the computer is on. This allows them to potentially last much longer
as the amount of wear and tear is potentially lower. The one drawback used to be using the USB
connection to interface with the computer. These connections are quite slow. The ESATA standard,
which provides near native host speeds to the external drive, has for the most part remedied this
problem though.
Optical Media
Burnable discs have been used for quite a few years to make backups and copies of various other
media. Be it people wanting to put VHS tapes on a newer format or play their mp3s in a car stereo
before USB connections or mp3 players became all that popular. Sizes range from 700 MB for CDs to
50 GB for dual layer Blu-Ray discs.
Burned discs are perfect for temporary storage of backed up data. Burnable discs are recognized
by most backup systems as acceptable destinations. When burning backup discs, be sure to burn
slowly as burning quickly case cause write errors and buffer under runs. Most burning programs
or backup programs that support burning to disc also support data validation of those same discs.
This helps lead to a lower chance of having a bad backup.
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Long-Term Storage
When it comes to storing data on optical discs over a long period of time there are a few different
options.
First of all, you can use archival media. Gold Verbatim are an example of these. Instead of the
standard material in a burnable disc which can oxidize and destroy the data held on it, these discs
use gold. The use of gold prevents the oxidation and secures the long term survival of the disc.
The next option is to have the discs pressed or to own your own disc press machine to press them
yourself. Pressed CDs that were put on sale more than 25 years ago have been known to still play
perfectly in modern CD players as long as the disc was taken care of. Most pressing requires a clean
room and can be a little expensive to setup. However, in certain business environments that make
multiple backup copies of data that need to be distributed and need to last a long time, this could
be a potential option. This work can also be outsourced if this makes for a more economical process.
The next option is to use a high-quality disc like the ones made by Taiyo Yuden. These are standard
discs, but they use a special ink that resists the standard causes of data loss. These are generally
considered to be some of the best burnable discs around as they have a great percentage of
readable first burns and a very low occurrence of burning errors.
On Line Backup
On line storage where you do something simple like email documents to yourself to leave them
stored on the email provider’s servers or something like Dropbox or Mozy. Online storage provides
an offsite backup that should survive any sort of machine malfunction or accident.
Cloning
Cloning a drive is the process of taking the contents of one drive and replicating them bit for bit on
another drive. The idea is also extended to the storing of compressed versions of the content of a
drive through third-party cloning tools like Symantec Ghost, Acronis True Image, or the open source
PartImage.
Cloning is an efficient way of making a clean copy of a system after its initial setup. The purpose
of this copy can be to simplify a rollout or making incremental backups simpler, as the base system
doesn’t have to be considered if it is easy to replace.
Providing a cloned image packaged with a self-booting executable on a disc is an easy way to provide
a self-booting restore disc to a customer that you had to restore the Operating System for if they do
not have access to a restore.
When to Backup
Backup frequency depends quite a lot on how you use your computer and what kind of data you
are backing up. For things such as pictures and other things that are updated infrequently making
a backup after a significant change is probably sufficient. Tax returns also fall under this category,
as you need only to back them up after you finish them for the year. If you are working from home
or running your finances from your computer, or even working on a project that you make frequent
updates to, you may need to schedule automatic updates for every week or even every day.
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— CHAPTER 2: Data Backup —
1. Boot to the Diagnostic disk and select HDD. 2. Select Disk Cloning.
5. Select the source drive (the disk you want to clone). 6. Select the destination drive (the disk you will clone to).
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3. HARDWARE IDENTIFICATION
Computer Case
A computer’s case is its home. The physical characteristics of the case, such as size, cooling vents,
and bolt patterns, determine the types of hardware and components you can install inside the case.
Choosing a case is one of the most important component decisions to make when building a PC.
The case will affect:
• The size of components you can install
• Which aftermarket parts you can install in the future
The case has an impact on the cooling system, too. The case could have vents on the front, back,
side, or top, all ready for fans, depending on the model. The case’s rear fan mount determines
whether you will be using a 120mm, a 92mm, an 80mm (or pair of 80mm) fans, as well as other
potential configurations. The same holds true for the intake fan on the front and the top or side-
mounted fans if they are included on the model you are using.
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Size Implication
The case’s depth changes what CPU coolers can be mounted inside the case.
CPU coolers will be explained in upcoming sections, but they are essentially
devices made up of heat sinks and pipes to cool the processor. The better job
it does at keeping the CPU cool, often the larger it is, because temperature
MicroATX lowers if you have more surface area to disperse heat over. But some CPU
A standard for
motherboard systems
coolers will be too big for cases. If they are too tall you will not be able to
that is designed to be attach the side panel of the case to the unit.
backward-compatible
with ATX, a motherboard Some cases will only accept certain sized motherboards as well. MicroATX cases
form factor specification will only take mATX and smaller motherboards. Full sized cases will take full
developed by Intel. sized and smaller boards as long as they are ATX compatible. The majority
of motherboards in the consumer space are ATX compatible. One thing to
ATX watch out for, however, is the EATX standard or "extended ATX" size: These
An industry-wide motherboards require cases with an extra expansion slot to mount properly.
specification for a
desktop computer’s Plan to Expand
motherboard developed
by Intel in 1995 to Larger cases allow you to add extra hard drives, more optical drives, and a
improve on the previous
second video card that may be required for some of the latest video games.
standard (Baby AT form
factor) and allow for a That being said, if you need a small case for some reason, still try to find one
more efficient design, with more expansion slots and large clearances. A great example of this is
with disk drive cable the Lian-Li PC-Q08B. Although this Mini ITX case is tiny in size, it allows for
connectors nearer to six hard drives to be installed internally, and provides enough room to install
the drive bays and the
a full-sized video card with a dual-slot cooler into its tiny 13.5”x9”x10.7”
CPU closer to the power
supply and cooling fan. footprint. It also has great airflow by using a 140mm fan and a 120mm fan.
This is truly an exceptional case design for its size.
Expansion slot
Long, narrow sockets Cooling
located on the
motherboard inside Cooling systems in a computer are perhaps the most underappreciated and mis-
the computer that understood components of the system. It is the single most important system
allows expansion cards, in the computer when it comes to maximizing performance, reducing wear and
or adapters, to be
tear, and minimizing the noise the computer makes while it is running.
connected to it.
Many users have been upset over the years by the noises their computer
Cooling system makes without understanding why they occur. If they would have properly
Devices that help dis- cooled their system, they could have reduced the noise and their frustrations.
sipate heat produced by
computer components
and keep them within
Cooling the Processor (CPU)
safe operating tempera-
Processor cooling comes down to a few important factors. The most
ture limits.
important factor is the contact between the processor and the heat sink. The
level of contact between the two surfaces directly affects how much heat
energy can be moved into the heat sink from the processor. A bad level of
contact will result in overheating no matter how good the heat sink you
installed on it is. Hopefully the thermal protection on your motherboard is
working properly.
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Contact Area
This contact area is dependent on a few factors. The
contact area is the size of the processor surface that is
touching the heat sink surface. A processor has cores
that are located in the middle. However, if you opened
your computer right now and removed the heat sink
from the processor, you’d see that there is a piece of
metal covering the entire processor. This thin, metallic
surface is known as a heat spreader. Its purpose is to
protect the processor and provide a larger surface area
to attach the heat sink to. Essentially, the heat spreader Fig. 3-1 Heat spreader: External casing usually made
attaches to the processor, and the heat sink attaches of aluminum specially designed to cover an electronic
to the heat spreader. Again, the goal of all of this is to device and dissipate heat.
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— CHAPTER 3: Hardware Identification —
Silver-based compounds can also help the system last longer, while cheaper compounds tend to
dry out quicker which decreases their cooling performance. Two companies that make long-lasting,
quality compounds are Arctic Silver and CoolerMaster.
Heat Sink
We’ve already discussed how the heat spreader allows
the heat to travel from the CPU to the heat sink . We
will now take a look at what makes individual heat
sinks better than others. Heat sinks need to have a
proper mounting system to hold them properly to the
processor. They need to be able to handle the heat
output by dispersing a rated amount of thermal energy
into the case. Size and design restrict a heat sink’s
Fig. 3-2 Heat sink: Device used to transfer heat gen- effectiveness.
erated within a solid material to a fluid medium such
as air or water. Heat sinks dissipate heat away from
sensitive electronic components to prevent damage.
Mounting
Heat sinks are mounted in predetermined ways that
are set by the manufacturer. As of late, Intel has been
using four pins that push through the motherboard,
lock behind it, and are released by turning the pins
a quarter turn to release the tension. AMD has been
using a spring-and lever assembly that connects to
three points on each side of the brace, which bolts
through the back of the motherboard.
Aftermarket heat sinks can either use these existing
Fig. 3-3 Heat pipes: Thin, sealed metal tubular
Intel or AMD methods or use their own mounting
devices that combine the principles of both thermal methods. Some heat sinks will come with their
conductivity and phase transition to efficiently man- own mounting brackets. An example would be
age the transfer of heat between two solid interfaces.
CoolerMaster’s Hyper 212, in which you would mount
to your own back plate and bolt through the existing
holes in the motherboard. The heat sink is then spring-loaded and screwed down into the steel
frame. Most of the other 120mm coolers also are mounted in this manner simply due to the weight
of the heat sink. Smaller coolers may be mounted with plastic clips.
Heat Pipes
Higher end heat sinks tend to employ heat pipes to help transfer heat. The reason for using heat
pipes may differ. Sometimes they are used to help move heat away from the source and disperse
heat in a different location. Laptops often employ this technology to move heat to a centralized
heat sink. This makes laptop cooling easier to design and easier to employ. Other times, heat pipes
are used to provide a more uniform and higher level of heat transfer.
Heat pipes work by suspending a working liquid in a low pressure environment. In computers,
water is generally used. There is a central vapor cavity to allow fast movement of water in its
gas form. The water is boiled and travels the length of the pipe from the hot end to the cool end,
where it condenses back into water.
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This action unloads the heat energy the water is carrying from the hot end into the rest of the heat
pipe. There is a wick inside the heat pipe that pulls the cooled water back to the hot end where the
cycle repeats itself.
Note: If you are purchasing a new heat sink, check to see if your current heat sink has heat pipes.
If it does, make sure your new heat sink has them as well.
Surface Area
A heat sink’s ability to disperse heat rests almost solely on its surface area and how well it is
utilized. Heat sinks use fins, which allow them to have a large surface area. Heat energy is a finite
amount. Spreading heat across a larger surface, lowers the temperature at each individual point.
The more surface area, the better it will disperse heat. The 92mm and 120mm heat sinks have large
surface areas, and will do a better job of dispersing heat than a 25.5mm unit. The only way to
dissipate more heat is to add more surface area and make sure the heat is evenly distributed.
Heat dissipates into air at a set rate. The air cannot be forced to absorb heat faster or take more
than it can hold. The solution to this problem, however, is airflow. By having the air cycled at a
normal rate by the case fans, fresh air is always available for the heat to disperse into.
Airflow and Fin Spacing
By bringing in cool air and increasing the surface area for the air to
flow over, we maximize our ability to cool our components. There
is a balance between the number of fins and the spacing between
them. If the fins are too close together, air flow between the fins is
decreased, which also decreases cooling performance, because hot air
isn’t exchanged for cool air as well. If the fins are too far apart, then
the heat sink has a smaller surface area, which makes it less effective.
This is why manufacturers need to maximize the surface area of the
heat sink, while maintaining good air flow between the fins.
The fans on stock coolers provide two important functions. First, they
force air exchange through these tightly spaced fins. This allows Fig. 3-4 Fin: A metallic alloy,
for proper cooling and perhaps even allows the heat sink to take usually an aluminum compound,
used in heatsinks to provide a
advantage of its large surface area. Second, they push air to various larger coverage area to draw heat
parts of the motherboard that may need cooling. These could include away from sensitive electronic
the Mosfets, the Northbridge, and even the memory. components, such as microproces-
sors. Cooling fans are sometimes
Passive vs. Active Cooling used to dissipate heat better and
faster from heatsink fins.
Everything that has been described so far deals with passive heat
sinks. Heatsinks that have fins which allow cool air to blow over them
are called passive. Active heatsinks will actually have their own fans
which blow cool air through the fins and draw the warm air out.
Fun Fact: When the Pentium 4 was reaching the end of its use in new computer systems, it needed
to use “thermally advantaged chassis”. Essentially, as the speed of P4’s increased, they got hotter,
and they needed cases that were better equipped to cool them. There was a vent and air channel
on the side of the case which allowed the processor fan to pull in fresh air easily.
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— CHAPTER 3: Hardware Identification —
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©2011 BeYourOwnIT.com. You may not copy, reproduce, post or forward this document in any format. 26
— CHAPTER 3: Hardware Identification —
Power supply efficiency There are five different 80 Plus certifications: 80 Plus, 80 Plus Bronze, 80
The efficiency of a Plus Silver, 80 Plus Gold, and 80 Plus Platinum. The higher the certification,
power supply is deter- the more efficient the power supply is at each load percentage.
mined by taking the DC
output of a power sup-
ply and dividing it by Percent Loading 80 Plus 80 Plus Bronze 80 Plus Silver 80 Plus Gold 80 Plus Platinum
the AC input. The higher
20% 80% 82% 85% 87% 90%
the power supply’s ef-
ficiency, the less power 50% 80% 85% 85% 90% 92%
the computer system 100% 80% 82% 85% 87% 89%
will consume.
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has. So each motherboard will be a certain type of chipset. Because there are
so many manufacturers of motherboards and new products are coming out all
the time, rather than discussing model numbers, enthusiasts can talk about
chipsets. And by knowing the chipset, you know the features the mother-
board has and the performance it will offer.
Power Delivery
Power is fed into the motherboard by a 20+4 pin connector, the 12-volt 4-pin
connector, and other connections occasionally. When power is delivered to RAM
the rest of the board, it is run through extra circuitry to ensure its clean and A type of memory
stable operation. The motherboard is designed to take the dirtiest of power device made up of small
sources and attempt to clean it to a useable state for your processor, memory, memory chips that
and peripherals. form a memory module.
It is used for holding
Voltage Regulator Circuit programs and data that
will be executed.
The voltage regulator circuit is responsible for converting the power supply’s
+12V voltage into the appropriate voltage required by the CPU, memory, Chipset
and other circuits. For the most part, the quality of the voltage regulator A set of integrated cir-
cuits specially designed
circuit determines the quality and lifespan of the motherboard overall. This
to work together and
is because good voltage regulators provide the circuitry with stable, clean perform one or more
power, without fluctuations, noise, or ripple. computing functions.
These are usually spe-
Power is filtered through capacitors, MOSFETs, and chokes; referred to as cialized chips mounted
phases when combined to clean the power. The general consensus is that on a computer’s moth-
the more cleaning phases a motherboard has, the more stable it will be. If erboard.
a circuit has four phases (or channels) each phase will operate 25% of the
time. Each device will operate less of the time, which will allow them to last Volt
longer and reduce their operating temperature. When a manufacturer refers The basic unit of electri-
cal potential, used for
to phases, they are typically referring to the CPU main voltage circuit.
measuring the force
used to produce an
A capacitor stores electricity and discharges it when needed. Solid capaci-
electric current.
tors contain a solid organic polymer, while electrolytic capacitors use a liquid
electrolyte. Better motherboards use solid capacitors because they don’t
MOSFET
swell or leak. Older motherboards with old style aluminum electrolytic ca-
A device used to amplify
pacitors benefitted from high phase count as the amount of ripple (variations or switch electronic
in sine wave) inherent in their design was cured with high phase counts. signals and is designed
to handle significant
A MOSFET (metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor) is a switch that power levels.
allows or disallows electric current to pass through an electronic circuit.
A choke is an inductor that stores energy and regulates current. You’ll find
iron and ferrite chokes, ferrite being the better of the two because they don’t
lose as much power and have better resistance to rust. Each phase uses one
choke, so one way you can figure out how many phases a motherboard has, is
by counting the chokes.
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— CHAPTER 3: Hardware Identification —
Connectivity
In a nutshell, the motherboard is the hub for all things to connect to your
computer. For this reason it is sometimes referred to as the mainboard. Other
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terms thrown around are board or mobo. The motherboard provides all of the
ports for your computer. These include display connections such as DVI and
VGA, USB, eSATA, Firewire, PS/2, audio, networking, and more. VGA
A widely used graphics
Most of these connections are found on the back panel of the case. There display system between
are a couple of front panel connectors that attach to the motherboard which a computer and monitor
are for your power switch, reset button, and any of the lights that indicate developed by IBM that
uses a 15-pin plug and
power usage. If your system has front USB ports or a headphone jack in the
socket and provides a
front panel, those connectors are plugged into the motherboard as well. resolution of 720x400
pixels.
Northbridge
The Northbridge is connected to the CPU, the system memory, and PCI USB
A small, removable,
Express or AGP video cards, and the Southbridge, which is discussed below.
rewritable flash memory
Some Northbridges will also contain Integrated Graphics Controllers. data storage device that
allows data to be trans-
Processors have been integrating more functions onto the CPU itself, thus ferred between devices.
negating the need to have the function on the motherboard itself. One
example of this is the memory controller, which is responsible for the
Firewire
communication between the CPU and the RAM. More and more you’ll see the A high speed data trans-
memory controller on the processor which allows it to access RAM quicker fer technology often
because it doesn’t have to go through the Northbridge first. used for connecting
digital cameras to com-
Southbridge puters. FireWire provides
a single plug-and-socket
The Southbridge is connected to the Northbridge and typically handles the connection on which
up to 63 devices can
slower functions because it isn’t directly connected to the CPU. Some of func-
be attached with data
tions are the PCI bus, SATA, USB, audio, BIOS memory, and Ethernet. transfer speeds up to
400 Mbps.
Front-side Bus
The front-side bus connects the CPU to the Northbridge and is the data USB port
A standard cable con-
highway between the two. A front-side bus has a few characteristics that are
nection interface or
important when determining its speed. Since the FSB essentially carries the socket on a computer
data between the CPU and Northbridge, and the Northbridge communicates into which a USB device
with RAM and PCIe video cards, the quicker the FSB the better. Of course can plugged into.
there are diminishing returns when purchasing a computer with a faster FSB
because the CPU, RAM, and applications you are running may not get even SATA
close to fully utilizing the FSB’s bandwidth capability. Serial ATA, or Serial
Advanced Technology
Since Intel came out with the quad-core i3, i5, and i7 processors, the front- Attachment, is a serial
bus has migrated to the CPU chip itself. It is still used in Core 2, Celeron, bus link interface that
connects host bus
and Atom processors.
adapters to storage
devices such as optical
Speed
drives and hard disks.
The maximum bandwidth of a front-side bus can be determined by
multiplying its data path width (in bytes) by its clock frequency and data
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— CHAPTER 3: Hardware Identification —
transfers per clock cycle. So, a 200Mhz FSB that is 8 bytes wide and performs
4 transfers per clock cycle has a bandwidth of 6,400MB/s.
8B x 200Mhz x 4 = 6,400MB/s
Typically manufacturers express the speed of a FSB in terms of Megahertz, but
Front-side bus (FSB) they don’t use the clock frequency. They use the clock frequency multiplied
The FSB, also called by the data transfers per clock cycle. Therefore a system with a 200Mhz
the system bus, is an frequency clock FSB will be expressed as 800Mhz (200Mhz x 4 transfers).
electrical pathway on a You may also see it express as 800MT/s, which stands for megatransfers per
computer’s motherboard
that connects the com-
second. The former refers to the overall frequency and the latter refers to
puter’s processor to the how many transfers per second can be performed.
system memory (RAM)
and other components. Expansion Slots
Motherboards have a few types of expansion slots to enhance the capabilities
Celeron of the system they are installed in. An expansion slot allows you to add
The brand name of the
hardware to the system in the future. Some of the more popular types of
Intel microprocessor line
designed for low-cost
hardware that would be plugged into expansion slots are video cards, sound
basic computer systems. cards, networking cards, firewire or eSATA. The standard expansion slots
The Celeron micropro- are PCI slots for general expansion and PCI Express for bandwidth intensive
cessor is based on the expansion cards.
same architecture as the
Pentium II but it lacks PCI
some high-performance
features of the Pentium Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) comes in one size for standard
II line. computer users. There are other types of PCI slots in the server environment,
but for the home user this is the one and only. The bandwidth for the entire
MB/s PCI Bus is 133MB/s (Megabytes per second). All of your PCI attached devices
Stands for megabyte per share the 133MB/s bandwidth. For this reason, PCI video cards, nowadays,
second and is a unit of
offer sub-par performance because they don’t have the bandwidth required
data transfer rate equal
to one million bytes per to make them truly exceptional. Better, faster video cards need to transfer
second. higher volumes of data quicker. Other technologies have been developed
since PCI, and those will be addressed shortly.
