Legacy Computer Institute (LCI)

Certificate Course On PC Maintenance

And Assembly

Intended Audience
This course was developed for the entry-level computer technician,
as well as the experienced technician who is seeking certification.
For the entry-level student, it starts by explaining the basics and
moves on to more complex topics. It introduces the simple
concepts that underlie today's computers. Once this foundation is
established, it brings you up to date with the latest technology
covered by the LCI’s A+ exam. For the more experienced user, it
provides a fresh review and focus on what is required to meet the
objectives of the A+ exam.

To better understand the concepts presented and to complete any

exercises or practices, it would be useful to have a computer with
an Intel processor and, at the very least, MS-DOS 6.2 and
Windows 3.x. A Windows 9X-based computer is recommended.

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Chapter 1
1.1 Introduction to Computers
We begin our introduction to computers with a brief history of how
they evolved. Although this course and the LCI’s A+ exam focuses
on the modern electronic computer, many principles used in the
early computational machines still apply to their modern
successors. With a summary of stages in computer development
and discussion of the role of today's computer professional, this
chapter lays the foundation for the subsequent chapters that follow.

1.2 The Development of the Computer

In this lesson, we take a brief look at the development of the
computer. By understanding its origins, you'll gain an appreciation
for both the complexity and simplicity of today's computers. Many
of us think only in terms of electronic computers, powered by
electricity. (If you can't plug it in, is it a computer?) But as the
definition in Funk & Wagnalls Standard College Dictionary makes
clear, to "compute" is to "ascertain (an amount or number) by
calculation or reckoning." In fact, the first computers were
invented by the Chinese about 2500 years ago. They are called
abacuses and are still used throughout Asia today.

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The Abacus

Figure 1.1 The first computer

The Analytical Engine (A Pre-Electronic Computer)

The first mechanical computer was the analytical engine,
conceived and partially constructed by Charles Babbage in
London, England, between 1822 and 1871. It was designed to
receive instructions from punched cards, make calculations with
the aid of a memory bank, and print out solutions to math
problems.

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The First Electrically Driven Computer
The first computer designed expressly for data processing was
patented on January 8, 1889, by Dr. Herman Hollerith of New
York. The prototype model of this electrically operated tabulator
was built for the U. S. Census Bureau and computed results in the
1890 census.

Using punched cards containing information submitted by

respondents to the census questionnaire, the Hollerith machine
made instant tabulations from electrical impulses actuated by each
hole. It then printed out the processed data on tape. Dr. Hollerith
left the Census Bureau in 1896 to establish the Tabulating Machine
Company to manufacture and sell his equipment. The company
eventually became IBM, and the 80-column punched card used by
the company, shown in Figure 1.2, is still known as the Hollerith
card.

Figure 1.2 Typical 80-character punched card

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The Digital Electronic Computer
The first modern digital computer, the ABC (Atanasoff-Berry
Computer), was built in a basement on the Iowa State University
campus in Ames, Iowa, between 1939 and 1942. The development
team was led by John Atanasoff, professor of physics and
mathematics, and Clifford Berry, a graduate student. This machine
included many features still in use today: binary arithmetic,
parallel processing, regenerative memory, separate memory, and
computer functions. When completed, it weighed 750 pounds and
could store 3000 bits (0.4 KB) of data.

The technology developed for the ABC machine was passed from
Atanasoff to John W. Mauchly, who, together with engineer John
Presper Eckert, developed the first large-scale digital computer, the
Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC). It was
built at the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School of
Electrical Engineering. Begun as a classified military project,
ENIAC was destined to prepare firing and bombing tables for the
U.S. Army and Navy. When finally assembled in 1945, ENIAC
consisted of 30 separate units, plus power supply and forced-air
cooling. It weighed 30 tons, used 19,000 vacuum tubes,
1500 relays, and hundreds of thousands of resistors, capacitors, and
inductors. It required 200 kilowatts of electrical power to operate.

Although programming ENIAC was a mammoth task requiring

manual switches and cable connections, it became the workhorse
for the solution of scientific problems from 1949 to 1952. ENIAC
is considered the prototype for most of today's computers.

Another device important to computer history is the Colossus I, an

early digital computer built at a secret government research
establishment at Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire, England, under
the direction of Professor Max Newman. Colossus I was designed

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for a single purpose: cryptanalysis—breaking codes. Using
punched paper tape input, it scanned and analyzed 5000 characters
per second. Colossus became operational in December 1943 and
proved to be one of the most important technological aids to
victory in World War II. It enabled the British to break the
otherwise impenetrable German "Enigma" codes.

The 1960s and 1970s marked the era of the mainframe computer.
Using the technology of ABC, ENIAC, and Colossus, large
computers and emerging companies came to dominate the
industry.

1.3 Types Of Computers An Overview

Simply defined, Computer is said to be a machine that accepts raw
data as input, process it and brings out information as output.
Computers could be classified as being Analogue (e.g.
Thermometer, Speedometer, and Fuel Gauge etc), Digital or
Hybrid (Mostly used in high-tech areas like petroleum refining).
Analogue Computers measure data in a continuous manner, while
Digital Computers measure data in binary digits “bits” (0s and 1s).
Hybrid Computers combines combine the features of digital and
analogue computers. As these highlights show, the concept of the
computer has indeed been with us for quite a while. The following
table provides an overview of the evolution of modern
computers—it is a timeline of important events.

Year Events
1971 The 4004—the first 4-bit microprocessor—is introduced by Intel. It boasts
2000 transistors with a clock speed of up to 1 MHz (megahertz).
1972 The first 8-bit microprocessor—the 8008—is released.
1974 The 8080 microprocessor is developed. This improved version of the 8008
becomes the standard from which future processors will be designed.
1975 Digital Research introduces CP/M—an operating system for the 8080. The
combination of software and hardware becomes the basis for the standard
computer.

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1976 Zilog introduces the Z80—a low-cost microprocessor (equivalent to the
8080).

The Apple I comes into existence, although it is not yet in wide use.
1977 The Apple II and the Commodore PET computers, both of which use a
6502 processor, are introduced. These two products become the basis for
the home computer. Apple’s popularity begins to grow.
1978 Intel introduces a 16-bit processor, the 8086, and a companion math
coprocessor, the 8087.

Intel also introduces the 8088. It is similar to the 8086, but it transmits 8
bits at a time.
1980 Motorola introduces the 68000—a 16-bit processor important to the
development of Apple and Atari computers. Motorola’s 68000 becomes the
processor of choice for Apple.
1981 The IBM personal computer (PC) is born; it contains a 4.7-MHz 8088
processor, 64 KB (kilobytes) of RAM (random access memory) and is
equipped with a version of MS-DOS 1.0 (three files and some utilities).
Available mass-storage devices include a 5.25-inch floppy drive and a
cassette tape drive.
1982 Intel completes development of the 80286—a 16-bit processor with
150,000 transistors.

MS-DOS 1.1 now supports double-sided floppy disks that hold 360 KB of
data.
1983 IBM introduces the XT computer with a 10-MB hard-disk drive.

MS-DOS 2.0 arrives—it features a tree-like structure and native support for
hard-disk drive operations.
1984 The first computer with an 80286 chip—the IBM AT—enters the market. It
is a 6-MHz machine with a 20-MB hard-disk drive and a high-density, 1.2-
MB 5.25-inch floppy-disk drive.
1985 MS-DOS 3.2, which supports networks, is released.
1986 The first Intel 80386-based computer is introduced by Compaq; it features a
32-bit processor with expanded multitasking capability (even though no PC
operating system yet fully supports the feature).
1987 MS-DOS 3.3 arrives, allowing use of 1.44-MB 3.5-inch floppy-disk drives
and hard-disk drives larger than 32 MB.
1988 IBM introduces the PS/2 computer series. A complete departure from
previous machines, its proprietary design does not support the hardware and
software available on IBM PCs or clones.

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 Microsoft (with the help of IBM) develops OS/2 (Operating System 2),
which allows 32-bit operations, genuine multitasking, and full MS-DOS
compatibility.

Microsoft releases MS-DOS 4.0.

1989 Intel introduces the 80486 processor; it contains an on-board math
coprocessor and an internal cache controller (offering 2.5 times the
performance of a 386 processor with a supporting coprocessor).
1991 MS-DOS 5.0 offers a significantly improved DOS shell.
1992 The Intel i586 processor, the first Pentium, is introduced, offering 2.5 times
the performance of a 486.

IBM expands OS/2, and Microsoft Windows is introduced.

1993 MS-DOS 6.0 arrives. The term “multimedia” (the inclusion of CD-ROM
drives, sound cards, speakers, and so forth, as standard equipment on new
personal computers) comes into use.
1994 Intel delivers the first 100-MHz processor. COMPAQ Computer
Corporation becomes the largest producer of computers.
1995 Windows 95, code-named Chicago, is introduced by Microsoft. It features
32-bit architecture.

IBM has now shipped over one million OS/2 Warp software packages.

The Internet, having expanded far beyond its beginnings as a network

serving government and university institutions, is now in everyday use by
the rapidly growing population with access to a modem.

Computer prices drop as performance increases. IBM purchases Lotus

(maker of the popular Lotus1-2-3 spreadsheet).
1995– Software manufacturers scramble to make their products compatible with
1996 Windows 95.
1997 Microprocessor speeds exceed the 200-MHz mark. Hard-disk drive and
memory prices fall while basic system configuration sizes continue to
increase.

CD-ROM drives and Internet connections have become standard equipment

for computers.
1998 Personal computer performance continues to soar, and PC prices continue
to fall. CPU speeds exceed 450 MHz, and motherboard bus speeds reach
100 MHz.

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 Multimedia and Internet connections have become the de facto standard for
new PCs.

Entry-level machines are priced near the $500 mark.

Universal Serial Bus (USB) is introduced.

Windows 98 becomes the standard operating system for most new personal
computers.
1999 Processors exceed 600 MHz.

Microsoft readies Windows 2000 for release in February 2000, as Internet

shopping doubles over the holiday season.
2001 Microsoft release Windows XP.
2003 Microsoft release Windows 2003.

1.4 The Role of an (IT) Professional

As computers have evolved, so has the role of the computer
technician. This lesson takes a look at the contemporary
technician's role in maintaining and servicing computers.

Matching the rapid pace of change in the industry, the role of the
computer professional is constantly changing, too. Not too many
years ago, all that was needed to repair a computer was a
screwdriver, needle-nose pliers, the documentation for the
computer, a bootable disk with a few utilities, and a good MS-DOS
reference manual. Although these tools are still fundamental to the
job, to be ready for all situations, a technician has to travel with an
entire library of technical manuals (a laptop computer with a CD-
ROM drive and modem helps, too). The screwdriver is still the
standard repair tool, but the technician is confronted with a wider
array of case types, motherboard designs, processor types, and
operating systems—and a wider array of customer needs. Today's
computer professional needs to be a technician, a scholar, and a
diplomat rolled into one, as you can see by the table that follows.

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Title Skills
Technician You are able to troubleshoot and repair hardware and software
efficiently and quickly.
Scholar You have the wisdom and perseverance to seek answers to what you
don't know and build your base of knowledge. Learning never stops.
Diplomat You are able to instill in the user (your customer) the confidence that
you are in control and can fix things, even when you are encountering
them for the first time. You are able to resolve the problem, even if your
customer's (lack of) understanding of the computer might be part of that
problem.

Chapter Summary
The following points summarize the key concepts in this chapter:

The Development of the Computer

• The concepts that form the basis of computer technology

have a long history that stretches back 2500 years.
• Modern computers have followed the growth and
technology of the electronics industry.

Types Of Computers
• Computers could be classified as being Analogue, Digital or
Hybrid.
• Analogue Computers measure data in a continuous manner,
Digital measures data in binary digits “bits” and Hybrid
Computers combine the two features.

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The Role of a Computer Service Professional

• The role of the computer technician has paralleled the

evolution of the computer.
• A computer technician must combine troubleshooting and
repair skills with on-the-job learning and customer support.
• To be competent, the computer technician of today must
master a variety of skills.
• Understanding how a computer functions and how the owner
plans to use it are just as important to a technician as
familiarity with parts and workbench tools.

Chapter Review Questions

1. Give an example of an early electronic computer.

2. What are the three roles that today's computer service

professional needs to assume?

3. Mention the three types of Computers you know.

4. The 1980s marks the turning point in PC development

explain.

5. When does Intel manufactured the first Pentium processor?

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Chapter 2: How computers work
2.1 Components (Parts) Of Computer
Every Computer System is made up of two major components viz:
- The Hardware and the Software. Hardware components are the
physical or visible parts of a computer that one can see and touch,
for example the Systems Unit, the monitor, the Key-Board, mouse
etc. Software components are the invisible parts including Systems
Software like the BIOS (Basic Input Output System), Operating
System (OS) e.g. DOS, WINDOWS, UNIX, LINUX etc and
Application Software like ORACLE, DBASE, and FOXFRO etc.

2.2 Functions performed by different

hardware components
Hardware is used for four basic functions: input, output,
processing, and storage. Input devices include the keyboard and
mouse; the printer and monitor are both examples of output
devices. The CPU (Central Processing Unit) is an important
hardware component because it is the primary processing unit for
the computer. Storage devices can be either permanent (secondary)
or temporary (primary). Secondary or permanent storage, as the
name implies, retains the data even if there is no power. Hard
drives, floppy disks, Zip drives, and CD ROMS are all examples of
permanent storage. Primary or temporary storage other wise
known as RAM (Read Access Memory) is faster than permanent
storage and is used to hold data and instructions while processing.
When the computer is turned off, any information in temporary
storage is lost. Temporary storage is conventionally called
memory. Examples of memory devices are SIMMs (Single Inline
Memory Modules) and DIMMs (Dual Inline Memory Modules).

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2.3 Three kinds of software
PC software can be divided into three categories: BIOS (Basic
Input Output System) or firmware, operating systems (OS), and
applications software. The BIOS is software that is permanently
stored on a computer chip. The BIOS is used to help boot the
computer and to communicate with I/O devices. When the
computer is first turned on, the BIOS control the computer. During
the process of booting, the BIOS load the OS and the OS takes
control. The OS acts as an interface between hardware and
software, manages storage (primary and secondary), and performs
various housekeeping tasks. Users interact with the OS by one of
three interfaces: command-driven, menu-driven, or icon-driven.

2.4 How the CPU uses primary and

secondary storage to manage software
Primary storage is temporary storage used by the CPU to process
data and instructions. Devices on the system board and other
circuit boards, called memory or RAM provide primary storage.
The most common types of boards that hold memory chips are
SIMMs and DIMMs. Since RAM needs a continuous supply of
electrical power, any information in primary storage is lost when
the machine is turned off. Secondary storage is permanent storage
that remains even after the computer is turned off. Secondary
storage devices have controllers that contain software to manage
the device and temporarily hold data as it is transferred between
primary and secondary storage.

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2.5 Hardware Components (Parts)
What is the difference between hardware and software? Hardware
includes the physical devices that make up a computer. Software
includes programs that tell the computer how to use these devices.
Firmware is the middleman that translates the software commands
to the proper hardware voltages. Input/output devices typically
called peripheral devices, reside outside the computer case. The
monitor, keyboard, and mouse are examples of peripheral devices.
To attach a peripheral device a connection is needed. This
connection is called a port. Some examples of port include COM 1,
COM2 and LPT1 & LPT2.

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2.6 Hardware used for input and output
Monitors are one of the two most popular types of output devices
in use today. Hardware manufacturers rate a monitor according to
the viewable size of its screen and by the number of pixels used to
display the screen. A pixel is a dot or unit of color that is the
smallest unit of display on a monitor. Modern color monitors
typically have millions of pixels, which make up the screen.

2.7 Hardware inside the computer case

CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor) is a chip
that can maintain configuration information as long as it has an
electrical charge. It is used on system boards to remember
hardware configuration information such as the presence of a hard
drive, floppy drive or CD-ROM drive.
Expansion cards are circuit boards designed to attach to the system
board using an expansion slot. Expansion cards were originally
created to modularize the installation of additional hardware such
as video cards, sound cards and I/O cards.

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2.8 The system board
The largest and most important circuit board in the computer is the
system board. All other circuit boards in a computer attach to the
system board in some manner. The system board also houses the
CPU (Central Processing Unit), which is the brain of a PC. The
CPU is involved in almost every calculation the PC makes.

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2.9 Components used primarily for
processing
Three components are primarily used for processing in almost all
computers. They are:

1. CPU - A microprocessor housed on the system board.

2. Chipset - A chipset is a group of chips on the system board that
relieves the CPU of some of the system’s processing tasks, which
increases the overall speed and performance of the system.
3. Coprocessor - A chip or portion of the CPU that helps the
microprocessor perform calculations.

2.10 Temporary (primary) storage

devices
Primary storage is temporary storage. Primary storage is provided
by devices on the system board and on the other circuit boards,
called memory or RAM. The RAM chips can be installed
individually, directly on the system board, or in banks of several
chips, on a small board that plugs into the system board. The most
common types of memory chips are SIMMs and DIMMs, which
are two types of volatile memory. Memory is considered volatile if
it needs to be continually refreshed by the CPU. Cache memory is
a kind of fast RAM that serves as a holding area for data that is
accessed frequently. It is more efficient than volatile RAM because
it does not need to be continually refreshed.

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2.11 Permanent (secondary) storage
devices
RAM on the system board, is considered primary storage;
secondary storage is everything else. The four most popular
secondary storage devices are hard disks, floppy disks, Zip drives
and CD-ROMs. A hard drive consists of several metal platters
and metal read/write heads. The heads move over the platters to
read and write data. However, if the heads ever touch the platters,
it is considered a head crash. Bumping or dropping a hard drive
can cause a head crash. Laptops are particularly susceptible to head
crashes. A hard drive controller is the device responsible for
directly controlling the head movement of the hard drive. Older
hard drives did not come with onboard controllers. A floppy disk
uses the same method as a hard drive but because it is designed
to be portable, it has only one platter, made of plastic, and has no
heads. In order to read the data stored on a floppy disk, the disk
must be put into a floppy drive. The drive then uses its heads to
read the data stored on the floppy disk’s platter.

2.12 System board components used for

communication among devices
The lines on a circuit board are called traces and are circuits, or
paths, that enable data, instructions, and power to move from
component to component on the board. This system of pathways
used for communication and the protocol and methods used for
transmissions are collectively referred to as the bus. A protocol is a
set of rules and standards that any two entities use for
communication.

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2.13 Interface (expansion) cards
The three most commonly used expansion card types are:

PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) expansion slot used for

high-speed input/output devices.

AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) expansion slot used for a video

card.

ISA (Industry Standard Architecture) expansion slot used by older

and/or slower devices.

2.14 The electrical system

The purpose of a power supply is to convert electricity from 110 -
240 Volts AC to either 5 or 12 volts DC for the system board and
other devices. Standard PC power supplies have two to five
connectors for the system board: one for the floppy drive and four
connectors for devices like hard drives and CD-ROMs (although
these numbers vary depending on the manufacturer).

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2.15 Instructions and data stored on the
system board
BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) is firmware that controls much
of a computer’s input/output functions, such as communication
with the floppy drive, RAM chips, and the monitor. BIOS is also
called RAM BIOS. ROM (Read Only Memory) is a chip that can
hold data without an electrical charge. Flash ROM can also hold
data without an electrical charge, but unlike ROM the data can be
erased and rewritten by software. The process of erasing and
rewriting data to a flash ROM chip is referred to as flashing.

2.16 The three types of software and

what they do
The three types of software are:
1. Firmware (BIOS)
2. Operating System (OS)
3. Application software.

2.16.1 Firmware or BIOS

The purpose of the BIOS is the same as the purpose of device
drivers - to translate software instructions into a language that the
hardware components can understand. The system BIOS is a
combination of all of your computer’s different BIOS’s combined.
These BIOS’s would include the video BIOS, the startup BIOS,
and any others that may be installed.

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2.16.2 Operating Systems (OS)
The operating system creates an environment in which all
applications can be executed. Operating systems are normally
stored on the hard drive. Some of the most common operating
systems in use today include: DOS (Disk Operating System),
Windows 3.1, Windows 9x, Windows NT, OS/2 and UNIX.

Starting Up the Operating System

What is the difference between a data file and a program file? A
data file is a collection of related records or lines that can be
written to a disk and assigned a name, such as a simple letter or
payroll file containing data about employees. A program file is a
file that contains instructions designed to be executed by the CPU.
When a system is booted, it reads the boot record of its primary
hard drive and looks for an operating system. If it finds one, it
copies the necessary files into RAM and loads the operating
system. What happens behind the scenes when an application is
executed? After the first set of program instructions are copied to
RAM, it is executed by the CPU. The executed instructions, points
the CPU to another set of instructions stored at a different location
within the RAM. The CPU then executes those instructions. This
process continues until the application has completed execution.

Interfacing with the Operating System

There are two kinds of operating system user interfaces:
command-driven interface (command line) or Graphical User
Interface (GUI). In a command-driven interface you must type in
the command that you want the computer to perform. In a GUI
interface, icons and graphics are used to communicate with the
user. DOS & UNIX are examples of command line based OS,
while Windows is an example of GUI based OS.

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Survey of Operating Systems
Multitasking refers to the ability to execute more than one task at
a time. Older CPUs and operating systems did not have this ability.
Cooperative multitasking is a type of pseudo-multitasking hereby
the CPU switches back and forth between programs loaded at the
same time. One program sits in the background waiting for the
other to relinquish control. Cooperative multitasking is also called
task switching. Cooperative multitasking was designed to give the
illusion of multitasking. Preemptive multitasking is a type of
pseudo-multitasking whereby the CPU allows an application a
specified period of time and then preempts the processing to give
time to another application. A computing environment refers to
the operating system and its capabilities. Refer to the tables found
on pages 35-40 of your textbook, to evaluate the advantages and
disadvantages of each type of operating system.

How an Operating System Manages an

Application
Under DOS, a file’s name has two parts. The first part, called the
filename, contains up to eight characters. The second part, called
the file extension, contains up to three characters. When you write
file extensions in DOS commands, you separate the extension
from the filename with a period. Other operating systems such as
Windows 9x and Windows NT, can use long file names that can
contain up to 256 characters, as opposed to the eight-character
limitation of DOS. DOS divides memory usage in the following
way:
• Conventional or base memory 0 to 640K
• Upper memory 640 to 1024K
• Extended memory above 1024K

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Real/Protected Modes
What is the difference between real mode and protected mode?
Real mode is a single tasking operating mode whereby a program
only has 1024K of memory address, has direct access to RAM, and
uses a 16-bit data path. Protected mode is an operating mode
that supports multitasking whereby the OS manages memory,
programs have more than 1024K of memory addresses, and
programs can use a 32-bit data path. In protected mode, the OS
does not allow a program direct access to RAM, but works as the
mediator between memory and programs. This allows the OS some
latitude in how it uses RAM. If the OS is low on RAM, it can store
some data on the hard drive. The method of using hard drive space
as though it were RAM is called virtual memory. Windows
implements virtual memory by storing data in a file on the hard
drive called the swap file.

2.16.3 Applications Software

The six most common types of applications are: word processing,
spreadsheets, database management, graphics, communications,
and games. A Suite of applications is a set of programs designed to
be compatible with each other, and is usually comprised of at least
five applications. Most applications and application suites are
designed with a specific operating system in mind.

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How Applications Software is Loaded and
Initialized
A directory is a folder where files can be stored. Think of the root
directory as the main folder. All files and folders on the PC are
ultimately stored in the main folder, or root directory. Note that the
root directory is represented by a backslash (\). To execute a file
under DOS, you would type in the name of the file. DOS will then
search for the file in the following order: .com, .exe, .bat. DOS will
only search the current directory unless a search path has been
specified. A search path is a list of default directories that the
operating system will search when looking for an executable. The
search path can be edited using the PATH command or by
modifying the AUTOEXEC.BAT. If you specify a path when
attempting to execute a file, the operating system will not have to
use the search path to locate the file.

2.17 The Tree Stages of Computing

A modern computer looks like a complicated device. It is
constructed of many hardware components connected with what
seem to be miles of interwoven wires. Despite this apparent
complexity, however, a computer, just like a calculator, handles
information in three stages: input, processing, and output. (See
Figure 2.3.) Each piece of hardware can be classified in one (and
sometimes two) of these three stages. We can also use these three
stages to classify any aspect of a computer's operation or the
function of any of its components. During the troubleshooting
phase of a repair job, it is often useful to categorize a problem
according to which of the three stages it occurs in.

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Figure 2.3 Three stages of computing.
Input
Input is the first stage of computing. Input refers to any means that
moves data (information) from the outside world into the
processor. Today's PC can support a wide variety of input devices;
keyboards, mouse devices, voice recognition devices, sound cards,
modems, scanners, tape drives, CD/DVD drives, and video
cameras are some of the most common.

Processing
Processing is the second stage of computing: the actual
manipulation of data by the computer. Computers were designed
initially as tools to carry out the tedious task of "number
crunching" and then, later, to store large amounts of often
redundant data. Today, computers not only fulfill ever-expanding
scientific and business roles, but they also fill our lives with

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education, entertainment, organization, information processing,
and—occasionally—frustration. As we enter this new century,
computers have become a necessity of life and are often taken for
granted. Even for people who do not own or use a personal
computer, they are an increasing part of everyday life. And
computer technology hides in many everyday appliances.
Microprocessors run most of our mechanical and electronic
devices, including cars, cameras, VCRs, microwave ovens,
telephones, and the checkout system at the supermarket.

Output
Output is the third stage of computing. All the input and processing
in the world won't do us any good unless we can get the
information back from the computer in a comprehensible and
usable form. Output devices today come in many forms: monitors,
printers, fax machines, modems, plotters, CD-recordable discs,
sound cards, and more.

I/O Devices
Some devices handle both input and output functions. These
devices are called input/output (I/O) devices, a term you will
encounter quite often. Examples of these devices are Floppy-disk
drive, Hard-disk, Modem, Network cards, CR-R, CD-WR and
Tape-drive.

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Chapter Summary
The following points summarize the key concepts in this chapter:

• Computers are made up of two major components (i.e.

Hardware and Software).
• All computer hardware devices can be classified by their four
primary functions which include Input, Output, Processing
and Storage.
• Some hardware devices combine multiple functions input and
output. Hence, are called I/O devices.
• Some hardware devices, such as network and modem cards,
expand the communication abilities of a computer.
• Data-storage capabilities have been increased with the use of
CD-ROM and CD/R.

Chapter Review Questions

1. Describe the three stages of computing and the role of each.
2. What is the purpose of the central processing unit (CPU)?
3. Describe two devices that process information inside a
computer.
4. What is a chip set?
5. Name and describe three input devices.
6. What type of device is a scanner?
7. Describe three output devices.
8. What is I/O?
9. Name three I/O devices.

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Chapter 3 How Software and Hardware
work together

3.1 The boot (startup) process

The boot, or startup, process can be divided into four parts: POST
(power-on self test), loading the OS, the OS initializing itself, and
loading and executing an application. During the POST, the ROM
BIOS startup program, surveys hardware resources and needs
and assigns system resources to meet those needs. The startup
program then finds the OS and loads it most often from logical
drive C. After the OS is loaded, it has control of the computer. The
OS then configures the system and completes its own loading. The
OS checks memory and loads software to control the mouse, CD-
ROM, scanner, and other peripheral devices. At this point, the
system is ready to receive commands from the user to execute
application programs.

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3.2 How User Interact with the Computer

The user communicates with the application, which in turn

communicates with the operating system. The operating system
communicates with the BIOS or Device Drivers. Finally the BIOS
or Device Drivers communicate directly with the hardware.
Figure 3- 1 above illustrates this process:

3.3 System Resources Defined

• IRQ – (Interrupt Request) a line of a system board bus that a
hardware device can use to signal the CPU that the device needs
attention. Some lines have a higher priority for attention than
others, Each IRQ line is identified by a single number. IRQs are
physical wires. There are only 16 IRQs that exist physically,
numbered 0 - 15. However, only 15 are available for use. IRQ2/9
are physically the same.

• I/O Address - Numbers assigned to hardware devices that

software uses to get devices` attention and to interact with them.
Each device "listens" for these numbers and responds to the ones
assigned to it. There are over 65,000 available I/O Addresses. They
are alpha-numeric, hexadecimal numbers that tells devices what to

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do. Simple devices just have a few I/O addresses, while
complicated ones have many I/O Addresses electronically attached
to them. However, no two devices can share the same I/O Address.

• Memory Addresses - Numbers that are assigned to physical

memory located either in RAM or ROM chips. Software can then
access this memory by using these addresses.

•DMA (Direct Memory Access) Channel - A number designating

a channel whereby the device can pass data to memory without
involving the CPU. Think of a DMA channel as a shortcut for data
moving to/from the device and memory. DMAs are very similar to
IRQs in that they are physical wires also. There are Eight (8) DMA
channels, numbering 0 – 7. However, only seven (7) are available
as DMA0/4 are physically the same.

3.4 How hardware interacts with system

and how software manages hardware
resources.
At startup, a hardware device is assigned an IRQ, I/O addresses,
memory addresses, and possibly a DMA channel. Hardware uses
the IRQ to signal to the CPU that it needs attention. The hardware
and CPU communicate by using the I/O addresses. The CPU uses
memory addresses to locate the BIOS or device driver to manage a
hardware device. The optional DMA is a method where an I/O
device can send data directly to memory bypassing the CPU. When
a hardware device needs attention from the CPU, the device raises
its IRQ line to the CPU. When the CPU senses the IRQ, it stops
what it is doing and handles the interrupt. The CPU looks at the
location in memory where the device driver or BIOS program that
services the device is stored. The CPU then executes this program,
which will use the I/O addresses to communicate with the device.

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3.5 Easy ways to protect hardware and
software
Since problems can, and often do, occur with computers, it is
important to protect data, software, and hardware. The CMOS
(Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor) is important to the
successful operation of a computer, so a backup of the CMOS
information should be made and kept in a safe place.
An OS rescue disk for OS lower than WindowsXP, which allows
the computer to be booted from the disk rather than the hard drive,
should also be made. The disk should contain enough software to
load the OS and the AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files
with the software needed to access the CD-ROM drive in order to
use the Windows 9x CD. It is also a good idea to regularly make a
backup of the computer’s hard drive. The backup is just an extra
copy of a file or files made to a different location or storage media.
Along with copies of the CMOS, boot disk, and hard drive backup,
all the hardware and software documentation should be kept
in a safe place in case it is needed later.