Peripheral Component
You can find just about any expansion component for your computer
Interconnect (PCI)
PCI stands for packaged on a PCI card. Most of the cards that were used in the past,
Peripheral Component including but not limited to: sound, network, video, and USB expansion
Interconnect. It is cards, have all been integrated into the motherboard in some way or another.
an interconnection If you need more of them however, you can still usually find it with a PCI
system between a
connection.
microprocessor and
attached devices
designed by Intel and AGP
is used in both PCs and Accelerated Graphics Port was introduced by Intel to expand upon the
Macs.
bandwidth offered by PCI so that video cards would not be constrained by
bandwidth. It was introduced in 1997 with a bandwidth of 266MB/s and rose
throughout the years to a powerful 2,133MB/s. At the time of writing this
guide, you can still find AGP video cards for sale, however, they have since
been almost made obsolete due to the higher performance PCI-Express slots
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and cards. Some of the AGP cards use a bridge chip in order to plug them Accelerated Graphics
into the new PCI-Express slots. Port (AGP)
AGP was an advanced
PCI Express graphics card expansion
port designed for
PCI Express was launched in 2004 as the replacement for AGP. Originally the video cards and 3D
two of them had very similar speeds, but PCI Express has one distinct advan- accelerators, which
tage. PCI Express is a synchronous protocol which means it can transmit data introduces a dedicated
point-to-point channel
in both directions simultaneously, while AGP can only transmit data in one so that the graphics
direction at a time. Officially abbreviated as PCIe and often seen as PCI-E. controller can directly
access the main
Serial vs. Parallel Bus memory.
Previous PCI standards used a parallel bus, which allowed several bits of PCI Express
information to be sent as a whole. A bus is just a word for an electrical PCI Express is a high-
connection between devices. speed expansion card
format developed by
Before PCI Express, during the days of standard PCI, parallel was an Intel Corp. in 2004. It
connects a computer
improvement over serial. Serial is the process of sending one bit at a time.
system with attached
Parallel allowed more information to be sent at the same time. However, the peripheral devices and
transmission speed and signal integrity of serial buses have improved so is abbreviated as PCIe
much over the years that serial is used more commonly now. PCI Express uses or PCX.
serial buses.
Interconnect and Lanes
PCIe devices pass data through an interconnect, also
referred to as a link, which is a point-to-point channel
of communication between PCIe ports. A link contains
lanes . Lanes are comprised of 4 wires that transmit
and receive data simultaneously.
PCIe slots can have 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, or 32 lanes. More
lanes allow you to transmit more data simultaneously. Fig. 3-8 PCI and PCI Express ports
More lanes means the PCIe slot will be physically larger.
See Figure 3-8. Lanes
Lanes, in the context of
Peripherals on the market most commonly use x1, x4, and x16 lanes. A this guide, are memory
wireless card may be x1 while a high performance graphics card is x16. channels for the PCI
Smaller cards like x1’s and x4’x fit into the bigger slots and operate correctly, Express interface. PCI
but the larger x16 cards will not fit into the smaller slots. When placing a Express interfaces con-
sist of one to sixteen
smaller card into a larger slot the smaller cards can only run at the lane and
lanes which provide syn-
specified speeds that they have been setup for. chronous transmission
and reception of data.
PCIe Versions Version 1 had lanes of
250 MB/s, Version 2 has
PCI Express is now on its 3rd version. Version 1 came out with 250 MB/s per 500 MB/s, and Version 3
"lane". Version 2 came out with 500 MB/s per lane, and the newly ratified has 1 GB/s per lane.
version 3 has 1 GB/s (or 1,000MB/s) per lane. Version 3 PCIe devices rated at
1GB/s will work in version 1 or 2 PCIe slots, just at the reduced bandwidth.
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— CHAPTER 3: Hardware Identification —
CPU
The CPU (Central Processing Unit), or processor for
short, is the brain of the computer. It performs all the
calculations and transformation of data, and ultimately
is the greatest contributor to the speed of the system.
Cores
Fig. 3-9 Central Processing Unit (CPU): The CPU, or
central processing unit, is the part of the computer Processors have cores. A core is a calculating engine of
system that processes the system’s functions and ex-
a processor. Intel used to have single core processors,
ecutes the instructions of installed software, programs
and applications. It’s speed and power are determinedbut as technology has progressed, they’ve come out
by three intrinsic factors: clock speed, bandwidth and
with 2, 4, and 6 core processors; similar situation with
instruction set.
AMD. When you have a multi-core processor, some or
even all of the processor’s internal components and functions are duplicated
and then coupled to work together to make a more powerful and efficient
processing machine. The more cores a processor has, the more tasks it can
Core
Refers to the Intel
work on at nearly full speed at the same time.
Core brand of various
mid-range and high-end
Some tasks in a single application can be divided and worked on
personal and business simultaneously by multiple cores. Certain applications and software scale
microprocessors. The across multiple cores well, meaning they take advantage of a multi-core CPU
very first Core brand was in order to perform tasks quicker. So, on one hand, a multi-core processor
Intel’s 32-bit mobile will allow you to multitask so you can read your email, watch a movie, burn a
dual core x86 CPUs de-
rived from the Pentium
data disc, and edit a photo in Photoshop all at the same time. On the other
M microprocessor line. hand, specific programs have been built and updated to utilize different
cores so that all the tasks and calculations done by the program can be done
Burn simultaneously, and thus, quicker.
In computing, burn is
a slang term for optical
You also have applications that that use parallel computing architecture that
disc authoring, which is enables huge increases in computer performance by not only using the CPU
the process of record- but harnessing the power of the GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), which is
ing or writing data onto the processor on a graphics card. CUDA is an example of this, developed by
an optical disc. The
NVIDIA, and will be covered later in the Video Cards section.
content can be data, au-
dio or video, and these
need to be assembled
Threads
into the proper logical
A thread is the smallest unit of code a core can work on. A thread is
volume format before it
can be burned on opti- contained inside of a process. Multiple threads can execute code for a single
cal discs. process, sharing memory resources.
Multithreading, or hyperthreading as Intel coined their version of the
Thread
Thread, or Thread of Ex-
technology, is when the processor is running multiple threads at the same
ecution, is the smallest, time. On a single core processor, however, the processor is really switching
basic unit of process- back and forth between threads very quickly, so it seems simultaneous.
ing activity issued by a Multithreading is more effective in a multi-core processor since cores run
computer system. their own processes and threads concurrently.
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— CHAPTER 3: Hardware Identification —
L3 cache To give an example, a new computer system could have a CPU with 8MB
The extra cache built of Cache, 4GB of RAM, and 1TB of hard drive space. Since we haven’t
into motherboards that talked about measurements and conversion yet, here’s a quick rundown on
feeds the L2 cache, and
its memory is typi-
megabytes (MB), gigabytes (GB), and terabytes (TB):
cally slower than the L2
memory.
A bit is the smallest unit of information in computers. A byte is 8 bits. A
Kilobyte (KB) is 1,024 bytes. A Megabyte (MB) is 1,024 Kilobytes. A Gigabyte
(GB) is 1,024 Megabytes. And a Terabyte (TB) is 1,024 Gigabytes. If we do
Byte
In computing, a byte the conversion quickly in our head, we can assume the 1,024 conversion is
is the abbreviation for about 1,000.
binary term, a basic unit
of digital storage which Therefore, if you do the conversion, a new PC may have 8MB of Cache,
is equal to eight bits. approximately 4,000MB of RAM, and roughly 1,000,000,000MB of hard
drive space. Refer to the figure below for the actual storage capacities and
Core 2 Duo conversions of these units.
Refers to Intel’s Core 2
microprocessor line con- bit byte Kilobyte Megabyte Gigabyte
taining two (2) cores,
or individual processors bit 1 8 8,192 8,388,608 8,589,934,592
in a single die. The Core byte 8 1 1,024 1,048,576 1,073,741,824
2 Duo microarchitecture
provides more execu- Kilobyte 8,192 1,024 1 1,024 1,048,576
tion units and efficient Megabyte 8,388,608 1,048,576 1,024 1 1,024
decoding stages while
increasing processing
Gigabyte 8,589,934,592 1,073,741,824 1,048,576 1,024 1
power and reducing Terabyte 8,796,093,022,208 1,099,511,627,776 1,073,741,824 1,048,576 1,024
power consumption.
The search for data finally ends when the computer locates it. The search
Athlon results in one of three results. It either finds the data, looks for another
AMD’s main micropro-
location to search, or informs you that the requested data is not found on
cessor line developed
to compete with Intel anything this computer has access to.
Pentium CPUs, and was
the first processor to be Front-side Bus
shipped in a 1 giga-
hertz (one billion clock The front-side bus is the devices that carries data between the CPU and
speed) version. Northbridge. The only PCs that you’ll find that still use a form of the aging
front-side bus are Pentium, Celeron, Core 2, i3 and i5, and Atom processors.
With the i3, i5, and Atom processors, Intel moved the FSB onto the chip itself
so it really is closer to the Integrated Memory Controller or IMC style setup
that Intel’s i7 and AMD processors (since the Athlon 64) have been using.
The FSB historically was centrally connected the CPU and all of the system
devices, but as more point-to-point connections have been introduced to
increase system speed, there has been a lesser need for it. In fact, it is now
believed to be a slower technology that can bottleneck today’s CPUs and
systems. A processor will only execute instructions as fast as the FSB can
send and fetch data.
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Today, with our newest processors, the front-side bus has been replaced by Clock speed
AMD’s HyperTransport and Intel’s QuickPath Interconnect. The rate at which a
microprocessor executes
The FSB receives data requests from the processor and it answers them by instructions, and is
requesting data from the memory system. In the previous section we talked expressed in megahertz
(MHz) or gigahertz
about cache misses. The Core 2 processors had massive L2 cache reserves to (GHz).
improve the amount of cache hits. The trip to the FSB is slow and the large
amounts of L2 memory helped the processor avoid using the FSB as much as
CPU Multiplier
possible. Measures the ratio of an
internal CPU clock rate
The original Intel Pentium 4 Dual Cores were essentially two Pentium 4 CPUs to the externally sup-
placed on one chip, and the two processors communicated through a front- plied clock. A CPU with
side bus. It was a way for Intel to increase performance a bit while utilizing a 10x multiplier will
the base chip. When Intel went to Core 2 Duo they actually had two cores see 10 internal cycles
for every external clock
on the chip, improving performance even more. The Core 2 Duo chip overall
cycle. Most systems al-
still used a FSB, but the components on the chip were not using a FSB to low the clock multiplier
communicate with each other like they did in the original P4 Dual Core. to be changed in the
BIOS, and by increasing
Similarly, the Core 2 Quad Cores were two dual core CPUs on one chip the clock multiplier the
communicating through a FSB. The i7 was the first "true" quad core Intel CPU clock speed will in-
produced for the consumer because there were four cores on one chip that crease without affecting
didn’t need to go through a FSB to communicate. the clock speed of other
components.
You can see a front-side bus is a convenient way for devices to communicate,
but at the expense of speed. As processors advance, they try to find a way Double pumped
to eliminate extra transmissions lines and interconnects. Every request, In computing, double
pumped refers to a
transmission, and transfer from one point to another takes time.
computer bus transfer
The Front-Side Bus’ Affect on Clock Speed technique that effec-
tively doubles the data
The FSB is part of the equation that determines final clock speed of a transfer rate on both
the rising and fall-
processor. You take the FSB and multiply it by the CPU multiplier value. In
ing edges of the clock
this case, if your FSB was 133 MHz and your CPU has a multiplier of 20, your signal.
final clock speed will be 2.66 GHz.
Most FSB frequencies (on more modern hardware) are multiplied as well. If Quad pumped
Quad pumped (double
you hear the term double pumped it means your 133 MHz FSB is going to data rate) is a com-
show up as 266 MHz. Quad pumped means that your 200 MHz FSB will show munication signaling
up as 800 MHz. More modern numbers are going to be 400 MHz quad pumped technique that transfers
to 1600 MHz. data on both the rising
and falling edges of
In the new i7 series, the processor runs off of a speed variable called BCLK or a clock signal and at
base clock, which is the internal reference speed of the processor now that two intermediate mid-
points.
the FSB is no longer used in the i7. It performs the same function as the FSB
frequency when figuring processor speed.
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— CHAPTER 3: Hardware Identification —
that a 32-bit operating system won’t recognize over 4GB of RAM, but it is
misunderstood by many people. Most people think that because the processor
is a 32-bit machine that the computer cannot see more than 4GB of memory.
This is true, but not for the reasons implied by that statement. In fact, even
the archaic Pentium Pro that launched back in 1995 can address up to 64GB
of RAM.
32-bit
A binary file format term PAE
in computer architecture
where each basic unit of Addressing memory above the 4GB barrier by processors which would
information is defined
on 32 bits, or 4 bytes.
normally be limited to 4GB is accomplished by using a technology called
In Microsoft Windows, Physical Address Extension (PAE). PAE is implemented by using addressing
32 bit defines the way tables that work in a 4-bit range above the standard 32-bits. Most modern
on how the system operating systems support PAE including Windows, Linux, UNIX, and Mac OSX.
accesses groups of mem-
ory, which is in 32-bit PAE changes table structure to allow you to place 64-bit tables inside of
chunks or 4 bytes. a 32-bit aligned boundary. This is done by creating a table of “pointers ”
that are simply locations of different blocks of page memory. These memory
64-bit locations are switched or “paged” when the normal 32-bit boundary is
In computer architec-
reached. 32-bit programs can usually only access 2GB of RAM per program,
ture, 64-bit integers,
memory addresses, or
some can do up to 4GB. When they need more they can use Address
other data units are Windowing Extensions on Windows machines and the mmap function on
those that are at most Unix-like machines to achieve similar results.
64 bits (8 octets)
wide. The new 64-bit PAE is not without its problems though: many drivers become unstable when
Microsoft Windows can they are paged into memory above 3GB. This was a large problem with the
efficiently access larger initial release of Windows XP which had PAE enabled by default.
amounts of random
access memory than the Most 32-bit Windows machines limit the physical address space to 4GB even
previous 32-bit system,
in PAE mode, but this is due to a licensing restriction which we’ll talk about
allowing it to run faster
and handle more ap- next.
plications and programs
simultaneously. Licensing Limits
Even if you turn on PAE, many versions of Windows will not support more
PAE (Physical Address
than 4GB of memory. This was done intentionally by Microsoft to enforce
Extension)
In computing, Physi- product separation. For instance, Windows 7 Home Basic 32-bit version
cal Address Extension only supports 4GB of RAM. The 64-bit version supports 8GB of RAM. 64-
(PAE) is a function that bit Windows 7 Home Premium supports 16GB, Professional, Enterprise, and
allows x86 processors to Ultimate support 192GB.
add a level to the page
hierarchy and handle a This number is still a far cry from the actual amount the 64-bit processors
larger physical memory
can address. A 64-bit processor that is being completely utilized can address
address.
between 16 and 18 exabytes of memory depending on its implementation.
A terabyte is 1000 gigabytes, a petabyte is 1000 terabytes, and an exabyte
is 1000 petabytes; to put this perspective the total digital content of the
world is thought to be in the neighborhood of 500 exabytes, or 500 billion
gigabytes.
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Currently, only 40 of these bits are being used which results in a maximum Terabyte
memory address of 256 terabytes. The current maximum memory allowed for Terabyte is a unit of
any version of Windows is 2 TB, and these are your Windows Server editions. measure of computer
storage capacity equal
to one trillion bytes.
RAM
Petabyte
RAM stands for Random Access Memory and is often just referred to as
Petabyte is a unit of
memory. It’s a type of storage that allows data to be accessed in any order, computer memory or
and is separate from Hard Drive storage and the CPU Cache. data storage capacity
equal to 250 bytes or
Memory started out by being soldered to the motherboard but eventually approximately a thou-
moved up to installable chips and then to the removable modules we have sand terabytes.
today.
Exabyte
Larger amounts of RAM often assist in multitasking and running programs Exabyte refers to a mas-
that deal with large amounts of data, like photo or video editing. Many times, sive unit of computer
the performance in computers that tend to run slow, can be fixed by adding data storage, 2 to the
more RAM. 60th power bytes, or
one quintillion bytes.
A PC running Windows XP would do well with at least 1GB of RAM, 2GB being Exabyte uses the unit
recommended. And 2GB should be the minimum with Windows 7, with 3-4GB symbol EB and when
used in byte multiples
being ideal for normal operation like internet browsing, email, and office indicates a power of
suite work. 1,000.
SDRAM
Modern memory pretty much starts around Synchronous
Dynamic Random Access Memory. The large difference
between this memory and the memory that came
before it is that SDRAM runs synchronized to
an internal clock cycle. It’s a bit slower than Fig. 3-10 SDRAM: SDRAM is the generic name for
asynchronous memory, but its benefits allowed it to various kinds of dynamic random access memories
(DRAM) that are synchronized with the clock speed of
interleave commands to multiple banks of RAM and a microprocessor.
for commands to be queued, instead of having to wait
for the memory to be ready to accept commands. As
the technology matured, the bandwidth advantage of SDRAM continued to
grow. SDRAM comes in a 168-pin package with two notches in the module for
mounting orientation.
Timings
The timings of a memory module represent the latency, or delay, in
responding to requests. They are defined in clock cycles. The four
components of timings are CL, tRCD, tRP, and tRAS. They are commonly
written together like this: 9-9-9-24.
The discussion of timings and latencies usually separate your standard
computer user and your advanced user. You have to search hard to find
timing specifications for memory, and it’s often confusing to understand.
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— CHAPTER 3: Hardware Identification —
But where a user with standard needs will choose memory based solely on
storage and price, an advanced user, aficionado perhaps, will look into the
Timings
timings to determine the fastest memory for his or her money.
Set of clock signals
oscillating between CAS Latency
the low and high state.
These signals are syn- CAS latency, or CL, is the time delay in internal clock cycles that it takes
chronized and determine from when a column access strobe is activated, and when the activated data
the delays in the trans- is available for use. In simpler terms, if you were ordering food for carry
mission of data. out, the amount of time until the food is ready for pickup would be the CL.
Because CAS latency is a time delay, lower CL is better. So when you read
CL (CAS Latency) “low latency,” that’s a good thing.
Stands for Column
Address Strobe latency RAM returns data in words. A word is a group of bits. Modern memory will
and refers to the delay
transmit data in blocks of 64 bits. The first word of memory would come in
between the time a
memory controller
20ns for PC100 and 22.5ns for the PC133. After that, the results start to
instructs the memory get a bit murky, as the fourth word comes in at 50ns for PC100 and 45ns for
module to access the PC133. The eighth word comes in at 90ns for PC100 and 75ns for PC133.
correct column of the
memory matrix to the The initial words transmitted faster with PC100, but PC133 catches up as
time the data from the the fourth word is being delivered because of the superior clock speed. It
array location is avail- allows the PC133 memory to slowly overtake the PC100 as long as the data
able on the module’s
output pins.
is longer than two or three words. This illustrates how faster memory (higher
clock speed measured in Mhz) with higher latency can be faster than slower
memory with low latency.
tRCD
The number of clock
Sometimes the opposite of this can be true. Depending on the settings of
cycles between the
issuing of the active
the memory, slower memory with tighter timings can be faster overall than
command and the read/ higher speed memory.
write command.
tRCD
tRP tRCD stands for Row Address to Column Address Delay, and represents the
The number of clock
time between opening a row of memory and accessing memory columns
cycles required to termi-
nate access to an open
within it.
row of memory and open
access to the next row.
tRP
tRP stands for Row Precharge Time, and it measures the clock cycles
tRAS between issuing a precharge command and opening the next row. The
Defines the minimum
precharge command is what is given after a memory row is read and emptied.
number of clock cycles
needed to access a
Precharge basically means “ready for work”.
certain row of data in
Random Access Memory
tRAS
(RAM), between a bank
tRAS stands for Row Active Time, and is the number of clock cycles between
active command and
issuing the pre-charge a bank active command and the arrival of the next precharge command. This
command. is how long it takes to refresh a row internally.
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— COMPUTER REPAIR MASTERY COURSE —
DDR SDRAM
When SDRAM started to reach its maximum performance, the next version of the memory started
a trend that is continued today. By changing the way the memory is accessed, they managed to
nearly double the bandwidth of the module at the same clock speed as SDRAM. They did this by
double pumping the data access on the clock signal. The previous SDRAM transferred data on
the rising edge of the clock signal only. Double Data Rate memory managed to access data on
the rise and the fall of the clock signal, which allowed for double the data access while allowing
manufacturers to keep clock speeds down.
Clock speed was the significant technological barrier
keeping SDRAM from becoming higher performance.
Backing away from this barrier allowed progress to
continue as technology matured in many other areas.
DDR SDRAM uses significantly less power than SDRAM
and runs in a voltage range of 2.3 to 2.6 volts,
compared to 3.3 volts for SDRAM. Switching to more Fig. 3-11 DDR SDRAM: A clocking technique that
accesses per clock and less clocks, in DDR SDRAM, utilizes clock signals to increase the transfer speed
led to an increase in latency but a larger increase in of data at twice the speed of regular SDRAM chips by
using both the rising and falling edges of the clock
bandwidth. signal.
DDR2 SDRAM
DDR2 is the next generation of SDRAM after DDR. It
follows suit by doubling the number of data accesses
per clock cycle from two to four. It also almost doubles
the latency of the previous memory module while
raising the bandwidth significantly. DDR2 includes a
prefecth buffer to load the next four bits to keep the
command unit fed; any idle time on this unit ends up
with a loss in bandwidth. Fig. 3-12 DDR2 SDRAM: A high-performance main
memory that enables higher clock and data rate
It also includes an important improvement called operations along with reduction in power consump-
tion in a smaller package, commonly used in personal
on-die termination that makes deliberate stops for computers and various digital electronics today.
electrical signals and helps maintain a much cleaner
electrical signal. This makes DDR2 capable of much
higher clock speeds than DDR1. Power usage is
lower than DDR1 and operates between 1.8 volts
and 2.2 volts. The packages are 240 pins wide and
have an offset notch towards the middle to facilitate
orientation in the memory slot.
DDR3 SDRAM
DDR3 is the upgrade from DDR2 memory. It expands Fig. 3-13 DDR3 SDRAM: A random access memory
technology that is being used for high speed storage
the processes per clock to eight. Like its predecessors, of the working data of a computer or other digital
it also raises the bandwidth and latency. DDR3 electronic device using lower power consumption and
doubles the prefetch buffer to eight bits. The electrical heat dissipation.
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— CHAPTER 3: Hardware Identification —
stability is increased and the voltage is lower than DDR2. DDR3 modules run between 1.3 and 1.6
volts and have 240 pins like DDR2 modules, but the notch is in a different location. DDR2 and
DDR3 memory will not fit in the same slots on a motherboard.
DDR4 SDRAM
DDR4 is set to be the upgrade to DDR3 and has a predicted to be available sometime between 2012
and 2015. It will double the prefetch buffer to 16 and run voltages around the 1.2 volts or less.
The mounting system will be very different as it will either be one stick of memory per channel
or will use a technique called Through the Silicon Via or TSV. This means that the memory will be
stacked on top of one another and connected with electrical pathways running vertically through
the model. Other methods could possibly be developed between then and now, but at the time of
writing this guide these are the two methods being considered.
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— COMPUTER REPAIR MASTERY COURSE —
works much in the same way: Three separately useable 64-bit channels give Dual Channel
a flexible 192-bit memory interface that responds well to threads. When A development in moth-
setting up a dual channel system, you need to place the memory in specific erboard and chipset
design that allows the
slots, either 1-2 and 3-4 or 1-3 and 2-4. These slots are usually color coded increase in bandwidth
or named in banks. Triple channel is similar, but you need three sticks of transfer when using two
memory and a supported motherboard. The x58 socket 1366 motherboards or more memory mod-
are the only consumer boards to currently support this technology. The ules in separate transfer
channels.
memory will be installed as 1-2-3 and 4-5-6.
ECC Multithreading
The ability of an operat-
Error Correction and Control RAM is used in servers where integrity of ing system to create a
data is a much higher priority than in the consumer space. This memory new thread of execu-
tion within an existing
contains an extra chip that contains parity data to ensure no outside
program in a way that
corruption has occurred in the memory. ECC RAM uses more power and is not all threads can run
compatible with all motherboards. ECC is also usually slower than its non simultaneously.
ECC counterparts due to the buffering that the error correction requires to
function. Triple Channel
A type of channel archi-
HARD DRIVES tecture technology that
theoretically increases
Hard drives are where we save all of our user data for the computer. The data throughput speeds,
leading to faster system
operating system is stored here as well as your pictures, videos, music,
performance.
documents, programs, etc.
RPM
In a mechanical hard drive the speed the platters
rotate at is their revolutions per minute (RPM). The
standard RPM ratings are currently 5400 and 7200 with
4200, 5900, and 10,000 being less common.
Some drives that are listed as energy saving units
dynamically change their RPM with the given workload
to try to save power.
Fig. 3-14 Hard Drive: A non-removable, magnetic
Seek Time data storage device that stores all the data where
files and folders are physically located. It consists of
Seek time is an average of how long it takes the read/ non-volatile, random access memory.
write head to go from one point to another on the disk.
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— CHAPTER 3: Hardware Identification —
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— COMPUTER REPAIR MASTERY COURSE —
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— CHAPTER 3: Hardware Identification —
45 ©2011 BeYourOwnIT.com. You may not copy, reproduce, post or forward this document in any format.
— COMPUTER REPAIR MASTERY COURSE —
technique can be expanded to more drives, but generally most average users Mirroring
of RAID 0 use two drives. The downside to using this technique is that you An arrangement of hard
have now increased your likelihood of failure. If one drive goes down your disks that creates an
exact copy of a set of
whole system is down with no way to rebuild it. If you are running RAID 0 data on two drives.
you need to have a good backup.
RAID 1 RAID 5
RAID 5 (Speed and Fault
This technique is called mirroring. You install two or more drives and set Tolerance) is one of the
most popular implemen-
them up as a mirrored RAID volume. Data is duplicated on two or more hard
tations of RAID that
drives. provides data striping at
the byte level as well as
If one of the drives fails, the other will still work as a single drive until the stripe error correction
failed drive is replaced with a new one. RAID 1 doesn’t have the performance information.
of RAID 0, but it offers fault tolerance.
RAID 10
Contrary to popular belief, data on drives in a RAID 1 configuration can still
RAID 10 is RAID 1 +
be corrupted and be infected by viruses. 0 (A Stripe of Mirrors)
or mirrored sets in a
RAID 5 striped set that provides
fault tolerance and
RAID 5 is a technique that uses parity bits and striping to achieve higher
improved performance
levels of performance with a higher degree of safety. RAID 5 mirrors data but increases system
and embeds parity files across the array. Parity is a technique of checking complexity.
whether or not data has been lost or written over. Each disk in the
configuration contains its own data as well as the parity information for a
block of another disk.
RAID 5 will operate at high speeds and is still available as long as more than
one disk does not fail at the same time. This being said, there is no limit to
the number of disks to use in a RAID 5, but the likelihood of double failure
increases with the more disks that are used. Only enthusiast chipsets tend to
have RAID 5 support.
RAID 10
RAID 10 is not a 10, it is actually RAID 1 + RAID 0.
This technique combines four or more drives where half
of them are striped, and the other half are copies of
the stripes. This effectively mirrors all striped drives to
provide performance and availability.
ROM DRIVES
ROM Drives today typically refer to optical disc drives
Fig. 3-15 ROM Drive: A non-volatile type of memory
or ODDs. Depending on the ROM drive, they are that can only be read as opposed to Random Access
capable of reading and writing CDs, DVDs, and blu-rays, Memory (RAM) which can both be read and written.
depending. ROM retains all stored information even when power
is turned off.
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— CHAPTER 1: Computer Repair —
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— COMPUTER REPAIR MASTERY COURSE —
VIDEO CARDS
Graphics cards (or video cards as they have become
known) allow your computer to display the shapes,
textures, and colors many of us take for granted today.
It wasn’t all that long ago that you were lucky to have
more than four colors and more than 240 lines in
either direction. These days, video cards present a few
other functions than just displaying the screen.
Additional Features
Video cards come with more than just the ability Fig. 3-16 Video Card: An expansion card plugged
into a computer that processes visual graphics and
to show your display. Many of these functions are sends the information to the computer’s monitor or
provided by the video driver. The driver leverages projector.
the parallel computing power of the GPU (Graphics
Processing Unit) to perform a multitude of functions,
including but not limited to video encoding, parallel GPU
processing, dvd and blu-ray playback, and post processing. Graphics Processing
Unit, is used for com-
Video Acceleration puting 2D or 3D graphic
display functions.
Many video formats are encoded (or compressed) to save space or to encrypt Display adapters contain
one or more GPUs for
the video so that it is harder to steal or copy. This requires the video to
fast graphics rendering
be “decoded” during playback. The bit rate and the amount of compression and for realistic games
performed on the video determins how heavy the CPU load will be decoding and video.
it during playback.
Bit Rate
Bit rate is the amount of bits that are processed per frame of video. The
Measured in bits per
ability to decode video has transferred from the CPU to the video card’s GPU. second, refers to the
Computers that may have had trouble playing certain video seamlessly in the number of bits that
past, are able to play them back smoothly and with much better quality than pass a given point on
before. a network in a given
amount of time. Also
This process started with MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 and moved into codecs VC-1 refers to video and
audio quality.
and H.264 within a few years. A codec is a name for an encoder/decoder.
It is the algorithm used to encode and then reverse the process on a piece of
data. Codec
Any technology, whether
With the release of Adobe Flash 10.1 and compatible driver software, video software or hardware,
used for compressing
cards now have the ability to decode HD videos being served by websites.
and decompressing data.
complexity.
Some video cards have the ability to decode blu-ray videos. These video files
usually have extremely high bit rates and can bring most computers to their
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— CHAPTER 1: Computer Repair —
knees.
Without decoding, even the most powerful computers have trouble playing
back these videos and keeping the audio files in sync. Some video cards
even have the ability to accelerate multiple streams of video on the same
screen.
GPGPU
General Purpose computing on Graphics Processing Units (GPGPU) is a
technique for using a GPU to perform difficult calculations that a CPU would
normally handle. Typically the GPU was used to speed up the processing
of image data and matching to the pixels on your screen. The GPU was
extremely limited and only able to accelerate parts of the rendering process.
Over the years, however, it has grown in strength and ability. GPUs started
adding multiple cores and handling calculations in parallel.
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— COMPUTER REPAIR MASTERY COURSE —
Memory
There seems to be a cloud of confusion whenever video card memory is talked
about. Video card memory is used to hold information temporarily. This
means that the memory is more like the kind you find in system RAM than
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— COMPUTER REPAIR MASTERY COURSE —
has an automatic bottleneck of 33MB/s. This is the maximum speed that the
texture from the system memory can flow into the video card memory. It will
never go any faster on this connection.
PCI Express and AGP tried to fix this problem. Not only do they have transfer
speeds in an entirely different class from PCI, but they are usually connected
directly to the system memory and use a technology called Direct Memory
Access (DMA) to speed up this process. The only time this is not true is
when you have an AGP port that is connected to the PCI bus (as some of the
cheap motherboards did when PCI Express first came out).
If you see a motherboard with a couple of PCI Express x16 slots, and you
find the wording “x16, x8x8, and x8x8x4” or something similar, it’s talking
about the division of bandwidth and transfer speeds between the slots. The Memory Bus
x4 at the end is low because it runs through the Southbridge to get to The connection path
the Northbridge, instead of directly connecting to it. The Northbridge is used to transfer memory
connected to the memory and the processor. In this scenario, even though addresses and data to
and from the system
the card is in a x16 slot, the maximum amount of data it can push through is
RAM. It is made up of
limited to x4 speeds. two parts: the data bus
and the address bus.
If the memory is too slow to load the textures over the connections in a
timely manner, the GPU may be starved, bottlenecking by the lack of these
Shader
textures. The connection may also bottleneck the video memory in cases of A computer program
slower connections. Cards with a gigabyte or slower memory will never have or set of algorithms
the speed necessary to utilize all of that memory space. Even if the card executed on a special
managed to get all of the textures loaded into memory, the slow memory environment that deter-
could not switch the textures between cache and working memory fast mines how 3D surface
properties of objects are
enough to make a difference and would bottleneck the GPU anyway. Smaller rendered, and how light
amounts of fast memory will run circles around larger amounts of slower interacts with the object
memory. using a 3D computer
program. Also refers to
Memory Bus small parallel process-
ing elements in a video
The memory bus has a direct impact on memory transfer speeds. Provided card which perform the
that every other part can handle the increased transmission rate, a 256-bit previously mentioned
bus has twice the throughput as a 128-bit bus, assuming the memory speeds calculations.
are the same.
Shaders
Shaders are software instructions that calculate rendering effects like depth,
geometric detail, skin tone, natural effects, metals, color of pixels and
much more. OpenGL and Direct3D have their own libraries of shaders that
programmers can utilize when creating games.
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technology that supports between two and six monitors per video card and
using them as a single display. Adding more cards in crossfire allows you to
connect even more monitors to this single display. Demos of 24 monitors
have been shown publicly.
Expansion Card 3D Surround is NVIDIA’s technology for adding multiple monitors to a single
A printed circuit board display. This version tops out at three monitors and requires SLI to work
that can be installed in
properly, but supports 3D gaming on optimized 120Hz displays. When
a computer to provide
the system with addi- thinking about which one to use, it’s really a question more about what
tional functionalities or your machine will support and how you’ll implement it. Your motherboard
capabilities. determines this for you.
EXPANSION DEVICES
Aside from video and memory upgrades, there are many more things that
can be added to your computer to add function. Expansion cards typically
include sound cards , Firewire cards, wireless cards, and TV tuners.
Sound Cards
PC sound has come a long way from the simple beeps
that rang through the integrated peizo speaker on
earlier motherboards to powerful and relatively high-
quality integrated systems that are now in use. The
main difference in sound cards is the quality of their
signals. Just like any sound system, it is only as good
as its worst component—so if you have expensive
speakers, rather than using basic onboard audio, you
almost owe it to yourself to get a nice sound card.
Fig. 3-17 Sound Card: A computer expansion board
Aside from the clarity of the signal and the ranges in
that enables the computer to manipulate the input
and output of audio signals to and from a computer which the card responds, they differ in their ability
under control of computer programs. to drive a pair of headphones. Some of the higher-
end audio cards contain enough power to shred your
typical off-the-shelf headphones. These audio cards are instead meant for
high quality gaming and audio enthusiast headphones, which are able to
handle and even thrive on clear high energy signals.
High-end sound cards might also have replaceable amplifier components.
This allows enthusiasts to trade them out for their personal favorites as each
type can sound slightly different. The other feature of the card is its ability
to handle multiple channel sound. 7.1 surround sound on a computer may
sound ridiculous, but when you are using it to feed your amplifier in your
home theater PC it becomes slightly more relevant.
Lastly, the software that comes with the sound card alter audio. For instance,
EAX, implemented by CreativeLabs, is a technique for rendering more realistic
sounds. Games and programs must be designed to use EAS in order to take
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— COMPUTER REPAIR MASTERY COURSE —
advantage of it.
Network Cards
Connecting to a network is more important than ever with modern computers.
Network cards are usually integrated into the motherboard and some high-
end boards even integrate wireless connectivity. If you need to add a
wireless card, you have a variety of choices: you can use a USB port, a PCI
slot, a PCI-Express x1 slot, or an access point connected to your network
cable via the normal network port. The three reasons you buy a new network
card are:
1. You didn’t have one
2. Your old one died
3. You need a faster one Network Card
A piece of hardware or
It makes sense to buy a network card if you didn’t have one yet or your old expansion card that
allows the computer to
one died, but there are also reasons you might need a faster one. With the connect to a network.
advent of streaming HD video or music over a network sometimes a 10/100 Examples of network
network card just won’t cut it anymore. cards are Ethernet cards,
wireless network cards
Remember that a network card and see 10/100/1000/54/150/300 = those and Token Ring network
ratings are all in megaBITS , not megaBYTES . This means you can calculate cards.
the maximum bandwidth by dividing those numbers by eight. An old 100Mb
network card will max out at about 12.5MB/s transfer rate. Overhead on Megabit
the cable reduces it to about 10-11MB/s. This is fast enough for standard One million bits, and is
a unit of measure for
definition video and music but when you are tripling and quadrupling the
data transfer rates.
size of your files or moving photo collections taken with a 10 Megapixel
camera, you most likely will want something a bit faster. Gigabit networks
Megabyte
max out around 125MB/s. That is enough to pretty much max out the
A megabyte is a unit
transfer rates from the hard drive to the other computer. It also means these of data transfer rate
transfers can complete without bothering anyone else on the network. equivalent to one mil-
lion bytes.
With wireless-N maxing out at 300Mb/s for standard home users and
600Mb/s for enterprise level deployments, it would be thought that there
should be no bandwidth issues. However, cheaper routers and wireless cards
have issues handling the maximum speed when there are multiple computers
sending and receiving data.
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— CHAPTER 1: Computer Repair —
Viewing Angle
Viewing angle one of the most important things to check when purchasing
a new monitor. Usually it isn’t a problem because we sit in front of our
monitors; however, if you are using a multi-monitor setup or view it from the
side for some reason, viewing angle can be important. Essentially, viewing
angle is the degrees one can be from off-center and still perceive the correct
colors, contrast, and brightness. When you move to the side of LCD monitors
and HDTVs, colors usually start to slightly fade.
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— COMPUTER REPAIR MASTERY COURSE —
Pixel Pitch
Contrast Ratio
Pixel pitch is the distance between a pixel of a color and the closest pixel The measurement of
of that same color. This influence how sharp and image can be and how well the difference in light
colors end and begin. High pixel pitch can lead to running colors and fuzzy intensity between the
images. brightest color (bright-
est white) to that of the
Contrast Ratio darkest color (darkest
black) that the system
Contrast ratio is important, but know that manufacturers may use different is capable of reproduc-
ing.
techniques to measure it. So comparing contrast ratio between brands may
not be accurate. The best test is to actually look at them side by side, rather
than just viewing the numbers on a spec sheet. Contrast ratio is difference Refresh Rate
The maximum number
between the whitest white and the blackest black. Higher contrast ratio is of times the image on
better. a computer screen can
be refreshed per second,
Refresh Rate measured in hertz (Hz).
Refresh rate is the speed at which the display can switch itself completely
VGA
to another image. 5ms and under is generally recommended for gaming, but A widely used graphics
some people can’t tell the difference between a 5ms and 25ms refresh rate. display system between
a computer and monitor
Connectivity developed by IBM that
uses a 15-pin plug and
Many HDTVs can be comfortably used as monitors nowadays. HDMI is socket and provides a
generally the preferred connection, but DisplayPort and DVI can be used as resolution of 720x400
well. Stay away from using a VGA connection. Anything over 720P will pixels.
become difficult to watch due to the lack of resolution and the distortion the
cable can pick up. Using a VGA cable will also void the HDCP capabilities of DVI
the display and will not allow you to watch some types of media until a cable A digital interface cre-
ated by the Digital Dis-
supporting HDCP is used. HDMI and DisplayPort are always HDCP compliant play Working Group to
as long as your video card and your monitor support the technology. DVI convert analog signals
can be compliant, but is not always so—as it depends on which version of into digital signals to
DVI you are using. accommodate both ana-
log and digital monitors
in a single connector.
HDMI
A compact audio/video
interface for transmit-
ting uncompressed
digital data. HDMI is
used to transfer digital
video signal from a
source to a TV, convert-
ing the digital signal to
analog.
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— COMPUTER REPAIR MASTERY COURSE —
4. PC CLEANING
How a Computer Gets Dirty Fig. 3-1 Clean PC interior (A) and dirty PC interior (B)
Why It Is a Problem
Dirty computer components can have a number of disadvantages
compared to clean components. Excessive dust buildup can rob
components of the airflow needed to cool them. The warmer a
part runs, the shorter it’s lifespan before things begin to fail. More
destructive contaminants like tar from cigarette smoke can adhere
to the components themselves and not only block the airflow they
need, but can also trap moisture against the parts which encourages
corrosion. This tar also mixes with dust and grows something similar
to a fur of dust and air around the tar. This "fur" has the effect of
making the components even warmer.
Dirty computers can also be an issue from a health aspect. All of
the contaminants in the house collect inside the computer and can
Fig. 3-2 Compressed air : A gas be released in a large amount if cleaned infrequently. However, if
or a gaseous compound, that has cleaned regularly, you can cut down on concentrated exposure to the
been put under greater pressure
than the air in the surrounding contaminants.
environment. It is typically used
to clean computer systems and
dust electronic components. What You Need to Clean Your PC
The most common tool used to clear a computer is canned
compressed air. This can of compressed air should always be fired
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— CHAPTER 4: PC Cleaning —
from an upright position, as the propellant in the bottom of the can is liquid and if it slides too
close to the spray head it can shoot out the propellant. This propellant is extremely cold and can
cause frostbite if used improperly in such a manner. If you get propellant on PC components while
they are off, it will not damage them as long as you let it evaporate before trying to start the PC.
Note: You should not use compressed air on the PC while it is operating.
When you have filth on computer components that is not easily removable, such as heat sink com-
pound or tar from cigarettes, you may need to use something to help you remove them. Rubbing
alcohol is one of the more popular compounds to use to assist you in this endeavor. Resist the urge
to use acetone or other solvents on your computer components as it will attack the components
and can easily destroy your machine.
Anti-static wipes and cotton swabs can also assist in removing grime from your computer. Dipping
the cotton swabs in rubbing alcohol and using them to wipe down the keys on the keyboard is the
preferred method for cleaning them. Some people like using toothbrushes instead of swabs as they
can apply a little more force to the keys without damaging them or the brush, and the brush is
reusable.
Beyond Cleaning
After the component has dried from being cleaned, you can lubricate the connections with contact
lubricant. These compounds can be found at high-end audio shops and they possess qualities that
inhibit oxidation and encourage electrical flow. For many people this is complete overkill. It is the
computer equivalent of waxing a new car.
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— COMPUTER REPAIR MASTERY COURSE —
Fan Care
If you see large buildups of dust on a case or other cooling fan you will need to clean the fan.
When using compressed air on a fan you need to hold the fan blades and keep them from spinning.
This may seem counterintuitive, but the compressed air can spin the fan blades at a much higher
speed than the fans normally run at. In most ball bearing fans this is not an issue, but on cheaper
sleeve bearing fans this can destroy or damage the sleeve; and, thus would require the replacement
of the fan.