3.6 The Boot Process, Step by Step

What is the difference between a hard boot and a soft boot? The
term hard boot is used when referring to powering on a system.
The term soft boot is used when referring to cycling a system’s
power by either pressing the reset button, or pressing the control,
alt and delete key, all at the same time. The following are the four
steps of the boot-up process:

1. The ROM BIOS Startup program surveys hardware

resources and needs.
When a computer is first booted, it checks the configuration
information stored in the CMOS and compares it to the hardware it
currently detects.

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2. The ROM BIOS Startup Program searches for and loads an
operating system. After all the hardware resources have been
verified, the CMOS chip tells the startup BIOS where to find an
operating system. If the BIOS finds an operating system, it will
load the first files of the operating system into memory, then hand
over control to the operating system.
3. The operating system configures the system and completes
its own loading.
When the operating system takes control, it verifies the hardware
again and then loads the device drivers necessary to control the
hardware.
4. The user executes applications software. When the user
executes an application, the operating system must first find the
proper files then copy them into memory and execute the program.
What happens when an application request? The user points and
clicks within an application. The application then makes a request
to the operating system and the operating system forwards the
request to either a device driver or the system BIOS. Finally, the
system BIOS or device driver translates the request into a
"language” the hardware device can understand.
Step 1: Power - On Self Test (POST)
The term POST refers to the processes the startup BIOS manages
when a system is first powered on (testing vital hardware
components and comparing detected hardware to the CMOS
settings).

Step 2: BIOS Finds and Loads the OS

By default, the startup BIOS will first search the system’s floppy
drive for an operating system before looking on the system’s hard
drive. This is a setting that can normally be modified in the CMOS.
The two files that are required to start DOS are MSDOS.SYS and
IO.SYS. After these files are loaded off of the hard drive and into
RAM, the BIOS releases control of the system. After the BIOS
releases control of the system, MSDOS.SYS looks for its
configuration file, which is called CONFIG.SYS. The
CONFIG.SYS is the first file used in the DOS boot process that the

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user can modify. The CONFIG.SYS normally contains the
following statements:

• BUFFERS - This statement is used to tell DOS how many file

buffers to create.
• FILES - This statement is used to tell DOS how many files it can
use at once.
• DEVICE - These statements are used to tell DOS which device
drivers to copy into RAM.

After CONFIG.SYS instructions have been executed,

MSDOS.SYS then looks for the COMMAND.COM file and copies
it into memory. COMMAND.COM then looks for the last DOS
configuration file, the AUTOEXEC.BAT. The AUTOEXEC.BAT
normally contains the following statements:

• PROMPT $P$G - This statement tells DOS to display the current

directory name and the current drive name as part of the command
prompt.

• PATH - Remind the students what the purpose of the PATH

statement is, and explain that DOS loads its PATH statement
from the AUTOEXEC.BAT.

TSR stand for Terminate and Stay Resident. The term TSR is
used when referring to programs, such as device drivers, that stay
resident in RAM even though they may not be in use.

Step 3: The OS Completes the Boot Process

The DOS boot process is completed after the AUTOEXEC.BAT
has finished loading. Sometimes the command win is added to the
AUTOEXEC.BAT to execute the win.com, which will then start
Windows 3.x. Both the CONFIG.SYS and the AUTOEXEC.BAT
are standard text files and can be edited with any text editor. Two
of the more common DOS and Windows text editors are EDIT,
and Notepad.

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Booting with Windows 95 and Windows 98
The boot process for Windows 95 is very similar to the boot
process for Windows 3.x, although some files are used differently.
Windows 95 uses the MSDOS.SYS file in a different way than
Windows 3.x (more like an INI file). Although Windows 95 still
searches for and loads the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT,
it does not need these files to load device drivers or Windows.
Windows 98 has eliminated the pauses during the boot process and
improved startup code for faster processing.

3.7 How software manages hardware

resources
The 8-bit and 16-bit ISA Bus: ISA (Industry Standard
Architecture) is a term used to describe a bus design. Over the
years there have been several different incarnations of ISA. The
first was an 8-bit architecture; the modern implementation of ISA
is a 16-bit ISA expansion slot, which is slightly larger than the 8-
bit, and is considerably faster.
Interrupt Request Number (IRQ): IRQs are used by hardware
devices to request service from the CPU. Each hardware device
uses a unique IRQ to request service from the CPU. The I/O
address table is a small table kept in memory that correlates each
IRQ with a specific memory address, which contains the beginning
of the program that will service the request for the device. In other
words, the I/O address table is an index used to keep track of
memory addresses for input/output devices.
Memory Addresses
Once the IRQ has gotten the attention of the CPU, its job is done,
but memory addresses are used as the device is serviced. Recall
that memory addresses is numbers assigned to both ROM and
RAM memory so that the CPU can access that memory:

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Hardware components most often use memory to store data
instructions. These instructions are used to send requests to and
retrieve results from a device. In contrast, software, both
applications and operating systems, use memory addresses to
temporarily store data so that it can be easily manipulated.
Memory addresses are, for the most part, assigned by the BIOS
and OS during the boot process. Recall that the boot process begins
with the startup BIOS on the ROM BIOS chip.

BIOS and Device Drivers That Request Specific Memory

Addresses
Some legacy real-mode device drivers only work if they are
assigned specific memory addresses. However, this is not the case
with most modern hardware. BIOS shadowing is the process of
copying the BIOS from ROM to RAM. Note that some of the
newer BIOS leave the option to shadow several different device
BIOS into RAM because the access time is faster using RAM than
using ROM.

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Input/Output Addresses
Another system resource that is made available to hardware
devices is input/output addresses or I/O addresses. I/O addresses
(AKA port addresses or ports) are numbers that the CPU can use
to access hardware devices. An interrupt request is made and is
sent to the I/O address table to find out which program will service
the request. The I/O address table is stored at the bottom of
memory. Next, the interrupt goes to the program that will service
the request - the interrupt handler. The CPU then follows the
instructions to service the device and passes data to the operating
system. An I/O conflict occurs when two hardware devices claim
the same memory address.

DMA Controller Chip

How does the CPU use DMA? DMA stands for Direct Memory
Access. DMA consists of a chip on the system board that provides
several channels for hardware components to request direct access
to RAM without interrupting the CPU.

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Tying It All Together
Figure 3-3 illustrates hardware interrupt, where the request handler
is BIOS:

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Configuration Data and How it is Stored
The setup program is a way of viewing the information stored in
CMOS from the last time the system was booted. This information
is often referred to as configuration data or setup data. DIP
switches are switches that have two positions - ON, which has a
binary value of 1, or OFF, which has a binary value of 0. These
switches are used to tell the device how to respond. DIP switches
give a device added configuration information by telling it how to
behave (IRQ, DMA, I/O address). You can access the BIOS setup
program by pressing some combination of keys during the boot
process. The exact way to enter setup varies from one system-
board manufacturer to another. Jumpers give the device added
configuration information by telling it how to behave (IRQ, DMA,

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I/O address). Jumpers are functionally the same as DIP switches
but have a different physical appearance. A jumper consists of two
pins sticking up side by side, with a cover over the two pins
making a connection. CMOS passwords can protect systems from
being booted. Unfortunately because the password is stored in
CMOS it will be erased if the CMOS chip loses power. Should the
user forget their CMOS password, most system boards have a
jumper or DIP switch available that will clear the CMOS password
without clearing all of the CMOS configuration information. Note
that for this reason, these types of passwords are not considered
secure.

3.8 Protecting data, software and

hardware
Saving and Restoring Setup Information in CMOS: It is helpful
to write down CMOS configuration information in order to
simplify the restoration process. You will need this information if
your CMOS chip loses power. If you prefer to use software to
track this information you can Install a third party software
package and follow the directions.
Keeping OS Rescue disks: The purpose of keeping a rescue disk
is to enable you to boot the system should the operating system on
the hard drive fail. Note that a rescue disk will only help in the
event of a software failure. If the hard drive has suffered a head
crash, the OS rescue disk will be useless.
Backing Up Your Hard Drive: How often data should be backed
up depends on the value of the data. If the data is business critical,
then it should be backed up daily. Common types of backup media
include DAT tapes, ZIP tapes, CD-ROMs, JAZZ disks and other
hard drives.
Documentation: If you want to add new hardware to a system you
will want to first verify that it is compatible with your current
hardware, as well as check for necessary jumper or DIP switch
changes. For this reason, you should always keep the
documentation that comes with your hardware and software.

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Damage from Electricity: ESD (electrostatic discharge) and
power spikes are the two most common types of electrical damage
sustained by computers.

Chapter Summary
The following points summarize the key concepts in this chapter

Computer Communication

• Computers communicate using binary language.

• An A+ technician must be able to convert decimal numbers
to binary and binary numbers to decimal.
• ASCII (American Standard for International Interchange) is
the standard code that handles text characters for computers.

The Computer Bus

• A computer uses a bus to move data from one device to

another.

The System Resources are

• I/O Address

• Memory Addresses

• IRQ (Interrupt request) channel

• DMA (Direct Memory Access) Channel

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Chapter Review Questions
1. What do you understand by the word POST
2. List the number of System resources you know
3. If you want to add a hardware device to a Computer
System, What do you necessarily need to know?
4. Explain the difference between Jumpers and Dip
switches
5. The acronym CMOS stands for what?
6. Innumerate the essential steps you should take to
protect both hardware and software of a Computer System

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Chapter 4 Primary PC Components

4.0 Introduction
In this chapter, we focus on the computer's infrastructure. We
begin with the centerpiece of the computer, the System Board or
motherboard, also known as the main board. The motherboard is
the key member of the hardware infrastructure. It is a large circuit
board that serves as a home for the CPU and all its associated
chips, including the chip set and RAM, and connect them to the
rest of the physical elements and components of the computer.

4.1 The system board

A system board is made up of many components. The most
important component on a system board is the CPU, or the central
processing unit. The CPU is the microprocessor at the heart of the
PC system, where almost all operations must ultimately be
processed. Other components include the chip set, ROM BIOS,
CMOS configuration and its battery, RAM, RAM cache, a system
bus with expansion slots, jumpers, ports that come directly off the
board, and power supply connections.

4.2 How the system board works

Data is passed over a bus in a group of wires. The number of lines
in the bus used to pass data determines how much data can be
passed in parallel at one time. The purpose of a local bus is to
provide direct access to the CPU for a few fast devices that can run
at nearly the same speed as the CPU. A local I/O bus must connect
with the CPU by way of the memory bus. ISA buses cannot send
data at the speeds that new computers are used to, so the data from
an ISA bus must pass through an interface, which sends the data in

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conjunction with the system clock. The system clock is dedicated
to timing the activities of the chips on the system board. The
chipset controls bus activity.

4.3 How to select system board and CPU

When selecting a system board, most people select one that allows
some room for later expansion. Select the CPU and memory
modules that are compatible with the system board. On today's
system boards, the CPU speed is a multiple of the system board
speed. For best overall performance, you don't want the multiple to
be too large so that the CPU is not running proportionately faster
than the system board.

4.4 How to upgrade some components on

the system board
Not all of the components on a system board can be replaced, but
there are some that can be replaced or upgraded. One component
that can be upgraded is the CPU. When replacing a CPU, it is
important to consider the CPU speed, amount of memory included
with the CPU, multiprocessing ability, and special functionality.
The ROM BIOS chip can also be replaced. The ROM BIOS chip
has a label with the manufacturer’s name, the date of the
manufacture, and the serial number of the chip. This information is
important when you are selecting the correct upgrade for the chip.
The CMOS battery and RAM cache can also be replaced and RAM
can be upgraded.

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4.5 Types of system board
There are two popular types of system boards - the older AT and
the newer ATX. The differences between the two types of boards
have nothing to do with their overall performance - they differ only
in size, convenience features, the type of case into which they will
fit, and the type of power connections they have.
When you purchase a system board your selection determines the
following:
• Type and speed of the CPU.
• Chip set on the board (which is built-in)
• Memory cache type and size
• Types and number of expansion slots: ISA, EISA, VESA local
bus, PCI, and AGP.
• Type of memory parity or nonparity, EDO, SDRAM, SIMMs or
DIMMs
• Maximum amount of memory you can put on the board and the
incremental amounts by which memory can be upgraded.
• Type of case you can use
• ROM BIOS, which is already installed
• Type of keyboard connector
• Presence or absence of different types of proprietary video and/or
proprietary local bus slots
• Presence or absence of IDE adapters and SCSI controller
• Presence or absence of COM ports, LPT ports, and mouse port

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The universal bus is expected to eventually replace serial and
parallel ports and is designed to make installation and
configuration of I/O devices easy, providing room for as many as
127 devices daisy-chained together. The Universal Serial Bus
(USB) uses only a single set of resources for all devices on the bus.

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4.6 The CPU and the chipset
CUPs are rated using the following guidelines:
• CPU speed measured in megahertz
• Efficiency of the programming code
• Word size, sometimes called the internal data path size
• Data path
• Maximum number of memory addresses
• The amount of memory included with the CPU
• Multiprocessing ability
• Special functionality

Relating CPU Attributes to Bus Architecture

What is "word size" and "data path"? Word size is the amount of
data the CPU can process in one operation. Data path is the
amount of data that can be sent to the CPU.
Note also that the data path is the same as the bus size.
The Earlier Intel CPUs
The 386 CPUs ran slower than the 486 CPUs, and some, like the
386SX, could not address as much memory as the 486 CPUs. The
486 was the first PC CPU to have a built-in coprocessor.
A built-in coprocessor is a secondary processor that performs
calculations for the CPU, faster than the CPU is capable of doing,
thereby increasing the performance of the entire system. In most
systems today the coprocessor exists within the processor. Turbo
mode forces the CPU to work in overdrive, which can cause the
CPU to overheat. If the CPU overheats, the system will lock up. To
minimize the possibility of lock ups, all newer CPUs require some
sort of cooling device to function properly.

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The Pentium and Its Competitors
Bus speed, which is measurable, is the speed or frequency at
which the data on the system board is moving. To determine the
clock speed of a system, you would perform the following
equation:
Bus speed x multiplier = clock speed
A memory cache that is included on the CPU microchip itself is
called internal cache.
Internal cache is faster than external cache and is contained inside
the 80486 or Pentium CPU. External cache is static memory that
is stored on the system board or inside the CPU housing, which is
not part of the CPU.
The Pentium II uses Slot 1 architecture and ranges in speeds from
233MHz - 333MHz.The Classic Pentium uses a Socket 7 ZIF to
connect to the system board and ranges in speeds from 75MHz -
200MHZ. Table 3-4 illustrates the Intel Pentium family of CPUs:

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The Pentium Competitors
Intel’s two primary competitors are AMD and Cyrix. Both
companies have advertised goals to produce CPU’s that are just as
fast and powerful as Intel’s but cost less. You can get more
information about Pentiums and competitors at
http://www.intel.com.

Other Components Found in CPUs

RISC technology: A growing trend in chip design is the increased
use of RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) technology, over
the traditional CISC (Complex Instruction Set Computer) chip
design. The difference between these two technologies is the
number of instructions (called the instruction set) hard-coded
within the CPU. RISC CPUs have a simpler instruction set that, as
a result, are executed faster.
CPU Cooling Fans: An overheated CPU typically causes erratic
system behavior and incorrect responses. Because a CPU generates
so much heat, most computer systems use a cooling fan to keep the
temperature below the Intel maximum allowed limit of 185
degrees F. Good CPU cooling fans can maintain the temperature at
90 to 110 F. Some newer CPUs generate so much heat that they
need extra cooling. The chips might have a heat sink attached to
them and a large fan attached on top of the sink or to the side of the
cases, blowing over the heat sink. A heat sink is a clip-on device
that mounts on top of the CPU.
CPU Slots and Sockets: The type of slot or socket supplied by the
system board for the processor must match that required by the
processor. The four most common today are Socket 7, Super
Socket 7, Socket 8, and Slot 1.

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CPU Voltage Regulator: Some CPUs require one voltage amount
for external operations and another amount for internal operations.
Those that require two different voltages are called dual voltage
CPUs. Most often the CPU’s voltage is configured via jumpers or
DIP switches found on the system board near the CPU socket.
Some modern system boards require an additional circuit board,
called a voltage regulator, to control the amount of voltage on the
system board.

The Chip Set: is set of chips on the system board that collectively
controls the memory cache, external buses, and some peripherals.

Accelerated graphics port (AGP) is a special slot on a system

board which holds a video card that provides transfer of video
data from the CPU that is synchronized with the memory bus. The
latest Triton series of chip sets is the 430TX, which replaces the
VX and MX becoming the first chip set by Intel used in both
notebooks and desktops. Natoma and Orion are currently the only
Triton system board that supports the Pentium II and Pentium III
architecture (i.e. Slot 1). Interestingly, although Intel does not
support bus speeds faster than 66 MHz, this doesn’t mean that their
system boards are not capable of going faster. Support simply
means that Intel will not take responsibility for problems when the
system board is used at speeds faster than 66MHz. Although
system boards manufactured by Intel tend to be more
expensive, system boards manufactured by other companies tend
to be more proprietary. Running a system board at a speed that is
not recommended or guaranteed by CPU or chipset manufacturers
is often referred to as over clocking.

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4.7 Rom Bios
One of the more common problems with older BIOS versions was
that you were required to upgrade the BIOS chip when adding new
hardware. This isn’t a problem on modern system boards because
Flash ROM is now used for the BIOS rather than ROM. The most
common problem seen today when attempting to upgrade a hard
drive is, older BIOS can’t recognize a large capacity drive because
the BIOS chip has not been upgraded with that capability.

The Total BIOS in your System

Although the system board has the primary BIOS, it does not have
the only BIOS in the PC. The total BIOS in the systems include all
of the different BIOS` combined, including expansion cards and
other devices (i.e. Most PnP devices have their own onboard
BIOS). Unlike older BIOS versions, the Plug-and-Play BIOS
communicates with peripheral devices to identify and assign
resources. It used to be that when a device made a request for
service, the BIOS would have the information to service that
device. Now, device drivers have that information, eliminating the
need to upgrade the BIOS every time you add a proprietary
hardware device. Most manufacturers provide the newest version
of a product’s BIOS at their web site or via phone order. A Flash
ROM BIOS update is simply a software program designed to erase
and write data to your Flash ROM (EEPROM) chip. The actual
update process will vary depending on the manufacturer; however,
it is important to understand that if BIOS is flashed incorrectly,
it can render the system board unusable.

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4.8 RAM (Random Access Memory)
Dynamic Memory
There are two types of RAM: dynamic RAM and static RAM.
Dynamic RAM chips hold data for a very short time; static RAM
chips hold data until the power is turned off. Parity is an error-
checking scheme in which a ninth, or "parity," bit is added. The
value of the parity bit is set to either 0 or 1 to provide an even
number of ones for even parity and an odd number of ones for odd
parity. A parity error occurs when the number of ones in the byte
is not in agreement with the expected number. Generally speaking,
a "Parity Error 1" is a parity error on the system board, while a
"Parity Error 2" is a parity error on a memory expansion board.
Recall that later, computers were made to hold RAM on a group of
chips stored in a single physical unit called a SIMM (single inline
memory module). SIMMs holds from 8 MB to 64 MB of RAM on
one board. All new system boards today use DIMMs (dual inline
memory modules), which can hold from 8 MB to 256 MB of RAM
on a single board. Differences between SIMMs and DIMMs
include access speed, physical size, slot type, required voltage, and
cost.

Static Cache Memory

Cache holds data that the processor anticipates it will need next.
The data is stored in cache because it is faster than storing the data
in the standard memory area (SIMMs). Cache is referred to by
level. L1 cache (level one cache) is internal cache that is housed
within the processor. L2 cache (level two cache) is external cache
that is normally added through an expansion slot on the system
board.

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4.9 Buses and Expansion Slots
Bus Evolution
In the early 1980s when PCs were first introduced, there was only
one bus on the system board, called the system bus. The system
bus manages the electrical power, control signals, memory
addresses, and data. At that time, the system bus ran at the same
speed as the CPU. Everything on the system board working with
the CPU or the bus would keep the same beat; following the pulses
of the system clock (the system clock is run by a crystal on the
system board, occupies one line of a bus and keeps the "beat" for
the CPU and other devices). Over time, different hardware
components have developed at different speeds. Now, the typical
PC will have as many as 5 or 6 different bus speeds. For example
The CPU works at one speed, the bus connecting the CPU to the
memory is working at a slower speed, and the bus communicating
with I/O devices must work at an even slower speed. For example,
legacy devices such as an 8 or 16-bit expansion card are typically
not able to keep up with the "beat" of the system bus, so they
normally are counting one "beat" for every three or four "beats"
that the system bus has counted.

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Bus Types

ISA Bus: The ISA (Industry Standard Architecture) bus was used
in the early 1980`s on the first IBM PCs. Initially, the ISA bus had
an 8-bit data path, but IBM later revised it to have a 16-bit data
size. The IBM AT personal computer used this bus and the 80286
chip, which is why the 16-bit bus is sometimes referred to as the
AT bus.

Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) Bus: The Micro Channel

Architecture (MCA) bus was the first 32-bit expansion card
designed for Pac’s. IBM patented the MCA bus so that other
hardware vendors couldn’t manufacturer it economically. The
other hardware vendors didn’t want to pay IBM to use the Micro
Channel technology. Instead they banded together to form the
Gang of Nine and develop the EISA standard.

The EISA Bus: EISA (Extended Industry Standard Architecture),

designed to compete with MCA, was also a 32-bit expansion card.
The bus is compatible with older ISA buses so that expansion
boards have 8-bit or 16-bit data path work on the EISA bus.

Universal Serial Bus: With USB you can display daisy chain
devices such as scanners, keyboards, mice and modems. USB has a
data transfer rate of almost 10mbs - faster than the current serial
standard.

Fire wire: is an expansion bus that can also be configured to work

as a local bus. It is expected to replace the SCSI bus, providing an
easy method to install and configure fast I/O devices. FireWire is
referred to as IEEE 1394, and supports speeds up to 400mbps.

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Local I/O Buses: The local bus is anything that runs at the same
speed or near the same speed as the CPU. The VESA (Video
Electronics Standards Association) standard was created to
accommodate memory expansion slots. Many hardware vendors
endorsed the VESA standard because it was the first opportunity to
develop a 32-bit standard for PCs.

PCI Bus: The PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) bus has a

32-bit data path, has a bus speed of 66MHz, and does not run on
the local bus. Therefore, it does not create wait states and slow
down the processor. To accomplish the reduced wait states, the
PCI Bus manages requests from the ISA Bus and forwards them to
the CPU via the PCI bridge controller. The PCI Bridge Controller
then accesses the local bus to transmit hardware requests from the
PCI bus. PCI Bus has a speed of 66MHz, whereas the 16-bit ISA
bus speed is only 8.33MHz.

Bus Mastering is a smart device that can access memory directly

without sending a request to the CPU to access the memory for the
device.

Accelerated Graphics Port AGP runs at the same speed as the

memory bus, connects directly to it, and has a 32-bit data path.
AGP runs faster than PCI, running at half the memory bus speed,
but also offers additional features that give it overall better
performance for video than PCI. One example is an improved
rendering of 3-D images when software is designed to take
advantage of its extended capabilities.

How Speed Affects Overall Performance

There are two ways to change the speed of a computer:
1. Change the speed of the memory bus, which, according to Intel
recommendations, should normally be 60 to 66MHz.
2. Change the multiplier that determines the speed of the CPU. The
choices for the multiplier vary.

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4.10 On-Board Ports
An "on-board port" is some type of communication port that is an
integrated part of the system board, such as a built-in keyboard
port or on-board serial port. If an on-board port fails, it can
normally be disabled using the CMOS setup program.

4.11 Hardware Configuration Setup

Stored on a CMOS Chip
CMOS (Complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) maintains its
configuration information by using the power supplied by a small
lithium battery near the CMOS. If the battery is disconnected or
fails, all CMOS settings go back to default.

4.12 The Computer (PC) Cases

To casual users, the PC is a metal container, attached by a few
cables to a keyboard, mouse, and monitor. In fact, the case is more
than just a box to house a computer. It often represents the identity
of a specific brand of computer, and, sometimes, it is even part of
the reason we purchase a particular computer. We do, after all,
want something that looks good, especially if we are spending a lot
of money on it. Early computer cases were little more than boxes
that sat on the desk and served as monitor stands. Today, some
manufacturers build "designer" computers that come in fancy
colors and command premium prices.

The real value of a case does not lie in the label, color, or how
pretty it looks. The case houses all the internal components, offers
access to the outside world (ports and connectors), and protects the
PC's delicate circuits from damage and electromagnetic
interference. And it protects surrounding devices, such as TVs,
from the PC's EMI.

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When considering the case, there are three general rules to follow:

• The bigger the box, the more components it can hold (the
greater the expansion potential) and, often, the better the
airflow (essential for cooling). Large cases are easier to work
with.
• The more compact the box, the less expansion potential it
has; working on it is often much more difficult, and usually
airflow is reduced.
• Smaller cases that come with a power supply usually have
lower wattage, once again reducing the number of internal
devices that can be installed.

Important
It is not a good idea to run a computer for extended periods of time
with the case open or removed entirely. This not only produces
EMI, but also results in improper airflow and reduced cooling of
the system components.

Working with Cases

In any repair job that involves inspecting or replacing internal
components, the technician has to open the case. That used to be
very simple; the technician would remove four screws in the back
of the computer with a Phillips screwdriver, and then pull the
case's covering shroud forward to reveal the contents. Today,
however, cases come in a variety of forms, with screws in the front
or back, fancy plastic bevels in front, and featuring one of several
types of metal wraps—some in several parts, some in a single
piece.

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The majority of cases still open the old-fashioned way. But if you
find yourself with one of the exceptions and can't locate screws in
the back, check to see if the plastic cover in the front can be pulled
off. If so, that should reveal three or four screws. Then see if the
main cover can be pulled forward. If not, look for screws that
secure one or more of the side panels. Some side panel designs are
great for granting easy access to our previous topic, motherboards.
This style of case allows one to inspect or remove the motherboard
without having to remove the entire outer covering.

Chapter Summary
The following points summarize the key concepts in this chapter:

Motherboards
• The motherboard defines the capabilities of a computer.
• Not all motherboards are the same. Some manufacturers have
proprietary motherboards that can be used only in their own
computers. They will also require proprietary parts for
expansion. Generally, these motherboards are of higher
quality (and price).

Rom Bios
• BIOS chips are used to provide data to the CPU; this data
tells the CPU how to operate specific devices.
• CMOS is a BIOS chip that can have its data updated. The
CMOS setup program is used to make these changes.
• CMOS chips require a battery to save the data when power to
the computer is off.
• Some of the newer BIOS chips are updatable. These are
called flash BIOS.

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 • A device driver is a program that acts as an interface between
the operating system and the control circuits that operate the
device.
• On machines running MS-DOS, device drivers are loaded by
the CONFIG.SYS file.
• Computers running Windows 95, 98, or 2000 load their own
device drivers and do not require a CONFIG.SYS file.
• POST is used to check a computer before it boots.
• POST errors are indicated by beeps before the video is
checked and by text after the video check.

Computer Cases
• The function of the case is to house the computer's internal
components, connect the computer to the outside world with
ports and connectors, and to protect the computer from
damage.
• To prevent electromagnetic interference, avoid running a
computer without the cover on.

Chapter Review Questions

1. What is the main function of the motherboard?
2. Name the typical chips found in a chip set.
3. What is EMI?
4. What are ROM chips used for?
5. Name the three types of ROM chip.
6. Describe what makes the CMOS special.
7. How can a technician use the POST beep codes?
8. What is a device driver?
9. What information is contained in the CMOS?
10. Define the POST and describe its function.

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Chapter 5 Understanding and managing
memory
5.0 Introduction
In earlier chapters, we learned that the CPU and motherboard (bus
and controllers) are critical components that help determine the
overall speed with which a computer can process data. This
chapter looks at another important system component and
performance factor: the memory. Technicians are often asked to
upgrade PCs by adding more memory, and memory conflicts or
errors commonly prompt calls for assistance by users.
Understanding how memory works, how to choose the right
memory for a given system, and how to troubleshoot memory
problems is critical to success as a computer technician.

5.1 Types of physical memory

Physical memory is divided into two categories: ROM and RAM.
ROM stores system BIOS and startup BIOS programs in a type of
microchip that does not lose its data when the computer is turned
off. Flash ROM is a type of ROM that allows their programs to be
changed. RAM is called primary memory, and it temporarily holds
data and instructions as the CPU processes them. RAM is divided
into static RAM (SRAM) and dynamic RAM (DRAM). SRAM
chips hold their data for as long as the computer is powered on;
DRAM chips cannot hold data for very long, and they need
constant refreshing. SRAM chips provide faster access then
DRAM chips, but they are also more expensive, so most
computers have a little SRAM on the system board and a lot of
DRAM. RAM is stored in either SIMMs (Single Inline Memory
Modules) or DIMMs (Dual Inline Memory Modules). The major
difference between a SIMM and DIMM is the width of the data
path that the module accommodates. A SIMM has a data path of
32 bits, and a DIMM has a data path of 64 bits.

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5.2 How memory is used by dos and
windows
Windows 95 was the first OS in the evolution of operating systems
to support 32-bit protected mode applications software. Most of the
Windows 9x code is written in 32-bit protected mode, but it still
allows 16-bit real-mode device drivers, and 16-bit software can be
run in a virtual DOS machine (VDM), or can run in real mode. A
VDM is an environment that is a 32-bit protected-mode OS
provides for a real-mode program to operate in. Conventional
memory consists of the first 640K of memory addresses. The
memory addresses from 640K to 1024K are called upper memory.
Memory above 1024K is called extended memory, and the first
64K of extended memory is called the high memory area.
Early versions of DOS restricted the number of memory addresses
to only 640K, and the next group of addresses, the 384K above
conventional memory was assigned to utility operations for the
system. This can be a problem because programs almost always
expect data to be written into memory directly above the addresses
for the program itself. So if a program begins storing its data above
its location in conventional memory, eventually it will hit the
beginning of upper memory assigned to video ROM. Virtual
memory is the utilization of some hard drive space such that it acts
like memory. Windows stores virtual memory in a file called a
swap file.