Health Hazard
The contaminants inside a computer are not good for you. If it is your computer you at least know
what is most likely inside of it since a computer will pick up everything in its environment. This
means that when you clean out someone else’s computer, you are being exposed to their environ-
ment. If you have allergies, you may be exposed to those allergens; you may be exposed to things
which could make you sick; and you can be exposed to them without you knowing. Make sure you
ask them if they have pets, if they smoke, and if there is anything in their environment that you
should be aware of while cleaning their computer. Cleaning a computer in a well ventilated area,
using a dust mask and communicating with the owner before servicing someone else’s computer
can help you avoid unnecessary issues.
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SECTION
HARDWARE DIAGNOSIS
2
AND REPLACEMENT
In This Section:
5. Diagnostics
6. Replace Hardware
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— COMPUTER REPAIR MASTERY COURSE —
5. DIAGNOSTICS
Introduction
The easiest way to understand diagnostics is to picture them as the Doctors of your computer.
Diagnostics help us to determine the cause of a problem that a particular system is having. While
it is true that most computer problems are related to software, there are definitely times when
problems can be traced to hardware as well. So, instead of spending hours trying to diagnose a
problem with your system, it will save you time, money, and energy to utilize diagnostics and allow
them to identify problems within your system.
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— CHAPTER 5: Diagnostics —
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— COMPUTER REPAIR MASTERY COURSE —
Diagnosing a Computer
If the machine is not POSTing be sure to disconnect all peripherals that are not directly needed
for the basic operation of the computer. That means you should unhook hard drives, ROM drives,
speakers, video cards, and anything else. Leave literally the RAM, the processor, and a keyboard
hooked up to the motherboard, a power supply to start it, and the front panel connectors to
control it. If the motherboard does not have integrated video, you may need to leave the video
card connected. If you want a cheap test card you can go to eBay and look up a cheap set of
trident PCI/AGP cards or Cirrus Logic 2Mb boards.
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— CHAPTER 5: Diagnostics —
64 ©2011 BeYourOwnIT.com. You may not copy, reproduce, post or forward this document in any format.
— COMPUTER REPAIR MASTERY COURSE —
first (assuming the disc drive is in working order). While you are in the BIOS looking at the boot
order, make a note of the type of hard drive you have.
If you do not know what the numbers and letters mean, write them down and enter them in to a
search engine of your choice, such as Google, and they will bring up the model number in the search
results. If the drive is connected and not showing up, check to make sure the cables are properly
inserted and that the power is connected. If it still will not show up it could have failed completely.
3. Push the CD or DVD rom’s priority ahead of the hard drive’s. 4. Save and exit.
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— CHAPTER 5: Diagnostics —
Safe Mode
After running all of these tests we have determined
that our hardware is sound. The reason we tested
these things in this order is that we needed to be sure
of the cause of our issues. The other reason was that
RAM and hard drive errors both have the same result in
3. Enter the command "ubcd2usb.cmd" followed by the
corrupted or lost data. These two issues have the most
letter of the drive the disc is in and the flash drive. in common with each other over all other problems.
They cause lock-ups and blue screens as well as most
Windows Vista
of the hardware-related issues a repair technician will
An operating system developed by Microsoft for have to deal with over time.
personal computers and includes many new features
such as enhanced visual style and graphical user The next issue this helped resolve was that corrupted
interface, improved multimedia tools and redesigned software, which was corrupted through means other
visual, audio and networking sub-systems. than bad hardware, can also exhibit the same symp-
toms as these two problems exhibit. Corrupted soft-
My Computer ware, however, is extremely difficult if not impossible
A section of Microsoft Windows that allows users to to pinpoint at times. It is much easier to rule out the
explore the content of their hard drives and manage
two easily testable pieces of hardware as causes.
files and folders.
So now we’re booting into Windows and there are still
Safe Mode issues. Going forward from here you will begin to use
A diagnostic mode of a computer system that allows the error codes presented by the blue screen errors
users to troubleshoot windows and fix most, if not all
and the event viewer to help you. If a blue screen
problems within the operating system.
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— COMPUTER REPAIR MASTERY COURSE —
1. Press the F8 key after the bios loads but before the Windows 2. Select "Disable Automatic restart on system failure".
screen shows up. If you see this screen, you pressed it too late.
shows up, you can run the error code through a search engine of your choice, Blue screen
such as www.Google.com, to find out what is causing this problem. If the The error state of
computer is restarting while loading Windows or is showing a quick screen Windows 95/98/NT
that displays an error
and then restarting, you’ll need to disable automatic reboot. If you can boot message and causes
into safe mode by hitting F8 before the Operating System tries to startup, the monitor’s screen to
you can disable this feature. turn blue. The computer
system also becomes
Windows XP completely unresponsive
and requires the user to
For Windows XP, the option to disable automatic reboot is located under reboot the system.
Start > Control Panel > System > Advanced > Startup and Recovery. Click on
Settings and uncheck "Automatically Restart".
Control Panel
Windows Vista In many computer
interfaces, the Control
For Windows Vista, the option to disable automatic reboot is located under Panel is a system
Start > Control Panel > System > Advanced System Settings > Advanced utility application that
Settings > Startup and Recovery. Click on Settings > System Failure and lets users modify and
configure many system
uncheck "Automatically Restart". Click OK to close out the Windows. settings and parameters.
Windows 7
For Windows 7 the option to disable automatic reboot is located under Start
> Control Panel > System and Security > System > Advanced System Settings >
Startup and Recovery. Click on Settings and uncheck "Automatically Restart".
Click OK in Startup and Recovery and OK in System Properties.
If the hardware has all been checked and passed, these blue screens are
almost always resulting from incompatible drivers. Occasionally, they can
be the result of software or an incompatible piece of hardware that may be
working fine, but does not function on this Operating System version.
©2011 BeYourOwnIT.com. You may not copy, reproduce, post or forward this document in any format. 67
6. REPLACE HARDWARE
Introduction
When doing any work on a PC, make sure you are following proper safety procedures and machine
safety rules. When storing components, either to be installed or after they are removed, be sure to
use anti- static bags to reduce the possibility of damage.
Memory
Removal
When removing memory, be sure to remove any impeding parts to prevent accidentally damaging
parts of your computer. Some proprietary designs tended to hide RAM behind the overhanging hard
drives, and some custom designs have issues with RAM slots being too close to the processor or
the video card. These are just a few examples of the problems that could occur. Remove cables if
they are getting in your way when you are trying to
remove the RAM. Take pictures to remember where
cables connect to if you are worried about putting
them back together properly.
After you have accessed the memory, locate the clips
on the ends of the stick of RAM. These clips should
fold down away from the RAM and eject the memory
from the slot. Repeat the process for the remaining
memory modules.
Fig. 6-1 Locate the clips on the back of the stick of RAM. When inserting new memory, make sure the memory
is of the same type as the old memory. This can be
QVL (Qualified Vendor List) confirmed by checking the labels on the modules or by
A manufacturer’s list of third party services or product using a third party site like Crucial.com. In addition,
vendors that have been approved as compatible with vendors also maintain QVLs or Qualified Vendor Lists.
the manufacturer’s own line of products and services.
A QVL is a list of products that were tested by the
manufacturer and are guaranteed to work properly in
Dual channel
this product.
A development in motherboard and chipset design
that allows the increase in bandwidth transfer when
When installing memory into modern computers you
using two or more memory modules in separate
transfer channels.
will most likely have to install the memory into specific
slots to correctly setup dual-channel and even triple-
Triple channel
channel configurations. In a dual channel configuration,
A type of channel architecture technology that the memory must be installed into bank pairs such
theoretically increases data throughput speeds, as two sticks in bank 0 or bank 1 or memory in 1+2
leading to faster system performance. and 3+4, or even 1+3 and 2+4. Your motherboard
documentation will cover this. There should be
Voltage drop markings on the memory slots, or beside the memory
A voltage reduction or loss experienced by electric slots, identifying the banks. Some manufacturers do
circuits due to impedances between the power source
and the load.
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68
— COMPUTER REPAIR MASTERY COURSE —
this by color coding the slots with the same color where you would install modules in pairs. With
triple channel it is similar, but it’s simpler at present. Triple channel boards are going to have three
or six memory slots, and you need to make sure to fill all of the slots in the channel.
You may have problems with voltage drop in cheaper and older motherboards. Voltage drop occurs
when you have RAM slots filled and the RAM slot on the end does not receive proper amounts of
power. This can have the effect of the computer suffering errors under a heavy work load as the
rest of the system is stressed. The memory can even test badly under memtest because it isn’t
working properly, but there is nothing truly wrong with the memory as this is a motherboard is-
sue. Sometimes lower voltage RAM can work in the last slot but more often than not, you have to
reduce the speed of the entire RAM in order to run all four sticks properly. This is why some old
motherboard manuals will say things like DDR2 1066 on the first three slots only.
Installation
Installing memories of different speeds is not usually
an issue as long as they are the same technology.
DDR2 667 and DDR2 800 can coexist quite happily as
long as there isn’t an underlying compatibility issue
with the motherboard. When installing memory in this
way the slowest speed of the different modules will
be used as well as the slowest timings. If the slower
speed memory chip has tighter timings than the
Fig. 6-2 Line up the nothces on the module and slot.
faster speed chip, the overall speed can be increased
by tightening the timings of the faster chip. This is
because faster chips run slower timings for stability.
Now that they are slower they can run the tighter
timings of the slower RAM.
When installing the RAM, line up the notch on the
memory module with the notch on the memory slot.
The notch is a little off center on DDR modules so you
can only put them in one way. If the memory is not
seating properly do not force it. The phrase do not
force things is almost a golden rule for PC repair. Most Fig. 6-3 Line the edges of the module into the recesses.
things are made of thin metals or plastic and neither
responds well to being forced. Line the edges of the
module into the recesses near the clips on the end of
the memory slots. Push the memory down into the slot
firmly and the clips should snap shut. If they do not,
you can help them by closing the clips manually and
the memory module should clamp down into the socket.
After connecting the memory you can close up the
computer and boot it to see if the proper amount of
memory is being recognized.
Fig. 6-4 Push memory into slot firmly until it snaps shut.
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— CHAPTER 6: Replace Hardware —
ROM Drives
Removal
Removing a ROM drive involves first opening up the
sides of the case and disconnecting the cables attach-
ing the drive. The machine should of course be off
while this is done, and if the cables look too compli-
cated to remember, take a picture of their state before
you go disconnecting all of them. Depending on how
Fig. 6-5 SATA drive : A device in computers used
for storing files having a smaller motherboard cable your case is constructed, you may or may not have to
connection and are significantly faster than external remove the front trim panel to remove the drive. Some
USB hard drives. cases simply have snap tabs holding the trim panel on
and with some cases the panel is screwed on. If you
are trying to remove the panel, remember that forcing
it is a sure way to break it. Examine any resistance and
look for a way to release it.
After the panel is off or you’ve noticed that it does not
impede the ability to remove the drive from the front
of the case you can unhook the drive from the case by
removing the screws that hold it in. On some drives
there may be a slide lock style mechanism where a pair
of rails is bolted to the drive, and those rails are slid in
Fig. 6-6 IDE drive
with simple pressure locks to hold the drive still. After
this you can slide the drive out.
Boot When you slide the drive out, make note of how it is
The process of loading the very first software, usually connected. Whether you are plugging in a new SATA
the operating system, when starting a computer. drive to replace an old SATA or IDE drive, SATA drives
will be hooked up in such a way that you can just plug
ROM (Read-Only Memory) the new drive in. When replacing an IDE drive with
A non-volatile type of memory that can only be read an IDE drive, make note of the jumper settings and
as opposed to Random Access Memory (RAM) which which connector on the cable the drive is connected
can both be read and written. ROM retains all stored
information even when power is turned off.
to. Cable select is usually fine for a jumper setting but
if it isn’t working and you have two drives make sure
you set one to master and one to slave. You can see
IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics)
A standard electronic interface for mass storage what jumper position corresponds to what setting by
devices where a parallel ribbon cable is used. looking at the drive itself. There should be letters by
the jumper or a diagram on it.
Cable select
A drive mode that automatically configures itself Installation
as a master or slave, according to its position on
the cable. It is an alternate method of identifying When you have the connections straightened out you
the master and slave devices on ATA/ATAPI systems can then go ahead and place the drive back in the case
through the master/slave jumpers. and attach the connections to it. Once it is in a position
where it is flush with the front of the trim panel, you
can then look to the side where the screws go through
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— COMPUTER REPAIR MASTERY COURSE —
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— CHAPTER 6: Replace Hardware —
Sometimes when many hard drives are installed in a system the airflow can become constricted, so a
front fan is positioned across from the drives or a hard drive cooler is used. A hard drive cooler is a
small two fan unit that screws onto the bottom of the drive and keeps air circulating around the drive.
Some cases use rubber mounts to isolate the hard drive from the rest of the case in order to cut
down on the amount of noise the unit can generate. If you do hear hard drive noises know that
loud clicking can be the sign of a bad drive; however, some amount of clicking is normal as the
heads will "park" themselves when not is use and they click when they reach their final position.
Once you hear both a head park click and a failed hard drives "click of death", you will never
mistake them again.
Power Supplies
Power Supply Removal
Power supplies are connected to most of the components
in your computer. When you go to disconnect a power
supply you will first power down the system, remove the
power cable from the computer, and remove the access
panel. Then you can go and start removing the power
connectors from your hard drives and ROM drives. Fig. 6-9 Power supply: Converts AC current to
DC required by electronic circuits. It is a hardware
Once those power connectors are removed, remove any component that supplies power to electrical devices.
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— COMPUTER REPAIR MASTERY COURSE —
Video Cards
Video Card Removal
To replace a video card, you should start by detaching
the existing monitor or monitors. Then, with the
computer turned off and unhooked, open the side
panel and take a look at the card itself. Larger cards
will be connected to the power supply as the slot they
connect to can only give so much power. For example,
a PCI Express video card can provide 150 Watts of
power through its connector. If the card draws any
more power than that, it needs to have an additional
connection to the power supply. Fig. 6-10 Open the side panel to access the video card.
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— CHAPTER 6: Replace Hardware —
POST emit high pitched alarm noises, report that it is in low power mode, or not
(Power-On Self Test) function at all.
The initial set of
diagnostic tests that With the card hooked back up, you may place the side cover back on the
the computer runs to computer, connect the monitor cable, and start the computer up. If it does
ensure that essential
system components are
not POST be sure you seated the video card properly. If this is a new card
functioning properly. installation where you previously used integrated video, you will need to
change the monitor cable from the old connector to one that is on the card.
Processor
The part of the Processors
computer system that
processes the system’s Upgrading a processor is one of the most direct ways to increase the speed of
functions and executes your computer. It is also a way to increase various other parameters of the
the instructions of unit. You could replace the processor with one built on a newer process that
installed software, pro-
grams and applications.
is smaller and more efficient. While, this might not necessarily increase the
It’s speed and power speed of the system, but it should decrease the heat the system generates as
are determined by three well as the noise associated with dispersing that heat.
intrinsic factors: clock
speed, bandwidth and Before attempting to replace a processor make sure the processor you are
instruction set. using is compatible with the motherboard. If you are just replacing a burned
out processor with another of the same model, this is not an issue. If you are
OEM’s trying to replace it with a different model you need to check the CPU support
The company that origi- list. Some OEM’s publish these and some do not; however, if you are using
nally manufactured any
a system that someone built, you will be able to search the motherboard
product or component
which is purchased by
manufacturer’s website for a support list for that motherboard. In this list
another manufacturer it will tell you not only what processors will work, but if a BIOS update
or reseller and retailed is required to complete it. If one is, be sure to complete that task before
it under the purchasing swapping the unit.
company’s brand name.
Processor Removal
To begin replacing the processor you will need to unplug the computer and
remove the side of the case. Locate a large heatsink
typically topped by a fan. In some older Dell models and
some other computers you will sometimes have a large
heatsink and an air duct connected to a case fan. Once
this heatsink has been located you may disconnect the
fan power cable which is typically hooked up next to
the unit.
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— COMPUTER REPAIR MASTERY COURSE —
not force the rotational lock, as you are most likely turning it the wrong direction. Unlock the four
pins and lift the heatsink off of the processor.
Note: Intel processors use a land grid array socket where the pins are on the motherboard. There
is a retention spring arm that applies pressure to a frame which holds the processor on the pins on
the board. Releasing this arm releases the pressure on the frame. After taking the frame off you can
then lift the processor out of the socket.
1. The Motherboard and installed Intel processor. 2. Locate the fan controller plug.
3. Remove the fan controller plug from the board. 4. Rotate the 4 pins on the heatsink to unlock them.
5. Pull the heatsink off of the board after all 4 pins have 6. Unlock the CPU by pushing the lever down and out.
been unlocked.
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— CHAPTER 6: Replace Hardware —
7. Opening the clip allows you to open the frame. 8. Remove the CPU from the socket.
1. Unplug the fan controller, unlock the tension clip, If it has been a long time since the heatsink has been
remove the heatsink from the CPU. removed, the heat sink compound may have solidified
into a form resembling cement and will stick to the
processor. Sometimes this adhesive is so strong that
it pulls the processor out of the socket. Make sure
you pull the heatsink straight up off of the board to
prevent damage in case the processor comes out with
the heatsink. If the processor does come off with the
heatsink, take a straight edge and pop the processor
off of the heatsink. Once the heatsink is removed, and
assuming that the processor did not come off with it,
you can then locate the retention mechanisms holding
2. Raise the locking arm from the socket.
the processors onto the board.
Note: AMD processors have a chip that is locked into
the socket by a sliding mechanism. A lever holds
tension on this mechanism, and pulling the lever up
pulls the tension off of this device and allows you to
slide the part over. The processor can then be removed
from the socket. On AMD processors the pins are on
the chip and plug into the socket.
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— COMPUTER REPAIR MASTERY COURSE —
Processor Installation
Intel Processor Installation
If you are reinstalling a used processor be sure to clean the processor’s heat spreader with a paper
towel and some rubbing alcohol to take the thermal compound off. If you are reusing the heatsink
the same process applies. After the liquid has dried you can then take your thermal compound
and place an amount about the size of a grain of rice on processor. If you have a desire to use
more you can place another amount about the size of a grain of rice on it. Any more than this can
become extremely messy.
There is a pair of notches on one end of the processor directly across from each other. These
notches line up with a pair of notches on the socket.
Place the frame over the chip and place it under the lever. Then close the lever and lock it to the
board with the small locking location.
Take the heatsink and examine the locking pins. How they work is that when they are in the
locked position they can be pushed over a little tab that snaps them in. When they are rotated to
unlocked, they can move up and down freely. Place them in unlocked and pull the cylinder to the
top position. Rotating the clip to locked and pushing it down will relock it. Place the cylinders
in the locked position without the lock being engaged and place the edges into the holes in the
motherboard. Then press the cylinder down until it snaps in and holds. Proceed to do the same
with the remaining three pins.
Fig. 6-15 Intel processor installation
1. Be careful not to damage the pins on the motherboard. 2. Line up the notches on the CPU with the ones on the socket.
3. Place the CPU in the socket and close the locking frame. 4. Lower the arm and clip it into place under the frame to lock it.
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— CHAPTER 6: Replace Hardware —
5. Apply thermal compound to the CPU. 6. Rotate the locking pins to unlock them, pull them out, and
then rotate and arm them.
7. Place the heatsink on the CPU. 8. Line up the pins with the holes on the board.
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— COMPUTER REPAIR MASTERY COURSE —
1. Line up the arrow on the socket with the arrow on the CPU. 2. Place the CPU in the socket and close the locking arm.
3. Apply thermal compound. 4. Place the heatsink on the CPU, attach the tension spring to
the clips and close the spring. Hook up the fan controller.
Sound Cards
Most computers come with relatively competent sound cards integrated directly into the motherboard
these days; however, for the person who has that nice home stereo that the PC gets run through or
is listening to high-quality music using high quality headphones, the limit of the basic hardware
becomes apparent quickly. Installing a quality sound card is the answer to most of these problems.
Sound drivers are complicated pieces of software. Most sound card problems can be traced back to
driver errors or software incompatibilities. When you are looking at replacing a sound card due to
the old one not working be sure to try driver replacement before replacing the unit.
To remove an existing sound card, you’ll need to power down the machine and open the side panel.
Disconnect all wires attached to the back of the sound card outside of the case. Then remove the
screw holding the card to the backplate. The audio card should then slide out of the expansion slot.
Installation is the reverse of removal. Locate a free expansion slot and take the backplate spacer
out. Push the card into the expansion slot and secure it to the backplate with a coarse screw. The
sound card may have a firewire port built into it, so connect that if you have one available.
Afterwards, you may replace the side cover and plug the PC back in. Hook the connections to your
headphones or speakers and microphone up to the new sound card. You may need to disable the
onboard sound in BIOS.
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— CHAPTER 6: Replace Hardware —
1. Locate the sound or expansion card. 2. Unhook interior and exterior cabling that goes to the card.
3. Remove the screws that hold it to the case. 4. Pull the card from its slot.
Some sound cards come with optical output to hook up to an external device. If you are using this
connection you may need to set the default output on the sound card to use this connection or you
may not get any sound through it.