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5.3 How to manage memory using dos,
windows 3.x and windows 9x
When using DOS, access to extended memory for applications is
attained by the memory driver, HIMEM.SYS loaded from the
CONFIG.SYS file. In addition, upper memory blocks for device
drivers and other TSRs can be made available by loading
EMM386.EXE from the CONFIG.SYS file. Device drivers can
then be loaded high from the CONFIG.SYS file and TSRs can be
loaded high from AUTOEXEC.BAT. Windows 3.x can run in
protected mode, which is called 386 Enhanced Mode. When using
Windows 9x, HIMEM.SYS is automatically loaded to manage
extended memory without an entry in the CONFIG.SYS file.
Windows 9x will automatically load device drivers and
applications into extended memory if those applications run in
protected mode. Windows 9x manages the swap file without the
user setting the size and type of swap file as is needed with
Windows 3.x.

5.4 How to upgrade the memory in your

computer
Upgrading memory means to add more RAM on the system board.
Today, a PC uses SIMMs or DIMMs or a combination of both.
Consult the system board documentation for the type of SIMM or
DIMM and how many the board can use. Use the same speed and
type of SIMM within a bank. When installing a memory module,
take care to protect against ESD. Once the module is physically
installed, when the PC boots, it will automatically detect and use
the new memory.

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5.5 Physical memory
SRAM is static RAM, which maintains the data written to it until
the data is overwritten or the power is cycled. DRAM is dynamic
RAM and it cannot maintain data written to it without being
refreshed about every 4 milliseconds. Unlike DRAM, SRAM does
not have to be constantly refreshed by the DMA controller and the
CPU; therefore, it is considered faster than DRAM. RAM stores
data temporarily, whereas ROM chips save data permanently.
EEPROM chips are ROM chips that can be upgraded using special
software. EEPROM are often used on the system board and
expansion cards to store the BIOS program. FLASH memory acts
like secondary storage because it does not lose its data when
powered off. FLASH memory is faster than conventional
secondary storage devices, because it stores data electronically
rather than using magnetism and mechanical arms and platters.
RAM is normally installed either on circuit boards called SIMMs,
or soldered directly onto the system board.

SRAM and memory caching

Memory caching is the processes of using a small amount of faster
RAM to store recently retrieved data, in anticipation of what the
CPU will next request, thus speeding up access. Static RAM works
well for caching because SRAM doesn’t need to be constantly
refreshed like DRAM, and therefore provides faster data access.
SRAM can be found in several different locations depending on
the type of system board. Some locations include individual chips
on the system board, COAST (Cache On A Stick), and even, inside
the CPU housing. SRAM is normally used as cache and can be
installed in modules of 64KB, 128KB, 256KB and 512KB.

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Types of SRAM include:

• Synchronous SRAM. Synchronizes itself with the clock cycle of

the CPU via a clock signal.
• Pipeline burst SRAM. Sees data transfer as a two step process.
First the memory address is sent, and then the data is sent. Note:
This process does not slow down the access time significantly, and
is less expensive than synchronous SRAM.
• Asynchronous SRAM. Does not synchronize itself with the
CPU; therefore it requires one clock cycle to lookup the address
request sent to it by the CPU. This extra lookup cycle is what
makes asynchronous SRAM slower than synchronous SRAM.
• Burst SRAM. Memory that is more expensive and slightly faster
than pipelined burst SRAM. Data is sent as a two-step process; the
data address is sent, and then the data itself is sent without
interruption. Some system boards are designed to support both
synchronous and asynchronous SRAM, but these can not be used
at the same time.

SIMMs and DIMMs

SIMMs are sold in sizes ranging from 2MB to 256MB. SIMMs are
rated in nanoseconds (NS). Some common SIMM speeds include
60NS, 70NS and 80NS. Note that an access time of 60NS is faster
than 70NS. SIMMs technology includes:
• FPM (Fast Page Mode) memory. - An earlier memory mode
used before the introduction of EDO memory.
• EDO (Extended Data Output) memory. - A type of RAM that
may be 10-20% faster than conventional RAM because it
eliminates the delay before it issues the next memory address.

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DIMM Technology includes:

• Synchronous DRAM. - Modules that are more expensive than

SIMM modules and can operate at various speeds, depending on
the bus speed, whereas SIMMs only operate at a single speed.
• Burst EDO (BEDO). - A refined version of EDO memory that
significantly improved access time over EDO. BEDO is not widely
used today because Intel chose not to support it. BEDO memory is
stored on 168-pin DIMM modules.

Future RAM Technologies

One of the up and coming RAM technologies is Direct Rambus

DRAM, which uses a 16-bit high-sped bus running at 400 Mhz,
and provides a throughput of 1.5 GB/sec.

ECC, Parity, and Non-parity DRAM

ECC (Error Checking and Correction) is a type of RAM that

may be 10-20% faster than conventional RAM because it
eliminates the delay before it issues the next memory address.
Typically ECC memory costs a little more than standard memory
but is also more reliable.

What to Look for When Buying Memory Chips and Modules

Ram is sold in two grades, high-grade (new) and low-grade

(refurbished). Some manufacturers even provide a third grade
quality RAM called mixed, which is normally slightly more
expensive than low-grade RAM, has very short warranty period
and can have a mixture of refurbished and new RAM chips on the
memory board. It is recommended that you always purchase the
best quality RAM.

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You should consider the following points when purchasing RAM:

• Memory speed. Check system board documentation for the

correct memory speed to be used with your system board. Note: If
memory speeds are mixed, for example 70NS with 80NS, all of the
memory will be addressed at the slowest speed, in this case 80NS.

Tin or Gold leads. Always match the metals used on the system
board with the metal type on the SIMM. This will eliminate the
possibility of a chemical reaction. Note: A good rule to follow
when working with memory is to match everything - speed, lead
type, pins and parity.
• Choosing the correct size module. Most memory has to be
installed in pairs.
• Remanufactured and used modules. A simple way to identify
refurbished (remanufactured) SIMMs is to check the date on the
RAM chips on the SIMM.
Look for the data in the following format: YYWW. Where Y is the
year the chip was made and W is the week the chip was made.
• Re-marked chips. Re-marked chips have been returned to the
manufacturer, marked again and sent back out. Note: a quick way
to tell the difference is to look at the RAM chip - if it has a shiny
protective coating it is probably a new chip.

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5.6 How DOS and windows 9x view
memory
Physical memory and memory addresses
A memory address is a number that the CPU assigns to physical
memory to keep track of the memory it can access. Note that CPUs
have a limited number of memory addresses that they can assign to
physical memory. Some older expansion cards had built-in ROM
chips that could only be assigned a particular memory address.
This inflexibility created problems when another expansion card,
requiring the same memory address, was installed. Memory
mapping is the process of assigning memory addresses to physical
RAM and ROM during the boot process. In order for the CPU to
access RAM or ROM, it must have a memory address assigned to
it. ROM is normally assigned its own memory address, and is
addressed in the same manner as RAM. Note that ROM is only
copied into RAM when it is being shadowed - this will
be discussed later in this chapter. Shadowing ROM refers to the
process of copying ROM data to RAM for faster access. Shadow
RAM (RAM used to shadow ROM) is used to speed up system
response time. Note that one of the most commonly shadowed
devices is the video card.
Areas of the Memory Map
Below is a list of summary of memory locations:
1. Conventional memory. Conventional memory is the first 640K
of RAM.
2. Upper memory. Upper memory includes the memory starting at
641K and ranging up to 1024K.
3. Extended memory. Extended memory includes all memory
above the first 1024K.
4. High memory area. The high memory area is the first 64K of
extended memory.
5. Expanded memory. Expanded memory is the memory that is
accessed in 16K pages via the upper memory area.

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Conventional Memory: Conventional memory is limited to 640K
because when DOS was originally designed it was decided that no
one would ever need more than 640K of memory. This assumption
was, of course, incorrect. Part of the reason this decision was
made, was to allow video ROM and other older hardware to use
the memory addresses directly above 640K for their ROM and
RAM. Reasons why 640K is no longer adequate:

• Applications are larger than they used to be, requiring more

memory addresses to hold the program and its data.
• PCs are now designed to multitask, which means they are often
holding more than one program in memory at a time.
• Many memory addresses are required to support a graphical user
interface.

Upper Memory: The upper memory area includes memory

addresses starting at 641K and ending at 1024K. This address
range is used to address hardware ROM and RAM, as well as store
the system BIOS. Although upper memory is used to address
hardware ROM and RAM, there are often unused addresses.
Memory management involves gaining access to these unused
addresses and storing device drivers there. When programs are
loaded into upper memory they will be allocated the space on a
first come, first served basis. For example, the first program to be
loaded into upper memory will get the largest available allocation,
whether it needs it or not. Therefore, you should load your largest
TSRs into upper memory first.
Extended Memory and the High Memory Area: Memory above
1MB (1024K) is called extended memory. The high memory area
is the first 64K of extended memory. The high memory area was
created because of a bug in the 286 processor, which produced a
small area of extended memory that always went unused. Thus,
Microsoft took advantage of this bug by calling the area the high
memory area and storing portions of DOS there. Extended memory
is managed by the operating system through a device driver.

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In order for the operating system to access extended memory it
requires a memory management device driver.

Expanded Memory: Linear addressing refers to memory that is

assigned addresses starting with the value of 1 and counting up. A
page frame refers to the 64K of upper memory that is projected on
to expanded memory in 16k segments called pages. Expanded
memory differs from linear in that it is made available through a
small window in upper memory called a page frame.
The following steps illustrate the process of expanded memory:
1. The operating system requests expanded memory from the
memory manager.
2. The memory manager selects a segment of expanded memory
and assigns it an upper memory address.
3. The memory manager then returns the value of the upper
memory address to the operating system.
4. The next time the operating system requests that upper memory
address, the memory manager checks to see what portion of
expanded memory that address is assigned to and returns the data
stored in expanded memory.

Expanded memory was developed through a combined effort of

Microsoft, Intel and Lotus. It was developed because Lotus 1-2-3
required more memory. After expanded memory’s development,
other applications were designed to take advantage of its
architecture. Windows and DOS accomplish backwards
compatibility with applications that require expanded memory by
using software to emulate expanded memory, should an
application require it.

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Virtual memory
Virtual memory refers to the process of using hard drive space as
a substitute for RAM. Because virtual memory is stored on the
hard drive, it is considerably slower than RAM. The swap file is a
file on the hard drive that Windows addresses as memory, thereby
making virtual memory possible.

RAM Drives
A RAM drive is a section of extended memory that acts like a
physical drive. The advantage of using a RAM drive is the data
stored there can be accessed quicker than data on a physical hard
drive. The disadvantage is it has to be recreated every time the
power is cycled, and can’t maintain any permanent data. To create
a RAM drive, use the following command in the CONFIG.SYS:
(This command will create a RAM drive that is 1024KB in size)

DEVICE=C:\DOS\RAMDRIVE.SYS 1024.

Memory management makes the greatest amount of conventional

memory available to an application. During the boot process, after
ROM and RAM from expansion boards acquire upper memory
addresses, any unused addresses in upper memory are used to hold
TSRs and device drivers.

5.7 Managing memory with dos or

windows 3.x
TSRs, like HIMEM.SYS and EMM386.EXE, should be loaded
from the AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files upon startup.
HIMEM.SYS is considered to be a device driver because it
manages the extended memory device. It should be loaded
before COMMAND.COM and at the beginning of the
CONFIG.SYS file. A buffer is an area of memory that is used to
hold data temporarily until the processor has a chance to process it.
The use of buffers minimizes the amount of times the CPU has to

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request data from a device. In modern computers buffer use has
been replaced with disk caching. Figure 4-11 shows an example of
a very simple CONFIG.SYS that loads HIMEM.SYS:

EMM386.EXE is another memory manager that utilizes the

addresses in upper memory and can emulate expanded memory.
The MEM command can be used to view the amount of memory
available in each memory address range as well as view the
programs that are using the space.

Figure 4-13 demonstrates the syntax for loading HIMEM.SYS and

EMM386 from the CONFIG.SYS. Notice also, the syntax used to
load DOS into the upper memory block (DOS=UMB). The upper
memory block is a group of consecutive memory addresses in
the upper memory area that are assigned to physical memory.

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Loading Device Drivers High
When DOS loads a device driver into the upper memory area, it
will allocate the largest consecutive block of upper memory to the
first device driver that is loaded. Load size refers to the amount of
memory required by a device driver to initialize itself in memory
and maintain enough room to store data. It is important to
understand that data is stored directly above the driver in memory.
Therefore, the memory directly above a driver is considered to be
part of the "load size" for the driver. If a device driver is specified
in the CONFIG.SYS to load into upper memory and does not, it is
probably because there was not a large enough consecutive
memory range (UMB) available for the device driver to initialize
and store data.

Loading TSRs High

All device drivers are TSRs but not all TSRs are device drivers.
TSRs are programs or drivers that reside in memory when they are
not in use. Device drivers always reside in memory when they are
not in use; therefore all device drivers are TSRs.

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Before the LOADHIGH command will load programs into the
upper memory area, DOS must first initialize the upper memory
area. You would use the following commands to initialize the
upper memory area (the NOEMS parameter tells DOS not to
emulate expanded memory):

DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS
DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS
DOS=UMB

It isn’t always a good idea to load TSRs into upper memory. Some
TSRs can’t function properly when loaded into upper memory and
sometimes there is not a large enough block to load a TSR into
upper memory.

Simulating Expanded Memory

The two files required to emulate expanded memory are:

HIMEM.SYS and EMM386.EXE. To tell DOS to emulate
expanded memory, replace the NOEMS parameter with the
amount of memory that should emulate expanded memory. Note
that memory that simulates expanded memory is unavailable for
extended memory use.

Memory Reports Using the MEM Command

The MEM command has several switches, to find more
information about these switches type MEM /? at the command
prompt.
Using MEMMAKER with DOS 6+
The MEMMAKER command automatically evaluates and
configures your system for optimal memory management. Before
MEMMAKER modifies your system files, it creates a backup copy
of them by renaming their file extensions to .UMB. You can find
more information about the syntax for MEMMAKER by typing
MEMMAKER /? at the command prompt.

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5.8 Managing memory with windows 3.x
Swapping is the method of temporarily moving data from memory
to the swap file on the hard drive to free up memory for other
purposes. The following three swapping methods are used in the
Windows 3.x environment:

1. Temporary files
2. Application swap files
3. Swap files used to create virtual memory

Temporary files are created at will by Windows applications and

may or may not be deleted when the application is unload.
Temporary files are used by applications for temporary data
storage in the directory specified by the SET TEMP variable in the
AUTOEXEC.BAT (SET TEMP=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP. A system
variable is a variable that has been given both a name and a value
and made available to the operating system.

Application Swap Files

To create a multitasking environment, Windows 3.x uses
application swap files to move an application out of memory so
another can be loaded. It`s very important not to delete an
application swap file while Windows is running, because a
background application could be stored there. Swap files can be
used to create virtual memory. Windows 3.x can run in either
standard mode or 386 enhanced mode. However, Windows 3.x can
only take advantage of virtual memory in 386 enhanced mode.
Windows can use either a permanent swap file called
386SPART.PAR, or a temporary swap file called WIN386.SWP.
Note that these are hidden system files and are normally stored in
the root directory.

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Optimizing Windows with the Swap File
When there is no swap file specified or not enough room to create
a swap file, performance will suffer significantly. When creating a
swap file it is important to not make the swap file too large - if it
is, Windows will use the swap file more often than necessary and
slow down the system’s overall performance. On most systems,
you would want to make the swap file the same size as the physical
memory. Permanent swap files are faster than temporary swap
files because they don’t have to be resized and their clusters are
always consecutive on the disk drive. If you have the extra
resources to spare, putting your swap file on a RAM drive will
force Windows to always use RAM; even for virtual memory this
will significantly improve your overall system performance. Figure
5- demonstrates how to change your swap files size, via Control
Panel.

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5.9 Managing memory with windows 9x
Memory management has not changed much in Windows 9x - it is
still organized as conventional, upper, extended and expanded
memory. Windows 9x attempts to use only 32-bit drivers, rather
than 16-bit drivers. An advantage of using 32-bit drivers over 16-
bit drivers is 32-bit drivers are normally written in fast code, and
are automatically loaded into extended memory by Windows 95. A
real mode driver is a 16-bit driver. A virtual
device driver, or VXD, is a 32-bit driver.
Although Windows 9x does not require the AUTOEXEC.BAT and
the CONFIG.SYS file for normal operation, it maintains a copy of
these files in order to provide backwards compatibility for 16-bit
drivers and applications. If you are using 16-bit drivers you will
need to edit the CONFIG.SYS and add the HIMEM.SYS,
EMM386.EXE and DOS=UMB commands, because these are not
automatically added by Windows 9x.

A PIF (program information file) is used to describe the

environment that a particular DOS application should be executed
in. To view a PIF in Windows 9x, look at the property sheet of a
DOS application:

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Real Mode vs. Virtual Real Mode
Virtual real mode is an application environment created by the
OS that is backwards compatible with 16-bit applications that were
written to work in real mode. Virtual real mode is sometimes
referred to as virtual DOS mode. In real mode, applications are
able to directly address conventional memory. In virtual real mode
applications are started in a mini DOS environment and allowed to
access what they think is conventional memory.
What really happens in the background is that the OS intercepts the
application’s requests, executes them for the application and then,
returns the results.

Windows 9x Swap File

Windows 9x automates the managing of virtual memory for you.
Although you can override the automation, there is little reason to
do so. To see what options Windows 9x offers, open the Control
Panel and double-click on System, then choose the Performance
tab.

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5.10 The ultimate solution: Windows
NT
Windows NT uses 4K segments of memory called pages to
address all of its memory. Windows NT doesn’t allow any
applications to directly address physical memory, which
creates a more stable environment. If an application needs to
request pages of memory, Windows NT decides where those pages
will physically reside (in RAM or virtual memory) and writes and
retrieves data for the application.

5.11 Memory
With the demands that today’s software places on computers, you
will want to have as much memory as possible. When you upgrade
or add more memory to your computer, ask yourself these
questions:

• How much memory can my computer physically accommodate?

• What increments of memory does my system board support?
• How much additional memory is cost effective?
• What kind of memory can fit on my system board?
• What memory is compatible with memory I already have
installed?

System boards can only accommodate a certain amount of RAM.

You should check the system board documentation for details.
A bank is a location on the system board that contains slots
(normally two) for memory modules. To determine how many
slots are in a bank you must know the local bus size (size of the
CPU bus). For Pentium systems this is normally 64-bits, and for
486 systems the bus size is normally 32-bits. One of the most
common mistakes made when adding memory to a system board is
mixing memory types. For example, mixing parity with non-parity
memory or 60NS with 80NS memory should not be done.
Figure 5- is an example of a typical memory add. Notice the

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information provided includes memory size, density, type, speed,
number of pins, and of course, price:

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Figure 5- 6 demonstrates how SIMMs are installed:

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Figure 5-7 demonstrates how DIMMs are installed:

Chapter Summary
The following points summarize the key concepts in this chapter:

ROM and RAM

• ROM is a form of nonvolatile memory that is used in PCs to

hold POST commands.
• RAM is the memory that is used by the CPU to temporarily
hold data that is currently used by the system. It is cleared
any time the system is powered down or rebooted.
• RAM chips come in many sizes and shapes. It is important
for the computer technician to be able to identify the different
types and calculate how many chips, banks, or rows of
memory modules are needed to upgrade a computer.
• The number of SIMMs required is based on the width of the
data bus.

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Mapping Memory

• Memory (RAM) is allocated to different parts of the CPU. A

computer technician uses a memory map to describe how
memory is allocated.
• Hexadecimal numbers are used to identify the location of
memory on a memory map.
• MS-DOS can access only the first 1 MB of memory.
• Several commands, such as MEM.COM, are used to identify
memory allocation in a computer.
• A computer technician must know the difference between
conventional and high memory.

Review
1. Define the following terms: conventional memory, expanded
memory, extended memory, HMA, shadow RAM.
2. Describe the difference between ROM and RAM.
3. How many 30-pin SIMM boards are required for one bank of
memory on a computer with a 486 processor?
4. What is DRAM?
5. Define access speed.
6. Describe the major difference between SIPPs and SIMMs.
7. Define cache memory.
8. One of the differences between DRAM and SRAM is that
SRAM does not have to be refreshed. What does this mean,
and how does it affect the cost of each type of chip?

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CHAPTER 6: Floppy drives
6.1 How data is stored on floppy drives
Data is stored on both sides of a floppy disk in tracks, which are
concentric circles on the disk. Each track is divided into segments
called sectors. Each sector holds 512 bits of data. A new disk is
formatted by the operating system to hold data by writing the track
and sector markings on the disk surface and writing a file
allocation table (FAT) and directory. The directory contains a list
of files on the disk and the FAT tracks the locations of each file.
Every disk has a boot record that tells the OS how the disk was
formatted so that the OS knows how to interpret information on the
disk.
6.2 How to use dos and windows
command to manage disks
DOS manages a floppy disk from the DOS command prompt. The
Format command initially formats a floppy disk. The Label
command puts a volume label on the disk. The Del command
deletes a file and the Recover command recovers corrupted sectors
on the disk. Diskcopy, Copy, and Xcopy can all be used to copy
files from one location to another. Windows offers the same
commands, but from a GUI interface. Windows Explorer is the
most useful Windows tool to manage a floppy disk.

6.3 How to replace or install a disk drive

A floppy disk drive subsystem contains the drive, a data cable, a
power cord from the power supply and a floppy drive connection
on the system board. The floppy drive data cable contains
connections for two floppy drives. A twist in the cable
distinguishes drive A from drive B. Drive A is between the twist

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and the system board. Install the drive in a bay and stabilize the
drive with screws. Connect the power cord. Connect the data cable
to the system board and drive. When you power up the system,
enter CMOS setup and tell the system BIOS that the drive is
present. Select the size drive (5 1/4" or 3 1/2") and the density of
the drive. Most likely the drive will be 3 1/2" high density which
holds 1.44MB.

6.4 How Data is Physically Stored on a

Floppy Disk
Like hard drives, floppy drives use a controller, designed for
floppies, to communicate with the system bus. First, data travels
from the floppy drive through the floppy drive controller; second,
through the system bus; and finally, to the CPU and back if
necessary. A cable called a "floppy cable" connects the floppy
drive to the floppy controller. Most floppy drive controllers are
embedded components on the system board, although sometimes
they are located on an expansion card. All floppy disks consist of
the same physical materials, which include a protective hard
plastic outside with a thin piece of magnetically coated plastic on
the inside. Data is written/read to a floppy via magnetic read/write
heads inside the floppy drive. There are only two heads (one for
the top of the floppy disk and one for the bottom of the floppy
disk) and they move back and forth, in unison across the plastic
disk, reading and writing data. Because magnetism can spread or
"bleed" easily, there are two eraser heads directly behind and on
either side of the read/write heads. Their job is to erase any
excess magnetic charge that helps to ensure that a clean track is
written. In addition to the eraser heads following the read/write
heads, there is one blank track between each data track.
This also helps to prevent bleeding. When a floppy disk is
formatted, tracks are created by repeating the binary ASCII code
for F6. The tracks are then divided into sectors. The beginning
sector is marked on each track with a designated code.

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Double-density formatting works on all disks, but can increase the
chance of data corruption if used on a high-density disk. It is
recommended that you always use the proper disks with the proper
type of formatting. When data is requested from a floppy disk, the
read/write heads pass over the disk and wait for the right section of
disk to appear. When the read/write heads detect the correct
section of the floppy disk, they begin reading the magnetic charges
on the disk, which are then amplified and forwarded to the floppy
controller.

6.5 How Data is Logically Stored on a

Disk
A sector can refer to either a large section on one side of a disk, or
a single segment of one track. A cluster is the smallest unit of
allocation. A cluster contains two sectors (segments of tracks),
each holding 512 bytes of data. A cluster includes two sectors: the
sector on the top side of the disk, and the parallel sector on the
bottom side of the disk.

File Allocation Unit is another name for a cluster. During

formatting, the Windows 9x or DOS FORMAT command
performs the following steps:
• Creates the tracks and sectors by writing tracks as a series of
ASCII F6s and, as necessary, writing the sector address mark to
identify the beginning sector on a track.
•Creates the master boot record (MBR).
• Creates two copies of the file allocation table (FAT).
• Creates the root directory.

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The file allocation table, also referred to as FAT, contains the
location of files on the disk. How is FAT used? When a file needs
to be read off of a disk the system will first check the file
allocation table to find out where the first cluster of the file is
located. After reading the first cluster, it checks the clusters table
entry to see where the next segment of the file is located. A cluster
chain includes all of the cluster locations for a specific file.

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The Root Directory
Depending on the type of disk, the root directory contains a
predetermined number of files and directories. Refer to Table 5-3
gives detailed information on the number of root
entries for a particular kind of disk:

So how does Windows 95 accommodate long file names?

Windows 95 can accommodate long file names by creating more
than one entry in the file allocation table for a specific file.

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The following table describes various floppy disks and their
capacities.

Disk
Capacity Description
Size
5.25- 160 KB Single-sided single-density—the first model.
inch
5.25- 360 KB Double-sided single-density.
inch
5.25- 720 KB Double-sided double-density.
inch
5.25- 1.2 MB Double-sided high-density.
inch
3.5- 720 KB Double-sided double-density.
inch
3.5- 1.44 MB Double-sided high-density—today's standard.
inch
3.5- 2.88 MB Double-sided quad-density. This format has never really gained
inch in market share and is not common on today's PCs.

The only major differences between the 5.25-inch and the 3.5-inch
disk drives (other than physical size) are that the 5.25-inch drive
has a slot connector and the 3.5-inch drive has a pin connector for
engaging and spinning the disk, and they use different power plugs
and voltages.

All floppy disk drives are connected to the motherboard's external

data bus by a 34- pin data cable. This cable has a seven-wire twist
in lines 10 through 16. This ensures that when two floppy disk
drives are attached, the drive-select and motor-enable signals on
those wires can be inverted to "select" which drive becomes the

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active target. The other wires carry data and ground signals. The
connector end of the cable with the twist always goes toward the
drives.

Using DOS to Manage a Floppy Disk

An internal DOS command is a command that is part of the

command.com file. An external DOS command is a separate
program located in the DOS directory. FORMAT is an example of
an external DOS command. Other examples are:

• FORMAT command - used to create tracks and erase all data on

a disk.
• LABEL command - allows the user to electronically label a disk.
• CHKDSK command - examines the disk for inconsistencies in
the file system.
• SCANDISK command - an improved version of CHKDSK.
• DEL or ERASE command - will delete files from a disk.

• UNDELETE command - used when trying to retrieve deleted

files.
• RECOVER command - used when attempting to recover a file
from a bad sector
on a disk.
• DISKCOPY command- used to make an exact duplicate from
one disk to another.
• COPY command - used to copy files from one location or disk to
another.
• XCOPY command - an improved version of the COPY
command.
• DELTREE command - used to delete entire directories and their
contents.

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Errors Caused by the Floppy Disk
If a floppy disk drive doesn't work, the first thing you suspect
should be the floppy disk.

To check a floppy disk, follow this procedure:

1. First, make sure the disk is not write protected. The hole on
the right top corner of a 3.5-inch disk (viewed from the front)
should be closed. On a 5.25-inch disk, the notch on one side
should be visible (not covered).
2. Try another disk.
3. Try a new (formatted) disk.
4. Try someone else's disk—one that is known to work on
another computer (first make sure there is no critical data on
the disk).
5. If two or more disks are unreadable, the drive is suspect; try
going to MS-DOS and reading a directory using the DIR
command.

Caution
Never test a drive by using a disk that contains important data! If
the drive is bad, it may destroy any disks placed into it.

Detecting Data Errors on a Disk

If you can read data from one disk, but not another, the problem is
the floppy disk. Throw it away. Data errors on floppy disks
generally result in an error message that ends with the words
"Abort, Retry, Fail." The process for repairing floppy disks is
identical to the process for repairing hard disk drives. Should there
be data on the disk that must be recovered, use "ScanDisk".

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Check the CMOS Setting
Occasionally, the CMOS settings for floppy disks cause problems
with drive operations. Any of the following errors indicates a
possible CMOS setup problem:

• General failure reading drive A: (or B:)

• Not ready error reading drive A: (or B:)
• Insert disk for drive A: (or B:) and press any key when ready

BIOS makers often use the 3.5-inch high-density disk drive as the
default CMOS setting for the A drive. With this BIOS, failure of
the CMOS battery, or even accidental erasure of the CMOS, will
still allow most floppy disks to work. Always double-check the
CMOS if you are experiencing a recurrent floppy disk drive
failure. It is quick, easy, and might save you time.

Tip
It is possible for the CMOS to be corrupted by a software or
hardware conflict and yet appear to be fine. If all else fails, reset
the CMOS and reinstall the CMOS setup (check the motherboard
manual for the jumper or disconnect the battery).

Check/Change the Floppy Disk Drive

Cable
Cables wear out, work themselves loose, and are sometimes
improperly installed. Check out both the data cable and the power
jack as causes of the errant floppy disk drive before moving on to
the controller.

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Change the Floppy Disk Drive
Controller
Floppy disk drive controllers are durable and highly resistant to
failure and therefore should be the last components to blame. Left
alone, they generally cause no problems. However, if they have
recently been handled, such as during a move or repairs to the
computer, they can be suspect. They are extremely sensitive to
shock and static discharge. In the event of a loose data cable or
power plug, the POST (Power-On Self Test) will return "FDD
Controller Failure" or "Drive Not Ready" errors. Verify all the
connections and try again. If the connections are good, try
removing and reseating the controller (beware of electrostatic
discharge). If the same errors continue, replace the controller.
Floppy disk drives and controllers are inexpensive.

When replacing a floppy disk drive controller, keep in mind

that most of these controllers on pre-Pentium machines are
bundled as part of a combination I/O card. These cards include
some (often all) of the following: hard disk drive controllers, serial
ports, parallel ports, and joystick ports. If the new card contains
any duplicate ports (they already exist elsewhere on the computer),
a potential for conflict will exist.

Tip
Be sure to disable all other devices on the card that are already
installed on the computer when installing I/O cards. If not disabled,
the I/O card can cause conflicts. If you have a new card with
improved devices, disable or remove the older item.

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Replace the Floppy Disk Drive
When replacing floppy disk drives, be sure to throw away the old
drive. Floppy disk drives are inexpensive compared to other
components in the computer. Consider purchasing them in quantity
and saving money. It is not a bad idea to have a spare floppy disk
drive and I/O card available for testing purposes.

Note
As a rule, floppy disk drives fail more than any other part of a
computer system except the floppy disk itself.

Using floppy drive testing software

Six typical things that drive-testing software will check for to help
you solve drive problems are:

1. Azimuth skew: Does the drive head align itself well with the
tracks, or is it at a
tangent?
2. Hub centering: Does the disk wobble as it turns, or does it turn
in a perfect
circle?
3. Hysteresis: Can the drive find a track regardless of the direction
from which it
approaches the track?
4. Radial alignment: Is the drive head centered correctly on the
track, or is it too far
to the left or the right?
5. Rotational speed: Does the drive turn the floppy disk at the
proper speed?
6. Sensitivity: How far from the data must the head be before it
can read the data?

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Chapter Summary
The following points summarize the key concepts in this chapter:

Floppy Disk Drives

• The first disk drives were floppy disk drives. The technology
of floppy disks has changed little in the past decade.
• Floppy disk drives are designated as A or B. The drive letter
designation is determined by the location of the drive on the
cable.
• Floppy disk drives fail more than any other part of a
computer system.
• Floppy drive parameters must be properly set in the system
CMOS.
• When a drive fails to read or write, first check each
individual medium, then the CMOS settings, the cable; the
Controller and as a last option, replace the drive itself.

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Chapter Review Questions
1 What is the best method of determining the number of
drives available on a computer?
2 What three things should be checked when a floppy
disk drive fails?
3 What is the best way to ensure long life from a floppy
disk drive?
4 When you purchase a new floppy disk drive controller,
what can you expect to receive with it?
5 Other than physical size, what are the only differences
between a 5.25-inch floppy disk drive and a 3.5-inch
floppy disk?
6 What type of cable is used to connect a floppy disk
drive to the external data bus?
7 What is the proper way to install a floppy disk drive
cable?
8 To which pin must the Number 1 wire of the floppy
disk drive cable be connected?
9 You've received the following error message: "General
failure reading Drive A:". What is the most likely
problem?

10 Are floppy disk controllers sensitive to ESD?

11 You receive an error message that ends with "Abort,

Retry, Fail?" What is the most likely cause of the error?

12 Why is a voice coil actuator arm better than a stepper

motor actuator arm?

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CHAPTER 7: Introduction to Hard
drives
7.1 How data is stored on a hard drive
A hard drive is a stack of platters enclosed in a protective case.
Data is written on both surfaces of each platter. Data is stored on a
hard drive in concentric circles called tracks which are divided into
segments called sectors. The drive is partitioned into logical drives
assigned letters such as drive C:, D:, E: and so forth. A partition
table at the beginning of the drive lists the logical drives, their size,
and location on the physical drive. Each logical drive has a root
directory and FAT that together tracks the files on the drive. A file
is stored in one or more clusters. A cluster contains one or more
sectors.
7.2 How to use dos and windows
command to manage data on a hard drive
DOS commands to manage a hard drive include the MKDIR
command to create directories, CHDIR to change directories,
RMDIR to remove a directory, TREE to display a directory
structure, ATTRIB to display and change the attributes of a file,
MIRROR and UNFORMAT to manage the partition table on a
hard drive, and PATH to set a path to executable files. Except for
MIRROR and UNFORMAT, these same commands are available
in Windows 9x when using Windows Explorer and in File
Manager when using Windows 3.x.

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7.3 Various types of hard drives and their
advantages
Most hard drives today use the IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics)
technology which contains the hard drive controller directly on the
hard drive housing. (Older technologies had the controller on a
separate expansion card that controlled the drive by way of a
controller cable.) An Enhanced IDE (EIDE) drive can hold more
data than an IDE drive. All new IDE drives today are EIDE drives
and the industry loosely calls them IDE drives. A system board can
support up to 4 IDE devices including CD-ROM drives and hard
drives. There are several variations of IDE standards including
ATA-2, ATA-3 and Ultra ATA which all use a standard 40-pin
IDE cable. The latest standard Ultra ATA/66 requires an improved
40-pin cable that improves ground quality. The ATA (Advanced
Technology Attachment is the official name for IDE drives) There
are also several SCSI (Small Computer System Interface) standards
including Regular SCSI, Fast SCSI, and Ultra SCSI. Because older
System BIOS did not support hard drives larger than 504 MB,
translation modes where created so that a system could handle
larger drives. Two translation methods are ECHS mode (also
called large mode) and LBA mode.

7.4 How to manage a hard drive to

optimize it’s performance
Fragmentation is the undesirable placement of a single file in
several cluster locations that are not next to each other, so that data
access time is increased. Fragmentation happens over time as many
files are written, erased, and rewritten to a drive. To defragment a
drive is to reorder the files so that all files are written into
contiguous clusters. Defragmenting a drive improves performance.
Cross-linked clusters are clusters on a hard drive that are marked
as used in the FAT by more than one file. Lost clusters are clusters
that the FAT records as used, but contain no data. Both cross-
linked and lost clusters can be corrected by ScanDisk, a Windows

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utility to improve hard drive performance. Disk caching is built
into Windows 9x as a 32-bit protected-mode utility called Vcache.
Disk caching speeds up drive access by buffering data between the
CPU and the drive.

7.5 How to compare different removable

drives
When selecting a removable drive, consider the capacity of the
drive, the ease of use, the drop height, the ability to automatically
drop into sleep mode, write-protect options, the speed, Plug-and-
Play compliance, compatibility with other technology, cost,
warranty, and quality of the documentation. Popular removable
drives include the 100-MB and 250-MB Zip drives, 120-MB
SuperDisk and the 1-GB Jaz drive

7.6 Hard drive technology

The following are physical components of a hard drive:

• Disk platters. The disk platters are the physical components that
store data.
• Head. Each side or surface of one platter is called a head.
• Read/write head. The read/write head is responsible for
magnetically reading and writing data to the platters.
• Actuator. The actuator is responsible for the read/write heads
over the platters.
• Cylinder. A cylinder is made up of eight tracks, one on each
head that have the same radius.

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 The problem with round platters is, that as the read/write heads
move closer to the center of the platter there is less physical space
available for them to read and write data. Two methods can be
used to adjust for the smaller tracks: write precompensation and
reduced write current. Write Precompensation speeds up the
writing of data to the drive as the tracks become smaller near the
center of the platters. Reduced write current reduces the amount
of current used to place spots of magnetism on the platters.

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7.7 IDE Technology
IDE stands for Integrated Device Electronics. The purpose of the
IDE was to integrate the drive controller with the drive itself rather
than use a separate controller card. The ATA (Advanced
Technology Attachment—the official name for IDE drives)
standard is based on the original IBM AT standard for hard disk
drives. and refers to a hard disk that uses either LBA or zone bit
recording to access its platters. MFM and RLL are the oldest hard
drive standards. IDE is currently one of the most popular hard
drive standards; SCSI is the other. IDE is also called an interface
card, which is a small circuit board inserted in an expansion slot
and used to communicate between the system bus and a peripheral
device. Another name for this is an adapter card. MFM drive
technology requires that every sector on every platter is the same
size. IDE technology utilizes the full drive capacity because it isn’t
limited to making every sector the same size. What does zone bit
recording accomplish? Unlike what the BIOS is expecting, zone
bit recording does not use the same number of sectors per track
throughout the drive, thereby forcing the BIOS to translate for the
operating system. One result of not having the same sector size is
the operating systems are not able to communicate with the hard
drive directly. Because of this problem, IDE drives come with an
integrated on-board controller to communicate directly with the
hard disk.

Enhanced IDE (EIDE) Technology

EIDE supports up to 128 gig drive capacity. It uses LBA to exceed
the 528mb barrier and it is ATAPI compatible.

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7.8 Formatting a Hard Drive
IDE drives are sometimes referred to as disposable because
normally, only the manufacturer will have the ability to low-level
format the drive. After several years of use, the original tracks will
fade and you will be forced to replace the hard disk. Be warned:
low-leveling an IDE drive can destroy the hard disk. A high-level
format is a format performed by the OS that writes a file system to
a logical drive. For DOS and Windows 9x, the command used is
FORMAT, which writes a FAT and a directory to the drive. High-
level format is also called OS format. IDE hard drive controllers
are integrated with the hard drive. Their function is to locate and
retrieve data form the hard drive platters when it is requested.

7.9 SCSI Technology

SCSI stands for Small Computer Systems Interface. SCSI is like a
separate bus that can be added to a PC. A host adapter acts as the
bridge between the SCSI bus and the system bus. Most host
adapters have a built-in SCSI BIOS, which is responsible for
managing all of the data transactions that occur on the SCSI bus.
SCSI out performs IDE because of the SCSI bus adapter chip
(SBAC), which manages all of the data transactions on the SCSI
bus without interrupting the CPU. Embedded SCSI refers to a
device that has a SCSI controller chip or SBAC on the logic board
of the device. This type of SCSI device needs only an adapter to
communicate with the system bus. The disadvantage of an
embedded device is that it cannot support other SCSI devices.

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The following are the common SCSI standards in use today, and
their specifications:

• SCSI-1 - requires an 8-bit parallel bus with optional parity, uses

a 50 pin ribbon cable and can daisy chain up to 8 devices including
the host adapter. Note that it requires a hardware terminator.
• SCSI-2 - requires parity checking and uses improved termination
methods.
• Wide SCSI - supports the larger data paths of 16-bit and 32-bit.
It also uses a larger ribbon cable - 68pin - rather than the standard
50 pin. Wide SCSI supports up to 16 devices including the host
adapter.
• Ultra SCSI - is one of the most popular SCSI types because it is
backwards compatible. Some of the ultra SCSI features include
20MB/sec burst transfer rate using an 8-bit data path, 40/sec burst
transfer rate using a 16-bit data path. Ultra SCSI uses an automatic
configuration tool that complies with the PnP standard.

Other Variations of SCSI Hardware and Software

Termination prevents an echo effect from electrical noise and

reflected data at the end of the SCSI daisy chain, which can cause
interference with the data transmission. There are three different
types of terminators: passive, active, and perfect. Device drivers
for SCSI devices should be provided by the hardware
manufacturer. The two most common drivers used for SCSI
products are ASPI, or Advanced Programming Interface, and
CAM -Common Access Method. When purchasing a SCSI host
adapter, look for ease of installation. (PnP, software controlled
termination and built-in ROM configuration BIOS). All SCSI host
adapters require an IRQ, DMA and I/O address. Before installation
be sure that you have these required resources available.

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Following are differences between EIDE and SCSI hard drives:

• SCSI technology is more expensive than the EIDE technology.

• The SCSI subsystem provides faster data transfer than EIDE
drives, thereby making SCSI the faster technology.
• A SCSI bus supports multitasking, for example, the SCSI bus
internally manages requests to SCSI devices, thereby freeing the
CPU to continue processing other requests instead of waiting for a
response from the SCSI device.
• A good SCSI host adapter allows for daisy chaining of devices.
• Another way that a SCSI bus multitasks is by allowing multiple
SCSI devices on the same bus to do different tasks at the same
time. This differs from EIDE, where only one device can be busy
at a time.
SCSI and IDE Compared
Feature SCSI UDMA/IDE
Devices per channel 7/15 per chain 2 per chain
Maximum potential throughput for major 160 MB per 66 MB per second
classes of SCSI and IDE second (Ultra1) (UDMA)
60 - 33 MB per second
80 MB per (UDMA)
second (Ultra2) 16.7 MB per
40 MB per second(Fast ATA)
second (Wide
SCSI)
Connection types Internal and Internal only
external
True bus mastering Yes No
Operate more than one I/O device at a Yes No
time?
Advanced commands (such as tag Yes No
command queuing, connect/disconnect)

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7.10 How a hard drive is logically
organized to hold data
Hard Drive Partitions
Partitioning is the process of dividing a single physical drive into
one or more logical drives. A logical drive is a portion of the hard
drive that an operating system views as a separate physical drive.
The partition table is a location at the beginning of a hard drive
where information is stored about logical drives. The master boot
record (MBR) is the first sector on a hard drive. The MBR
contains the partition table and other information
needed by BIOS to access the drive.

Logical Drives

How is the physical location of a file tracked? The physical

location of a file is tracked by the BIOS or device driver that is
managing the hard drive. The operating system only recognizes a
large amount of clusters and requests filed by the cluster number.
The BIOS retrieves files by using the root directory to determine
the beginning cluster of a file. Then, it references FAT for all other
cluster information. Operating systems manage logical drives as
separate physical drives. This is why each logical drive must have
its own FAT and boot record.

The Boot Record

The boot record is used during the boot process to inform the OS
of how a logical drive is organized. The bootstrap is the program
stored in the boot record used to load the operating system.

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The FAT and Root Directory
There is only one FAT per a hard drive, although there can be
many directories. A block is a 32-byte entry in a file's parent
directory containing the file name and extension. VFAT stands for
virtual file allocation table. The purpose of VFAT is to
accommodate long filenames by recording how many blocks are
allocated for each file listed in a directory. Some older DOS based
utilities, which were not designed with VFAT in mind, could
damage the VFAT table. FAT 16 only allowed 12 bits per a FAT
entry whereas FAT 32 allows 28 bits per an entry. FAT 32 allows
better management of very large hard drives, because the number
of cluster per logical volume can increase. There are 512 entries
available in the DOS root directory but, remember that long
filenames will take more than one entry. The root directory is
physically located after the two FAT tables on a hard drive. The
larger the cluster size the more physical space will be wasted
because a small file may not need a full cluster to be saved but
unfortunately, under the FAT file system, a cluster is the smallest
unit available. (Other file systems will be discussed later)

Communicating with the Hard Drive BIOS

With older hard drives, an OS could communicate cylinders, tracks

and sector information; with newer technology this is not the case.
Legacy hard drives were limited in capacity because they were
designed to have no more than 17 sectors per a track and
only 1024 tracks. Because legacy hard drives have a capacity
limitation of 528MB, legacy BIOS also have the same limitation.

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Adjusting for More Complex Hard Drive Organization

CHS, (Cylinders, Heads, Sectors) or normal mode, is the standard

way of addressing a hard drive. When using this method there is no
need for translation. The actual layout of heads, tracks, and sectors
on a hard drive is referred to as the physical geometry.

There are five numerical values that describe physical geometry:

• Heads
• Cylinders
• Sectors per track
• Write precompensation
• Landing zone

Write precompensation and landing zone are obsolete, but often

seen on older drives

The maximum CHS values are:

• 1024 cylinders.
• 16 heads.
• 63 sectors per track.
• 512 bytes per sector.

1024 x 16 x 63 x 512 bytes/sector = 528,482,304 bytes

(528 million bytes or 504 MB)

Therefore, the largest hard disk drive size recognized directly by

the BIOS is 504 MB. Larger drive sizes can be attained by using
either hardware or software translation that manages access to the
expanded capacity without direct control by the system BIOS.

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Logical geometry is the number of heads, tracks, and sectors that
the BIOS on the hard drive controller presents to the system BIOS
and the OS. The logical geometry does not consist of the same
values as the physical geometry, although calculations of drive
capacity yield the same results. CHS mode or normal mode, is
the method by which system BIOS manages a hard drive by
communicating to the controller BIOS the logical geometry of the
hard drive, based on tracks, cylinders, sectors and heads. CHS can
be used under the following conditions:

• The number of cylinders does not exceed 1,024

• The number of heads does not exceed 16
• There are no more than 63 sectors/track, assuming a constant
number sectors/track
• There must be 512 bytes per a track.

The maximum amount of storage on a hard drive using CHS mode

is 528 MB or 404 MB, depending on how the calculations are
done. This limitation exists because of a combination of two
factors: the way software calls up system BIOS to access the drive
and the IDE/ATA interface standard that many hard drives adhere
to. See Figure 7- 2 below:

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Translation Methods
An enhanced BIOS is newer BIOS that has been written to
accommodate larger capacity gigabyte drives. The term
translation method refers to the conversion of sector addresses
used when the hard drive addressing system does not conform to
what the system BIOS is expecting. Two circumstances in which
hard drive translation is necessary are when a drive uses zone bit
recording and, on large-capacity drives. Large mode is a
translation method that supports hard drives up to 1 gig in size by
re-mapping the data on the physical hard drive to conform with the
normal mode standard, which is what the operating system
expects. LBA is a translation method that creates a table like
FAT and assigns an LBA number to specific locations on the hard
drive (similar to clusters). Any hard drive larger than 528MB
(more that 1024 cylinders) is considered a large capacity drive.
The three types of translation methods used with large capacity
hard drives are:

• CHS (Cylinders, Heads, Sectors) or normal mode

• Large Mode
• Enhanced BIOS or LBA (Logical Block Address) mode

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System BIOS Helps Manage Data Transfer
The three ways the system BIOS is used to support a hard drive
are:
1. System BIOS provides the interrupt handler for software
interrupts.
2. System BIOS can automatically detect and configure ma hard
drive.
3. System BIOS helps manage data transfer over the I/O bus
between the hard drive and memory.

Who’s in Charge?
The three devices that could manage the data transfer for the hard
drive are:
1. Using programmed I/O (PIO) mode, the CPU is in charge and
manages data transfer. There are five different PIO modes (0 - 4)
with transfer rates from 3.3 MB/sec to 16.6 MB/sec.
2. Using DMA, the DMA controller is in charge and manages the
transfer of data to memory without the involvement of the CPU.
3. Using bus mastering, the hard drive BIOS controls data transfer.

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7.11 Operating system command to
manage a hard drive
DOS syntax and functionality:
MKDIR - This command is used to create subdirectories.
MKDIR [DRIVE:] PATH
CHDIR - This command is used to change directories. Syntax:
CHDIR [DIRVE] PATH
RMDIR - This command is used to remove directories. Syntax:
RMDIR [DRIVE:]PATH
TREE - This command is used to list the directory structure.
Syntax: TREE [DRIVE:][PATH]
ATTRIB - This command is used to modify or view the attributes
of a file. Syntax:ATTRIB
MIRROR - This command is used to create a copy of partition
table information in older versions of DOS.
Syntax: MIRROR /PARTN
UNFORMAT - This command is used to unformat a hard drive
and restore partition table information.
Syntax: UNFORMAT /PARTN
PATH - This command is used to set or modify the search path.
Syntax: PATH[DRIVE:] PATH

Using Batch Files

A batch file is a text file with file extension of BAT. Batch files
contain a list of DOS commands, which are automatically executed
when the batch file is executed. An example of a batch file is the
AUTOEXEC.BAT.

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7.12 Optimizing a hard drive
What is fragmentation? A hard disk is considered fragmented
when most of the files are not written in consecutive clusters. A
chain is the same as a cluster chain - a series of clusters that make
up a file. Remember that operating systems record files in pieces
called clusters. The disadvantage of using a fragmented hard disk
is that when a hard disk has become fragmented, the file access
time becomes slower because the drive must move to many
different physical areas on the disk in order to access all of the
clusters necessary for a particular file. The DEFRAG utility
locates file clusters that have been scattered throughout a hard disk
and rewrites them into consecutive order. A cross-linked file has a
cluster that is pointing to a different cluster chain other than the
one it belongs to. A lost cluster still exists on the hard disk but is
no longer part of any chain. The SCANDISK utility is used to
detect the presence of lost cluster and cross-linked files. When
using FAT volumes, it is considered good maintenance to run the
SCANDISK and DEFRAG utilities at least once a month.

Disk Compression
Disk compression is used to increase the amount of space
available on a hard disk by reducing the size of files stored on the
hard disk. Following are two ways in which disk compression is
accomplished:
1. All the files on the hard disk are written to one large file. The
compression driver manages all file read/write operations.
2. The compression driver writes and rewrites all data to the hard
drive in an algorithm that uses less space. The disk compression
driver is able to save space by examining each file stored on the
hard disk and then removing repeating characters within the same
file. The driver then verifies that every file on the hard disk uses all
of the space in each cluster. If a file does not use all of the space
within a particular cluster, the file is rewritten.

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Advantages to using disk compression are:

1. The disk compression driver must be loaded in order to access

the volume correctly.
2. Data is stored in one file; therefore, if the one large file becomes
corrupt you risk losing all data on the hard disk.

Disadvantages are:

1. Software incompatibilities: some software applications cannot

communicate properly with standard compression drivers.
2. Slower speed: it is slower to access files on a compressed hard
disk because compressed hard disks have to wait for the data to be
translated from something the compression driver can understand,
into something the operating system can understand.

Disk Compression in Windows 9x: CVF stands for compressed

volume file. The CVF is the file that all hard disk data is written to
when compressing a hard drive. A host drive is a small partition,
normally around 2MB, that is created to hold the CVF file for
the hard disk. When Windows 9x compresses a hard disk it first
creates the host drive and then rewrites all the data that is currently
on the hard drive to one large file. After this process is complete
the compression driver is used to read and write data to and from
the single large file. To get the highest compression ratio you need
to compress the hard disk before it has too much data.

Caching
Disk Caching: Disk caching is the process of using a temporary
storage place to maintain data being read and written to the hard
disk.

Hardware Cache and Software Cache: A software disk caching

program reads ahead of the CPU’s requests on the hard disks, and
stores that data in RAM. This improves performance because most

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files are in consecutive order, and if the file is in RAM, the CPU
doesn’t have to wait for the data to be transferred from the hard
disk. Hardware cache serves the same purpose as software cache,
but accomplishes it differently. Hardware cache stores the read-
ahead data on a RAM chip in the hard disk controller. Although
hardware cache reads ahead of the CPU and stores the data in
RAM, it doesn’t store the data in system RAM. This still forces the
CPU to wait for a response from the bus that the hard disk
controller is on, rather than taking the data straight from system
RAM, which is much faster.

Disk Cache in DOS and Windows 3.x: SmartDrive is a hard

drive cache program that comes with Windows 3.x and DOS that
can be executed as a TSR from the AUTOEXEC.BAT file.

VCACHE in Windows 9x: VCACHE is Windows 9x` built-in

caching software. VCACHE is automatically loaded with the
operating system, doesn’t need any configuration parameters, and
out performs any of the DOS caching programs available.
Some of the Windows 9x "don’ts" are:
• Don’t use older DOS software that isn’t VFAT and VCACHE
aware.
• Don’t use FDISK, FORMAT C: or SYS C: from within
Windows 9x.
• Don’t use hard drive caching programs unless they were created
for Windows 9x

• Don’t use older versions of the DOS backup program because it

will truncate the long file names.

DOS Buffers
A buffer is a temporary memory area where data is kept before
being written to a hard drive or sent to a printer, thus reducing the
number of writes to the devices. Buffers are typically configured
via the CONFIG.SYS file.

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Using DOS under Windows 9x to Manage a Hard Drive
The following commands should not be used in the Windows 9x
environment:
• Third-party disk utilities
• FDISK, FORMAT SYS or CHKDSK
• Third-party disk caching programs
• Old DOS backup programs

7.13 CD-ROM Drives

The CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read-Only Memory) is a
technology taken directly from the audio world that has become
standard equipment for computers. This lesson covers the basics of
installing and using CD-ROM drives.

Advantages of CD-ROM Drives

If a hard disk drive holds more information than a floppy disk
drive, accesses the information faster, and reads and writes
information, then why do we need CD-ROM drives? The answer is
simple: a compact disc can hold large amounts (650 MB) of
removable data and can be mass-produced at a very low cost.

The CD has become the medium of choice for software

distribution by manufacturers. DVD (Digital Video Disc)
technology is beginning to replace traditional CD-ROM
technology on many new PCs, but DVD drives can read CD-ROM.
It is expected that CD-ROM will be a standard distribution method
for the foreseeable future.

An entire software package can be stored on one CD. For example,

the early versions of the Microsoft Office Suite were supplied on
32 floppy disks. Today, the entire program suite and its manuals

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are stored on a single CD. It is also much faster to install a CD.
The user simply starts it up, enters any required information, and
comes back later; it's no longer necessary to feed disk after disk
into the computer. When they were introduced, CDs held large
databases such as encyclopedias. Today, they are used for every
possible type of data, from national phone directories and software
libraries to collections of clip art, music, and games. The following
table lists the advantages of storing data on a CD.

Advantage Description
Large Up to 650 MB of data fit on a single 5-inch disc. (Smaller than
storage capacity the original 5.25-inch floppy disk, a CD holds almost 2000 times
as much information.)
Portability The CD is a portable medium.
Data cannot be A CD is read-only, which prevents accidental erasure of
changed programs or files.
Sturdiness More durable than the standard 5.25-inch or 3.5-inch disks, CDs
are not magnetic media and thus are not subject to the same
dangers posed by proximity to electrical sources or magnets.
Special CD-ROMs are audio-capable, allowing special compression of
capabilities audio, image, and video data. They can be used to play standard
audio CDs and have the capacity to store and record video data.

Development of the CD
The development of the computer CD roughly paralleled the audio
(music) CD:

• In 1979, the CD, as a storage medium, was introduced in the

audio industry.
• In 1985, the CD came to the computer industry. Development
was slow because the hardware was too expensive for most
manufacturers and users.
• In 1991, the CD-ROM/XA standard was enhanced, and
multimedia requirements for hardware were specified.
• In 1993, high-quality video playback came to the computer.

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 • Today, the price of CD-ROM drives continues to drop, while
their speed climbs. Approximately 85 percent of all
computers include an internal CD-ROM drive as standard
equipment. Most software packages are shipped in CD-ROM
versions (3.5-inch disk versions are available but usually only
by special order, and often they do not contain all the extras
of the CD version).

About CD-ROM Standards

The CD-ROM world makes use of several standards. These are
usually referred to by the color of the cover of the volume issued
by the ISO (International Organization for Standardization)
committee—for example, the White Book, Yellow Book, and so
on. ISO formats are discussed in more detail later in this lesson.

CD-ROM Technology
CD-ROMs store data as a series of 1s and 0s, just like a floppy
disk or a hard disk drive. However, instead of using magnetic
energy to read and write data, CD readers and writers use laser
energy. There are two major advantages to using lasers:

• There is no physical contact between the surface of the CD

and the reading device.
• The diameter of the laser beam is so small that storage tracks
can be written very close together, allowing more data to be
stored in a smaller space.

Hard Disk Drives vs. CD-ROMs

With the cost of hard disk drives falling and the amount of
available data storage rising, the hard drive is still king of the
storage media. Optical data-storage devices hold their place as
removable media and as the media of choice for archival data
storage.

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A CD platter is composed of a reflective layer of aluminum
applied to a synthetic base that is composed of polymers. A layer
of transparent polycarbonate covers the aluminum. A protective
coating of lacquer is applied to the surface to protect it from dust,
dirt, and scratches.

NOTE
.CD-recordable (CD-R) discs use materials other than aluminum.
They often have a yellow or green cast on the data side. Not all
CD-ROM readers are able to read these discs—some older readers
based on IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) are incompatible with
CD-R technology.

Connecting a CD-ROM Drive

A CD-ROM drive is a peripheral device and must be connected to
the bus of the computer through a controller. There are several
ways to install a CD-ROM drive.

Adapter Boards
Some CD-ROM manufacturers provide a proprietary adapter board
made specifically for their product. These boards are supplied with
the drive and are not usually interchangeable. The early CD-ROM
drives used either SCSI or a special version of a parallel port. Most
modern CD-ROM devices are either IDE or SCSI.

Sound Cards with CD-ROM Interface

Many add-on sound cards have built-in CD-ROM controllers.
Most sound cards come with a 15-pin female connector known as
the MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) connector. Some
of the newer cards come with a SCSI interface. Sound cards with
the built-in controller interface were very useful for earlier
computers that did not have a controller available on the

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motherboard. Because today's motherboards have the ability to
connect four IDE devices, a sound card with a controller is
generally not required.

TIP
If you purchase a sound card with a controller and you already
have a CD-ROM drive installed, be sure to disable the controller
on the sound card. This will prevent IRQ (interrupt request) and
other potential conflicts.

SCSI Host Adapter

The SCSI interface is the most advanced CD-ROM interface and
often operates at higher data transfer rates than other interfaces. A
single card can handle both internal and external drives, including
CD-ROM and other optical devices. A SCSI CD-ROM drive can
be installed in any SCSI chain. You can purchase SCSI adapters
that connect directly to a parallel port on the computer.

Installing a CD-ROM Drive

Installing a CD-ROM drive is a four-step process.

1. Install the drive controller card, if needed. Follow the

instructions with the card.
2. Install the CD-ROM drive in the computer case.
3. Attach the data and power cables.
4. Install the necessary drivers and set up the CD-ROM drive.

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Controller Cards
The most difficult part of installing a CD-ROM drive is
determining which controller card is best for the system. The
controller card should be selected before buying the CD-ROM
drive because it must be compatible with both the CD-ROM drive
and the motherboard's expansion slot. There are several ways to
ensure this:

• Use the secondary IDE controller on the motherboard.

• Install a new controller card (this might be supplied with the
CD-ROM drive).
• Install the CD-ROM drive in an existing SCSI chain.
• Install a new SCSI host adapter and create a new SCSI chain.
• Use an existing sound card with a CD-ROM connection.

A quick review of how the computer is currently equipped will

guide you in the selection of the proper card. In most cases, there
will be a SCSI or IDE interface available. Whatever card
arrangement you choose, be sure to disable any other possibly
conflicting cards. Confirming the extent of the computer's
resources before purchasing a new CD-ROM drive could save you
the time and frustration of having to return or exchange it.

Installing the Drive Internally

A CD-ROM drive can be mounted easily in any computer that has
an open bay for a 5.25-inch disk drive. Physical installation is as
simple as installing a floppy disk drive. Most new CD-ROM drives
come with a hardware kit, which includes a combination of screws
and brackets.

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Make sure you have all the tools and parts before beginning. These
include:

• The CD-ROM drive.

• The correct cables.
• The appropriate hardware (including special mounting rails
for the PC's case).
• A flat-head screwdriver.
• A Phillips screwdriver.
• Needle-nose pliers or tweezers (for jumper settings).

Connecting the cables for a CD-ROM drive is as simple as

installing a floppy disk drive. There are two cables—a flat ribbon
cable (for data) and a power cable. Be sure to connect the flat
ribbon cable to the correct location on both the controller and the
CD-ROM drive (the red wire going to pin 1). If there are no
available power cables, use a Y power splitter cable (this will split
a single Molex connector into two connectors; There might also be
an audio out cable (two to four wires) that connects to a sound card
(see Figure 7-2). This connection will allow you to take full
advantage of the audio capabilities of the CD-ROM drive.