Motherboards
Replacing a motherboard can be tricky business, both from a hardware and a software side. It was
kept until the end of this section because it involves taking most of what we have already covered
out of the computer. It is not necessary to remove them but it can help with the space issue. For
instance, we will cover unhooking the power supply and other things, but it may just be easier
to remove the power supply and install it when you are done. The same goes for the rest of the
hardware.
Installation
Installing the new motherboard is the reverse of re-
moval; so start by making sure all of the old hardware
from the other board is swapped into the new board.
After the board is setup, you may install the new back
connection plate if it is needed. Then you may in-
stall the standoffs in the correct locations as per your
motherboard form factor; if they are already installed
correctly you may skip this step. Next, you attach the
board to the case by screwing the coarse thread screws Fig. 6-20 Remove the front audio connectors.
into the standoffs. Do not over tighten them.
Now that the board is secured to the case, you can
start reattaching components. Usually it is easiest to
start with the front panel connector. If you are lucky
enough to have one with a q-connector or a cable
organizer, then you plug the cords into that and then
into the front panel connectors; otherwise, you will
have to look either at the board or your documentation
to see which cables go to which pins. You may also
hook up the front USB and firewire connections now. If
Fig. 6-21 Remove screws holding the board in place.
they are in separate pins, feel free to look them up in
your manual as well. The standard pin layout for USB
2.0 is VCC, D-, D+, and Ground.
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— CHAPTER 6: Replace Hardware —
Connect the power cables from the power supply to the motherboard. Plug in the 24-pin connector
and the 4-pin connector. Then reconnect the data cables from your drives into the motherboard.
Next, you can reinstall your expansion cards and hook them back up. After this is done, you can
replace the side panel and plug the computer back in and start it.
If you are having problems, know that you need to make sure everything is connected properly and
that everything is securely mounted in its expansion slot. You can also try clearing the CMOS. Make
sure that you connected the front panel connectors to the appropriate pins, otherwise you may
have problems where lights do not function or the power switch may not do anything.
Fans
The method to replacing a computer fan depends on its
purpose. Simple case fans are usually held in place by
two to four self drilling screws. Removing these screws
and disconnecting the fan’s power lead will allow
you to plug in the new fan and attach it in the old
location. On the side of the fan, there are two arrows.
One indicates which direction the fan spins and the
other indicates which way air is blowing. Remember
Fig. 6-22 Fan airflow indicators
that air is blown into the front of the case, and
towards the back. If your case has a side fan mount,
VGA fans the air should be blown into the case. If it has a top
An active cooling device that provides additional fan mount, the air will be blown out of the case.
cooling support to a VGA heatsink to prevent VGA
cards from overheating. If the fan is a CPU fan, it will be held onto the
heatsink by a small clip. Removing this clip will allow
VGA heat sinks the fan to come off of the heatsink. VGA fans are
A passive cooling device for VGA cards consisting of usually part of the heatsink. When they fail you can
metal alloy fins that help absorb heat from VGA cards replace them with a new one or replace it with an
and dissipate this into the surrounding ambient air. aftermarket cooler. VGA heatsinks are usually held on
with several small screws.
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SECTION
SOFTWARE PROBLEMS
3
AND SOLUTIONS
In This Section:
7. Virus Removal
8. File Recovery
9. Windows Utilities
10. System Utilities
11. Factory Restore
12. Unwanted Program Removal
13. Junk File Removal
14. Software Updates
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— COMPUTER REPAIR MASTERY COURSE —
7. VIRUS REMOVAL
Introduction
With the growth of the internet and email becoming the standard means
of communication, viruses and other malware have become a more
prevalent threat. Until the introduction of services like online banking and
online shopping which led virus creators to write malicious codes to steal
confidential data, viruses were more for causing damage. Today, computer
hijacking, ad seeding, identity theft, and even extortion are carried out on a
daily basis by millions through viruses. Malware
Software programs
specifically designed
Malware to damage or disrupt a
computer system.
Malware is the generic term encompassing all of the different types of
malicious, unwanted, and potentially unknown software that can be
Virus
operating on a system for nefarious reasons. There are many different types: A computer program
that can degrade or
Virus damage the data on
your hard drives and
A computer virus is a program that can infect the host machine when the interfere with the
executable is run. It does not actively replicate itself, but if the host file is normal operation of
moved and accessed, it will infect the new host on which it is located. Virus your computer system.
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— CHAPTER 7: Virus Removal —
Trojan virus, Trojan horses do not replicate themselves. They usually require
A software that may interaction with a hacker in order to fulfill their purpose. Some of the ways
seem to perform
Trojan horses are used are to: steal data; download or upload files on the
desirable functions for
users to run or install, user’s computer; keystroke logging; modification or deletion of files; and,
but may actually permit crashing the computer.
the creator to steal
sensitive information Rootkit
or harm the computer
system. A Rootkit is all about concealing any activity that is happening on the
system. Rootkits will be installed by tricking the user, stealing the user’s
Hacker password, or using a backdoor installed by other malware. Rootkits are not
A proficient programmer necessarily malicious, but they have been famously used to enslave millions
or engineer with of computers to botnets without their owners having any clue what is going
sufficient technical
on. Rootkit detection is notoriously difficult because rootkits can subvert
knowledge to determine
the weaknesses of a the programs and Operating System that is currently searching for it. They
security system and do this by feeding false information to the virus scanners, falsely reporting
to exploit these weak that processes have been terminated when they haven’t, and just plain old
points and break into not showing up on the system. The most effective detection methods include
computers or networks,
using another non-infected computer to scan the infected system, behavior
either for profit or
motivated by the based analysis, and memory-dump analysis. If a rootkit manages to install
challenge. itself to the kernel level of the Operating System, it can be impossible to
remove and the machine must be formatted to destroy it.
Rootkit
A set of software tools Spyware
that keeps itself, other
files, key registry and Spyware is a type of program that is created to provide some sort of financial
network connections gain for its author. These programs are secretly installed on the user’s
hidden from detection. computer to gather information on users and their habits, and then transmit
that information back to the author to be sold to the highest bidder. A type
Password of Spyware typically referred to as "adware" tends to take this a step further
A secret string of by showering a user with popup ads, overwriting legitimate advertising
letters or numbers, or
on a website and inserting its own over the top of it, or even replacing it
a combination of both
used for authenticating
completely. Spyware can also redirect search engines to only its sites or
user identity or gain infect the Windows Hosts File to redirect web traffic. Also, Spyware can
access to a system or change a user’s computer settings which can result in slower connection
resource. speeds, different home pages, or loss of an internet connection.
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— CHAPTER 7: Virus Removal —
Attack The main thing to take away from profiling is that when a company has
Any malicious intrusion a large amount of these data records stolen or is being investigated for
that targets a computer selling the private data, then you run the risk of having your information in
system, affecting it
in a number of ways,
somebody else’s hands.
depending on the
attacker’s intent. Security Methods
Attacks can deny,
degrade, disrupt or
destroy information
Keep Applications Up to Date
residing in computer
First and foremost, the number one way to protect yourself from these issues
systems and networks.
is to make sure your software stays as up to date as possible. Adobe Flash
Player, Adobe Reader and Internet Explorer are three of the programs that
(XSS)
Cross Site Scripting
seem to give users the most trouble with security vulnerabilities. Insuring
A Type of computer that these programs stay up to date helps protect you from exploits that are
security breach constantly evolving due to how many people use these pieces of software.
typically found in Someone trying to make use of an exploit targets the software with the
web applications that largest install base first.
enables malicious
attackers to inject
client-side script into
Have a Good Antivirus Installed
web pages viewed by
Having a good antivirus installed also helps. Whether it is a free or paid
other users.
program, don’t just install it and assume that it will protect you from
everything. Constantly evaluate it, look at online reviews, see how often it
Phishing scams
The malicious activities
updates, and talk to other users. If the software is constantly scoring low or
of an individual or isn’t being updated quickly enough on new threats it may be time to change
group of individuals your security programs.
that scam users into
revealing confidential Ad and Script Blocking
information, such as
credit card numbers or The next line of defense is actually in your web browser. Most major web
passwords.
browsers except Internet Explorer support extensions or add-ons. Since many
malicious programs use browser exploits in flash and in dynamic advertising
Social Engineering code to install them, running a program like AdBlock will prevent them from
The act of obtaining or
gaining access to secure
loading.
data by conning an
Script Blockers like NoScript can completely prevent Cross Site Scripting and
individual into revealing
secure information or Flash based attacks, but that security comes at a price. Many websites make
tricking an individual heavy use of flash to deliver content. YouTube for instance has two or three
into breaking normal script locations that need to run in order to function. Some of the websites
security procedures. that use drop down page selections do not function with NoScript installed.
You can teach NoScript what not to block, but it can be a serious hassle to
someone who isn’t used to it or only wants to check their email or watch a
video.
Firewalls
Firewalls are much the same as ad and script blockers. Overly aggressive
firewalls will block everything and need to be taught not to do that. Firewalls
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— COMPUTER REPAIR MASTERY COURSE —
that are too laid back tend not to block important things that should have Man-in-the-middle
been investigated. A computer attack
during which a cyber
criminal funnels
Habits communication between
a consumer and a
Finding a set of websites you like to visit takes a while; however, once you
legitimate organization
find them—you realize that most of the websites you visit are free from then retransmits them,
malicious software. If you are the kind of person who visits shady websites substituting his own
on a regular basis, then having protections in place are a must. However, public key for the
once you’ve settled down and the websites are more familiar to you, the risk requested one, so
that the two original
of being randomly jumped by scripts and drive by ads drops significantly.
parties still appear to
be communicating with
Something else to consider is that many websites use advertising money
each other.
from the companies that pay to advertise on their site to stay operational.
Adblock stops these from loading; this also stops the website from getting
Authentication
paid. If you are visiting a website often and you are sure that it is safe, you The process of
may consider adding the domain to the white list on the Adblock software. identifying users so that
Ads can get annoying but much more annoying is your favorite websites they can gain access
going under from lack of income. in secure systems.
User identities are
Don’t open files unless you know what they are from. If you get weird pop- usually authenticated
ups that say 'click me to go on' or the system won’t let you close a Window through usernames and
passwords.
do not click yes under any condition. Restart the computer if necessary and
begin scanning.
Profiling
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— CHAPTER 7: Virus Removal —
Anti-spyware Anti-spam runs mostly on its own. You can usually add spam explicitly to the
A software designed list that the program did not pick up.
to combat unwanted
spyware program Firewalls are also mostly autonomous. If you need to open ports manually for
installations and remove specific programs you have usually been instructed by a how-to.
these programs if
installed. Hijack this is a process scanner. It shows entries in the registry and you can
delete these entries directly from the program.
Anti-virus
A software designed to Note: This is an extremely powerful program that shouldn’t be used in this
detect, repair, clean, or manner if you do not understand the actions you are taking. It is typically
remove virus-infected used for pasting the list into a forum to give other people an overview of the
files from a computer.
It even helps repair
things running on the machine you are asking about.
the damaged files left
behind. Advanced Removal Techniques
Anti-spam
To demonstrate advanced techniques, I will outline a procedure list that
Methods that detect I wrote for a customer of ours who was dealing with an infection of the
e-mail messages Storm Worm. First, however, I’ll give some background on this specific Worm.
that are unsolicited The Storm Worm sends out various messages including weather alerts and
advertisements hallmark cards. It then merges the infected computers with a botnet using a
(spam). Various
anti-spam techniques
decentralized server similar in design to a Bit Torrent peer to peer network.
are embedded in Unlike old botnets, this one did not have a central server that you can take
products, services and down to destroy the botnet. Storm is resilient because it changes its own
software to ease the code every 10 minutes and is continually updated. The botnet seemed to
burden on users and be shrinking recently but security experts believe that it is because the
administrators.
botnet is being partitioned off and sold once it reaches a certain size. Most
of this information can be found on www.bleepingcomputer.com. This is a
community website that helps support new users in removing various types
of malware. If you are having difficulty removing a virus I strongly suggest
you check their forums for information. Here’s the breakdown of how the
Storm Worm was removed:
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— COMPUTER REPAIR MASTERY COURSE —
• TDSSKiller will remove the Trojan from all its hiding places as it is
good at taking out TDSS based rootkits.
• Malwarebytes is a free scanner that is updated frequently and used
by the community for virus removal.
2. Next, run rkill. A bunch of windows will most likely popup if that
blackmail virus is still installed saying that you’re being attacked. Ignore
them, let rkill do its job and leave it alone.
3. Run TDSSkiller. Scan and quarantine anything that it is angry about.
4. Install Malwarebytes. Update and run a full scan and delete anything it
finds.
5. Run msconfig. Go to startup and uncheck anything that seems unusual.
6. Reboot and scan again with Malwarebytes and tdsskiller.
8. FILE RECOVERY
Introduction
File recovery can be a tricky business. It is centered on three points. The File recovery
first being that when data is deleted it is not really deleted. Second, when a The process of restoring
file integrity once a file
storage device fails it hasn’t failed completely. Lastly, if a machine crashes
has been deleted or
and the Operating System is no longer operable this doesn’t mean that damaged. Deleted files
the files are not accessible. These three points and a little help from some can be recoverable but
recovery programs can help you recover data that you might have otherwise damaged files can only
thought was lost forever. be recovered if the data
has not been corrupted.
Precautions
When attempting to recover data from a machine, you need to know what
the status of the machine was before its current problem. If the machine
was clean then there should be no real need for precautions in attempting
data recovery. If the data recovery is being attempted on a machine that was
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— CHAPTER 8: File Recovery —
incapacitated by a virus it is possible that the virus files may still be active when recovered. Be
sure the host system is up to date and that the antivirus software is fully functional. Consider also
running the recovery from a limited account.
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— COMPUTER REPAIR MASTERY COURSE —
1. Choose which disk to run photorec on. 2. Choose the partition table type. Choose Intel.
3. Choose the partition to run photorec on. 4. Select partition type. Other for Windows.
5. Choose to scan the whole disk or just free space. 6. Choose a directory on another disk to save the recovered files to.
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— CHAPTER 8: File Recovery —
External enclosure If the drive itself is in another computer and the computer is nonfunctional,
A specially designed you may need to remove the drive and either place it in an external
chassis that secures enclosure or install it in the case of the host computer itself. When installing
and provides power to
external hard drives.
this drive, if the drive does not show up in the BIOS, the drive is most likely
External enclosures also dead. If it shows up in the BIOS, but not on the device manager the device
allow the hard drive is also most likely dead.
to communicate with
computer systems. If it shows up in the device manager but not under "My Computer" or
"Computer" then the device is recognized, but the partition is not being
Command line (CMD) displayed. You can attempt to run Testdisk on this drive to see if it can
In Microsoft Windows restore the partition. If this does not work, the drive needs to be initialized
NT, 2000, XP, Vista but unfortunately initialization will make it harder to recover the data on the
and Windows 7, CMD
drive. However, there is another option.
is the command line
shell. CMD is one of the
If you go boot into the Windows Recovery Console in Windows XP or go to
command interpreter
versions and provides
the command line in Windows Vista/7 you can run a chkdsk /r on the drive.
additional environment This may take a very long time, as recovering bad sectors can be a slow
variables. process. Once this process is complete, reboot the machine and try to access
the drive. If you cannot, then there is likely not enough complete data
remaining to rebuild the files.
If you are recovering data and you get an access denied error, you may need
to reboot into safe mode and take ownership of the files you are working on.
In order to search for certain types of files you can select Windows Search
or open the top level of the directory and enter your search terms in the bar.
Using wild cards is an effective way to search for all files of a type. Enter
*.(file type) like *.jpg to search for all jpeg files.
9. WINDOWS UTILITIES
Introduction
The Windows Operating System requires periodic maintenance to keep it run-
ning in its most efficient state. Microsoft has provided most of these tools
System restore and a few extras to help us handle exceptional situations such as the corrup-
A component of
tion of system files, a fine grained control of the registry, and several others
Windows XP that allows
the users to manually useful programs. Most of these programs can be found either on the com-
create restore points mand line or by browsing Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools.
or keep restore points
during operations.
Windows System Utilities
System Restore
The system restore is an incremental backup system introduced back in
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— COMPUTER REPAIR MASTERY COURSE —
Windows ME and since then it has received quite a few updates. It uses a
variable amount of hard drive space that can be adjusted by right clicking on
"My Computer" and hitting "Properties". Then click on the "System Restore"
tab in Windows XP. It is here that you can turn it on and off and set how
much space it should be able to use. In Windows Vista and Windows 7 you
can locate the System Protection link inside the right click > properties menu.
Here you can change the settings by hitting the configure link.
Depending on how much space is given to this utility, it will make restores
whenever major system changes are enacted. Either when programs or drivers
are installed or only when major changes are implemented if the utility is on
very low memory. This utility does not affect user files but changes programs
and registry settings back to the way they were when the restore was made.
In order to use System Restore, click the link in the "System Tools" folder.
You will then be presented with a menu with which you can either create
a new restore point or restore to a previous one. Upon clicking next after
selecting restore, you can then select which restore point you would like to
use and hit next. It will then proceed to restore the computer to its settings
at that time. System Restore can also be invoked from the Windows Install
disks when used for repairs.
Backup Defragmentation
The process of consoli-
We talked about the backup utility in the 'Backing Up Data' section, so this
dating fragmented data
will be brief. This utility can make backups and system recovery disks of the on your computer’s hard
installed operating system. You can back up entire hard drives or just specific disk, rearrange the frag-
directories or files. ments and restore them
into fewer fragments.
Defragment
NTFS (NT File System)
The file system in Windows is known as NTFS and it uses free space as cache A standard file system
and scratch room. What this means is that if a certain amount of memory of Windows NT that
is needed for a program and the memory is being heavily cached—that improves support for
free space may not be available. The computer will dump some of its cache metadata and uses ad-
vanced data structures
contents to the hard disk drive and remember where it is for later. The only to improve performance
thing is it won’t remove it when it comes back for it so it stays on the hard and reliability such as
disk drive. This results in a very broken up writing surface for the write heads transaction logs to help
on the drive, as it has to weave data around bits of other data. All in all it’s the system recover from
a rather large mess. The Disk Defragmenter moves files around and lines them disk failures.
up for faster access. If the data is all in a line then the drive can read it off
in a straight shot, instead of the massive slowdown you can get when the
drive tries to read highly fragmented data. Analyzing the hard disk drive will
tell you if it needs to be defragmented or not. Windows XP requires manual
defragmenting where Windows Vista and Windows 7 perform this action
whenever the computers are idle.
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— CHAPTER 9: Windows Utilities —
Cleanup
When I explained defragmenting I told you that the file system was leaving
duplicates all over the place; however, there are other bits of junk lying
around as well. This would include: installation files; temp files; old deleted
pictures that haven’t been overwritten yet; and, many more. Disk Cleanup
helps you remove these by inventorying them all and deleting them when
you ask it to. This can help keep the drive "picked up". It doesn’t necessarily
help with speed but you will run out of space slower.
BitLocker
BitLocker BitLocker is a logical volume drive encryption utility provided by Microsoft for
A security feature in
the Enterprise and Ultimate editions of Windows Vista and Windows 7. Being
Microsoft Windows
Vista, Windows 7,
that it is a logical volume encryption, it can encrypt full or partial disks. It
Windows Server 2008 uses AES encryption as well as several other techniques. The newer versions
and Windows Server can encrypt removable devices like flash drives as well. If the pre-boot
2008 R2. BitLocker is environment has been tampered with, BitLocker will lock down and require
designed to protect
a recovery key that it had the user save to a USB drive when the encryption
data from unauthorized
access by providing full
was performed.
encryption for entire
volumes. Command Line Utilities
Batch file Batch Files and the Task Scheduler
A set of DOS commands
that automatically Batch files are analogous with "Bash Scripts" in Linux. These are stored
runs in sequence command line procedures that run when the batch file itself is run. The one
once the batch file is I use for instance, is a batch file that contains the words "start firefox.exe
executed. Batch files
are usually created to
www.beyourownit.com/forum" and several more websites. This batch file
execute commands for opens Firefox and opens all of the other websites I frequent, in tabs inside
operations that the user of Firefox. This is how I keep up on my daily reading without having to
has a repeated need. constantly type in website addresses.
In order to create a batch file, you can open up notepad and type the
words "ping www.google.com" and save it as a file named "ping.bat". When
you run this file, your command line will open up and it will ping www.
google.com four times. Congratulations, you’ve just made your first batch
file. As you can imagine, there are several more uses for this. Automatic
backups, defragments, system restore points, and several other things can be
automated in this way.
The Task Scheduler is an accessory that lets you set certain applications to
run at certain times. Many programs, in which this would truly be useful,
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— COMPUTER REPAIR MASTERY COURSE —
already have their own versions such as anti-virus programs. However, there Permission
are still things that this combination could do to make life much simpler. A An authorization to
few years ago (if you were still on dial-up) you wouldn’t have wanted to access a file or directory.
Depending on the
be tying up your phone line all the time, nor would you want to sit around operating system, each
waiting for your email to download when you got home. If you would’ve file may have different
known how to have your computer dial up your ISP and begin the download permissions for different
and then hang up after a half hour or an hour, you could have come home kinds of access and
different users or groups
and your phone would have been clear—and you would have had your email.
of users.