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7.14 Removable drives
Table 6-8 illustrates the advantages of removable drives:

Some of the product features to look for when purchasing a

removable hard drive include auto-eject, high drop height, audible
feedback, automatic sleep mode, write-protect options and Plug-
and-Play compliance. The half-life of a product is the half of the

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estimated life span of the product. Note that the half-life for a
magnetic disk is normally between 5 to 7 years. A ZIP drive uses a
high capacity magnetic disk to store up to 100MB of data. ZIP
drives have become popular because they are inexpensive and very
easy to connect via a parallel port. JAZZ drives are hard disk
removable drives, which can store up to 1GB of data and are faster
than ZIP drives. The downside is that JAZZ drives typically cost
more than ZIP drives. SyJet drives have a storage capacity of
1.5GB and are very similar to JAZZ drives.

Chapter Summary

Advanced Hard Disk Drives

• For many years, hard disk drives were limited to 528 MB.
• There are four ways to overcome the 528-MB Barrier: LBA,
Enhanced CHS translation, Fast ATA, and DMA transfer.
• EIDE controllers and I/O cards support up to four EIDE
drives including hard disk drives, tape drives, CD-ROM
drives, and removable disk drives.

SCSI Drives

• SCSI chains can have up to eight devices, including the host

adapter (or 16, depending on the configuration) connected
together.
• SCSI chains must be terminated at both ends.
• Each device in a SCSI chain must have a unique ID.
• RAID uses SCSI drives to provide improved data storage and
fault tolerance.

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CD-ROM Drives
• CD-ROM data transfer rates are based on a factor of 150 KB
per second.
• Before a CD-ROM drive can be accessed by the processor,
the proper drivers must be loaded.
• To run a CD-ROM drive from MS-DOS, the real-mode
drivers must be loaded.
• A CD-ROM drive is now a standard component of a
computer system.
• Installing a CD-ROM drive is as easy as installing a floppy
disk drive.
• A CD-ROM drive is an essential part of the multimedia
standard.

Chapter Review Questions

1. Name four methods of overcoming the 528-MB hard disk
limitation.
2. How do multiple block reads speed up a computer?
3. How many devices can be installed on a SCSI chain?
4. What is the effect of improper termination on a SCSI chain or
device?
5. What is the BIOS protocol for SCSI devices?
6. Sometimes the SCSI device driver conflicts with other
drivers. What steps need to be taken to resolve the problem?
7. Describe three advantages of using a CD-ROM drive.
8. What are the four steps required to install a CD-ROM drive?
9. Is a 16X CD-ROM drive 16 times faster than a 1X? Why?
10. How would you determine which type of CD-ROM to
install in a computer?
11. Why would you use the MSCDEX.EXE real-mode
driver with Windows 95?
12. Instead of using magnetic energy for storing data, a
CD-ROM uses ___________________ technology.
13. Name some possible controller card combinations.What
software is required for a CD-ROM drive installation?

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CHAPTER 8: Hard drive installation and
support

8.1How to install a hard drive

A hard drive requires a power cord from the power supply, a data
cable to connect it to the system board and a bay inside the
computer case. Sometimes an LED wire connects to the front of
the computer case to indicate when the drive is in use. CMOS
setup must be informed of the drive's presence and its size. Some
CMOS setups support AutoDetect which automatically detects the
drive. When installing a drive take care to protect the system
against ESD. For an IDE drive, the drive jumpers or DIP switches
must be set to master, slave, single, or cable select depending on
the IDE configuration for the system. A SCSI drive has different
requirements specific to a SCSI subsystem including a SCSI
ID, a host adapter, and perhaps a terminating resistor. All hard
drives require device drivers or System BIOS to interface with
them.

8.2 How to use diagnostic software

Windows and DOS have some diagnostic utilities that can be
useful in diagnosing problems with hard drives. FDISK will
examine and report on problems with the partition table. The
Windows Emergency Rescue Disk contains it and several other
utilities. Nuts & Bolts, Norton Utilities, and Partition Magic are
third-party utility software programs that can help with routine
maintenance and hard drive problem solving. Use one of these
programs to keep a backup of the partition table and all important
data on a hard drive in the event of a hard drive crash.

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8.3 How to recover lost data on hard
drives
Much can be done to recover lost data on a hard drive, but beware
of one important thing. If you are trying to recover data, do not
write anything to the drive so that you don't overwrite the
corrupted or lost data. Some things to try to recover lost data
include using the CHKDSK command with the /F option, using
COPY and ignoring bad sectors as you copy good portions of the
file to a new media, using UNDELETE to recover an erased
file, and using third-party recovery software such as Lost & Found
and Norton Utilities.

8.4 How to apply hard drive

troubleshooting skills
When troubleshooting a hard drive, first determine if the problem
occurs during or after the boot. If the drive will not boot, first
eliminate a physical problem with the hardware, and then turn to
the software on the drive. Perhaps the problem is not with the drive
at all, so confirm that the monitor, computer switches, and
keyboard are all working. Look for POST codes on the screen
during booting. Check for bad cable and power connections,
and look for errors in CMOS setup. Try booting from an OS rescue
disk. If you can boot from the rescue disk, examine the partition
table on the hard drive using FDISK. Next check the system files
on the logical drive used for booting (usually drive C :). From a
DOS prompt, run Scandisk on the drive and a current version of
anti-virus software.

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8.5 Installing a hard drive
Before beginning work on a system, verify all hardware
components, check IRQ, DMA and I/O addresses and most
importantly, read the documentation of the hardware. The
following are typical IDE hard drive configurations:

• Single drive configuration. This configuration is used when

there are no other devices connected to the same data cable as the
hard drive.
• Master. This configuration is used to tell the system that out of
the two drives available this is the first or primary drive.
• Slave. This configuration is used to tell the hard drive that it is
the secondary drive.
• Cable select. This configuration tells the system that the first
hard drive on the data cable is master and that if there is another
drive present it is slave.

Remember that a technician should always follow ESD procedures

when working with computer components. An easy way to
remember which direction a data cable should be plugged in is to
align pin 1 (red line on cable) with the power connector. Always
test an installation by booting the system to verify that the system
recognizes the hard drive. The following are common problems
during a hard drive installation:

• Cable connected incorrectly

• Jumpers or DIP switches set incorrectly
• Adapter card failure. Try reseating the card

Informing Setup of the New Drive: Most recent BIOS’s can

auto-detect a hard drive’s configuration information but beware: in
order for auto-detect to work properly, both the hard drive and the
BIOS must support this feature.

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Setup for Hard Drives Less Than 528 MB: To configure legacy
hard drives, you may need to use the "user defined" option found
in the CMOS setup program. The user defined method requires
cylinder and head information, which can normally be found
written on top of the hard drive.

When BIOS Does Not Support Large-Capacity Hard Drives

The following options are available for managing BIOS issues
with large-capacity drives:

• Upgrade the BIOS or your entire system board

• Use an advanced EIDE adapter card that supports LBA mode
without software or BIOS settings.
• Use software drivers stored on the hard drive that support LBA
mode. Note that this sort of software used to be commonly
distributed by the manufacturer for use with larger hard drives.

A Note on Moving a Hard Drive or Changing BIOS: When

dealing with large capacity hard drives there is a chance that the
translation method on the original system may be different from
the translation on the system that the hard drive is moved to,
rendering the drive unreadable. Partitioning the Hard Drive
Under standard DOS conventions there is only one Primary
partition which is labeled your C: drive. All other drives are
Logical drives and they are sub-partitions of the extended partition.
A partition table is also known as the master boot record and
contains information about the hard drive’s partition and operating
system configuration. Although sometimes a hard drive is
partitioned for organizational purposes, normally it is partitioned to
save drive space by reducing cluster size. It is important to note
that DOS has a 2GB limitation for any single partition.

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OS or High-Level Format

A high-level format installs the file system. First it creates the

DOS boot record, which is used as sector zero for each partition,
then, it creates two copies of the FAT. Second, it creates the root
directory. Finally, it scans the drive for sectors that previously
were marked as damaged by the low-level format, and marks them
as bad in the FAT. The FORMAT /S command will make the drive
bootable if it has a Primary partition set active. After the Primary
partition is created and the high-level format is complete, you
are ready to install an operating system. After all of the software
has been installed (operating system, applications) it is an excellent
time to do a system backup. As discussed in Chapter 5, use the
MIRROR command to backup the partition table information to
disk.

Installing a SCSI Drive

Before installing a SCSI host adapter make sure that your system
has the available resources to support the adapter you are going to
install (IRQ, DMA, I/O address). Before installing a SCSI hard
drive, verify that it is compatible with your SCSI host adapter and
that you have the correct type of SCSI cable to connect the drive to
the host adapter. If you are unsure, check the host adapter
documentation. A SCSI installation requires that you configure the
SCSI host adapter and the SCSI hard drive so that they can
communicate with each other. This is done as follows:

1. Set SCSI IDs: The SCSI ID needs to first be set on the hard
drive. Check the
documentation for the jumper settings. Verify that the hard drive
SCSI ID is not in use by any other SCSI device.
2. Disable or enable disk drive and hard drive controllers: If
the SCSI host adapter has a built-in drive controller that you are
not using, it should be disabled.

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Check the SCSI host adapter documentation for the correct jumper
settings. Note also that if your system board has built-in IDE or
SCSI controllers that are not in use, these should also be disabled.
Again, check documentation for details.
3. Terminating resistors: The type of termination varies
depending on the SCSI host adapter, but you should always have at
least one terminator at the end of the SCSI cable. Check the host
adapter documentation for specifics.
4. CMOS setup for a SCSI system: Most CMOS have a setting
that will tell the BIOS to look for a host adapter. Some require that
you specify SCSI; in others you must specify that there is no hard
drive available. Check system board documentation for details.
5. SCSI device drivers: In the DOS or Windows 3.1 environment
you are required to load a SCSI device driver before SCSI devices
become available for use. Note, these drivers normally will be
included with the host adapter at the time of purchase and should
be loaded through the CONFIG.SYS.

Dual-Boot: The term dual-boot refers to having two operating

systems loaded on the same computer and having the capability of
selecting one at startup.

8.6 Troubleshooting hard drives and data

recovery
An Ounce of Prevention
The following are five damage control tactics you should employ:
• Backup EARLY and OFTEN. The more important the data, the
more often it should be backed up.
• Use the SCANDISK and DEFRAG utilities about once a month
• Don’t smoke around your hard drive.
• Don’t leave a system turned off for long periods of time.
• Keep your system in a cool, dry location - high humidity can be
dangerous for hard drives.

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Problems with Hard Drives
Common hard drive hardware problems include problems with the
hard drive controller, power supply, data cable, BIOS and
unsupported firmware or hardware. Some of the common software
issues that are caused by hard drive problems include: corrupt
operating system, corrupt files system, corrupt data and viruses.
When working with hard drive problems, the first step is to
determine what data is priority and start with trying to recover that
data first. When working on a PC, sometimes it is more important
that the issue be resolved than it is you resolve the issue by
yourself: be willing to ask for help.

Resolving Hard Drive Problems

The numeric error message range used by many BIOS` includes
17xx to 104xx, other messages may include fixed disk errors, hard
drive errors, and fixed disk POST failure errors. The easiest way to
narrow down or pinpoint a problem is to ask yourself, what has
changed? If a hard drive is making loud noises or is suspected of
having mechanical difficulties, the worst thing you can do is turn it
off. If a partition table is corrupt, you can sometimes use another
hard drive with the same partition table information to boot the
system and then switch the data cables between the two hard
drives. The following items must be intact for DOS or Windows 9x
to access a drive:

• The partition Table

• The boot record
• The FAT
• The root directory

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Norton Utilities, Nuts & Bolts and other third party software
programs will allow you to make a backup copy of important
information including the partition table. This is recommended
when planning disaster recovery. To restore a partition table: Boot
to DOS and use the UNFORMAT /PARTN command. This will
prompt you for the PARTNSAV.FIL, which stores all of the
necessary information to restore the partition table. If the tracks
containing the partition table become physically damaged, it will
be impossible to restore the partition table (even if you have a
backup of the partition table). A floppy disk has only one boot
record, whereas a hard drive has one master boot record in its
partition table and a boot record at the beginning of each partition.

Damaged Boot Record

If you receive the error message Unable to read drive A: Abort,
Retry, Fail? There is a good chance that the boot record could be
damaged. Most rescue disks create a backup copy of the boot
record. When restoring from a rescue disk, the software simply
refreshes the boot record from the backup copy.

Damaged FAT or Root Directory

Because FAT and the root directory are constantly changing, they
are difficult to repair. The following utilities can be used to repair
damaged FAT: Norton Disk Doctor, Norton Disk Editor, Nuts &
Bolts.

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What to Do When Corruption Occurs

Corrupted System Files: The fastest way to repair corrupt system

files is to SYS (Copy the system files from one drive to another
drive, allowing that drive to be bootable) the drive again.

Corrupted Sector and Track Markings: "Bad sector or sector

not found" is an error message you may see on a drive with
damaged sectors or tracks. There are two types of low-level
formats:

1. Destructive format. A destructive low-level format will destroy

all data on the drive.
2. Non-destructive format. A non-destructive low-level format
will not destroy data. It accomplishes this by copying the data to a
different location on the drive then formatting the track and
moving the data back to the original location. Note:
This process is much slower than the destructive format.

Corrupted Data and Program Files: Keep in mind some of the

following options when trying to recover data:
• Try using a third party utilities package like the Nuts & Bolts
software.
• Use a DOS utility like SCANDISK.
• Copy the data to a new disk, selecting Ignore through any error
messages.
• Use a disk editor and try to reconstruct the data yourself
• If a data file’s file header has been lost or damaged you still may
be able to recover the data by copying it into an ASCII text file and
then importing the ASCII file back into the application.

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Using OS Tools and Commands to Recover Data: The two most
important things to do when working with data recovery are:
1. Never write anything new to the disk you are trying to recover
data from.
2. Use the DISKCOPY or copy command to backup the data that
you are trying to recover (before doing anything else!)
Corrupted File Headers: If an application’s data file cannot be
open or read it may have a corrupt file header. To repair a corrupt
file header you can normally import the file into an application in
ASCII text format and then convert it back into application format.
Lost Allocation Units: A file can lose its clusters if the system is
rebooted while the file is in use or if the application that accesses
the file is shutdown improperly. SCANDISK and CHKDSK both
are designed to recover lost clusters.
Bad Sectors: When a disk has bad sectors the first thing to do is
attempt to copy the file or disk to a different drive. Note that when
copying a file with bad sectors you will probably receive an error
message something like: Unable to read from drive A: Abort,
Retry, Ignore? Selecting ignore will tell DOS to skip the bad
sector and move on. The only time you want to use the RECOVER
command is when there is no other way, or if you have a backup
copy of the data. The RECOVER command can accidentally
destroy a file it is trying to recover.

Erased File: When DOS deletes a file it does the following:

• Overwrites the first character of the filename in the root directory
with the characters that have a hex value of E5.
• Replaces all entries in the file allocation table referencing the file
with zeros.
• The UNDELETE command recovers files by locating the file and
then renaming the first character of the file to something other than
the value of E5.

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Using Utility Software to Recover Files: There are two
approaches to using a disk editor for file recovery:
1. Use the disk editor to create a new file on another disk, then
copy the sectors on the original disk to the new disk and attach the
copied sectors to the new file.
2. Edit the FAT so the damaged clusters will be avoided when
trying to read the file (this could result in data loss).

Virus Problems: When you are having intermittent difficulties

with data loss, you may want to scan for viruses.

Chapter Summary
When Installing Hard Disc/Drive
• Verify all hardware components like power supply and Data
cable
• Check resources including IRQ, DMA and I/O Addresses
• Read documentations for IDE configurations like Single
drive, Master/Slave & Cable select configurations

Use Diagnostic Soft wares for trouble shooting for instance

• FDISK to examine & report problem with Hard disk
partition
• 3Rd party Utilities like Lost & found, Nuts & Bolts, Norton
Utilities and Partition Magic for more complex Hard Disk
repairs.

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To recover lost Data on Hard Drives
• Never write anything to the Drive, so as not to overwrite the
corrupt or lost data on the drive you are trying to recover
• Use SCANDISK or CHKDSK with /F option to recover lost
clusters.
• Use COPY or DISKCOPY to ignore bad sectors and backup
the data you are trying to recover
• Use UNDELETE to recover erased files
• Use RECOVER command only when absolutely necessary. It
can destroy the file you are trying to recover.

Chapter Review Questions

1. State the basic requirements for installation of a hard
drive.
2. Mention the Diagnostic tools used to solve Hard disk
problem .
3. Mention three (3) utilities that are employed to recover
lost data on a hard disk.
4. List the steps to follow when applying troubleshooting
skills on a hard drive.
5. State clearly how to install a new IDE or SCSI hard
drive.
6. State the five (5) preventive control tactics employed to
protect hard drives.
7. Mention the four (4) critical parts that must be intact for
DOS or Windows to access a hard drive.

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CHAPTER 9: Troubleshooting
fundamentals

9.1 How to protect yourself, your

hardware and your software while solving
computer problems
The most common threat to hardware is electrostatic discharge
(ESD), commonly called static electricity. To protect against ESD,
wear an anti-static bracelet whenever you work inside a computer
or handle computer components such as memory modules or
expansion cards. Don't touch chips or edge connectors on boards
unless absolutely necessary. Don't stack boards or put boards on
top of or next to the monitor. Always turn off the PC before
moving it even a few inches, and unplug it before working inside
it. Never wear an ESD bracelet when working inside a monitor or
power supply and never open a monitor or power supply unless
you are trained to work inside them because they hold dangerous
electrical charges even after the device are unplugged.

9.2 What tools are needed to support

personal computer
The tools needed to solve computer problems and install or replace
components include a multimeter, pliers, a flashlight, an ESD
bracelet, a bootable rescue disk, and utility software including anti-
virus software. Keep a bootable rescue disk with Windows or
DOS utilities, and regularly scan the disk for viruses. A POST
diagnostic card is also a useful tool as well as a variety of
diagnostic software such as PC Technician, Checklist and Norton
Utilities.

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Recommended Toolkit

The following table lists and describes the hand tools that will
meet most needs.

Tool Description
Screwdrivers Two of each (one large and one small) flathead
(regular) and Phillips (sometimes called a
cross) screwdrivers are usually sufficient.
Avoid magnetic screwdrivers: although they
are convenient for picking up lost screws, their
magnetism can cause problems.
Torx driver Used to remove the odd star-shaped screws
found on some proprietary computers. Sizes T-
10 and T-15 should meet the needs of most
computers.
Tweezers Very convenient for picking up small parts (for
instance, screws). You might consider the long
plastic variety; these don't conduct electricity
and hence won't create any short circuits.
Needlenose Can be used to pick up dropped items and to
pliers hold or loosen screws, nuts, and bolts.
Chip removers Although optional, these are very useful when
changing video RAM or other (older) RAM
chips that are pushed into a socket.
Tube for small A short plastic tube (with caps on both ends)
parts will keep loose screws and small parts from
wandering.
Compressed A can of compressed air is helpful to remove
air (Blower) dust.
ESD tools An antistatic wristband is a must. Antistatic
mats and antistatic bags are also helpful.

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Multimeter A small, digital meter that is capable of
measuring volts (AC and DC) and ohms
(resistance or continuity) is all that is needed.
Flashlight A small (bright) light for illuminating those
hard-to-get-at places.
Nut driver set Sizes 3/16-inch, 7/32-inch, and 1/4-inch.
Hemostats Good for picking up and holding small parts.
Straight hemostats will work most of the time.
However, curved ones will get into those small
places that the straight ones can't reach.
POST Card A POST card can be used to see what the error
messages during system start are being sent
when no data is being sent to the display.

9.3 How to isolate a computer problem

and device a course of action
When planning how to solve a computer problem, first ask the user
to explain the problem and then attempt to reproduce it. Isolate the
problem by eliminating the unnecessary or trading good
components for suspected-bad ones. Determine if the problem
occurs before or after a successful boot. If the problem does not
allow for a successful boot, eliminate these sources of the problem
in this order: the electrical system, the video system, the hard drive
system, the system board.

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9.4 Importance of good record keeping
Accurate records of the configuration data on a PC, the hardware,
the software, and the data are essential to effective troubleshooting.
Make these records, or teach the user to make them, when all is
well. Keep documentation on hardware and software in an easy to
find location. Prepare a bootable disk that contains copies of the
necessary startup files on the hard drive specific to this PC.
Organize the hard drive to keep the number of files in the root
directory to a minimum.

9.5 How to take a computer apart and

put it back together
A PC technician should be able to take a computer apart and put it
back together. Wear an ESD bracelet as you work and use paper
cups or plastic bags to hold screws. Remove the case cover and
draw a diagram of cable connections to help you reassemble later.
Remove expansion cards, the floppy drive and hard drive. Remove
the power supply followed by the system board. After you have
reassembled everything, turn on the PC and check that everything
works.

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9.6 Troubleshooting perspectives
The four troubleshooting perspectives are:

1. PC Support Technician. A PC support technician works on site

and closely interacts with the customers on a daily basis.
2. PC Service Technician. A PC Service Technician goes to a
customer’s site in response to a service call.
3. Bench Technician. A bench technician may or may not come
into contact with the customer and is not permanently responsible
for the PC.
4. Help Desk Technician. A Help Desk Technician provides
technical support over the phone.

Protect Yourself, the Hardware, and the Software

Remember, it is extremely important that you be properly
grounded before working with computer hardware.

9.7 Troubleshooting tools

What is a bootable rescue disk? For DOS, a bootable rescue disk
is a floppy disk that can upload the OS files necessary for the
computer to startup properly. When troubleshooting a system it is
sometimes necessary to boot the system into DOS to verify
hardware functionality and/or run diagnostic software. Some of the
common utilities that should be kept on a DOS boot disk used for
troubleshooting include:
• ATTRIB
• CHKDSK
• EDIT
• FDISK
• FORMAT
• MSCDEX

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• SCANDISK
Rescue Disk for Windows 9x: It is a good idea to have a
Windows 9x recovery disk available when you are required to
support the Windows 9x environment.
Diagnostic Cards and Software: Diagnostic cards are adapter
cards designed to discover and report computer hardware failures
and conflicts at POST time, often by displaying a number on the
card.
POST Diagnostic Cards: POST diagnostic cards are used to
diagnose hardware problems. They are temporarily installed
through an expansion slot to test the system. There are several
manufacturers that compete in the market of POST diagnostic
cards.
Diagnostic Software: Diagnostic software is designed to identify
hardware problems. Most diagnostic software has its own small
operating system built into the software. This is to prevent other
operating systems from masking or interfering with the diagnostic
tests. The software will boot to its operating system and then
diagnose the hardware.
Virus Detection Software: Viruses are most commonly
transmitted through the exchanging of diskettes or downloads from
the Internet. When a disk is accessed that has a virus, the virus will
copy itself onto your hard drive. Some of the most common places
viruses hide include inside executables, inside partition tables and
even, inside the master boot record. F-PROT, McAfee, and Norton
anti-virus are all examples of anti-virus software that are designed
to examine each file on a selected drive and look for virus code.
Identifying and Preventing a Virus: Indicators that your system
has a virus are: files are disappearing, programs take longer to
load, less memory is available and executables have changed size.
A few of the easiest ways to help prevent the spread of viruses
include: write-protect you diskettes, boot only from your hard
drive, and scan you hard drive regularly.

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9.8 How to isolate a computer problem
and device a course of action
When first approaching a computer that is having problems you
should take the attitude of the investigator. Start by asking the user
what happened, or, if possible, ask the user to demonstrate the
problem. The following are fundamental rules to remember when
troubleshooting a computer problem:
• Approach the problem systematically. Computers are logical.
When trouble arises, work through the problem in logical steps and
understand what the computer is doing each step of the way.
• Divide and conquer. When troubleshooting a system it is a good
idea to eliminate possibilities one at a time. For example, first
decide if the problem is hardware or software.
• Don’t overlook the obvious. If a user is having problems with
connectivity, start with the obvious and check the LAN drop first.
• Check the simple things first. It is faster and easier to check all
the simple solutions first. If you start with the simplest solutions
first it will save you time.
Example: If a user is having problems with their monitor check the
monitor and the cables first, not the video card.
• Make no assumptions. Never assume anything and always start
with the obvious because although you believe something to be
obvious, it may not be to the user.
• Become a researcher. If you don’t understand or know the
answer to a problem, ask another technician, check the Internet,
read books, and check the online help.
• Write things down. Keep notes. All good technicians have some
sort of note taking system.
• Reboot and start over. It is always a good idea to restart a
system and walk through a problem from the very beginning.
• Establish your priorities. Decide what is priority for your
customer before beginning to troubleshoot the problem.

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• Keep your cool. Even though your customer may be very excited
and upset you must not let that affect your technical judgment.
• Don’t assume the worst. This speaks for itself but the
importance of this rule should never be ignored.
• Know your starting point. Verify a problem before
troubleshooting it. Ask the customer to recreate it or attempt to
recreate the problem your self.

Interacting with the user: After discovering what a problem is,

suggest a plan to the user. Be sure to include any risks that the user
may be taking by allowing you to proceed with your plan. When
working on a user’s system, be polite. Remember that you are a
guest at their computer. Ask permission before shutting down
applications or making changes to their configuration, even if they
just gave you permission. When talking to a user, be understanding
of their level of expertise. Talk to them at a level that they can
understand, by explaining the problem and solution to them and
showing them how to avoid the problem in the future.

Other Tips
Eliminating the Unnecessary: When troubleshooting hardware or
software problems always work the problem backwards. Start with
a bare system and re-add the pieces until the problem reoccurs.
Trade Good for Suspected Bad: For testing purposes it is always
a good idea to have parts on hand that you know function properly.
Having a known good collection enables the technician to test
different components while troubleshooting.
An Alternate Approach to Trading Good for Suspected Bad:
This approach is really the reverse of trading good for bad. If you
have another computer with similar hardware to the one with the
problem, simply remove the part that you suspect to be bad and
test it in the "known good" system.

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9.9 Troubleshooting guidelines
It is highly recommended that you review this section, which
contains troubleshooting tips for many different hardware
configurations.

When a PC is your Permanent Responsibility

Organize the Hard Drive Root Directory

As mentioned earlier, the root directory is limited to only 512
entries in the FAT. With the root directory’s FAT limitation in
mind, it becomes very important to put only necessary directories
and system files in the root directory. Organization is key when
managing your file system. It is also recommended to keep all data
files in a data directory. This will simplify make backups as well as
files easier to locate.

Create a Boot or Rescue Disk

A good rescue disk will be bootable and have backup copies of all
INI files as well as the AUTOEXEC.BAT and the CONFIG.SYS.
Note that in Windows 9x you will also want to include a copy of
the SYSTEM.DAT and the USER.DAT files.
Documentation
Always keep the documentation for all hardware and software in a
safe place - it will prove invaluable in emergency situations.
Record of Setup Data
It is best to keep both a hard copy and a disk with all the necessary
CMOS settings. Use a utility program like Nuts & Bolts to make a
recovery disk with all of the CMOS settings, then use print screen
to create a hard copy.
Practical Precautions to Protect Software and Data
The following backup precautions should be taken before installing
new software:

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• Be sure that you have current copies of all INI files and other
configuration files
• If possible backup the entire WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory
• If possible don’t compress your hard drive.
• Don’t store data files in the same directory as software. This is to
avoid having your data overwritten

Backup of Original Software

Most software companies allow you to create one backup copy of
their software. This is recommended! Check your user software
license documentation for more information.

Backup of Data on the Hard Drive

A rule of thumb: the more important the data, the more often it
should be backed-up. If a system that you are responsible for must
be functional 100% of the time, you should be backing up the
entire hard drive on a regular schedule.

9.10 Upgrading a Computer

In today's world of constant change, the most frequently performed
task by a computer professional is to upgrade old systems to the
latest technologies. This ability to expand and upgrade a computer
can prolong the life and utility of a system. However, sometimes
even the simple addition of a new piece of software can lead to
hardware conflicts. This lesson discusses many aspects of
computer hardware upgrades. Before you begin to upgrade any
computer, you need to document the system. Figure 9- 1 provides a
sample configuration sheet. Use it as a model to create your own.

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Figure 9-1 Sample configuration sheet

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Memory Upgrade
Does this computer have enough memory? This is the question that
most frequently causes users to seek a computer upgrade. As
programs and hardware get faster and are required to process more
graphics and animation, the need for memory is as important as the
need for speed.

Memory upgrades are perhaps the simplest to perform, but they

can be very confusing without advance planning. Purchasing the
right memory for the job is more than half the process of the
upgrade. Before installing memory, there are five things to
consider:

• Memory chip format

• Memory speed
• EDO RAM
• Parity
• Cache memory

The best source of information—which should be checked before

obtaining memory—is the documentation that comes with the
computer's motherboard. This source will generally list the type of
memory required, how many SIMMs are required, and their
location on the motherboard. If this information is not available,
open the case and look. Some documentation provides a chart that
includes exactly what memory has been installed and what is
needed to upgrade to a given level. The following table gives you
an idea of the kind of chart you might come across.

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On-board Bank 0 Bank 1 Total
8 MB 8 MB
8 MB 4 MB 4 MB 16 MB
8 MB 8 MB 8 MB 24 MB
8 MB 16 MB 16 MB 40 MB
8 MB 32 MB 32 MB 72 MB
Disabled 64 MB 64 MB 128 MB
NOTE

You can add memory with SIMMs (single inline memory

modules) or DIMMs (dual inline memory modules).

SIMM Formats

SIMMs are provided in two basic, physical formats: a 30-pin and a

72-pin chip. Format is the first consideration, because the chips
must fit into the motherboard. This configuration, along with the
size of the processor, determines how many SIMMs are required to
fill one bank.

The 30-pin formats contain memory in 8-bit chunks. This means

that a 32-bit processor requires four SIMMs to fill one bank.
Typical 32-bit processors consist of two banks of SIMMs and
therefore eight slots. (See Figure 9 - 2.)

Figure 9 - 2 30-pin SIMM

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72-pin format is larger and supplies memory in 32-bit chunks.
Only one SIMM is required for a 32-bit machine. A Pentium
processor has a 64-bit data path and requires a 72-pin SIMM.
(See Figure 9-3.)

Figure 9 - 3 72-pin SIMM

Memory is normally sold in multiples of 8 MB. However, some

machines will have 8 MB of "on-board" memory (usually soldered
in place on the motherboard). When memory is soldered in place,
it cannot be changed but this should not be considered a problem;
it can be disabled. A computer equipped with this on-board
memory can provide 8 MB of memory to the system without
having any SIMMs installed in the slots. For such computers,
installing 16 MB of RAM too would yield a total of 24 MB of
RAM; if 64 MB were to be added, the total RAM would be 72
MB, and so on. In general, the idea of hardwiring memory on a
system has died out on desktop PCs.

DIMM Formats

DIMMs are much easier than SIMMS to install or remove, because

they require only one card, which is simply pushed into a module
slot. The "key" cut into the edge that goes into the slot prevents the
card from being inserted the wrong way. The one problem you face
is choosing from the wide variety of memory types available.
When ordering a new DIMM, you must know exactly the memory
type supported by the system. DIMMs are found in larger memory
sizes than SIMMs, ranging to 256MB and beyond for single cards.

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Memory Speed

Memory speed is the amount of time required to access data and is

measured in nanoseconds (ns); each nanosecond equals one
billionth of a second. Two important considerations arise when
addressing memory speed:

• The lower the number, the faster the chip speed

• All chips in the same computer should run at the same speed.

Typical chip speeds are 50, 60, 70, and 80 nanoseconds. Be sure to
check the motherboard documentation or the existing chips to
determine the correct speed to use.

EDO RAM

The EDO RAM (Extended Data Out Read Access Memory) chip is
used extensively with Pentium processors. This chip can improve
read times and overall performance by up to 30 percent. This
performance gain is possible because the chip continues to output
data from one address while setting up a new address.

Parity

Parity is used to check the reliability of data. It requires one

additional bit (chip). Memory can be purchased with or without
parity. With parity, it will cost about 10 percent more. Be sure to
check the machine specifications or the existing chips to determine
if parity is required. Parity and nonparity chips cannot be mixed;
however, some computers allow parity to be turned on or off
(BIOS setup).

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Cache

Cache memory can be found as either L1 or L2. The L1 cache is

built into the processor and cannot be changed. The L2 cache, on
the other hand, can be either built into the processor, or built onto
the motherboard, sometimes both. In most cases, cache memory is
fixed, but some machines allow L2 cache to be upgraded or
expanded. Cache memory is sometimes found on older
motherboard (as DIPPs—dual in-line packages). Check the
motherboard documentation to determine what, if any, upgrades
can be made to the cache.

IMPORTANT

You need to take special care when installing DIPP chips. They are
sensitive to ESD, can easily be installed backwards (look for pin 1
alignment), and the pins can be broken or bent during insertion.
Installing RAM

Installing RAM is a simple process. The only problem is that the

slots are not always easily accessible. Sometimes you will need to
relocate wires temporarily or even remove expansion cards. This
simple procedure usually works:

1. Turn off the computer.

2. Disconnect all external devices (AC power and monitor
power).
3. Follow the appropriate ESD safety procedures.
4. Remove the cover of the computer.
5. Locate the SIMM banks and determine that you have the
correct size, speed, and quantity of SIMMs.
6. Insert the SIMMs in the slot at a 45 degree angle (backwards)
and then snap it into the upright position, as shown in Figure
9 - 4. Be sure that the "notch" in the SIMM matches the slot.
If it doesn't fit easily, it is probably installed incorrectly!

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Figure 9 - 4 Installing a SIMM

7. When the SIMM is in an upright position, be sure that the metal

retaining clip snaps into position. This clip holds the SIMM in
place and must be opened before any SIMM can be removed.

8. Replace any temporarily removed or relocated wires or

expansion cards. Check others to make sure they have not been
loosened or disconnected.

1. Replace the cover of the computer.

10. Reconnect the power, monitor, and any other needed external
devices, and start the computer.

The computer should recognize the new memory and either make
the correction or automatically go to the setup program. In many
cases, you need only exit setup to save the changes.

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CPU Upgrades

Installing a new CPU is becoming less common as the prices of

new motherboard/ CPU combinations (and even new machines)
continue to drop. In many cases, installing additional memory is a
more effective upgrade than installing a new CPU. Still, as a
technician, you need to know how to update the CPU in an existing
machine.

In many cases, upgrading a CPU is as simple as removing the old

one and inserting the new one. First, you need to determine
whether the CPU can be upgraded and, if so, to what? The answer
to this question lies in the motherboard. The motherboard must
have the appropriate socket, data bus; address bus, and crystal to
support the new CPU. Consult the documentation that comes with
the motherboard—this documentation usually contains a table that
defines which CPUs can be installed.

A small upgrade, going from one level of the same CPU family to
another, is usually no problem. But if you want to upgrade a 386 to
a Pentium, or a Pentium to a Pentium III, a new motherboard is the
only answer. The same is true if the CPUs are coming from
different chip makers.

General Procedure for Installing a CPU

Perhaps the most difficult part of upgrading a CPU is determining

the limits imposed by the motherboard. But after the decision is
made and you have the new processor in hand, the actual
installation is quite easy. Follow this general procedure to install a
CPU:

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1. Turn off the computer and unplug the power cord.
2. Disconnect external devices (AC power and monitor power).
3. Follow the appropriate ESD safety procedures.
4. Remove the cover of the computer.
5. Locate the socket for the CPU. It might be on the
motherboard or on a removable processor card.
6. Remove the old processor. This may require special tools for
older processors. Pentium II and III packages are Slot 1
designs, which slide into a slot much like those used for an
expansion card. The original Pentiums (60-166 MHz) and
Pentium Pro models usually have a ZIF (Zero-Insertion-
Force) socket. The ZIF socket is opened by moving the
handle to the upright position. (This should not require
force.) The CPU can then be easily removed.
7. Install the new processor. Be certain to align the chip
properly (this is critical!). Pin 1 on the CPU must fit pin 1 in
the socket. There are several ways to identify this pin.
Various chip manufacturers, and different versions of a
manufacturer's chips, use different methods to mark
installation orientation. Slot 1 CPU packages, for example,
have a key in the slot, and it fits only one way. Other CPUs
have similar schemes appropriate to their socket design. Look
for a key pinhole in one corner, a blunt edge on one corner of
the socket, a dot, a corner with a pin arrangement that differs
from the others, or some other identifying mark. Align this
mark with the corner of the socket that contains a blunt edge.
If you encounter any resistance or you have to apply any
pressure when inserting the CPU, recheck the chip's
orientation and alignment, and reinsert the chip. After the
chip is in place, secure the ZIF handle. You might need to
check the documentation to make sure the chip is installed
correctly.
8. Set any jumpers or switches on the motherboard. Check the
documentation.

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 9. Replace the cover and power up the computer.
10. Reconnect any peripherals (keyboard, mouse, monitor).
11. Make changes to the CMOS setup, if required.

Some CPU upgrades also require the installation of a new voltage

regulator and/or cooling fan. Be sure to check the motherboard and
CPU documentation for this possibility. Failure to install these
parts with the new CPU might destroy the CPU.

NOTE
If you are working with a motherboard that has the ability to hold
more than one CPU, both CPUs must be of the same type and from
the same manufacturer if more than one is actually installed. In
addition, on Pentium II and later systems, most such motherboards
have a special card that must be inserted in any empty CPU slot,
and the appropriate slot must be used for a single CPU
configuration.

Expansion Cards

Installing an expansion card is one of the most common system

upgrades. Adding faster video cards, more ports, or improving
sound quality are common reasons for plugging in a new card.
Before installing (or purchasing) an expansion card, it is a good
idea to make sure it will work in the system to be upgraded, and
that appropriate drivers are available for the operating system to be
used.

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Chapter Summary
When Installing Hard Disc/Drive
• Verify all hardware components like power supply and Data
cable
• Check resources including IRQ, DMA and I/O Addresses
• Read documentations for IDE configurations like Single
drive, Master/Slave & Cable select configurations
Computer Disassembly and Reassembly

• Preparation is the key to a successful upgrade or repair.

Document the system setup, including hardware and
software, using a computer configuration sheet before you
begin the project.
• Prepare a plan of action before beginning a project and stick
to it.
• Make sure you have an adequate toolkit, including a bootable
floppy disk and any utilities you may need.
• Always create a complete backup of the system you are
going to be working on before you begin.
• Implement safety precautions, including ESD prevention.
• Follow the steps for disassembly and reassembly.

Upgrading a Computer

• Memory upgrades are probably the simplest and most

common upgrades performed by a computer technician.
• Installing a new CPU is a common way to upgrade older
computers. Installing a new expansion card is another
common upgrade.
• Before installing (or purchasing) new parts, make sure the
parts will work with the system you intend to upgrade.

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Use Diagnostic Soft wares for trouble shooting for instance
• FDISK to examine & report problem with Hard disk
partition
• 3Rd party Utilities like Lost & found, Nuts & Bolts, Norton
Utilities and Partition Magic for more complex Hard Disk
repairs.

To recover lost Data on hard Drives

• Never write anything to the Drive, so as not to overwrite the
corrupt or lost data on the drive you are trying to recover
• Use SCANDISK or CHKDSK with /F option to recover lost
clusters.
• Use COPY or DISKCOPY to ignore bad sectors and backup
the data you are trying to recover
• Use UNDELETE to recover erased files
• Use RECOVER command only when absolutely necessary. It
can destroy the file you are trying to recover.

Chapter Review Questions

1. Describe a basic sample toolkit for the computer
professional.
2. What is a Torx driver used for?
3. How many bootable floppy disks are needed for a
computer professional's tool kit?
4. You are only going to check the memory chips. Do you
need to follow ESD (electrostatic discharge) safety practices?
5. SIMMs are available in two physical configurations. What
are they?

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 6. You have an extra 16 MB of RAM on a single 30-pin SIMM,
and a friend has a computer and needs more memory. What do
you need to check in order to determine if this memory module
can be used on your friend's computer?

7. What is parity? Can parity chips be mixed with nonparity

chips?

8. Can L1 cache memory be upgraded?

9. Your client wants to install an internal modem. How would

you determine whether this internal modem could be installed on
your client's machine?

10. A friend just got a bargain on a new Plug and Play sound
card and wants to install it on her 486SX computer. Will it
work?

11. How do you determine whether to upgrade the CPU or

install another motherboard?

12. What is the advantage of Plug and Play?

13. What are the four requirements that must be addressed

before installing a new drive in a computer?

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CHAPTER 10: Supporting I/O devices

10.1 How to use standard resources on

a computer system when installing ad-on
devices
When adding a new device to a computer system, most devices
need a device driver or BIOS as an interface between the device
and the OS. In addition, the device might require applications
software and system resources including an IRQ, a DMA channel,
some I/O addresses, and some upper memory addresses (for 16-bit
BIOS or software). If the device is Plug and Play installed in a
Windows 9x system, in most situations, the Plug-and-Play BIOS
assigns the system resources to the device without your
involvement. If the device uses older 16-bit BIOS on board the
device expansion card or 16-bit device drivers installed from
CONFIG.SYS, then the firmware or software might dictate the
system resources that it requires. Jumpers or DIP switches on these
legacy devices can sometimes be set to use alternate resources in
the event there is a conflict between two devices that require the
same resource.

10.2 How to resolve resource conflicts

Resource conflicts are most likely to occur with legacy devices
using 16-bit BIOS and device drivers, which inform system BIOS
at startup what system resources they are set to use. When two
devices request the same resources, both devices may not work.
You must force one or both devices to use a different resource. The
first step is to determine what resources are currently in use by
other devices in the system, and then decide what resources the
legacy devices can use. Consult the device's documentation to
know how to set jumper or DIP switches on the device to force it

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to use an available resource. If both devices that are in conflict
cannot be forced to use a different resource, then the two
devices cannot exist together in the same system. Sometimes there
will not be enough IRQs to go around. In this case, it might be
possible for two or more PCI devices to share the same IRQ, a
feature called PCI bus IRQ steering.

10.3 How to install a new device on a

computer
When installing a new device in a system, first determine what
resources the system has available. Look for empty expansion slots
or ports. Internal devices can be installed in ISA or PCI expansion
slots or external devices can use serial, parallel, or USB ports on
the system board. SCSI devices can be internal or external and
require a SCSI host adapter to interface with the CPU and a SCSI
ID on the SCSI bus system. Plug-and-Play devices are easier to
install because resources are assigned by the device at startup
based on the overall needs of the system as determined by Plug-
and-Play BIOS. When installing a device, protect the system
against ESD as you work. Remove the computer case and install
the expansion card in an expansion slot, or, for external devices,
plug the device into the port. For Windows 9x, allow the OS to
automatically detect the new device at startup. Windows will give
you the opportunity to use a Windows device driver or install a
driver from the device manufacturer. Unless you have reason to do
otherwise, use the manufacturer driver. After the driver and device
are installed, install applications software to use the device.

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10.4 About keyboard, pointing devices
and video subsystems
Keyboards typically use either a 5-pin DIN connector or a 6-pin
smaller PS/2 connector although keyboards using a USB port have
recently become available. Because all systems require a keyboard,
the IRQ 1 used by the keyboard is never used by other devices, so
you seldom need to be concerned about conflicts with the
keyboard. A keyboard requires no I/O addresses because the CPU
does not send output to the keyboard. Keyboards are so
inexpensive that, when one gives a problem, most often the
solution is to simply replace it. There are many pointing devices on
the market; the most common is the mouse which can be either a
serial mouse, system-board mouse or bus mouse. A mouse can use
PS/2 or DIN connector, a serial port or a USB port. A system
board mouse will most likely use IRQ 12 and a serial port mouse
will use the IRQ assigned to the serial port. A video subsystem
requires a video card, video cable and monitor. Newer system
boards have an AGP slot for the video card, but, for older system
boards, use a PCI slot for the video card. Use video RAM on the
video card to speed up video display.

10.5 Basic principles of peripheral

installation
Most peripherals require the following basic fundamentals:
• The hardware and firmware for the peripheral
• A device driver, BIOS or both
• Available resources (IRQ, DMA, I/O address)

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In addition to the list above, some peripherals also require
proprietary software that works in conjunction with the device
driver. The CPU uses INT (interrupts) to locate an entry in the
interrupt vector table. This table, located in the lowest part of
memory, has stored the address of an interrupt handler, a program
that will handle the request. The program is either a device driver
or BIOS and will use I/O addresses to communicate with the
device. The three basic steps to installing an add-on device are:

1. Install the device

2. Install the device driver
3. Install the applications software

In the Windows 3.x environment most device drivers are installed

using the CONFIG.SYS. In the Windows 9x environment you can
install device driver via Control Panel.

Hardware Devices
Internal peripheral devices are normally less expensive than
external devices but can be difficult to install. External devices,
though more expensive are typically easier to install because the
device will use an external port that is already configured with the
proper resources (IRQ, DMA, I/O address). Whenever considering
a hardware purchase, you should know as much as possible about
your hardware and software configuration (operating system
version, type of system board, amount of RAM and hard drive
space, etc).

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Embedded BIOS on Devices
Peripheral manufacturers use ROM chips called firmware to load
some of the software that is required for the peripheral to function
properly. Some peripheral devices have RAM on the device, which
is used as temporary storage for data that is moving through the
device. Most peripheral devices have jumpers or DIP switches,
used to control the resources requested by the device. It is
important to read the peripheral documentation to understand how
to properly configure the device to function with your system.

Device Drivers
Windows 9x has the capability to automatically detect and install
new hardware; this is referred to as plug-and-play. The DEVICE
command is used to load device drivers in the DOS environment.
Similar to other DOS commands, some device drivers use switches
and parameters to modify the driver behavior. It is important to
remember that all device drivers are TSR`s.

Applications Software
After the hardware resources are set correctly and the device driver
is installed properly you can then use your application to control
the device. Some application examples include the following:

• OCR software for a scanner

• MIDI or WAV software for a sound card
• A COM program or dialing software for a modem.

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10.6 Using ports and expansion slots for
ad-on devices
Using Serial Ports: Most PCs have two COM ports and one
parallel port (COM1, COM2 and LPT1). The difference between a
DB-9 and a DB-25 serial port are the number of physical pins.
Figure 10 -1 shows serial ports together with a game port and a
parallel port, for comparison.

A protocol is a set of agreed upon rules for communication that is

established before data is actually passed from one device to
another. DCE stands for Data Communication Equipment. A
modem is an example of a DCE device. DTE stands for Data
Terminal Equipment. A computer with a modem installed is an
example of a DTE device. Null Modem Connections: A null
modem cable is a serial cable designed for communication
between two PCs. A null modem cable has the communication
wires crossed to emulate modem communication.

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The UART Chip: UART stands for Universal Asynchronous
Receiver/Transmitter chip. The UART chip establishes and
controls all serial communications. The UART chip is also
responsible for converting parallel data bits from the system bus
into serial data bits. The first UART chip was the 8250; next came
the 16450, and the modern UART version is 16550 or its revision,
16550A. Note that FIFO was introduced soon after the 16450
chip. When using any UART chip other than the 16550A, you
should expect a stable connection no faster than 9600 baud.
FIFO buffer stands for First In First Out buffer. The purpose of
the FIFO buffer is to reduce data loss. Windows 9x has a built-in
FIFO driver, but in Windows 3.x you must load a driver that will
tell the UART chip to use FIFO. The standard UART buffer size is
16 bytes, but there are newer UART chips available that have a
buffer size of up to 64 bytes. Most systems today include Plug-
and-Play UART chips. These chips provide an interface with Plug-
and-Play BIOS that automatically configures them when the
system is booted.

Ports
Resources Used by Serial Ports: Normally, if the IRQ is not
conflicting with any other devices, then the I/O won`t be either.
Using Parallel Ports: Parallel ports transmit 8 data bits at a time,
parallel to each other. Serial ports transmit one bit at a time, single
file. Parallel communications are limited to a distance of 15 feet.
Note that if a cable longer than 12 feet is used, there could be data
loss. Parallel ports were designed to be used with printers.
However, today`s parallel ports are used for high-speed access to
external devices.

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Types of Parallel Ports: Enhanced parallel port (EPP) is a parallel
port that allows data to flow in both directions (bi-directional port)
and is faster than original parallel ports on PCs that only allowed
communication in one direction. Extended capabilities port (ECP)
is a bi-directional parallel port mode that uses a DMA channel to
speed up data flow.
Configuring Parallel Ports: If the parallel port is on an expansion
card, then refer to the documentation that came with it to properly
set the jumpers. However, if the parallel port is on-board then use
the CMOS setup program to configure the card.
Examining a General Purpose I/O Card: Unlike with serial
ports, parallel ports don’t allow you the option of selecting the LPT
assignment. The BIOS will automatically assign the parallel port
with the highest I/O address, LPT1.

Using USB Ports: The requirements for installing a USB port are:
• A system board or expansion card that provides a USB port and
USB firmware
• An OS that Supports USB
• A USB device
• A USB device driver
The following Microsoft operating systems support USB:
• Windows OSR 2.1
• Windows 98
PCI Expansion Slots / PCI Bus IRQ Steering
PCI expansion cards utilize resources assigned to its PCI slot, the
PCI slot is assigned resources by the PCI bus. The PCI bus master
is normally last to be assigned resources by the system BIOS
because some ISA device require specific IRQs.
PCI bus IRQ steering is a feature that makes it possible for PCI
devices to share an IRQ. System BIOS and the OS must both
support this feature.

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Using ISA Expansion Slots
ISA devices must request their resources from the system BIOS at
startup and are normally configured using DIP switches or
jumpers.
Resolving Resource Conflicts
A resource conflict is the most common problem that occurs when
new hardware is introduced to system. A resource conflict occurs
when two devices attempt to use the same resource. If a resource
conflict occurs, use MSD, Device Manager, CMOS setup,
and documentation for the system board and devices to first
identify, and then resolve the conflict.

10.7 SCSI devices

SCSI devices can be installed the following three ways:
1. Install a SCSI device using a SCSI host adapter designed to
support only one or two SCSI devices.
2. Install a SCSI device using an existing or new SCSI host
adapter.
3. Install a SCSI CD-ROM using a SCSI connection provided by a
sound card.
Matching the Host Adapter to the SCSI Device it supports
The following issues may occur when connecting a SCSI device to
an existing SCSI host adapter:
• The host adapter must be made for the correct expansion
slot. Verify that the device you want to add is compatible with the
SCSI standard used by your host adapter. (SCSI-1, SCSI-2, SCSI-
3, etc.)
• The host adapter must be for the correct expansion slot.
When installing a host adapter be sure that you have the correct
type of expansion slot available (PCI, ISA, MCA, EISA).

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• Bus Mastering. If possible, use a host adapter that supports bus
mastering. The advantage is the host adapter will not require a
DMA channel.
• A host adapter that supports several SCSI standards. This
will allow you to choose from a larger variety of SCSI devices.
• Device driver standard. Choose a host adapter that supports
either ASPI or CAMS device drivers. This will help eliminate
compatibility issues with the operating system and other software
packages.
• Single-ended and differential SCSI. Select a SCSI host adapter
that is compatible with the signaling method you wish to use.
• SCAM Compliant. Choosing a SCAM compliant host adapter
and SCAM compliant devices will make the installation of new
SCSI hardware easier.

10.8 Essential I/O devices for the pc:

keyboard, pointing devices and
video display
Keyboard
Carpal tunnel syndrome is developed as a result of keeping the
wrists in an unnatural position and executing the same motions
over a prolonged period of time. The term ergonomic refers to safe
comfortable interaction between humans and machines. The two
most common types of keyboard connectors are the larger 5- pin
DIN connector and the smaller 6 -pin PS/2 connector. A make
code is a code produced by pressing a key on a computer
keyboard. A break code is a code produced when a key on a
computer keyboard is released.

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Pointing Devices
Inside a mouse, there are two or more rollers that move when the
mouse ball is rolled. Each roller turns a wheel. When the wheels
are turned they "chop" a small light-beam that is used to sense the
turning of the wheel. Some mice have more than the two standard
buttons. Note that special software is usually necessary to control
the additional buttons. The three different methods for connecting
a mouse to a computer are:
1. Using a serial port.
2. Using a dedicated round mouse port coming directly from the
system board (system board mouse or PS/2-compatible mouse).
3. Using a mouse bus card that provides the same round mouse
port as discussed earlier.
The disadvantage of using a serial mouse is it requires one
available COM port. This can pose a problem when the user
requires the use of that COM port for other external devices. Some
alternatives to using a mouse are a Track ball and Touch pad:

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10.9 Computer video
Monitors: Monitors today are rated by the refresh rate, resolution
and interlace features. A CRT monitor works in the following way:
to create images on a monitor screen, filaments at the back of the
cathode tube shoot electrons to the front of the tube. The
refresh rate is the time it takes the electrons to redraw the screen,
starting at the top and working down the screen from left to right.
An interlaced monitor redraws the screen by making two passes,
as opposed to a non-interlaced monitor, which redraws the screen
in one pass. The dot pitch is the distance between each spot or dot
on the screen that the electronic beam hits. Resolution is a
measure of how many spots on the screen are addressable by
software.

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A pixel is the smallest addressable unit within the picture
element. When purchasing a monitor and video card, there are
things to keep in mind to ensure your choice is an equitable one.
For example, under most circumstances you wouldn’t want to
purchase a high-end video card if only has a low-end 14" monitor
to use with it. The only exception to this rule would be if you were
planning on upgrading your monitor in the future. Multiscan
monitors have a greater variety of refresh rates, but they are
normally more expensive. A monitor is sometimes referred to as a
Green monitor if it meets the EPA requirements. Although LCD
monitors require less space and produce a better quality picture,
they are normally more expensive than a CRT monitor. The
screen size of a monitor is the one feature that drastically affects its
price. ELF refers to extremely low frequency emissions of
magnetic fields.

The following two standards were designed to control ELF

emissions:
1. MPR II standard. This standard includes guideline for ELF
control
2. TCO `95 standard. Note: This standard includes guidelines for
ELF control, energy consumption, screen flicker and luminance.

Note: Most monitors only adhere to the MPR II standard.

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Video Cards
The video controller card is the interface between the monitor and
the computer. These cards are sometimes called graphic adapters,
video boards, graphics cards, or display cards. Because video
controllers are separated from the core system functions of a
computer, manufacturers can apply a variety of techniques to
improve performance without being concerned with compatibility
with functions on the system board. Video controller cards are
rated according to the amount of video memory they contain, and
by the type of bus they are designed to use. The most commonly
used bus types for video include:

VESA, PCI ISA and AGP. Note that some system boards include
embedded video controller cards. To display a large number of
colors at higher resolutions, the system board requires several
megabytes of temporary storage.

How a Video Card Works

The following four-step process is used by most video cards to
produce images. These steps are illustrated in Figure 10-3:

1. The digital data arrives from the system bus to the video chip set
on the video card.
2. The video chip set writes the digital data to video memory.
3. The data stored in video memory is passed to the digital analog
converter (RAM DAC).
4. RAM DAC passes the analog data to the monitor.

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RAM DAC is a chip, or sometimes part of a chip set, that consists
of three digital-to analog converters. Note that each converter is
dedicated to one of the monitors color guns (red, blue and green).
The term dual porting refers to a video that allows both RAM
DAC and the chip set to access memory at the same time. The term
graphics accelerator refers to a video card with a built-in
processor to increase performance. Graphic accelerators have
become a common necessity in today’s market. Some of the
following common features are included with a graphics
accelerator:
• MPEG decoding
• 3D graphics
• Dual porting
• Color space conversion
• Interpolated scaling
• EPA Green PC support

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Video Memory
An advantage to having video memory is that the video card will
be able to handle larger amounts of data, thereby producing higher
quality images. The first video cards with memory used DRAM.
Color depth is the number of colors displayed (16 colors, 256
colors and 65,000 colors). Video RAM is used to store the data
required to generate a single screen of data.

It is important to understand the relationship between video RAM

and picture quality. For example: The more pixels and the more
color depth the image has, the more video RAM is required to
store a complete single screen of data. To determine the color
depth, simply raise the number of bits per pixel to the power of 2
(24-bits to the second power is 16.7 million colors).
To determine the amount of RAM needed for a particular
resolution you must multiply the number of bits per pixel by the
number of pixels on the screen, giving the total number of bits per
screen. Then divide that number of bits by the number of bits
required for the color depth desired. Last, round up to the nearest
megabyte. Note that video RAM, like system RAM, must match
the data path of its bus. For example, if the video data path is 64-
bits, the video RAM must be added in pairs.
Types of Video Memory
• MDRAM stands for Multibank Dynamic Random Access
Memory. MDRAM is a special type of video RAM that is able to
use a 128-bit bus path without using a full 4MB of video RAM.
• VRAM is designed so that video memory can be accessed by
both the input and output processes at the same time.
• SGRAM, or Synchronous Graphics RAM, is similar to
SDRAM but is designed specifically for video cards. The
advantage of using SGRAM is that it can synchronize itself with
the CPU bus clock.
• WRAM, or Windows RAM, is another type of dual porting
RAM but it is faster and less expensive than VRAM. Note that
WRAM got its name from its ability to manage full-motion video.

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• 3D-RAM was designed to improve the performance of video
processing that involved 3D graphics. Note that this was
accomplished by embedding most of the 3D logic processing into
the video card.

Chapter Summary
Modems

• Modems convert parallel digital data to and from serial

analog data.
• Modem speeds are based on bps (bits per second).
• CCITT (now ITU-T) establishes standards for modem
communication.
• AT commands are used to manually communicate with and
test a modem.
• Modems can be installed internally or externally.
• The primary modem problem is IRQ conflicts.

Cables and Connectors

• There are many different types of computer cables and

connectors. It is important for the computer technician to be
able to identify each of them.
• Distinguishing between a male or a female connector is often
the key to identifying the connector's function.
• Loose or poorly connected cables are often the cause of
computer problems.

Video Cards

• The video card is the interface between the expansion bus

and the monitor.
• The PGA, VGA, and SVGA monitors each use a 15-pin,
three-row, female DB connector.
• Coprocessors are used to speed up graphics-intensive
displays.

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Video Memory

• The amount of video memory on a display card determines

the maximum resolution/color depth that the video card can
provide.
• Several types of DRAM are used for video memory; VRAM
and WRAM are used for high-performance displays.

Chapter Review Questions

1. What is the purpose of a modem?
2. Which AT command is used to take the phone off the hook?
3. What is the difference between baud and bps?
4. What is the name of the chip that converts data from parallel to
serial?
5. Name three transfer protocols.
6. What is Zmodem? What are its advantages over other
protocols?
7. Define handshaking.
8. What are AT commands and how can a computer technician use
them?
9. Explain the difference between half-duplex and full-duplex.
What makes them different? Where or when is each used?
10. What is the difference between synchronous and
asynchronous communication?
11. Why are fax standards different from modem standards?
12. Describe a null-modem cable.
13. In addition to the cost of the printer, what other costs should
be considered when purchasing a printer?
14. What does bps stand for?
15. Identify as many cables and connectors as you can.
16. What type of connector is used for a parallel port on the
computer?
17. What type of connector is used for a parallel port on the
printer?

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18. What is the "standard" type of video card used with today's
computers?
19. What is the formula for calculating the required memory for
a monitor/video card combination?
20. What does CRT stand for?
21. What are HRR and VRR?
22. Define resolution.
23. What is bandwidth?
24. Why is it dangerous to open the monitor's cover?
25. Name four common sources of video problems.
26. Explain one similarity and one difference between VRAM
and WRAM.
27. What is a raster?
28. What type of connector is used for an SVGA monitor?

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CHAPTER 11: Multimedia technology

11.1 Fundamental working of

multimedia technology
Multimedia such as sound, video, and traditional photographs are
analog in nature and computers are digital or binary. The process
of converting analog data to binary data (0s and 1s) is called
digitizing, and the process of taking samples of analog data to
digitize is called sampling. The number of samples taken and the
accuracy of each digitized sample determine how accurate the
representation of analog data will be when interpreted by a
computer as well as the size of the file holding the digital data. The
Pentium MMX CPU was one of the first processors that contained
technology specifically geared to handle multimedia data. Software
must be written to take advantage of this technology. Newer CPUs
use SSE technology, which can handle 3-D graphics, speech
recognition, and MPEG better than MMX technology can.

11.2 Multimedia standards and how

they have helped shape the industry
An important early attempt to standardize multimedia technology
is the MPC (Multimedia Marketing Council) specifications which
still affect the industry today. One example of MPC specifications
is MPEG, a technology that stores and compresses video and audio
data into MPEG files. Another example is MIDI, a standard used
to digitize sound. Compressing data is important because
multimedia data is high volume. Two types of compression are
lossless compression and lossy compression. Video standards
include interpolative scaling, a method used to enhance an image
when it is enlarged, and color space conversion, a method of string
color information in files. MPC specifications also include
standards that an OS can use to make a telephone connection
called TAPI (Telephony Application Programming Interface).