Today this isn’t all that useful, but this is just an example of the level of
automation possible with these utilities. SFC
(System File Checker)
In "Task Scheduler" you can double click, add a scheduled task, and select A utility in Microsoft
from a large number of pre-installed programs. If you have your own files Windows that allows
such as a batch file, you will want to click browse and locate it. You will users to scan for and
then be asked to name it and how often you want it to run. You will then restore corruptions in
Windows system files.
be asked to ‘run’ and be given some more options regarding when to run System File Checker also
the task. Next, you’ll enter the user name and password of your user as the checks and repopulates
process will run with your permissions and identity, even if you are logged off the cache folder.
and someone else is logged on. Upon finishing this, the automated task will
be scheduled. Msconfig
A command utility
System File Checker used to troubleshoot
Windows startup
System File Checker (SFC) is a utility for checking the integrity of the files process which modifies
currently in use by the Operating System. If they have been compromised, programs run at
they are replaced with fresh copies from the OS disk which will be asked for startup, edits certain
configuration files and
if it needs it. You run this utility by clicking the Start Menu and typing "SFC simplifies controls over
/scannow" in the rundialog box. This utility is good for times when you’ve Windows services.
removed a virus that you suspect planted a backdoor in your system files or
you have corrupted some of the runtime files due to a bad installation of Regedit
some software. A powerful tool that
allows users to view
Msconfig and change settings in
the system registry that
Msconfig is a utility included with Windows and it simplifies the registry contains information
entries for most of the startup variables of the system. Msconfig can simplify: about how your
computer runs.
• What runs at startup
• What environmental options are set Background
Refers to processes in
• Access to the boot file the computer system
running automatically
The utility also provides a place to launch common Windows system applications. and continuously
without the need
You run this utility by clicking the Start Menu and typing msconfig in the run for user intervention.
dialog box. Most of the time you will be using this utility to manage startup Background processes
programs. include system
monitoring, logging,
user notification and
scheduling.
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— CHAPTER 9: Windows Utilities —
Regedit
Regedit is short for Registry Editor. This program allows you to backup and
restore the registry as well as make changes to the registry directly. If you are
uncomfortable here, I would suggest not playing with it until you are ready.
The registry is a text-based database that contains the values for every
option in the entire computer. What background you are using, where your
hard drive is, what time zone you are in, and much, much more. Think of
it like a giant Excel sheet containing all of the personal information for
everyone in the closest city to you. Then think of it in the way that if the
sheet doesn’t say where they live, they don’t live there. If it doesn’t say
where they work, they don’t work there. If it doesn’t have them listed on the
sheet, then they don’t exist. This is why damaging the registry is so crippling
to a computer. You can make changes in the registry, but you can make most
of those changes on the menus where they are meant to be changed as well.
Recovery Console
Windows XP’s command line environment is called the Recovery Console. After booting the disc up
you will hit 'R' to enter it. Select your keyboard layout and then enter an admin password if you
have one. If you don’t have an admin password, hit enter. This command line environment allows
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— COMPUTER REPAIR MASTERY COURSE —
you to run several tools to attempt repairs to your installation. If you want Recovery console
to install the recovery console as a startup option instead of using the OS A Microsoft Windows
disc, you can insert the Windows XP CD into the drive. Then click start and command-line interface
that enables users to
click on run. In the open box type d:\i386\winnt32.exe/cmdcons and hit enter. recover or repair their
Replace the 'd' with the drive letter of your ROM drive. After this has been Windows computer
completed, Recovery Console will be available as a boot option when you start system from any serious
the computer. issues.
Command Line
Once you come to the command line, there are several commands you can use.
Aside from the tools, there are some basic commands which can help you get
around the command line environment or complete some very simple actions.
Navigation
The command cd stands for Change Directory. This is the basic navigation
command. Assuming you are in the folder "Users", typing cd <name of the
user> will take you to that user’s folder. If you need to back up, typing cd ..
will back you up one level.
The command dir displays the contents of the current directory. This command
line also features an auto complete function you can access by using the tab
key. If you type dir and hit enter the contents will be displayed. If you then
type in the first letter of a directory or file and hit "Tab", it will start to cycle
through things beginning with that letter inside that folder. You can also hit
tab with no text entered and it will go down the list inside the folder.
Copy
The copy command is used for copying a file from one location into another.
The syntax is copy <source> <destination>. When using this command, you
can use absolute paths or a relative path. An absolute path means that you
can specify exactly where the copy file is and where it is going. To use it in
this way you would do something like copy c:\users\Owner\Documents and
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— CHAPTER 10: System Utilities —
CHKDSK In order to copy all files from a location to a location you would use syntax like
A command run utility copy c:\users\Owner\Documents and Settings\*.* e:\Family Photo Backup. This
in DOS, OS/2 and would copy all folders and files inside of the "Documents and Settings" folder
Microsoft Windows
of that user to the flash drive, assuming there is enough space to hold it all.
operating systems used
to check the integrity
The wild card can also be used in different ways. For example, <directory>\*.*
of the file system and
hard drives. The chkdsk is everything in the directory, <directory>\*.jpg is all files ending with that
command can also fix extension in the current directory, <directory>\Bob.* would copy all files
logical file system errors named Bob regardless of their extensions, and <directory>\B*.* would copy
and can also check the all files beginning with "B".
surface of the disk for
physical errors, also
called bad sectors. Tools
Now that we have covered a little about how to use basic command line func-
FixBoot
tions, we can take a look at the actual repair tools given to try and bring the
A Recovery Console
command that writes system back to a useable state. Here are some repair tools to get familiar with:
a new partition boot
sector to the specified ASR
system partition. It is
useful for repairing or Automated System Recovery (ASR) is a restore program that uses a file
replacing important created by the Windows XP backup utility to reinstall a copy of the Operating
operating system files. System from a backup. You will see the ASR option shown during the
Windows XP setup screen. It will ask you to hit F2 before the setup truly
begins. In Windows Vista and Windows 7, this functionality is also included,
but is located in a button on the repair screen.
CHKDSK
If you have ever seen your computer want to run a disk integrity check, it
was the Operating System invoking this tool by itself due to a dirty write
on the drive. When a drive completes an operation properly it finishes with
a "clean" flag. If an operation fails or data is not recovered properly, it will
set a "dirty" flag and request an examination. Chkdsk by itself simply scans
for bad sectors on the drive and is a relatively quick way to tell if your
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hard drive is dying. The command chkdsk/r will scan the drive and attempt FixMBR
to restore the data inside of the bad sectors. If these dying sectors are A command using the
written to, they may lose the data again, but for data recovery purposes this Recovery Console that
repairs the master boot
program can work some magic in getting some data back. Run this utility record of the boot disk
and immediately copy any folders you were trying to access. Disks sometimes and writes a new master
have data corruption without having a bad sector due to other problems. boot record to the hard
This utility is good at fixing those as well. disk drive.
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— CHAPTER 10: System Utilities —
your computer because there is a bug in it. The computer will not boot with it installed. You can
boot to safe mode and remove it; however, you can also remove it from the command line with
these tools.
You would locate the new audio driver in the output by entering listsvc command line and entering
disable <name> to disable it. If you wanted to enable a service or a driver, you would enter enable
<name of service or drive> <startup type>. The startup options are: SERVICE_BOOT_START, SERVICE_
SYSTEM_START, SERVICE_AUTO_START, and SERVICE_DEMAND_START.
Repair Installation
A repair installation removes the system folders entirely and rebuilds the registry, but keeps the
user folders intact. Most programs will be removed and need to be reinstalled. This is a more thor-
ough version of the Windows Utility sfc/scannow. This can be used to restore a system that has had
serious virus damage after removing the virus from the installation. It can also be used in cases
when a hard drive from one computer needs to be moved to a different computer and the comput-
ers have vastly different hardware.
To run this procedure you would boot to the OS disc in Windows XP and hit enter at the first screen.
The second screen scans for existing installations, and if one is located, it gives the option to hit
esc to perform a fresh install or to press r to start the process to repair the installation.
In Windows Vista and Windows 7 you will boot to the install disc and click Install Windows. When
asked, you will pick an upgrade and you will essentially "upgrade" the computer to itself again.
After the installation is complete you will have completed your repair installation.
Before Restoring
When you think about restoring your computer due to virus activity or
because it just plain doesn’t have the same snap it had when it was new,
there are a few things you need to check off before proceeding. Be sure
you have backups of your user data. Even though a non-destructive restore
should save those documents on its own, you still should not trust all of your
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— COMPUTER REPAIR MASTERY COURSE —
important documents to a program without any backups. If your restore came Destructive restore
with a driver disk or a set of disks, be sure they are on hand or you may be Method that is
left with a non functional machine if you cannot locate the drivers on your performed when there is
a serious problem with
own. All of the programs you have installed since you last restored or bought your existing software
the machine will be removed. If these programs are important to your basic installation that a
needs be sure you have a way to reinstall them. normal troubleshooting
does not resolve.
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— CHAPTER 11: Factory Restore
Toolbars
Add/Remove Programs
A Microsoft Windows Toolbars are add-ons for web browsers that aim to either increase the
function found in functionality and ease of use of web browsers and websites, or to push
the control panel
that enables users
products to you and give you "advice" about how you should steer your
to modify or delete browsing habits. Some are genuinely useful like a weather toolbar to keep
Windows Installer based you informed about the forecast if you don’t watch the news forecast
applications. regularly, or Google’s IE6 Search toolbar which added a search function to
the aging browser.
Bloatware
Software that is Many however, aim to direct you to certain shopping sites or search engines
overpacked with a lot that promote sites that they are invested in. In the worst case scenario,
of features, requiring some spyware will be its own toolbar and actively subvert paying services
significant amounts of
for theirs. Having too many toolbars can also slow down a computer or even
disk space and RAM.
This kind of software
block a website or make it hard to see.
also leave a larger in-
stallation footprint, but
Most toolbars can either be removed with the Add/Remove Programs Menu or
usually offering little or hidden by right clicking on the toolbar or adjusting the settings in the web
no benefit to users. browser itself.
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Broken Installations
Sometimes applications can break. In the case of complicated programs like anti-virus programs
and frameworks like .Net, you may need to download a cleanup tool. However, for standard
programs that may refuse to uninstall, you can download a tool like RevoUninstaller and use its 30-
day trial to remove standard broken applications from your computer.
Normal Junk
To remove your standard cache files from the computer, you can access them by opening up your web
browsers option menu and locating options to delete them. In IE this is under Tools >Internet options
and click on the Delete button next to browsing history. From there, you can select which files you
want to delete and then hit delete. In Firefox this is in Tools > Options > Privacy. Click on clear your
recent history, and remove individual cookies. You can then select what you want to remove.
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— CHAPTER 13: Junk File Removal —
Extra Space
To make some extra space, you can use the "Disk Cleanup Utility". It is located in Start > All
Programs > Accessories > System Tools. You can then select which files you would like to clean up,
and it will show you how much space they are taking up. If you select the More Options tab, it will
let you delete programs, system components, and restore points older than the most recent one.
The old system restore points on an old system can add up to several gigabytes, and if you are
keeping up to date shadow copies they too can add up to quite a lot of space.
Tools
Programs such as CCleaner and Revo Uninstaller can also remove many of these junk files from
your system. If you do not know what an entry is, you should not delete it as these are powerful
programs that can cause system issues if removed improperly. Used correctly, however, they can
save you a lot of time and some disk space.
Administrator
Applications That Need To Be Regularly Updated
An administrator, usu- The biggest applications to keep an eye on are Adobe Reader, Adobe Flash
ally called the systems
Player, Java, your anti-virus, and your Web Browser. If you are using MSE and
administrator, is the
person responsible for Internet Explorer, Windows Update will keep an eye on those for you. Mozilla
the smooth operation Firefox and Google Chrome update themselves when an update is available.
and maintenance of a
computer system or a Adobe Flash and Adobe Reader
network of computers.
The two applications from Adobe are two of the most targeted programs by
Drive-by attack malware developers. Partly because of how they are written and partly because
A program that is auto- of how widespread their use is. They are both designed to display content from
matically downloaded to a third party with little or no verification. PDFs can be an issue because they
your computer with- call remote code which is run with the privilege of the user running the PDF.
out your consent and
If this user is a system administrator then the code can alter system files and
without understanding
the consequences, like provide backdoors for malware.
installing an unknown
ActiveX component or
Flash ads are a huge problem for users because they will run without
Java applet. authorization and take control of a web page display. They can call external
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— COMPUTER REPAIR MASTERY COURSE —
code and tend to be involved in what is known as a "drive-by attack" which is where your computer
is infected just by viewing or mousing over the ad. No clicking involved!
If you open Adobe Reader and click on the "Help" menu item you can find a link that says Check
for Updates. Running this often will keep Adobe Reader up to date. Adobe has its own update
application that can help manage their products, too. If you want to check the flash player version
manually, type Check flash player version in your favorite search engine. The Adobe link will tell
you which version is currently running. You may then go to their download section and click on
get Adobe Flash Player. Compare the number of the current download version to the one you have
installed. If it is newer, install the player.
Security Updates
Some updates are designed to fix security holes. The latest version of Adobe Reader is now
sandboxed, which means it prevents unauthorized code from running outside of the program. The
next version of Flash Player is intended to do the same.
Feature Updates
Sometimes updates are for including features. For example, the release of Flash Player 10.1 exposed
internet flash video to graphics card acceleration. This feature update allowed machines without
enough processor power to leverage their GPU to allow smooth playback of the video at HD
resolutions for anyone with a compatible card running a new enough driver.
Anti-virus
Your anti-virus is pretty good at taking care of itself, you can even schedule its update times
so that it doesn’t interfere with your work. However, it is a good idea to check it manually from
time to time as some virus applications can hide themselves, and the first thing they will do is
prevent your anti-virus from updating. An anti-virus that refuses to update when all other programs
working is a potential sign of an infection.
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SECTION
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Dual Booting
If you are considering setting up a dual boot system, be sure to split the
drive into at least two partitions when using a single drive. Be sure to
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— CHAPTER 15: Windows Installation —
1. Select the drive options link. 2. Deleting the partition will erase it and return the space to
unallocated.
3. Formatting the partition will delete the data on it. 4. Creating a new partition from unallocated will allow you to
use it to store data or install an OS.
install the older Operating System first. The reason for this is that the newer Operating System
can detect the presence of the older OS and automatically include it in its boot loader. This gives
you a choice of which OS to boot into when you turn on the computer. If you install the newer
OS first, the older OS will overwrite the newer one’s boot loader with one that cannot detect the
presence of the newer one and it will be inaccessible.
Windows XP
Place the OS disc in the ROM drive and set it to be your first boot device in the BIOS. You may be
presented with a prompt saying press any key to boot from CD, if you see this—do so. The Windows
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— COMPUTER REPAIR MASTERY COURSE —
setup will launch into a DOS mode (blue screen) and will ask you if you need EULA (End User
License Agreement)
to install third- party RAID drivers. If so, hit F6. Windows XP only works with
The legal agreement
floppy disks for this process, so if you need to use it hopefully you bought a between a software or
USB floppy drive. program author and the
end user and/or the
The setup screen will give you a few options. Hit enter to setup Windows purchaser.
XP. If you already had a copy of XP installed, you will need to hit ESC on the
next screen to install a fresh copy of the OS. After this you will be presented Service pack
with a copy of the EULA (end user license agreement) and you will need to A collection of
hit F8 to accept its terms. software updates and
fixes applied to an
Next, you will be presented with the partition menu. It will show your hard installed version of an
drive and a few options. If you are setting up a dual boot environment, you application or operating
system and can also
will create two partitions and install Windows into one of them. I recommend
provide enhancements
they be different sizes so you can tell the difference later. If you are using a for the application or
single partition, create one and set Windows up in that. You should choose software.
to format the partition with NTFS using the quick method when asked.
After some time of copying files, the computer will restart. Allow it to boot
normally and the setup program will load and run. The next screen you will
be presented with will ask you to specify your language and region; if you
want to use a language other than English this can be changed later after
the install is complete.
Next you will be prompted for your name and organization. On older versions
of XP you will now be forced to enter the product key if this is a standard
install disk. On Service Pack 3 versions of XP, the key can be entered
afterwards. You will then be asked for a computer name and an admin
password. The computer name must be unique on the network, but if you are
not on a network do not worry about it. Make sure you remember the admin
password you use.
You will now be presented with a screen to set the date and time as well
as the time zone. The next screen will ask you if you need to use typical or
custom network settings. For most users, typical is just fine. Next you will be
selecting if you need a workgroup or a domain. For the most part if you need
to make changes on this screen you already know about it. If you haven’t
heard anything regarding this, go ahead and hit next.
The next screen will ask you what kind of update setup you want and you
should then turn on Automatic Updates. You can select Skip on the next
screen. If you are presented with an activation screen, you should wait a bit
so hit no and select next. Enter your user name and hit next and finish.
You will now be presented with the desktop to your new Windows OS. You
will then install your drivers and proceed to activate the OS. The reason you
wait until the drivers are installed is if you change too much after activation,
Windows will ask you to register again. If you register too many times in a
short period, your key can become invalid and you’ll need to call Microsoft to
have them reactivate it. If Windows is not activated, you will have an option
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— CHAPTER 15: Windows Installation —
1. Boot to the Windows disc to run the installer. 2. Press Enter to begin installation.
3. Accept the EULA. 4. Partition the drive or hit enter on the unpartitoned space.
5. Select the type of partition and quick or long. 6. The computer will restart and boot from the hard drive, do not
boot from CD.
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7. Change region settings if you are outside the US. 8. Enter a name and company (if you have one).
9. Enter a computer name and an administrator password (write 10. Select date, time, and timezone.
it down).
11. Select typical for network settings. 12. Select the no for the domain. You can add this later if needed.
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— CHAPTER 15: Windows Installation —
in Start > All Programs that says Activate Windows and it has a pair of keys for an icon. You will be
prompted periodically to activate when you restart as well. Select Activate Windows Now and allow
it to activate. You will need to be connected to the internet for this process to succeed. If the
activation process errors out, you will be presented with instructions on how to fix this issue from
the program itself. You may end up calling Microsoft and having to have them manually activate
your install.
Windows 7 and Vista
Place the OS disc in the ROM drive and set it to be your first boot device in the BIOS. You may be
presented with a prompt saying press any key to boot from CD, if you see this—do so. You will be
greeted with a screen saying that Windows is loading files and a progress bar. Once the progress
bar is full, you will see the Windows Start screen.
Next, a screen will popup asking you what language to install, what time and currency format, and
what keyboard style you are using. Select the applicable answers to these questions and hit next.
The next screen will have a button to hit that says Install Now. Hit this button.
The EULA screen will pop up and ask you to accept the license terms. Do so by checking the box
and hitting next. The setup program will then ask you what kind of installation you are going to
perform. The only time you will ever pick upgrade is when you are launching a repair install or you
are going from a similar version of Windows, like Vista Home Premium 32 bit to Windows 7 Home
Premium 32 bit. So select custom if those two cases do not apply to you.
Next you will be presented with the partition manager. It will show your hard drive and a few
options underneath the window. If this drive was previously full and you are not doing an upgrade,
click on drive options. Inside drive options, delete the existing partition and click next. If you are
setting up a dual boot environment on your other OS, you should already have the older OS loaded
and you’ll either create a new partition or select the partition you created for your second OS when
you installed the first. Then click next.
You may be presented with a box telling you that Windows will create additional partitions, click
OK. Windows will now begin copying files and will show you which task it is currently on and the
percentage complete for each one. Once it gets to a certain point, it will restart itself. After it
restarts, let it boot normally and it will restart the Setup Wizard.
The next window that will ask for information will ask you for a user name and the name of the
computer. It will then ask you for a password and a hint for the password. You will then be asked
for the Product Key for your copy of Windows. You can either wait to enter this until the system is
installed or, you can enter it now. If you enter it now, select use recommended settings when Windows
setup asks you about security updates.
You will now have to enter the time and the time zone. The next Window will ask you what kind of
network you are currently connected to. After this is the homegroup setup screen. Homegroup is a
password protected sharing group designed to make file sharing among family computers easier, so
that you can watch videos or listen to music off of other computers on the network. This feature is
only available with Windows 7. After this screen, some more setup steps will continue, and you’ll
eventually be presented with the desktop of your new Windows installation.
After you install the drivers, you can activate Windows by going to Start > Right Click on Computer
> Properties > Bottom of the page. Here at the bottom of the page under a heading called Windows
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5. Partition the disk or select unallocated space. 6. Setup will copy files and restart. Enter a
username and a computer name.
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— CHAPTER 16: Drivers Installation —
Security updates Activation you will find a link by a pair of keys that says how many days you
Software patches widely have to activate Windows and to activate now. Clicking this link will bring
released to fix known you to the Windows activation screen, which will ask you to activate now or
security-related and
product-specific vulner-
to ask later. If you are connected to the internet and you select activate now,
abilities. it will attempt to contact Microsoft’s servers and activate your installation.
The reason you wait until the drivers are installed is because if you change
too much after activation—Windows will ask you to register again. If you
register too many times in a short period (like in XP), your key can become
invalid and then you need to call Microsoft to have the reactivate it. If you
are having problems activating, you may need to call Microsoft anyhow or
activate by phone. The instructions for how to do this are provided by the
Activation Wizard.