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11.3 How to support many multimedia
devices including CD-ROM drives, sound
cards and DVD drives
A CD-ROM drive can connect to the system board by an IDE
connection, a SCSI bus, a proprietary expansion card, a proprietary
connection on a sound card, or be an external device connected to
the PC by the parallel port. Most often the CD-ROM drive uses the
IDE connection following the ATAPI standards that allows devices
other than hard drives to use IDE. If a CD-ROM is sharing the
same data cable with an IDE hard drive, set the CD-ROM drive to
slave and the hard drive to master. A sound card has a connection
for an audio cord to make a direct connection to a CD-ROM drive
to play music CDs. Sound cards sometimes require a DMA
channel to speed up data transfers. DVD drives can make for a
complex installation as the drive requires a converter card to
convert video data before it is output to the monitor.

11.4 The right tools for the job

Most PCs today are commonly used for things like spreadsheets,
databases, and desktop publishing. However, before purchasing a
PC you should understand your needs and then research which
hardware and software will best suit them. Read trade magazines,
ask friends and search the Internet - this will save you from costly
mistakes. The purpose of desktop publishing is to produce a
camera-ready printout or file of a document, ready for the print
shop to reproduce. When financing is limited, spend your money
on the computer itself (processor, RAM, hard drive). You can
always buy or upgrade peripherals later.

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11.5 Bits are Still Bits
Just as with every other component of a microcomputer,
multimedia devices represent data as a series of 0s and 1s. For
example, a black and white scanner sends a light beam across the
object to be scanned and reads the object in a series of black and
white dots. These black and white dots are communicated in a
series of one’s and zero’s to the graphics application which
assembles the bits to form an image file called a bit map file.
Remember that when working with a peripheral device, no matter
how complex it may seem, the device still communicates with the
CPU in a series of bits, it still requires memory, and most devices
still require an IRQ or DMA. Don’t be intimidated by the seeming
complexity of a device.

11.6 Multimedia on a PC
A multimedia PC presents information in more than one medium
such as motion video, stereo sound, digital photographs and
animation. In the evolution of PCs, the hardware must evolve
before the software; MMX is an excellent example of multimedia
hardware evolution. The goal of multimedia technology is to
reproduce sound and images as lifelike as possible.

Computers are inherently digital, whereas sound is analog. This

poses a unique problem to a multimedia system, which will
attempt to reproduce the analog sound by converting it to a digital
format and then playing back the sound in a digital format that is
designed to emulate analog sound. Sampling is the process of
converting sound or video from analog to digital format, whereby a
sound wave or image is measured at uniform time intervals and
saved as a series of smaller representative blocks. Refer to Figure
11-1 for a visual representation:

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Sample size is the amount of storage allocated to storing a single
measurement of a single sample. The number of samples and the
accuracy of each sample determine the amount of storage needed.
PCs have the ability to take many samples with a high degree
of accuracy. However, the high accuracy samples that are taken
often require more storage space. Repetitive looping is repeating
the same action or calculation over and over again, such as the
process of recording samples.

Multimedia PC Requirements
The standardization of multimedia PCs helps to ensure that
hardware and software are compatible with each other. MPC
stands for Multimedia Marketing Council – this council establishes
guidelines for the multimedia market. Three multimedia standards
defined by the MPC are:

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1. MPC1 - This was the first multimedia standard that was created
by the MPC and contains a substantial amount of Legacy ardware.
2. MPC2. - This is the second multimedia standard created by the
MPC, and also contains a substantial amount of Legacy hardware.
3 MPC3 - This is the most current standard released by the MPC.
Note: MPC3 is sometimes referred to as Multimedia PC Level 3.

MPC3 Specifications
MPEG is an international standard for the data compression of
motion pictures. Note: this standard was developed by the Moving
Pictures Experts Group. Interpolative scaling is a method used to
fill in the gaps in an image to produce a more realistic looking
display when a small video window is enlarged to full-screen size.
Color space conversion is a method of converting the way a color
is stored on a file into a format that a video card can understand.
CODEC stands for COder/DECoder, a method of compressing
and later decompressing sound, animation, and video files. MPEG
is a common example of CODEC. PCM stands for Pulse Code
Modulation, a method of sampling sound in a reduced, digitized
format, by recording differences between successive digital
samples instead of their full values. A Wavetable is a table of
stored sample sounds used to synthesize sound by reconstructing
the sound from digital data using actual samples of sounds from
real instruments. TAPI is a standard developed by Intel and
Microsoft that can be used by 32-bit Windows 9x communications
programs for communicating over phone lines.

What CPU MMX and SSE Technology Does for Multimedia

MMX technology was designed to speed up the repetitive looping
needed by multimedia software. The following three features
make-up MMX technology:

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1. New Instructions - Intel added 57 new instructions to the CPU
designed to handle the parallel, repetitive processing found in
multimedia software.
2. SIMD Process - SIMD was added to the CPU, this is a process
that allows the CPU to execute a single instruction on multiple
pieces of data.
3. Increased Cache - Intel added internal cache to their MMX
processors. The total amount of internal cache for a MMX
processor is 32K.

SSE (Streaming SIMD Extension) is a technology used by the

Intel Pentium III designed to improve performance of multimedia
software. For multimedia software to fully take advantage of
MMX technology it must be specifically designed for an MMX
processor.

11.6 Devices supporting multimedia

CD-ROM Drives
CD-ROMs were originally designed to be used as multimedia
storage devices. CD-ROMs are uniquely qualified for this purpose
because they have a large storage capacity and a disk access time
fast enough to support multimedia files. Data is written to CD-
ROM discs only once because the data is actually embedded into
the disc. The information is stored in a series of pits and lands
which respectively represent bits of either 0 or 1.

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Lands are raised areas embedded on the surface of a CD-ROM
disc that represent the binary value of 1. Pits are recessed areas
embedded on the surface of a CD-ROM disc that represent the
binary value of 0. Data is read from a CD-ROM disc using a laser
beam that can distinguish between pits and lands by recognizing
the amount of reflection that occurs when the laser beam hits the
surface of the disc. CLV stands for constant linear velocity. CLV
refers to the ability of a CD-ROM drive to adjust the speed of the
spinning disc so that the laser beam is over a sector near the center
of the disc for the same amount of time it is over a sector on the
outer edges of a disc. CD-ROM drives are rated by their transfer
rate. The first CD-ROM drives had a transfer rate of 150k. Since
then, transfer rates have increased substantially but are still
referred to by the original speed of 150k. Therefore, a 2X CD-
ROM is 2 times 150k. A multi-session CD-ROM drive has the
ability of reading a CD-ROM that has been written to more than
once.

How a CD-ROM Drive Can Interface with the System Board

CD-ROM drives can interface with the system board in one of
several ways. The drive can:
• Use an IDE interface; it can share an IDE controller with a hard
drive or other device
• Use a SCSI interface with a host adapter
• Use a proprietary expansion card that works only with CD-ROMs
from a particular manufacturer
• Use a proprietary connection on a sound card
• Be a portable drive and plug into a bi-directional parallel port on
your PC

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Installing and Configuring a CD-ROM Drive
There are several ways to connect an IDE CD-ROM to a system.
One of the most commonly used is to set the CD-ROM as SL
(Slave) and connect it to the same cable as the hard drive (the hard
drive should be set to MA (Master).

Like an IDE CD-ROM there are several ways to install a SCSI

CD-ROM. Assuming that your system already has a host adapter
you simply jumper the CD-ROM drive to select the following three
options and connect the cables:
1. SCSI ID
2. Enable or disable SCSI parity checking
3. Enable or disable the built-in SCSI terminator on the drive
An IDE CD-ROM drive is configured the same way an IDE hard
drive is. Using the jumpers, you must set the CD-ROM drive to
either MA (Master), SL (Slave), or CS (Cable Select).

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CD-ROM drives use rails to connect to the case in the same
manner as a hard drive. When connecting the data cable for a CD-
ROM drive, they need to follow the same Pin 1 procedures used
for hard drive installation. When a CD-ROM is properly wired to
the sound card, the CD-ROM will be able to play sound through
the sound card. After installing a CD-ROM drive you can quickly
verify that the drive has power by ejecting the CD-ROM tray.

Device Drivers
In the DOS environment a CD-ROM driver is loaded through
commands in the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT. The name
of the DOS device driver is MSCDEX.EXE (Microsoft CD-ROM
extension). To install a device driver within Windows 9x, open
control panel, select add new hardware, and then allow
Windows to detect the CD-ROM. As with any new hardware, you
should always test to the CD-ROM drive to make sure it is
working properly.

Update your Windows 9x Rescue Disk to Include Access to the

CD-ROM
Be sure to update your Windows 9x rescue disk so that the CD-
ROM boot disk will load the necessary drivers to access your CD-
ROM drive from DOS. Hint: Include MSCDEX.EXE on the disk.

Optimizing CD-ROM Cache

For removable drives, Windows 9x will cache data when reading
but not when writing data.

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CD-R and CD-RW Drives

CD-R (recordable CD) is a CD drive that can record or write data

to a CD. The drive may or may not be multi-session, but the data
cannot be erased once it is written. CDRW (rewritable CD) is a
CD drive that can record or write data to a CD. The data can be
erased and overwritten. The drive may or may not be multi-
session.

Sound Cards

Sound Blaster Compatible means that the sound card can accept
the same set of commands as a Sound Blaster sound card. Sound
Blaster has become industry standard for sound cards. ADC stands
for Analog-to-Digital Converter. This type of converter is
used by most sound cards to convert analog sound to digital sound.
The sampling rate is the rate of samples taken of an analog signal
over a period of time, usually expressed as samples per second or
Hertz. For example, 44,100 Hz is the sampling rate used for 16-bit
stereo. Note that the sample rate is usually expressed in hertz. A
human can detect up to about 22,000 hertz. Music CDs are
normally recorded at 44,100 hertz or 44.1 kHz. A sound card
interprets sound in ranges from positive to negative. An 8-bit
sound card uses 8-bits to store one sample, whereas a 16-bit sound
card uses 16-bits to store one sample.
Note: An 8-bit card has a sample size range of 256. A 16-bit sound
card has a sample size range of 65,536. Sound cards are typically
referred to by their sample size (for example, 8-bit sound card, 16-
bit sound card).

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Storing Sound Files: There are two methods typically used to
store sound in files: MIDI and WAV. Most game music is stored in
MIDI files, but most multimedia sound is stored in WAV files, so
look for a sound card that can handle both as well as music CDs.

Digital-to-Analog Conversion: FM synthesis stands for

Frequency modulation synthesis. FM synthesis creates a sound by
artificially creating a Wavetable that is close to the sound recorded.
Wavetable synthesis produces sound by using a sample recording
of the sound. Note that Wavetable synthesis produces a higher
quality sound than FM does.

Sound Playback: Computer speakers are magnetically shielded to

protect your computer equipment, and most have built-in
amplifiers.

MPC3 Specifications for Sound Cards: The MPC3 sound card

standards are a set of hardware standards that define recommended
capabilities for sound cards.

Digital Cameras

Think of a digital camera as a portable scanner, it can scan images

into memory and save them to be later uploaded to your PC.
Digital camera technology works much like scanner technology,
except that it is much faster. It essentially scans the field of image
set by the picture taker, and translates the light signals into digital
values, recorded as a file, which can later be uploaded to you PC.

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TWAIN stands for Technology without an Interesting Name.
TWAIN is the format used to transfer images between digital
cameras and PCs. How is the signal chain used by a digital
camera? First the image sensor captures the light reflected off of
the subject. Second, the light is converted into a serial stream of
small DC voltages. Next the voltages move through the DC
clamping and gain stages, which is where the signals are amplified
and buffered. Then the signals enter the ADC where digitizing
takes place. Finally, the digital signals are processed by the image
processor and sent to the storage device via the I/O process. Figure
11-2 illustrates the signal chain used by a digital camera:

Video-Capturing Card

A video capturing card is a device that allows you to capture

images from a camcorder or television. Genlock is a term that
refers to a video capture card with the ability to capture single
complete video frames.

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Digital Video Disc (DVD)

DVD is very similar to CD-ROM technology. The difference is

that DVD can store about 7 times as much data as can a CD-ROM.
DVD technology is considered a competitor of CD-ROM
technology. Note that phase-dual optical drives also fall into the
DVD technology category.

How does DVD accomplish increased disc capacity? DVD reads

and writes data using the same pits and peaks method as a CD-
ROM, but uses a shorter laser wavelength, allowing it to read more
densely packed pits which increase the disc capacity. Note that
in addition to the shorter wavelength, DVD discs have an added
opaque layer, which can store data. This layer nearly doubles the
disc’s capacity.

When you purchase a DVD drive there is normally an expansion

card included. This expansion card is an MPEG decoder that
separates the video from the data and sends the two streams of data
to their respective destinations. Table 11-1 illustrates some of the
upand-coming DVD technologies:

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Chapter Summary
Multimedia PC Requirements are:
• MPC3
• MPEG
• CODEC
• TAPI
Devices supporting multimedia are:
• CD-ROMs
• Recordable CD (CD-R )
• Rewritable CD (CD-RW)
• Digital Video Disc (DVD)
• Sound Cards
• Video-Capturing Card
• Digital Cameras

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Chapter Review Questions
1. What do you understand by the word Multimedia?
Explain.
2. Explain the meaning of the word Sampling. What is
Sample Size?
3. What differentiate a Pentium MMX CPU from an SSE
Pentium III CPU?
4. List the number of hardware devices and PC peripherals
that support Multimedia.
5. A CD-ROM can be connected to the system board in 5
different ways mention them.
6. What do you understand by a “bit map file” explain.

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CHAPTER 12: Electricity and power
supplies

12.1 Introduction to electrical energy

Computers run on electrical energy. Without it, a computer might
as well be a paperweight. Because every component of a computer
needs power to run (whether plugged into a wall outlet or a
battery), a computer professional must understand the basic
principles that govern electricity and electrical energy.
This chapter introduces you to these principles.

12.2 Understanding Electricity

What is electricity? The meaning of the word varies with the user.
Electricity to physicists is the primal property of nature, and a form
of Energy. They call the power delivered at the wall socket and
stored in batteries electrical energy. Most people, including
computer technicians, often use the term electricity to refer to both:

• The form of energy associated with moving electrons and

protons.
• The energy made available by the flow of electric charge
through a conductor.

For our discussion, we mostly talk about the flow of energy used to
run computers electrical energy and not worry about the fine points
of scientific philosophy.

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12.3 How electricity is measured
Electricity is energy that has different properties that can be
measured in various ways. Voltage (V) is a measure of the
potential difference between the electrical charges on either side of
an electrical device in an electrical system. Amps (A) are a
measure of electrical current. An ohm is a measure of electrical
resistance, and a watt is a measure of electrical power. Some
electrical measurements as they apply to computers include: A 17-
inch monitor requires less than 2 A to operate. A computer power
supply is rated at 200 to 600 watts. An AT power supply supplies
four separate voltages: +12 V, -12 V, +5 V, and -5 V.

There are three sections to a power supply: the switching network,

the transformer, and the voltage regulator

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12.4 How to measure the voltage output
of the power supply
To eliminate the power supply as a source of a problem with a
computer, measure the voltage output using a multimeter. A
multimeter has two probes, one for ground (black) and one for hot
(red), and a digital or analog display. With the power turned on,
put the black probe on ground and the red probe on the circuit
being measured. For an AT power supply, measure the voltages of
7 leads coming from the P8 and P9 connections. For an
ATX power supply, measure the voltages of 5 leads coming from
the P1 connection. Acceptable ranges are plus or minus 5% of the
voltages expected.

12.5 How to change a power supply

If you suspect that a power supply is faulty, the best course of
action is to replace it rather than repair it. If you are not sure the
power supply is faulty, you can place a new one on top the
computer case and connect the PC devices to the new power
supply. If the problem is solved, then assume the old power supply
is faulty. Turn off the power, remove the cover, disconnect all
power cords, examine the system to determine which components
must be removed in order to get the power supply out, and remove
them. Remove the power supply and put the new one in position.
Reassemble the system. Turn on the system and measure the
voltage output of the new power supply. Replace the cover.

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12.6 How a computer system can be
protected from damaging changes in
electrical power
There is a wide range of devices that filter the AC input to
computers and their peripherals to eliminate highs and lows in
current and provide backup when the power fails. These devices
fall into three general categories: surge suppressors, power
conditioners, and uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs). A surge
suppressor protects equipment against over voltage or spikes. A
power conditioner protects against spikes and also conditions or
regulates the power providing continuous voltage during
brownouts. A UPS provides a backup power supply in the event
the AC current fails completely. When buying a UPS, the amount
of current you need the device to provide as well as the length of
time you want it to work affect both size and price.

12.7 Some Definitions of basic electrical

Terms
For our discussion we employ the following definitions:

• Electricity: The form of energy associated with charged

particles, usually electrons.
• Electric Charge: When charged particles (electrons) move
in conductors, fields are generated, producing energy.
• Electrical Circuit: The path taken by an electrical charge.
• Electric Current: When an electric charge is carried, or
flows through a conductor (like wires), it is known as a
current. A current-carrying wire is a form of electromagnet.
Electric current is also known as electron flow.

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• Power: The rate at which an amount of energy is used to
accomplish work. Electrical power is measured in watts,
which is determined by multiplying voltage by current.
• Conductors: Materials that can carry an electrical current.
Most conductors are metals.
• Resistance: A quality of some materials that allows them to
slow the speed of an electrical current, producing heat, and
sometimes light, in the process.
• Insulators: Materials that prevent or retard the electrical
current of electrons.
• Ampere: A measurement of current strength, equal to 1
Coulomb per second. Coulomb's Law: two charges will exert
equal and opposite forces on each other. Opposite charges
attract and like charges repel.
• Ohm: A unit of electrical resistance. Ohm's Law states that
voltage is equal to the product of the current times the
resistance, or Voltage = Current x Resistance.
• Volt: The unit of electromotive force, or potential energy,
that when steadily applied against a resistance of 1 ohm,
produces a current of 1 ampere.
• Voltage: The potential energy of a circuit.

• Wattage: Wattage is the measurement of the total amount

of power needed to operate an electrical device. To
determine wattage, use the following formula:

Volts x Amps = Wattage (watts)

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Ohm's LAW
In addition to defining terms, we need to understand some basic
principles that are applied in testing electrical devices. One
formula that all computer professionals should know is Ohm's
Law. From this formula, or a derivation of this formula, all basic
power calculations can be performed.

Ohm's Law states that there is an inverse relationship between

resistance, current and voltage. This means that as resistance
increases, voltage and AMPS (current) decrease.

Resistance: R=V/I

Current: I=V/R

Volts: V=IR

In these formulas, R = Resistance measured in Ohms, V = Voltage

measured in Volts, and I = Current measured in Amperes.

AC and DC Current: AC stands for alternating current. This is a

type of electrical current that cycles back and forth, rather than
traveling in only one direction. AC current is the type used in most
homes today (wall sockets etc). DC stands for direct current. Direct
current travels in only one direction. DC is the type of current
required for computers. A rectifier is a device used to convert AC
to DC. A transformer is a device used to change the ratio of amps
(current) to voltage. A computer power supply acts as both a
transformer and a rectifier. First the power supply converts the
house voltage from 110 or 240 volts to 5 or 12 volts, which the
computer can use. Then, the power supply converts the alternating
current to a direct current, which is required by the computer and
peripherals.

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Hot, Neutral and Ground: How are hot lines and neutral lines
used in residential homes? When AC current comes from the
power station to your house, it travels from the power source at the
power station to your house on a hot line, and completes the circuit
from your house back to the power source on a neutral line. A
short occurs when the electricity is allowed to flow uncontrolled
from the hot line to the neutral line or from the hot line to ground.
A fuse is a component included in a circuit that is designed to
prevent too much current from flowing through at any one time. In
most home wiring, green or bare wire is used for ground, white for
neutral and black for hot. However, in most PC wiring the black is
used for ground, red for hot and green for neutral.

Some Common Electronic Components

Materials that easily conduct electricity, such as gold or copper, are

often referred to as conductors. Materials that resist the flow of
electricity, such as glass or ceramic, are often referred to as
insulators. Materials with an ability to conduct electricity, such as
silicon, fall into a category between that of conductors and
insulators called semiconductors. A transformer is a device that
changes the ratio of current to voltage. A computer power supply is
basically a transformer and a rectifier. A capacitor is an electronic
device that can maintain an electrical charge for a period of time
and is used to smooth out the flow of electrical current. A diode
is an electronic device that allows electricity to flow in only one
direction. Diodes are used in a rectifier circuit.

ESD and EMI

EMI (Electromagnetic interference) is a magnetic field produced as

a side effect from the flow of electricity. EMI can cause corrupted
data in data lines that are not properly shielded.

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ESD (Electrostatic Discharge) occurs when an imbalance in the
amounts of positive and negative electrical charges on the surface
of an object is released. The most dramatic example of ESD is
lightning, which splits trees as easily as it lights up the sky. The
amount of energy released when you touch a metal object can be
quite large. The buildup of energy with nylon clothes can easily
reach 21,000 volts. About 750 volts are required to produce a
visible spark with ESD; while a mere 10 volts or so can ruin a
computer chip.

12.8 Measuring the voltage of a power

supply
Using A Multimeter

A multimeter is a device used to measure voltage, amperage, or

resistance, and test for continuity. Note that multimeters are
sometime referred to as DVMs (digital volt meters). Multimeters
come in a range of sizes and capabilities. Some examples include
desktop multimeters that are not designed to be moved, handheld
portable multimeters and multimeters that may or may not measure
amperage. Before using a multimeter you must set the following
three parameters:

1. What to measure (voltage, current or resistance)

2. Type of current (AC, DC)
3. The range of electricity it should expect (high voltage or low
voltage)

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Some multimeters can sense the amount of electricity and adjust
accordingly. These types of meters are called auto ranging meters.
To measure voltage, you simply place the positive probe (the red
probe) to a positive point within the circuit and then attach the
negative probe (the black probe) to a ground portion of the circuit.
In order to measure AMPS, the multimeter must become part of
the circuit. To test for continuity, turn the power off and place one
probe at either end of the circuit you wish to test.

How to Measure the Voltage of a Power Supply

A short circuit, or short, occurs when a side circuit of very low
resistance is connected to a circuit of a higher resistance and the
electricity is diverted through the side circuit. Ground is always the
same. For example, the ground wire for the system board
connector should be the same as the ground connector for the hard
drive.

12.9 Problems with the power supply

Connecting too many devices to the same power outlet can create
power problems. For example, a copier, computer, and a laser
printer connected to the same power strip will most likely produce
errors on all three devices. The following are two possible reasons
why a fan on a power supply would stop working:

1. The fan or power supply is broken.

2. There is a problem with one or more of the components
connected to the power supply.

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If you are troubleshooting a system and notice that the power
supply fan is not working, this could be a sign of other problems.
This is a good time to use the divide and conquer troubleshooting
method. To divide and conquer, complete the following steps:

• Unplug everything from the power supply. With only the power
supply plugged into the wall, turn on the PC. If the fan on the
power supply begins to turn, then you know that the power supply
is not broken, but there is a problem with one of the components
that was plugged into it.
• If one of the other hardware components is the culprit, begin
adding pieces back to the power supply one at a time. Test each
piece as you go to verify that the power supply fan still works.
• After discovering the faulty hardware, replace the part.
Note: A system board should never be replaced without first
verifying hat the power supply is functioning properly.

Upgrading the Power Supply

Power supplies need to be upgraded when they can no longer
supply enough power or watts for the system to operate normally.
Power supplies are rated in watts. The power supply for your
system should be rated 50% higher than your system needs. The
standard desktop PC normally uses a power supply rated at 200
watts.
Installing a New Power Supply
To test a replacement power supply, verify that it will be able to
power the system before removing the old power supply. This is
done by placing the new power supply on top of the old one and
plugging the new one into the system components.

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12.10 Energy star computers
(The green star)
EPA stands for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The
green standards are a set of specifications designed by the EPA to
reduce overall power consumption in the U.S. Sleep mode could
more accurately, be labeled as "reduced power consumption
mode". Sleep mode is the state in which an EPA compliant PC will
go when it is not in use. The EPA requirement for sleep mode is
that the device can use no more that 30 watts of power while
asleep.

Energy Star PC`s

Following, are three types of power management available for

PCs:
1. Advanced Power Management (APM). APM is used in almost
every new system today and is championed by Microsoft and Intel.
2. AT Attachment (ATA) for IDE drives.
3. Display Power Management Signaling (DPMS) standards for
monitors and video cards.

The energy star features can normally be adjusted in the CMOS

and are designed to work in incremental steps. The following are
some of the more commonly used energy star power down
features:

• Green timer on the system board. The "green timer" is a timer

on the system board that sets the number of minutes of inactivity
before the CPU will go into sleep mode.
• Doze time. The doze time is the amount of time specified before
the system will reduce its power consumption by 80%.

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• Standby time. The standby time is the amount of time specified
before the system will reduce its power consumption by 92%.
• Suspend time. The suspend time is the amount of time specified
before the system will reduce its power consumption by 99%. Note
that when a system has gone into suspend mode it will require a
short warm-up period when activated again.
• Hard drive standby time. The hard drive standby time is the
amount of time specified before the • System will temporarily shut
down the hard drive.
Figure 12-1 shows some of the options available in standard
CMOS power management screen:

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Energy Star Monitors
An energy star monitor has the added capability of sleep mode.
Note that for an energy star-compliant monitor to function
properly, it must be connected either to a video card or
to a system that is also energy star compliant. Most computers and
monitors sold today are energy star compliant. If your system has a
setting in both CMOS and the operating system to put the monitor
to sleep after a set amount of time, they could conflict with
each other and hang the system. To avoid this problem, simply
disable the sleep mode setting in the operating system. Some of the
newer and more expensive monitors have the added ability to turn
off after a set amount of time.

12.11 Surge protection and battery

backup
The following are three categories of backup power and
conditioning devices: surge suppressors, power conditioners, and
uninterruptible power supplies (UPS). A surge suppressor or
surge protector is a device that provides power outlets, which are
protected from an over-voltage of AC power. Inside a surge
protector is a fuse that is used to protect the devices plugged into it.
The problem with surge protectors is that when the fuse is blown,
everything will continue to function properly except you will no
longer be protected from power spikes (over-voltages). For this
reason it is best to replace surge protectors every six months.
What is let-through? Let-through is the maximum voltage allowed
through a surge protector to the devices it is protecting. A joule is
a measure of energy that takes into accounts both voltage and
current over a one-second interval.

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The difference between a shunt surge protector and a series surge
protector is that a shunt surge protector is designed to absorb a
power spike, whereas a series surge protector uses a series of
blocks to control a power spike. Note that some surge protectors
use both methods to control power spikes. Clamping voltage is
the measurement used for a shunt surge suppressor’s let-through
voltage. A data line protector is a feature included in some surge
protectors that provides power spike protection for a phone line
(analog line).

Measuring Power Ranges of Devices

VA stands for volt amperes. VA is the measurement used to rate
power conditioners and uninterruptible power supplies. To
determine the VA required for your system, multiply the amperage
of each component by 120 volts and add the results together. Note
that a standard Pentium PC requires about 500VA. A power
conditioner is a device that regulates power voltage to protect
against power spikes and brownouts. A Ferro resonant regulator
is a device that contains a magnetic coil and can retain charges of
power to be used to raise the voltage during a brownout. A low-
cost power conditioner uses a stepped transformer to control the
conditioner’s output voltage. The higher-priced conditioners use a
Ferro resonant regulator to control its output voltage.

Uninterruptible Power Supply

An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) is a device that provides
power conditioning as well as backup power in the event that the
AC current fails. A UPS is rated by the amount of VA it provides
and the length of time it can provide power in the case of a
blackout.

There are two types of uninterruptible power supplies:

1. Standby uninterruptible power supplies (UPS)
2. In-line uninterruptible power supplies (UPS)

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A standby UPS has an AC circuit and a DC circuit. Under normal
conditions the UPS uses only the AC circuit. However, when
power to the AC circuit is lost, the UPS switches to the DC circuit
to continue to supply power for the devices it is protecting.

In older PCs the time it took for this type of UPS to switch circuits
created a problem, sometimes causing the PC to reboot. This
problem has been resolved by changing the design of modern
power supplies so that they can supply power for the one or two
seconds it will take a UPS to switch circuits.

An in-line UPS has an AC circuit and a DC circuit. Under normal

conditions the UPS uses only the DC circuit. When the UPS is
plugged-in, power travels from the wall socket to the internal
battery for charging. The battery always supplies the computer
with power, ensuring that the voltage is consistent.

Double-conversion is the process of converting electricity from

AC to DC current and then back to AC current. Note that in-line
UPS` use double conversion because electricity must be converted
to DC in order to charge their battery. The only time the AC circuit
is used in an in-line UPS is when the device has detected an error
in the DC circuit. The disadvantage of using an in-line UPS is that
their batteries wear-out quickly.

A line-interactive UPS is a variation of the standby UPS. A line-

interactive UPS shortens the time required to switch from AC to
DC by keeping the inverter always active.

An inverter is a device used to covert DC to AC. During normal

operations a line-interactive UPS uses its inverter as a rectifier, and
in the case of a power outage it quickly switches roles.

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A buck-boost is a voltage regulator used to lower, or buck, the
voltage in the event of a power spike, and boost the voltage in the
event of a brownout.

Note that line-interactive UPS' use a buck-boost to control

electrical quality. An intelligent UPS can perform the same
functions as one of the previously discussed UPS', but has the
added capability of software communication. Note that most
intelligent UPS' use a COM port to communicate with the PC.
When purchasing a UPS consider the following:

• The VA rating of the UPS

• The amount of line conditioning the UPS provides
• The warranty and service policies
• The length of time the battery backup will last

You should buy an in-line UPS that doesn’t run at full capacity -
this is because if the UPS charger runs at full capacity, it will
create so much heat that it could potentially, decrease the life of
the battery.