ACPI
Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) is a system for controlling the power states of
every piece of hardware on the computer. It is eventually intended to replace systems such as Plug
and Play, Advanced Power Management, and MultiProcessor Specification. Problems with ACPI and
its drivers will prevent the computer from sleeping or hibernating properly.
Installing Devices
When preparing to install a new piece of hardware on your computer, there are a couple of things
you can do to make the process easier on yourself. If you are using hardware that implements
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— CHAPTER 16: Drivers Installation —
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Rollback
Driver rollback is a function of Windows and it uninstalls
the recently installed driver that may be causing problems
and "rolls back" to the previous driver. To access this feature,
access the Device Manager by typing devmgmt.msc in the run
dialog and hit enter. Right click on a device after expanding
its drop down menu and select "Properties". Roll Back Driver
should be an option on the driver’s property page.
Fig. 16-4 Select the folder containing drivers
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— CHAPTER 16: Drivers Installation —
security mark to ensure the identity and integrity of the driver and that no one has tampered with
it since it was released. An Unsigned driver is one that does not contain a cryptographic security
mark. 32 bit systems can install Signed and Unsigned drivers where 64 bit Windows systems can
only use Signed drivers for security purposes.
Download Services
Be wary of online services that attempt to provide you drivers at a price. This isn’t to say that all
of them are bad. When working in the computer repair business, we used a combination of a free
service called DriverAgent and an ancient USB 10 MB network card. The USB network card had driv-
ers built in for everything as far back as Windows 98. It saved us a ton of time. If you are working
on a few computers a month or for personal reasons, it most likely isn’t worth using the Driver-
Agent. If you are operating a small shop, however, it can be useful. Also be wary of websites that
let you download drivers they’ve "aggregated" from other websites, because their funding models
may have proven unreliable and many of them may have been bought out by companies trying to
push spam and adware to the end user.
Updating Drivers
For the most part, you shouldn’t choose to upgrade your drivers unless the newer driver is going
to provide a significant gain in features or performance. Stable drivers that give you no issues are
definitely preferable to potentially faster drivers which throw up blue screens often.
Driver Features
Features that upgrade drivers can include things such as support for decoding new video formats,
image quality enhancements, graphics acceleration performance, cooling and bug fixes, and docu-
mentation and compatibility fixes.
Introduction
Being able to connect to the internet is important to many people the world over, for business
and personal reasons. People want to be able to surf the internet and communicate with people all
over the world, and they want to be able to do it quickly. The internet has had a drastic impact on
culture and commerce, and it continues to grow. From its evolution from slow analog based services
to digital, optical and beyond—knowing how to setup internet connections and the differences
between them is important.
Security Advice
Most people hear constantly how you should not write your password down. This is very true in a
business environment where passwords are the keys to the city; however, for a home user this is a
very different situation.
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For a home user, it is not really that big of a deal if someone locates your Analog
passwords that are written down. If someone steals your machine they don’t Describes technology
necessarily even need your passwords, as they can use brute force to crack that stores or transmits
data in varying types
your security at their leisure. This means that online security becomes the of signal. The received
foremost problem. Creating difficult passwords using symbols, numbers, and data can be anything
upper and lowercase letters and using no dictionary words allow you to between the ranges of
secure yourself better online, and makes for a higher security overall. the transmission. This is
the opposite of digital
Different types of internet services carry with them different attributes and
Brute force attack
features. Explaining some terms common to each type of internet service will
In computer security,
help you understand the differences when we go over them in a moment. this refers to the
exhaustive search of
Upload and Download every possible code key
until the correct key
There are two types of speed ratings when it comes to internet connections; is found. This involves
download and upload. Download speeds are how fast data comes from a trying every possible
remote connection to you. This speed can be hampered by the upload of the code, password or
server you are downloading information from. Even if you have more capacity, combination until the
right one is discovered.
you can only download as much as the remote server can provide. Upload
is how much data you can push to other servers. This is deceptive because
Download speed
not only does upload control how fast pictures get onto Facebook and how
The amount of bytes
fast your email attachments go out, but also how fast the links you click on of data an Internet
register after you’ve clicked them. Think of everything that shows up on your connection can transfer
screen as a download, and everything on a website that changes is based on per second during
an upload. downloading.
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— CHAPTER 17: Internet Setup —
Roundtrip latency This means that most symmetrical connections are business centered
The latency of the with "guaranteed uptime" which is the promise that your connection will
whole trip, the one-way stay active and will maintain the speeds they are sold at. Asymmetrical
latency from source to
destination plus the
connections is where the uploading bandwidth is lower than the downloading
one-way latency back bandwidth. These connections are generally a best effort connection and are
from the destination to neither guaranteed to reach the advertised speeds or stay up. This is your
the source. Also known general consumer internet connection.
as ping.
Symmetrical Internet
Types of Service
connection
A type of Internet The different types of network connections have their strengths and their
connection that allows weaknesses. Sometimes its value against cost or speed again availability.
users to upload and The descriptions of the various types of available connections should give
download with the same a picture of what is out there and what you can expect from the different
speed simultaneously.
technologies.
Asymmetrical Internet
connection DSL
An Internet connection
in which downstream DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) is a broadband technology provided over
data (from an Internet telephone cable. It does this by making use of signaling frequencies higher
server to the subscriber) than the ones used by normal voice communications. If you had DSL service
flows over a broadband with phone service on the same line, you had to have high-pass filters on
satellite downlink, while
upstream data (from the
your phone lines. These filters blocked out the frequency noise or the "hiss"
user to the server) is of the DSL frequencies. The DSL modem has a low pass filter built into it to
sent over a twisted-pair filter out the noise of the standard voice data.
telephone line.
DSL availability and range depend quite heavily on the distance to the DSLAM.
DSL
The DSLAM is the termination point for the ISP’s network and the end of
A high-speed Internet their backbone. DSL without extenders can maintain its normal speed up to a
service like cable distance of about one-and-a-quarter miles from the DSLAM. DSL in range can
Internet that transmits currently reach speeds up to 40Mb-a-second where the new VDSL2 standard
digital information on has been rolled out. VDSL2 is the newest standard of DSL designed to support
a copper wire pair. It
provides high-speed
the deployment of triple play services such as voice, data, video, HDTV, and
networking and allows interactive gaming. The older ADSL2+ standard can deliver 24Mb-a-second.
Internet and telephone
service to work Cable
simultaneously.
Cable internet is to cable television lines much the same as DSL is to phone
Modem lines. It is a broadband technology routed over the unused frequencies in the
A device or program coaxial cable used by the cable companies. Distance to the access network
used for transmitting isn’t as big a deal with cable as it was with DSL. Distances of up to 100 miles
digital data from a can be used without issue.
computer to a telephone
or cable line in the form DOCSIS (Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification) 3.0 currently offers
of analog. There are
speeds up to around 50Mb-a-second in the US with up to 100Mb possible.
two types of modem:
internal and external
Some business connections can reach up to nearly 400Mb-a-second.
modem.
Unlike DSL, which shares core network bandwidth, cable connections share
access network bandwidth. This means that if an ISP oversells its bandwidth
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too much, users will be subjected to periods of extreme congestion and low-
ered speeds. Overselling is commonplace and is quite effective at providing DSLAM
more customers with service, as well as providing the cable company with The termination point
more customers-as long as the overselling is not taken to the extreme. for the ISP’s network
and the end of their
Fiber Optic backbone.
When talking about a "fiber" broadband connection we are typically talking Cable internet
about two services (at least in the United States. In some other countries In telecommunications,
other, faster options may be available). Fiber in the US is usually divided into cable internet is a type
FTTN, which stands for Fiber to the Node and FTTP, or Fiber to the Premises. of broadband internet
connection that uses
You might also hear FTTP called FTTH, which is Fiber to the Home or FTTC, the cable television
Fiber to the Curb. system network. Cable
internet provides a
Fiber is in reference to the fiber optic connection being used to transmit much greater bandwidth
data. Instead of electrical signals, fiber uses light to carry data. Fiber is than telephone lines,
advantageous to use because it carries much more data than similarly sized allowing users to
copper cables. It also suffers far less attenuation than electrically based achieve extremely fast
Internet access.
communication mediums. This means that fiber can travel longer distances
without the need for repeaters.
DOCSIS
FTTN A set of specifications
for high speed,
FTTN (Fiber to the Node) is where the ISP pulls a fiber connection to the local full duplex data
access node. The "Last Mile" connection (or the last jump to the customer) is communications over
connected with standard copper cabling methods. The most prevalent version CATV networks that
transport data over a
of this is AT&T’s U-Verse service. U-verse is typically available in speed cable plant that utilizes
ranges between 3 and 24Mb/s down and 1-3Mb/s up. QAM and/or QPSK RF
modulation.
FTTP
FTTP (Fiber to the Premises) is where fiber is pulled directly into the homes Fiber optic connection
of the users. This technique creates a completely fiber based network. This is Uses fiber optic cables
the most future-proof setup, but also one of the most expensive. The speeds to transmit data
of the internet connections available are actually restricted by the limita- and has the highest
data sending rates of
tions of the hardware being used, instead of the limitations of the cabling. any communication
infrastructure.
Verizon’s FIOS service is the major user of this technique and the speeds
available from FIOS currently top out at 150Mb/s down and 35Mb/s up.
FTTN
A broadband network
Satellite term configuration that
uses fiber optic cables
Satellite broadband is used in areas that cannot be serviced by other forms of
to bring data to a node
high speed internet. This includes rural communities with access only to dial in last mile telecom-
up and internet access in countries where the infrastructure has not provided munications and uses
adequate alternatives. Both of these are ideal scenarios for satellite internet copper as the final con-
access. nection.
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— CHAPTER 17: Internet Setup —
FTTP 900ms for a one-way trip, these connections are unable to provide any
Uses optical fiber to service for latency sensitive applications such as Skype or other internet
replace all or part of voice programs, gaming, and/or streaming video.
the usual metal local
loop to connect the Medium and low-orbit satellites have much lower latencies, but cannot offer
carrier directly to the
subscriber’s home or
nearly the same amount of bandwidth. A proposed satellite group operated
office, providing very by O3b Networks orbiting at 8000km would have a round-trip latency of
high Internet speed and 125ms, and would be designed to handle much higher bandwidth, offering a
quality. real alternative to land based broadband.
Windows XP
Wireless broadband
Start the "New Connection Wizard" by clicking Start > Control Panel > A new technology
Networking and Internet Connections > Network Connections. If "Control Panel" that provides high-
is in classic view, just use "Network Connections". Once this window is open, speed Internet and
locate the "Create New Connection" link on the left hand side. Select Set up data service delivered
through a wireless local
my Connection Manually and hit next. area network (WLAN)
or wide area network
Your modem will usually handle your username and password for you. This
(WAN).
means that you can use the option Connect using a broadband connection
that is always on. Windows has the ability to handle the username and
PPPoE
password in software using the middle option, but the modem or the router PPPoE connection
itself is usually used to handle this function. (Point-to-Point Protocol
over Ethernet) is a
The top option handles dial up connections and selecting it will require you network configuration
to enter your username and password along with the phone number of the ISP. to connect a network
of hosts, over a simple
Windows Vista and Windows 7 bridging access device,
to a Remote Access
Click on Start > Control Panel > Network and Internet > Networking and Concentrator.
Sharing Center, on the left side locate the "Setup a new connection or
Network" link and select it. At this time a window will popup and you will
select Connect to the Internet. If the computer is connected to the network,
it will attempt to auto connect and if it fails, you will be presented with the
choices to select a dial up connection or a PPPoE connection, which requires
a username and a password. Setting up a dial up connection will require a
username, password, and the ISP phone number.
If you are connecting your machine to the modem with a USB cable, you will
most likely need to setup a connection with PPPoE or you will be using the
disc that the ISP provided. If you are having trouble with the username and
password, you will most likely have to call the support line for the ISP and
have them walk you through it.
Email
Setting up a new email account can be a harrowing experience the first time
you do it, but you will look back on it later and wonder what you were so
nervous about. There are two ways to access a new email account: You can
set it up for web access like Gmail and Hotmail, or you can access it with
Windows Live Mail or Outlook.
Webmail
Setting up a new webmail service is pretty straightforward. Head over to
www.gmail.com and select the create a new account button on the right hand
side. You will then be asked for your first name and last name and desired
login name. Check the availability of the login name, if it is taken you will
need to pick something else.
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— CHAPTER 17: Internet Setup —
Fig. 17-1 Setting up an email account Enter your password and check its strength,
and enter it again to confirm. Now when you
are presented with the security question drop-
downs, take a minute to read over them. Security
questions that ask you for recorded facts are bad
questions. What was my first school, or what was
your mother’s maiden name are easy for anyone to
look up. What you want to choose is something
that will be difficult to find.
Surprisingly, what was your first car isn’t too
bad as most people’s first vehicles were in their
parent’s name. What was your favorite pet’s name
1. Choose a new email account.
and what is your favorite color aren’t bad either
as long as you didn’t paste that information all
over Facebook or Myspace. Who was your best
friend in grade school is usually ok as well. If
given the option to write your own questions, do
so, and use the provided ideas to think of a new
security question about yourself that is more
secure.
You can then setup a recovery email, location and
birthday. Then enter the captcha (the distorted
image of letters and numbers used to prevent
2. Enter your username and password. Manually configuring automated use of websites), and agree to the
will allow you to change servers and ports if needed. terms of service.
After these have all been entered properly, it will
forward you to your new Gmail account. Setting
up a new Hotmail or Yahoo account will follow
very similar procedures.
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If you use Yahoo Mail, and you want to use it in a client-based system, you need to subscribe to
Yahoo Plus for a fee.
Web Browsers
Most versions of Windows come with Internet Explorer (IE) already installed, but there are other
options to consider and each comes with their own strengths and weaknesses. IE’s strengths in-
clude a high level of integration with the Windows system that it resides on. Here’s is a breakdown
of the various strengths and weaknesses of most widely-used web browsers:
Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla Firefox is a web browser that is highly customizable and boasts the highest amount of
"add-ons" out of any of the major web browsers. Some of the popular add-ons include script and ad
blockers, news aggregators and website customization applications.
Google Chrome
Google Chrome is the youngest of the major browsers and boasts high integration with Google’s on-
line services. It is extremely fast, and is constantly updated at a much faster pace than most other
browsers. Chromes add-ons are called extensions. Individual pages are rendered in separate threads
so a page crash doesn’t bring the whole browser down.
Home Network 1. Right Click on a folder and go to the sharing tab and
click advanced sharing.
Setting up the home network is often the step
after, or the step before, setting up the internet
connection. The use of a router or the combination
of a modem and a wireless router, called a gateway,
provides the ability to split network resources
among multiple computers and other internet
enabled devices like game consoles and internet
enabled media players.
Simple network sharing is the process of sharing
a folder over the network itself. Right clicking on
a folder and selecting sharing options. Enabling 2. Check the "share this folder" checkbox and click apply.
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— CHAPTER 17: Internet Setup —
Toolbar the share will place the computer itself in the "Network" or "My Network"
A row of icons on a locations for your computers with those folders available for use.
computer screen where
buttons, menus or Homegroup is a feature of Windows 7 that provides a password for other
other input and output Windows 7 machines to easily share the media libraries of each PC. Adding
elements are placed. It
activates commands or
yourself to the homegroup and entering the homegroup password, adds the
functions when clicked. homegroup to the computers "Computer" link when you are browsing files.
Security
Securing the network can be a tricky task, but securing the most common
means of entry is usually enough on a home network. Your router comes
with a default password that is listed in its documentation for initial access.
You can change the password of the router simply by accessing through
the wireless settings page in its web interface. Make sure to pick a strong
password (even if that means you have to write it down). Do not make it
based on any common words found in the dictionary, and make judicious use
of numbers and symbols if you can.
The next thing you need to secure is the wireless password. This can also be
found in your router under the wireless settings page. The technology used
should either be WPA2 if possible or the newest security protocol available
in your router. Make the password is difficult, and for even more security
disable the SSID broadcast. While this means you will have to type the name
in manually and use the connection setup for connecting to wireless, the
upside is your network will not show up in typical scans when someone is
looking for it.
Uncheck Software
When installing these programs, be aware of what you are clicking on and agreeing to. Many of
them have advertising agreements with websites that help pay for their development. When you
are installing them, be sure to uncheck and decline offers to set home pages and install toolbars.
Required Software
This section touches base on the main categories of software and functionality that end users will
expect from their computer. If you can provide these to them they will have a much smoother
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experience with their new computer, and if they want a certain piece of software they may ask you
to help them buy and install it.
Browsers
For most users, Internet Explorer will provide most of the functionality they need. If they ask for
another browser, feel free to install it. When you are setting up the system be sure to get the latest
updates for the browser, install Flash Player, and install the newest version of Java. This will ensure
things like YouTube and Facebook work properly.
Office
Microsoft Office is the de facto standard for office tasks in the workplace, and this has translated
into it being the standard for schools and home use as well. Either encourage the user to purchase
a copy if they do not have one, or install OpenOffice for them. OpenOffice is an office suite that is
mostly compatible with Microsoft Office, and will provide most of the features that the user requires.
Security
If the user has their own security suite already purchased, go ahead and install it for them. If they
refuse to purchase one, go ahead and install something like MSE or Avast. These are both free anti-
virus software programs that can be found online. Note that you will need to register Avast to use it.
Media Players
Install something like Media Player Classic or VLC on Windows Vista and Windows XP systems.
Windows Media Player 12 in Windows 7 should be able to handle most of the user’s needs well.
These are also free and can be found online.
Photo Editing
MS Paint is included with Windows 7, but the older versions in XP and Vista are lacking. Installing
something like Paint.net will give the user something with a little more power to use. The GIMP
can also be installed but it might be a little complex for a new user. Pain.net is a free program that
can be downloaded online.
Disk Mastering
Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7 can all burn CDs and DVDs, but only Windows 7 can
burn images of disks back to disks. I recommend downloading CDBurner XP or IMGBurn for the
other two Operating Systems. Both of these are free and can be downloaded online.
PDF Reader
Be sure to install Adobe Reader before you hand the machine back over to the user. This can be
found at www.adobe.com and is a free program.
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SECTION
OPTIMIZE
5
USER EXPERIENCE
In This Section:
19. Windows Update
In User
20. ThisAccount
Section:
Customization
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— COMPUTER REPAIR MASTERY COURSE —
Windows XP
Click on Start > Control Panel > Security Center > Automatic Updates. Once you are here, you can
select Automatic and then select when you want them to run. You can also select the Other Options
which includes the option to Turn Off Automatic Updates. Turning off Automatic Updates assumes
you will update them manually. This is not recommended unless you are having compatibility issues
between certain software and the updates that are being automatically installed.
Types of Updates
Updates come in a variety of types, some are system based, some are security based, and there
are other types as well. Windows, however, divides them into two large categories. These two
categories are the same in Windows XP and Windows Vista and Windows 7, even though they are
named differently. Express (Important) and Custom (Optional) are their names. Express (Important)
is going to include things like security and compatibility updates. Custom (Optional) will include
things like software and driver updates. Microsoft Update is another service that provides updates
to Microsoft software such as Office, Visual Studio, and many others. Microsoft Update is accessed
through a website in Windows XP, and can be reached by entering Microsoft Update in your search
engine of choice. In Windows Vista and Windows 7, enter the Update configuration menu by
clicking Start, typing Update in the run box, and selecting Windows Update when it shows up. In
the left pane, select Change Settings and then select Give Me Updates for Microsoft Products. You
may also want to check for new optional Microsoft software when you update the Windows Check
Box. After you’ve made your selections click OK.
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— CHAPTER 19: Windows Update —
Service Packs
Service packs are collections of updates and potential changes to the core
functionality of Windows. These changes can be relatively simple things like
changing the security profiles or disabling services by default. They can also
be major changes like rebuilding the entire wireless interface, like Service
Pack 2 for Windows XP did. Most service packs are pushed out through
Windows Update but you can find them on Microsoft’s website as well.
Security Benefits
The security benefit of user roles on a system are that you can setup a
system with a lower level of access in a standard session. This helps secure
the system because most of the malware out there affects your system by
abusing the permissions of a system. Problems of this nature are called
privilege elevation problems or abuse of power. Using a system in this way
makes it much less likely that a virus can alter significant files because
without abusing an exploit in the system itself. This is because processes
spawned off of a user are restricted to the privilege level of that user. If a
guest user downloads a virus and the virus doesn’t have a way to elevate its
own privilege through an exploit, it cannot change any files on the system
because it does not have any permissions to do so. This method also secures
personal documents and media of a user from other users of the system.
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UAC
UAC (User Account Control) was introduced in Windows Vista as a way to User Account Control
A technology that
increase the security level of the system. In Windows XP everything was run
improves the security of
as administrator by default, and many programs required administrator level Microsoft Windows by
access to even function. This approach bypassed most of the built-in security preventing unauthorized
of the Operating System. UAC required that programs requesting admin ac- system changes through
cess, even from the administrator account, obtain real-time verification from an administrator
password before
the user with permission to do so. This system, when used properly and not
performing any action.
turned off, significantly increased the base level of security of the computer.
User switching
User Switching A feature on a computer
operating system that
If you have multiple accounts setup on your computer, you can log off of the allows users to switch
machine and let other people log in. This is called user switching. Setting up between user accounts
"fast user switching" loads part of the profiles of different users and keeps it without quitting
in memory so that the profile switching occurs at a faster pace. applications and/or fully
logging out.
Parental Control
Parental controls in Windows 7 can be accessed by clicking Start > Control
Panel > User Accounts. Under user accounts, look for the option to Set up
Parental Controls. If you are prompted for the admin password, you will need
to provide it to continue. Click the user you wish to setup controls for and
under parental controls click on.
Once they’ve been turned on, you can adjust web restrictions and filter them
by age restriction. You can also adjust how you want to allow downloads,
what content you want filtered, and block specific websites. Time limits allow
you to control when the account is allowed to log into the machine. You
can also control what games the account is allowed to play and what type
of content you want to block. Finally, you can also block or allow specific
programs.
Clearing a Password
In Windows 7 and XP you can remove a user password by logging in as
an administrator and removing the password. If you are setup as the
administrator, you can access the hidden administrator account by logging in
under Safe Mode, hitting F8 before Windows loads (but after the BIOS screen
appears). After this, you can go into the user section in "Control Panel" and
remove the password.
Windows 7 and Vista also have a way to create a password recovery disc. First
click on Start > Control Panel, click User Accounts and Family Safety, and then
click on User Accounts. In the left pane you can click Create a password reset
disc. Be sure to store this disc in a safe place.
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— Flow Charts —
Problem:
The Computer Will Not Turn On
Securely Attach
Computer to No
Is It Connected?
Functioning Power
Source.
Yes
No
Replace the Power
Did it Pass?
Supply.
Yes
No
Can You Start The
Replace the Switch.
Computer?
Yes
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— COMPUTER REPAIR MASTERY COURSE —
Problem:
The Computer Will Not Boot
See Flowchart : No
Computer Will Not Turn Does it Turn On?
On.
Yes
Remove Components
Attached to the No Does the Bios Yes
Test for OS Load
Motherboard Except for Splash Screen
Attempt.
the CPU, PSU, and Appear?
Memory.
No Yes
Test the Memory and Does it Try to Load Test for OS Load
Check for Bios Function With Components Removed
the Hard Drive. the OS? Success.
No No
Replace Yes
Motherboard or Set Primary Drive Does the Drive Replace the
Test Ram in to Boot Device. Return Any Errors? Defective Drive
Another Machine.
No
Run Fixboot and
FixMBR from
Restart at the Top
the Command Line
of the Decision
Environment on
Tree.
the Windows
Install Disk
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— Flow Charts —
Problem:
Display Doesn’t Turn On
Is the
Attach the Cables and No Monitor
Start Restart at the Top Plugged in and
of the Decision Tree. Connected to the
PC?
Yes
Test the Monitor and the Video Card by Hooking Up a Spare Monitor.
Yes
Does the Spare
Replace the Video
Card Activate the Problem Solved.
Card.
Monitor?
No
See Flowchart:
Computer Will Not Boot.
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— COMPUTER REPAIR MASTERY COURSE —
Problem:
The Computer Restarts During OS Load
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Does Your OS Boot
Boot Into Safe Mode. Boot the OS.
Up?
Yes
Yes
Yes
If This Doesn’t Work
Use Safe Mode To
You Will Need to Back
Remove Recently Does Your OS Boot
up Your Data and Run a
Installed Drivers or Up?
Repair Install or Factory
Software.
Restore.
No
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— Flow Charts —
Problem:
No Sound From Speakers
Are the
Attach the Cables and No Speakers
Start Restart at the Top Connected to
of the Decision Tree. the Computer and
to Power?
Yes
Yes
No
Consider Replacing
Audio Card or
Motherboard.
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— COMPUTER REPAIR MASTERY COURSE —
Problem:
The Rom Drive Will Not Open
Yes
No
Does Pressing
Replace the Drive the Access Button
Close the Drive?
Yes
Test Further
Functionality.
No
Does Pressing
the Button Open the
Drive?
Yes
Yes
No
Does it Show Up
in Windows and Problem Solved.
Read Disks?
©2011 BeYourOwnIT.com. You may not copy, reproduce, post or forward this document in any format. 138
— Glossary —
139 ©2011 BeYourOwnIT.com. You may not copy, reproduce, post or forward this document in any format.
— COMPUTER REPAIR MASTERY COURSE —
©2011 BeYourOwnIT.com. You may not copy, reproduce, post or forward this document in any format. 140
— Glossary —
to 25GB per layer and up to 50 GB on the new dual layer discs. floppy disks and other bootable media such as CDs and DVDs.
Boot sector viruses can cause startup and data retrieval errors.
Binary
A numeric system that uses only two unique digits, 0 and 1, Botnet
to represent real numbers. Computers use the binary numeric A network of computers or software agents that has been
system to perform mathematical operations and processes. remotely and discreetly set up to simultaneously and
automatically forward data transmissions to other computers on
BIOS the Internet.
BIOS, or Basic Input/Output System, is an independent,
built-in software that a computer uses to successfully start Broken installations
operating. A failed installation attempt of any software or program
application due to system conflict or incompatibility issues. A
Bit broken installation also occurs when the installation process
Bit, short for binary digit, represents the smallest unit of stops unexpectedly and only a part of the software has been
digital information. A single bit can hold only one of two installed.
values—0 or 1.
Brownout
Bit rate As an electrical term, brownout is defined as a drop in
Bit rate, measured in bits per second, refers to the number of bits voltage in an electrical power supply. This usually occurs when
that pass a given point on a network in a given amount of time. electrical utilities can’t meet the load demand and must limit
the maximum power by lowering the voltage.
BitLocker
A security feature in Microsoft Windows Vista, Windows 7, Brute-force attack
Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2. BitLocker is In computer security, this refers to the exhaustive search of
designed to protect data from unauthorized access by providing every possible code key until the correct key is found. This
full encryption for entire volumes. involves trying every possible code, password or combination
until the right one is discovered.
Bitstreaming
The process of transferring an entire encoded audio stream to Burn
another device, usually an A/V receiver, which then decodes the In computing, burn is a slang term for optical disc authoring,
audio stream into individual, separate channels. which is the process of recording or writing data onto an
optical disc. The content can be data, audio or video, and these
Bloatware
need to be assembled into the proper logical volume format
Software that is overpacked with a lot of features, requiring
before it can be burned on optical discs.
significant amounts of disk space and RAM. This kind of
software also leave a larger installation footprint, but usually Byte
offering little or no benefit to users. In computing, a byte is the abbreviation for binary term, a
basic unit of digital storage which is equal to eight bits.
Blue screen
The error state of Windows 95/98/NT that displays an error Cable internet
message and causes the monitor’s screen to turn blue. The In telecommunications, cable internet is a type of broadband
computer system also becomes completely unresponsive and internet connection that uses the cable television system
requires the user to reboot the system. network. Cable internet provides a much greater bandwidth
than telephone lines, allowing users to achieve extremely fast
Blu-ray
Internet access.
The new optical storage format that has a storage capacity
more than five times that of traditional DVDs. Blu-ray was Cable select
developed to allow recording, rewriting and playback of high- A drive mode that automatically configures itself as a master or
definition (HD) video. slave, according to its position on the cable. It is an alternate
method of identifying the master and slave devices on ATA/ATAPI
Boot
systems through the master/slave jumpers.
The process of loading the very first software, usually the
operating system, when starting a computer. Cache
In computer engineering, cache is a special high-speed storage
Boot partition
component that transparently stores data so that it can be
A segment of the computer’s hard drive that contains the files
accessed faster when it is needed. The cache can either be
needed by the computer system to startup.
a reserved section of the computer’s main memory or an
Boot sector virus independent storage device.
A computer virus that infects the first sector of hard disks,
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Capacitor Clipboard
In electronics, a capacitor is a component that stores electrical A short-term data storage facility where data is temporarily
energy, consisting of two conductors and an insulator, or stored before it is copied to another location. The clipboard
dielectric. Capacitors are primarily used for allowing alternating is usually part of a graphical user interface environment and
current to pass and blocking direct current. is primarily used by word processors for copying and pasting
information.
CAS Latency (CL)
CL, or CAS latency, stands for Column Address Strobe latency Clock
and refers to the delay between the time a memory controller In electronic and synchronous digital circuits, a clock is defined
instructs the memory module to access the correct column of as a signal that oscillates between a low and high state,
the memory matrix to the time the data from the array location and is used as a fixed constant source of signal frequency to
is available on the module’s output pins. coordinate circuit actions.
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— Glossary —
typically used to clean computer systems and dust electronic designed for laptops and had the code-name Yonah.
components.
CPU (Central Processing Unit)
Computer virus See Central Processing Unit
A program, or code on a computer system that can replicate
itself and transfer from one computer to another over a CPU Multiplier
network. Viruses can subvert normal files and can disrupt, Measures the ratio of an internal CPU clock rate to the
degrade and destroy data on computer systems. externally supplied clock. A CPU with a 10x multiplier will see
10 internal cycles for every external clock cycle. Most systems
Computer worm allow the clock multiplier to be changed in the BIOS, and by
A self-replicating computer program that exploits security increasing the clock multiplier the CPU clock speed will increase
vulnerabilities in computer systems and automatically spreads without affecting the clock speed of other components.
itself to other computers, or nodes, over the network.
Cross Site Scripting (XSS)
Config.sys A type of computer security breach typically found in web
A primary system configuration file used by DOS and OS/2 upon applications that enables malicious attackers to inject client-
system startup. It is a specialized text file containing commands, side script into web pages viewed by other users.
configuration and setup instructions for computer systems.
CUDA
Contrast ratio CUDA, or Compute Unified Device Architecture, is the
In reference to computer monitors, the contrast ratio is the computing engine architecture that powers NVIDIA graphics
measurement of the difference in light intensity between the processing units (GPUs). CUDA provides software developers
brightest color (brightest white) to that of the darkest color access to the virtual instruction set and memory of parallel
(darkest black) that the system is capable of reproducing. computational elements in CUDA GPUs.
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Decryption DirectCompute
The process of decoding data (plaintext) that has been created A general-purpose computing application programming
into a secret format (ciphertext). interface on graphics processing units that runs on both
Microsoft Windows Vista and Windows 7.
Defragmentation
The process of consolidating fragmented data on your Disk
computer’s hard disk, rearrange the fragments and restore them A round plate memory device consisting of a flat disk covered
into fewer fragments. with a magnetic coating on which data can be encoded. There
are two basic types of disks: optical disks and magnetic disks.
Delete
A computer terminology which means to erase or remove Disk Operating System (DOS)
something that is already written such as files, folders or The first widely-installed operating system for personal
documents from your hard drive. computers. DOS is often used as shorthand for MS-DOS or
Microsoft Disk Operating System.
Density
Spatial property of being crowded together or how tightly infor- Disk readers
mation is packed together on a storage medium (tape or disk). In computing, disk readers refer to external or internal devices
used to read digitized program on disks.
Desktop
Main screen in Windows where you can put icons of commonly DiskPart
used items such as pens, papers and folders that act like A command-line hard disk partitioning utility included in
shortcuts to various programs. versions of the Windows NT operating system line from Windows
2000. It replaces the fdisk command used in MS-DOS based
Destructive Restores operating systems.
Method that is performed when there is a serious problem
with your existing software installation that a normal DOCSIS (Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification)
troubleshooting does not resolve. Typically used when a virus See Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification
has infected your computer.
DOS (Disk Operating System)
Device manager See Disk Operating System
An administrative tool that lets you manage your computer. The
Double Conversion on Demand UPS
device manager is used to view and change device properties,
The combination of any two or more network topologies that
update device drivers, configure device settings, and even
operates as an off-line/standby UPS when power conditions are
uninstall devices.
within a certain preset window.
Dial up connections
Double Conversion UPS
A temporary, non-dedicated Internet connection from an end
The best class of UPS available from a technology standpoint
user to an Internet service provider made over ordinary telephone
that constantly conditions and controls AC output during
lines by dialing an Internet service provider’s number.
normal operating conditions.
Digital
Double Data Rate (DDR)
Describes electronic technology that stores, generates and
See DDR
processes data in two states: positive (represented by the
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— Glossary —
Double pumped the data being sent. ECC RAM tests the accuracy of data as it
In computing, double pumped refers to a computer bus transfer passes in and out of memory.
technique that effectively doubles the data transfer rate on
both the rising and falling edges of the clock signal. Electromigration
The result of the transfer of momentum from electrons through
Download internet speed the electric field to the ions which make up the interconnective
The amount of bytes of data an Internet connection can material.
transfer per second during downloading.
Electrostatic Discharge (ESD)
Drive-by attack The sudden, rapid transfer of electric current between two
A program that is automatically downloaded to your computer objects or surfaces that have come into direct contact with one
without your consent and without understanding the another or are close enough to develop a high electrostatic
consequences, like installing an unknown ActiveX component or field between them.
Java applet.
Encryption
Driver rollback The process of transforming data using an algorithm into non-
A computer feature that provides users with an easy way to readable information which only a recipient with the correct
revert to the previous version of the driver in question if there key can unlock and read.
are problems with the current version.
End User License Agreement (EULA)
Drivers The legal agreement between a software or program author and
Programs that enable your computer to communicate with the end user and/or the purchaser.
peripheral devices such as printers, scanners, keyboards, mice,
tape devices, microphones and external modems. Error Correction and Control (ECC) RAM
See ECC RAM
DSL (Digital Subscriber Line)
See Digital Subscriber Line ESD (Electrostatic Discharge)
See Electrostatic Discharge
DSLAM
The termination point for the ISP’s network and the end of their EULA (End User License Agreement)
backbone. See End User License Agreement
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Fragmentation Ground
Breakdown of files into pieces scattered around a hard disk Any conductive objective connected to the zero potential, the
that occurs over time as you save, change, or delete files. This common return path for any electrical current.
can eventually cause the computer to slow down as the system
begins to store parts of a file in non-contiguous clusters. GUI (Graphical User Interface)
See Graphic User Interface
Front-side bus (FSB)
The FSB, also called the system bus, is an electrical pathway Hacker
on a computer’s motherboard that connects the computer’s A proficient programmer or engineer with sufficient technical
processor to the system memory (RAM) and other components. knowledge to determine the weaknesses of a security system
and to exploit these weak points and break into computers or
FTTN (Fiber to the Node) networks, either for profit or motivated by the challenge.
See Fiber to the Node
Hard Drive
FTTP (Fiber to the Premises) Non-removable, magnetic data storage device that stores all the
See Fiber to the Premises data where files and folders are physically located. It consists
of nonvolatile, random access memory.
Full coverage warranty
A comprehensive warranty that completely covers the repair or Hard drive cooler
replacement of a consumer product. Cooling device used for any always-on server computers as well
as any computer which experiences a lot of hard drive usage to
Garbage collection protect stored information and increase system stability.
A process to manage the allocation and release of memory
for application. Its purpose is to reorganize or recover system HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface)
resources to prevent failure due to resource starvation. Compact audio/video interface for transmitting uncompressed
digital data. HDMI is used to transfer digital video signal from
General Purpose computing on Graphics Processing Units a source to a TV, converting the digital signal to analog.
(GPGPU)
The technique of using Graphic Processing Units (GPUs), Heat pipes
primarily used for computer graphics, to perform computations Thin, sealed metal tubular devices that combine the principles
of general applications usually handled by the CPU. of both thermal conductivity and phase transition to efficiently
manage the transfer of heat between two solid interfaces.
Gigabyte (GB)
A measure of computer data storage capacity and is “roughly” a Heat sink
billion bytes, 2 to the 30th power bytes. Device used to transfer heat generated within a solid material
to a fluid medium such as air or water. Heat sinks dissipate
Gigahertz heat away from sensitive electronic components to prevent
Gigahertz is equal to 1,000 megahertz (MHz) and is used as an damage.
indicator of the frequency of UHF and microwave EM signals.
Gigahertz is also used to express microprocessor clock speed. Heat spreader
External casing usually made of aluminum specially designed to
GPGPU (General Purpose computing on Graphics Processing cover an electronic device and dissipate heat.
Units)
See General Purpose computing on Graphics Processing Units Hertz
A unit of frequency. Specifically, hertz is one cycle per second.
GPU (Graphics Processing Unit)
Used for computing 2D or 3D graphic display functions. Display Hex
adapters contain one or more GPUs for fast graphics rendering Hex, or hexadecimal, refers to a number system in which the
and for realistic games and video. base used is 16. The system consists of 16 symbols - the
numbers 0 to 9 and the letters A to F.
Graphical User Interface (GUI)
A program interface that makes use of graphical icons, Hibernate
windows, menus and visual indicators as opposed to text- Power management feature provided in some operating systems.
based interfaces, to make it easy for humans to interact with It allows the operating system to close down automatically
computers. when the computer is not in use and store the data currently in
memory on the hard drive, although the computer itself remains
Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) switched on.
See GPU
High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI)
See HDMI
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HT (Hyperthreading) Kernel
Technology developed by Intel Corporation that enables a The central module of an operating system that provides all
processing core to execute two or more threads, or sets of the essential functions needed by applications and system
instructions, at the same time. components. The kernel oversees memory management, disk
management and process management.
Hybrid sleep
An improved Windows Vista feature that combines sleep and Key logger
hibernate. This feature puts any open documents and programs A type of surveillance software, either a software or spyware,
in memory or on the hard disk to ensure that system state is that has the capability to record keystrokes on a computer.
preserved in case of power loss.
Keyboard
IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) A hardware device consisting of alphanumeric and command
A standard electronic interface for mass storage devices where a keys used to enter data into a computer system.
parallel ribbon cable is used.
L1 cache
Image The L1 cache, also known as the “primary cache”, is the fastest
In computing, image refers to the visual representation of memory cache built into the CPU chip or microprocessor. The
the contents of a storage device (hard disk) or on the second computer loads frequently used pieces of data into the L1 cache
storage device (network server). enabling it to process requests much faster.
Install L2 cache
In computing, install is a term which means to connect or set The L2 cache, also known as the “secondary cache”, feeds the
in position and prepare for use such as installing software on a L1 cache. Its memory is slower than the L1 cache and resides
computer. on a separate chip from the microprocessor chip.
Intel L3 cache
The world’s largest manufacturer of computer chips and The extra cache built into motherboards that feeds the L2
microprocessors such as Pentium I, II, III, and IV. cache, and its memory is typically slower than the L2 memory.
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Malware MicroATX
Malware, or malicious software, refers to software programs A standard for motherboard systems that is designed to be
specifically designed to damage or disrupt a computer system. backward-compatible with ATX, a motherboard form factor
specification developed by Intel.
Man-in-the-middle
The phrase “Man-in-the-Middle Attack” is used to describe a Microphone
computer attack during which a cyber criminal funnels com- An electronic device that detects sound signals and produces an
munication between a consumer and a legitimate organization electrical image of the sound.
then retransmits them, substituting his own public key for the
Mini PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect)
requested one, so that the two original parties still appear to
A credit-card sized module that snaps onto the motherboard. It
be communicating with each other.
allows high-speed transfer peripheral connections in small form
Master factor devices such as laptop computers.
In computer architecture, master refers to a device that
Mini-ATX
controls one or more other devices, or slaves.
Mini-ATX motherboard is a smaller version of the full-sized
Master Boot Record ATX (Advanced Technology Extended) motherboard. It is a
A small program that is executed when a computer boots up. motherboard form factor specification designed with Mobile
It resides on the first sector of the hard disk and contains the on Desktop Technology (MoDT) that generates less heat and
necessary codes to start the boot process. requires less power.
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hardware resources, keeps track of files and directories on the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI)
disk and handles the execution of software application and See PCI
programs installed on the computer system.
Permission
Optical disk writers In computing, permission is an authorization to access a file
A disk drive that uses laser to write data onto optical discs. or directory. Depending on the operating system, each file may
Optical disk writers also have the ability to read data from have different permissions for different kinds of access and
optical discs, and are called burners or writers. different users or groups of users.
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— Glossary —
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— Glossary —
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Thread Ubuntu
Thread, or Thread of Execution, is the smallest, basic unit of A free and open-source computer operating system based on
processing activity issued by a computer system. Debian GNU/Linux distribution designed primarily for desktop
computer systems.
Timings
A set of clock signals oscillating between the low and high
state. These signals are synchronized and determine the delays
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Windows 7
The latest release of Microsoft for its Windows line of PC
operating systems, introducing new performance upgrades
such as virtual hard disk support, multi-core performance
enhancements, advances in touch screen technology and
improvements in DirectAccess, boot and kernel performance.
Windows Updates
A service provided by Microsoft that provides updates online
for the Microsoft Windows operating system and its installed
components, including Internet Explorer.
Windows Vista
https://www.facebook.com/CasaLaptopGuide
An operating system developed by Microsoft for personal
computers and includes many new features such as enhanced
visual style and graphical user interface, improved multimedia
tools and redesigned visual, audio and networking sub-systems.
Windows XP
The most popular operating system developed by Microsoft
that succeeded Windows 2000 and Windows ME. Built on the
Windows NT kernel and architecture, it introduced new features
such as an enhanced user interface, device driver rollback,
faster user switching and system state sequences and improved
application compatibility.
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