Fire Extinguishers

The three classes of fires are:

1. Class A: A fire that is fueled by ordinary combustible materials
such as wood trash or clothes.
2. Class B: A fire that is fueled by flammable liquids such as oil,
gasoline, kerosene, propane gas, and some plastics.
3. Class C: A fire that is ignited and heated by electricity.
Remember P-A-S-S when working will fire extinguishers. Pull the
pin, Aim low at the base of the fire, Squeeze the handle of the
extinguisher, Sweep back and forth across the base of the fire.

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Chapter Summary
The following points summarize the key concepts in this chapter:

Power

• Ohm's Law states that the current flowing through a

conductor, or resistance, is linearly proportional to the
applied potential difference (volts).
• Electricity is delivered to our homes and businesses as AC
(alternating current). Computers use DC (direct current).
• Electricity always seeks the path of least resistance to
ground. An electrical outlet or an extension cord without a
ground wire is unacceptable for use with a computer.
• A multimeter is an instrument used to measure electrical
voltage, current, resistance, and continuity.

Electrostatic Discharge (ESD)

• Electrostatic discharge (ESD) depends on the types of

materials and the amount of friction involved, the humidity,
and how quickly the energy is released. ESD can cause
damage to computer parts. Always take preventive measures
when working around a computer.

Safety and Electrical Power

• It is vital to follow basic electrical-safety guidelines when

working around electrical and electronic devices.
Remember—electrical safety is your responsibility.

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Chapter Review Questions

1. What is Ohm's Law?

2. What is the formula for Ohm's Law?
3. What is the difference between AC and DC?
4. What instrument is used to measure the various components
of electricity?
5. How do you test for continuity?
6. What is "AC Ripple?" How do you test for it?
7. Describe ESD and how to prevent it.
8. What is a latent failure? What makes it especially
troublesome?
9. What is a catastrophic failure?
10. When working with a computer, when is it acceptable
to use an AC power supply that is not grounded?

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CHAPTER 13: Supporting MS-DOS,
Windows 3.x, Windows 9X and Windows
NT.

13.1 Introduction
This chapter focuses on the earlier operating-system soft wares
MS-DOS, Windows 3.x. and Windows 9X. Although MS-DOS
and Windows 3.x (Both 16-bit OS) are somewhat outdated, they
remain the foundation from which the newer 32-bit operating
systems like Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows 2000
evolved. Many fundamental concepts and conventions used with
today's operating systems stem from these beginnings. As an A+
technician aspirant, you will find some questions regarding
MS-DOS, Windows 3.x and Windows 9X on the exam.

13.2 MS-DOS
DOS stands for disk operating system. The full proper name is
preceded by the name of the manufacturer—for example, MS-DOS
for Microsoft DOS or PC-DOS (for versions specific to the IBM
Personal Computer). This version was also sometimes referred to
as IBM-DOS. All versions of DOS are actually the product of
Microsoft development. The modern computer professional must
be familiar with MS-DOS because MS-DOS remains at the heart
of Windows. Although increasingly more configuration can be
done through the Windows interface, there comes a time when
every computer professional is faced with a screen of MS-DOS
commands. Windows 98 and above, the most current operating
systems are more independent of MS-DOS than prior versions of
Windows. However, every PC still requires AUTOEXEC.BAT,
CONFIG.SYS, and various initialization files. So there remains a
need for the computer professional to be familiar with MS-DOS.

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DOS has been produced by three suppliers, and the versions are so
similar that they are considered as one operating system. The three
brands of DOS are:

• MS-DOS, produced by Microsoft—the most popular

• PC-DOS, produced by IBM
• DR-DOS, produced by Novell

DOS was originally designed to load an operating system from a

floppy disk to a computer with no hard drive (before hard drives
were common). Today, any reference to DOS is synonymous with
MS-DOS.

The following table provides a version history of MS-DOS.

Version Introduced Features

1.0 August Distributed on one floppy disk (required
1981 8 KB of RAM).
1.1 May 1982 Added supported for 320-KB double-
sided disks.
2.0 March 1983 Introduced support for hard disks,
directories, background printing, and
the ability to add device drivers.
3.0 August Increased support for hard disks larger
1984 than 10 MB and 1.2-MB floppy disks.
3.1 March 1985 Added networks and file sharing.
3.2 January Included support for 3.5-inch floppy
1986 disks.
3.3 April 1987 Added new commands and international
support.
4.0 February Added support for hard disks greater

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 1988 than 32 MB, the MEM command, and
MS-DOS Shell.
5.0 May 1991 Added memory management tools,
help, undelete, unformat, task swapping.
This was the last version to come with a
printed manual.
6.0 March 1993 Included new features such as
MEMMAKER, multiple boot
configurations, Windows UNFORMAT
and UNDELETE, virus protection, and
backup. MEMMAKER is a utility that
is used to modify the system's
CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT
files, so that device drivers and
memory-resident programs take up less
conventional memory space.
6.2 October Included ScanDisk, MSD utilities and
1993 enhanced diagnostics.
7.0 December Not really a stand-alone product;
1995 provided the command-level
environment included with Windows
95.

MS-DOS includes three programs that are required to make a drive

or floppy disk bootable:

• IO.SYS: The interface between the hardware and the

operating-system code
• MSDOS.SYS: The main operating-system code
• COMMAND.COM: The interface between the user and the
operating-system code

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NOTE
IO.SYS and MSDOS.SYS are hidden files that are not usually
visible when you examine a disk directory.

In addition to the three core files, MS-DOS uses two other startup
files. These files are not required to start the machine, but they add
any additional startup configuration required by the user or
applications. These files are:

• CONFIG.SYS: Loads extra hardware and device drivers not

built into the IO.SYS.
• AUTOEXEC.BAT: Loads terminate-and-stay-resident
(TSR) programs selected by the user and sets up the
environment variables such as TEMP and PATH.

NOTE
If a user complains that a machine is not loading MS-DOS,
especially after installing new hardware or software, disable these
two files as a first diagnostic step. In many cases, drivers or
procedure calls are conflicting or corrupting system memory.

13.3 Windows installations and

customizing the windows environment
Before installing Windows 3.x or Windows 9x on a system that
already has an OS installed, prepare the hard drive by running
Scandisk and Chkdsk to remove lost and cross-linked clusters and
defragment the disk. Remove any extraneous commands from
Config.sys and Autoexec.bat. For Windows 3.x, place the setup
disk 1 in the drive and type A: Setup. If you have a problem with
the installation, try the Setup /I option and scan the hard drive for
viruses. For Windows 9x, begin with a floppy disk for a new
installation on a new hard drive or begin with the Windows 9x CD
for an upgrade or reinstall. If the installation fails, perform a hard
boot and try again. Windows will pick up in the installation where
it left off, bypassing the step that caused the failure.

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13.4 How to install and resolve problems
with applications software
Before installing applications software under Windows 3.x backup
these four files: Config.sys, Autoexec.bat, System.ini and Win.ini
because these files are most likely to be the ones an application
will alter during its installation. You can recover from a bad
installation by using these backup files. Most applications
softwares are installed under Windows 3.x by typing A: Setup or
A: Install from the File, Run dialog box of File Manager. For
Windows 9x, backup the Registry files, System.dat and User.dat,
which might be altered during the installation. Begin the
installation by typing A: Setup form the Start, Run dialog box or
use the Add/Remove Program icon in Control Panel. Applications
sometimes overwrite DLL files in the \Windows\System folder
with versions that are incompatible with other applications that use
them. You might need to reinstall other applications if an
installation causes a problem with DLL files.

13.5 How to manage windows

resources, including memory and
hard drives
Windows 3.x is not a true OS, but an application providing a GUI
environment for other applications and, therefore, does not manage
memory or the hard drive, but mostly depend on DOS to do that.
Windows 9x, however, manages memory fundamentally the
same way DOS does: it uses base memory, upper memory
addresses for 16-bit device drivers and BIOS and extended
memory. Windows 9x can make better use of memory than did
DOS because it relies on 32-bit device drivers that can be loaded
into extended memory instead of using limited upper memory.

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Windows 32-bit applications are also placed in extended memory.
Windows 3.x and Windows 9x both make use of virtual
memory called swap files, but Windows 9x manages swap files
better than does Windows 3.x. Windows 9x also uses a better
approach to hard drive management. Windows 95, release 2, and
Windows 98 use the FAT32 file system which uses smaller cluster
sizes, thus conserving hard drive space. Both Windows 3.x and
Windows 9x can use 32-bit hard drive access.

13.6 Ways to optimize windows

performance
To optimize Windows 3.x, don't use desktop wallpaper or screen
savers, reduce the number of display colors and fonts, use a hard
drive cache such as Smart Drive, reduce the number of buffers in
the Buffers= line in Config.sys, defragment the hard drive
regularly, use a permanent swap file, don't run unnecessary TSRs,
and keep applications closed when they are not needed. To
optimize Windows 9x, don't use wallpaper or screen savers,
defragment the hard drive regularly, and keep applications closed
when they are not needed. Verify that the OS is accessing the hard
drive using 32-bit mode. To do that, from Control Panel, select
System, Performance. If you see the message, "Some drives
are using MS-DOS compatibility," then 16-bit access is used and
you should look for problems with the hard drive device drivers of
Windows 9x. Use System Monitor under Accessories, System
Tools to monitor disk cache and processor usage.

13.7 Windows registry and how to

repair a corrupted registry
The Windows 9x Registry is a database of system configurations,
user settings, applications software settings, hardware settings, and
so forth. It replaces the .ini files of Windows 3.x. The Registry is
stored in two files in the \Windows folder, System.dat and
User.dat. Use Regedit to edit the Registry and Registry Checker to
check and repair a corrupted Registry. If the Registry is too

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corrupted for Windows 98 to load properly, Windows will load in
Safe Mode and attempt to recover the Registry from backups.

13.8 How to use some diagnostic software

Third party diagnostic software that can be used with Windows 3.x
and Windows 9x includes Nuts & Bolts and Norton Utilities. If
you run Norton Utilities Registry Tracker while installing
applications software, it will track changes to the Registry during
the installation. Windows 98 offers several diagnostic tools
including Automatic Skip Driver Agent, Microsoft System
Information, Registry Checker, System Configuration Utility,
System File Checker, and System Monitor. Most of these tools are
available by selecting Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools
and System Information. System File Checker is especially useful
to scan for corrupted or altered system files and restore those files
from the Windows 98 CD.

13.9 About plug and play and how to

troubleshoot plug and play problems
Plug and Play (PnP) is a set of design specifications for both
hardware and software that work toward effortless hardware
installations. For a system to be truly Plug and Play, all these
components must be PnP: the system BIOS, all hardware devices,
expansion cards, the operating system and device drivers for the
hardware. When installing a new device that is Plug_and_play, any
jumpers or DIP switches on the device should be set to use Plug
and Play rather than specify system resources to be used by the
device. When a system boots, the PnP BIOS receives requests for
system resources from legacy devices first and then begins the
process of assigning the remaining resources to the Plug and
Play devices present. It then presents to Windows 9x details about
the process for Windows to complete the assignments.

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13.10 Supporting windows 3.x
Because companies and individuals use software for many years,
PC support technicians need to know how to support old as well as
new software. There are still computers in use running DOS and
Windows 3.x in many companies because it works well with the
older hardware and applications still in use, and people are familiar
and comfortable with it.

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Shortcut Keys in Windows
Some of the more commonly used shortcut keys in the Windows
environment are outlined in table 13-1, below:

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Windows 3.x Initialization and Application Information
Windows 3.x stores configuration information in the registry
database (REG.DAT) and in initialization files (files with .INI
extensions). INI files are only read when Windows or
an application is started. This means that you must restart
Windows (to reinitialize the INI files) for any changes to take
effect. The best way to change the contents of an INI file is to use
Program Manager, Control Panel or Windows Setup. Use notepad
or sysedit only as a last resort to edit system configuration files. A
comment line is a notation that tells Windows to ignore a
statement. Some examples of syntax include REM and " ; "
(semicolon). When troubleshooting an operating system it is
sometimes helpful to use a comment line to temporarily remove
statements from an INI file. The maximum size for an INI file is
64K, but any INI files larger than 32K may create problems.

The Windows 3.x Registry

Beginning in 1994, versions of Windows 3.x began to store some
configuration information in a registration database or Registry
named Reg.dat, which is found in the Windows directory. Object
linking is a method of programming that allows you to work
in one application and execute a command or object created in
another. Dynamic data exchange allows applications to
communicate with each other. Two reasons for having
applications register configuration information in REG.DAT are:

• For object linking to other applications.

• For dynamic data exchange between applications.

Some common errors of a corrupt registry include: "Object not

found" and "Unable to do data exchange module xxxxx".

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Windows 3.X Installation
Before the Installation: To prepare for an installation of Windows
3.x be sure to:
• Run CHKDSK /F or SCANDISK to recover lost clusters, and
then DEFRAG to prepare the hard drive.
• Identify which TSRs, if any, are loading from the CONFIG.SYS
and AUTOEXEC.BAT. If any problems should occur, this will be
helpful information.
• If installing Windows on a compressed drive, be sure to place the
swap file and temporary files on a different physical or logical
drive.

Setup Options:
1. Express option - The normal installation choice. This option
answers most installation questions for the user.
2. Custom setup - This option allows the user full control over the
Windows installation.
3. Reinstalling Windows - This option will give you the
opportunity to reinstall Windows over a previous installation.

Note: This method is normally used when attempting to

repair windows.

Problems during the Installation: Some of the following are

common with Windows 3.x installation problems:
• Setup does not list the hardware you have on your system.
Try to substitute a generic device or get a Windows 3.x driver from
the manufacturer.
• You don’t have enough hard drive space. You will need to free
some space on the destination drive.
• Setup hangs during the installation. Try to run setup again but
this time, use the /I switch to tell setup to run a custom installation
that will bypass the hardware search.

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• Windows will not boot after the installation. Boot to the DOS
C prompt. Change directories to the Windows directory and enter
Setup at the DOS prompt. (C:\windows\setup )
• After the installation, the mouse does not work in Windows.
Verify that the mouse works properly in DOS and then check the
CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT file for the mouse driver
statement.

After the Installation is Complete: Windows 3.x includes five

.WRI files in the Windows directory that document updates,
printer settings, network settings and detailed information about
the SYSTEM.INI and WIN.INI files.

13.11 Conflicts and Problems with

Applications Software in a Windows
Environment
Installing Applications Software

The following steps summarize the software installation process:

• Check available resources. Ensure that you have enough hard
drive space, RAM and a fast enough CPU.
• Protect the original floppies or CD-ROM. Write protect the
floppies, and don’t scratch the CD-ROM.
• Back up your system configuration files. Examples include the
CONFIG.SYS, AUTOEXEC.BAT, WIN.INI, PROGMAN.INI and
SYSTEM.INI.
• Install the software. Follow the software installation
instructions.
• Test the software. Try using the software to confirm that the
installation was successful.

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Below are some possible software installation problems and
solutions:
• Windows does not allow software to be installed. Check the
PROGMAN.INI file under the [Restrictions] section and verify
that the software you are trying to install is not listed.
• There is not enough hard drive space. You will need to remove
old programs or files from the destination drive.
• Error: Environmental variable not found. Try moving the
SET command to the beginning of the AUTOEXEC.BAT.
• Software just doesn’t work. Try to uninstall the program and
reinstall it, looking for errors during the installation.

Problems with Software Conflicts

DLL stands for Dynamic Link Library. DLLs are library files
that store various programming routines that are used and shared
by applications. An application conflict occurs when an old
application uses a DLL that was recently updated by a newer
application and the update is not compatible with the old software.
Back up the \windows\system Directory: Backing-up the System
directory will save the current DLLs, this should be done prior to
any software upgrade.
Monitor the Files being updated During the Installation
Process: Third party applications like In Control and Norton
Utilities can run the application installation and monitor which
files are modified. This can be helpful if troubleshooting becomes
necessary.

Know What DLLs an Application Uses: DLL Unloader is used

to view all the DLLs your system has loaded into memory. It also
includes the unique feature of being able to unload any DLLs from
memory by simply selecting the DLL and selecting the Unload
button.

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DLL Unloader can be used for application troubleshooting by
launching DLL Unloader then executing the troublesome
application. This will allow you to view supporting DLL files as
they are loaded into memory for a particular application.

Supporting DOS Applications: A PIF (Program Interface file) is

a file with a .pif extension that is used by an OS to store the
settings of the environment provided to a DOS application.

How Windows 3.x Manages Memory

Windows organizes memory into heaps. A heap is an area of
memory set aside for programs to use for their data. The following
are the five memory heaps maintained by Windows:
1. The System heap. The system heap includes both RAM and
virtual memory, which is reserved for allocation to programs or
system overhead.
2. GDI heap. The GDI heap is reserved for graphical items such as
fonts, icons, mouse pointers, etc.
3. Menu heap. The menu heap is reserved for menus and their
associated data.
4. Text string heap. The text string heap contains Windows text.
5. User heap. The User heap contains information about the
desktop.

Memory
Memory Errors: Protected-mode memory addressing is controlled
by the operating system whereas real-mode memory addressing
allows applications to address memory directly. A General
Protection Fault (GPF) no longer refers to just memory errors.
GPFs can now include a host of other problems relating to the
application.

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Insufficient Memory: An insufficient memory error tells the user
that there is not enough free memory in one of the heaps to execute
a particular command. Windows 3.x and Windows 9x are limited
to a specific amount of memory that can be allocated to each heap.
Windows NT does not have this limitation. Third party software,
like the Nuts & Bolts software, can be used to view system
resources.
Memory Leaks: A memory leak occurs when a program fails to
release its assigned memory addresses after it is unloaded. Note
that memory leaks will cause "Out of Memory" error messages. If
you are troubleshooting an Out of Memory error message, third-
party software can be used to decipher which application has the
memory leak.

13.12 Supporting windows 9x

Windows 9x Differs from Windows 3.x and DOS in that it
introduces the following features:
• 32-bit programming
• Virtual machines
• Memory paging
The three core portions of Windows 9x are:
1. The Kernel portion, which uses mostly 32-bit code and retains
16-bit code only as an entry point into the kernel.
2. The user portion, which uses mostly 16-bit code because it
requires less memory than its 32-bit equivalent.
3. The GDI portion which uses a mix of 16-bit and 32-bit code in
order to maintain backwards compatibility.

Table 13-2 illustrates the core components and their functions:

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The Windows 9x Architecture
Windows 9x utilizes the following components:
• VMM - Virtual Memory Manager
• IFS - Installable File System
• WDM - Win32 driver model
Figure 13-3, below, illustrates the Windows 9x architecture as it
relates to the user, applications software, and hardware. The only
component that is found in Windows 98, but not Windows 95, is
the component responsible for managing device drivers that work
under a driver model new to Windows 98, called Win32 Driver
Model (WDM) driver manager.

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16-bit and 32-bit programming
DOS is a 16-bit OS. All portions of the OS are written using 16-bit
code, and DOS will only support 16-bit drivers and 16-bit
application programs. Windows 3x also will only support 16-bit
applications (but does contain a small amount of 32-bit code.
Windows 9x accommodates both 16-bit and 32-bit programming
because Windows 9x is a hybrid between 16-bit and 32-bit code.
Although it prefers 32-bit code, Windows 9x still supports 16-bit.
32-bit code is faster than 16-bit code but requires more memory.

Virtual Machines
Another important difference between Windows 9x and DOS with
Windows 3x is that Windows 9x enhances the application of
virtual machines. A virtual machine should be thought of as an
emulation of an entire computer. This emulation includes both
virtual hardware and virtual memory addresses. Windows 9x
always maintains at least one virtual machine, called the system
virtual machine. The system virtual machine contains the operating
system and the virtual machines for both 16 and 32-bit
applications. DOS programs expect to be in complete and direct

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control of all the system hardware, Window 95 accommodates
them by executing all DOS programs in their own virtual
machine. 16-bit Windows applications do not require full control
of their hardware - they do however require the ability to
communicate with each other. To accomplish this task
Windows 9x puts these programs together in their own memory
space so they can share memory addresses, in effect, putting them
in their own virtual machine.

Memory Paging
Memory paging is the process by which the virtual memory
manager provides virtual memory to DOS and 16-bit Windows
applications. The virtual memory manager is the portion of
Windows 9x that controls the page table. The page table contains
the physical memory addresses for all virtual memory addresses
assigned to applications and processes. The virtual memory
manager controls the page table by swapping 4K pages
(segments of memory) between RAM and the hard drive. A page
fault is generated when the virtual memory manager knows that a
requested page is not stored in RAM. The terms page-in and page-
out refer to the process the memory manager uses to move the
4K pages in and out of physical memory. Disk thrashing refers to
excessive paging, which can cause premature hard drive failure.
Note that to correct disk thrashing, you would add more RAM to
the system.

How Windows 98 Differs from Windows 95

Windows 98 is virtually the same operating system as Windows 95
except that it supports a broader scope of hardware and has several
new utilities and features to improve performance, stability and
ease-of-use.

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Loading and Running Windows 9x

The Windows 9x Startup Process

Microsoft Windows 9x Startup Menu
The following are boot options in the Windows 9x Startup Menu:
• Normal mode. This option starts Windows 9x in its standard
configuration.
• Logged. This option starts Window 95 and logs a text file
tracking the startup activities.
• Safe mode. This will start Windows 9x with the minimum
default configuration.
• Safe mode with network support. This option allows access to
the network when booting into Safe mode.
• Step-by-step confirmation. This option asks for confirmation
before executing each command.
• Command prompt. This option executes the contents of the
AUTOEXEC.BAT and the CONFIG.SYS but does not start
Windows.
• Safe mode command prompt. This option boots to a command
without executing the AUTOEXEC.BAT and the CONFIG.SYS.
• Previous version of MS-DOS. This option loads a previous
version of DOS if one is present.

Managing the Windows 9x Desktop

What is a shortcut? A shortcut is an icon that points to a program
or file. Just like in Windows 3.x, the Startup group in Windows 9x
gives the user the ability to have a program executed every time
Windows is started.

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Installing and Configuring Windows 9x
What does Windows 9x Setup do behind the scenes? Initially
Setup begins in real mode. It runs diagnostics, looks for previous
versions of Windows and loads the extended memory device
driver. Second, Setup switches to protected mode. It then creates
the registry and searches for hardware. Last, Setup modifies the
boot record and restarts the computer. The boot record
modification is done last to ensure that you will be able to
boot into your previous environment, should Setup stop
responding. Setup uses the following log files:
• DETLOG.TXT - This detection log keeps a record of all
hardware detected during setup.
• DETCRASH.LOG - This detection log tracks which device was
being detected when Setup crashed. Note that when Setup is
restarted after a crash, Setup will look for this log file and skip
detection of the device that caused the crash.
Configuring the Windows 9x Startup with MSDOS.SYS: What
steps should you take for a dual boot installation of Windows 9x?
First, backup the DOS directory. Second, install Windows 9x in a
new directory. Edit the MSDOS.SYS file, modifying the
following lines to read: BootMulti=1, BootMenu=1. Last, restore
your old DOS directory and reboot.

Customizing the Installation with MSDOS.SYS: Windows 9x

uses the MSDOS.SYS file like an INI file to set environmental
parameters.
Installing Windows 9x Over DOS and Windows 3.x: Some
advantages to overwriting a previous Windows 3.x installation are:
• Less drive space is required
• Setup will attempt to migrate current applications
• Setup will attempt to create icons for migrated applications on
the start menu.

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One advantage to installing Windows 9x in a separate directory is
you will be able to create a dual-boot system. However, if
Windows 9x is installed in a separate directory, you will need to
reinstall your applications. See chapter 8 for more details about
dual booting between operating systems.

Plug-and-Play
Plug-and-Play (PnP) is a set of design specifications for both
hardware and software that work toward effortless hardware
installation. For a system to be truly Plug-and-Play, it must meet
the following criteria:
1. The system BIOS must be PnP
2. All hardware devices and expansion cards must be PnP-
compliant
3. The OS must be Windows 9x or another OS that supports PnP
A Plug and Play OS, like Windows 9x, provides two main
services:
1. Resource management. This occurs at startup and refers to
system resources being allocated to devices.
2. Runtime configuration. This is an ongoing process that
monitors changes to system devices, like removing a PC card from
a notebook or the docking and undocking of a notebook.
The four components Windows 9x uses to implement PnP are:
1. The configuration manager controls the configuration process
of all devices.
2. The hardware tree is a database of installed components and
their resources, which is built each time Windows 9x starts.
3. The bus enumerator locates all devices on a bus and
inventories the resource requirements for these devices.
4. The resource arbitrator decides which resources get assigned
to which devices.

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When a PnP system is started, the BIOS begins the boot process by
sending a list of devices to Windows 9x. Then, the configuration
manager communicates with the resource arbitrator to assign
resources. Finally, the bus enumerator collectively builds the
hardware tree. Note that a new hardware tree is built each time
Windows 9x is started.

Plug-and-Play BIOS
A PnP BIOS interacts with Windows 9x in the following way: a
PnP BIOS gathers resource configuration information prior to
loading Windows 9x, and then communicates these details to
Windows 9x. ESCD stands for Extended System Configuration
Data. An ESCD BIOS creates a list of configuration changes,
which you have that you have manually made and stores that list
on the BIOS chip. If your BIOS is not PnP you can still use
Windows 9x and PnP devices, however, you may need to manually
configure the resources.

Installing New Hardware

The following three common problems can arise during hardware
installations. :
1. Unsupported devices - Try to install manually (with the
hardware wizard) or use a substitute device.
2. 16-bit drivers - Try to install the driver using a DOS or
Windows 3.x driver.
3. Legacy cards - Try changing the DIP switches or jumpers on
the card to use different resources.

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The Windows 9x Registry

The design goals of the Windows 9x Registry are:

• It replaces many INI (initialization) files used under Windows
3.x
• It is organized in a hierarchical database with a tree-like, top to
bottom design
• It stores information for system configuration. Examples include
user settings, the Device Manager, application settings, and
information about the current hardware configuration.

How the Registry is organized

The Registry is divided into branches.
A registry key is a folder, similar to the bracketed section of an
INI file, used to simplify the organization of the registry. A data
value is a parameter stored in the registry. With the Registry Editor
you can view and make changes to the Registry. Keys or Sub-keys
can be seen in the left window, and the value name and data are
shown in the right window. The Registry is stored in two files, the
SYSTEM.DAT and USER.DAT, located in the Windows
directory.

Recovering from a Corrupted Registry

Each time Windows 9x is successfully started, it backs-up a copy
of the registry by creating two files and naming them
SYSTEM.DA0 and USER.DA0. If the registry is damaged or
missing, it is necessary to restore it from a backup copy. One of the
easiest ways to restore the registry from backup is by copying the
USER.DA0 and SYSTEM.DA0 files to the windows directory and
renaming them to USER.DAT and SYSTEM.DAT. Third party
software packages like Nuts & Bolts have the capability of
backing-up the registry to disk. Note that when doing a system
backup you should include the registry.

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Modifying and Editing the Registry
The best way to modify the registry is to use the Control Panel or
Device Manger. Using the registry editor should be a last resort,
and if you are going to use it you should first backup the registry.
You can use the registry editor to do the following:
• Search for a value
• Create a key
• Edit a value
• Delete a value
• Delete a key
There are several third party utilities you can use to track changes
made to the Registry and INI files. Some examples include In
Control 3 and Norton Utilities Registry Tracker.

Supporting Applications Software with Windows 9x

Before installing software you should always make sure that you
have a current backup copy of your registry. Microsoft
recommends using the Add/Remove Programs applet in
Control Panel to install and remove third-party software.
Table 13-4 lists the system monitoring tools included with the
Windows 9x operating system:

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Table 13-4 Tools used for troubleshooting and to monitor and
improve system performance

The Performance tab can be used to configure virtual memory.

The system monitor utility is only included with the Windows 98
operating system, and is used to monitor a computer’s
performance. Refer to Microsoft’s Web site for patches & updates,
drivers, solutions, product information, white papers, software
utilities, and enhancements.

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13.13 About the Windows NT
environment and it’s architecture
Examining the objectives of Windows NT helps to understand the
Windows NT environment and architecture. Windows NT was
designed for expandability so that it can accommodate new
hardware and software. It does this by using a modular approach to
performing tasks. Because of the modular approach, Windows NT
easily ports to different platforms or hardware configurations,
including different CPU technologies. It is also designed to work
with legacy software including OS/2 and DOS, as long as the
DOS applications don’t attempt to access resources directly. In
addition, Windows NT provides security similar to that found on
UNIX systems, and it provides a much more stable environment
than many OS, including Windows 9x.

The strengths and weaknesses of windows NT

Since Windows NT is a modular model, it is easier to upgrade
equipment, is a more efficient operation, and has standards that are
more easily enforced. Windows NT was designed to easily port to
different hardware platforms. Hardware access is limited to the
HAL (hardware abstraction layer), which increases integrity
because more control is possible. Overall performance is increased
because the HAL can operate independently of the slower, less
efficient applications using them. But because of the increased
overhead, Windows NT requires a much more robust system than
Windows 9x or DOS. Windows NT is beneficial only when
hardware and software applications are capable of taking
advantage of the OS.

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How to evaluate when windows NT is the best choice for a PC
When considering Windows NT as an OS, it is important to
remember that many hardware device models are not supported by
Windows NT, so you consult the hardware compatibility list
(HCL) first. You must also check the minimum hardware
requirements to make sure your machine can handle Windows NT.
The minimum requirements include a Pentium or better CPU, 16
MB RAM (32 is recommended), and 110 MB of hard disk
space. Although Windows NT will run on the minimum
requirements, a powerful high-end PC is needed in order to
experience the full benefits of Windows NT. Another
consideration is the software that will be run on the PC. Some
software works better in Windows 9x than in Windows NT, and
some Windows 9x programs will not run under Windows NT
because of differences in the API (application program interface).

How to install and customize windows NT

Prior to installing Windows NT, it should be confirmed that the
hardware is compatible and that there is enough hard drive space
(Windows NT requires 120 MB). Also, the file system should be
selected, either FAT16 or NTFS. For the installation, Windows NT
comes with three disks that are used in the first step of installing
Windows NT. The disks are loaded on the machine. These disks
give the computer the ability to use the CD-ROM so that the
installation of Windows NT can continue from the CD. Software
and hardware can be installed using the Windows NT Control
Panel, which looks like and works in a similar way to that of
Windows 9x.

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How to set up a Windows NT environment for a DOS or
Windows 3.x application
Windows NT makes provisions for running DOS applications by
creating a separate NTVDM for each application, so that each
program can run in its native environment. Windows 16-bit
applications can run in individual NTVDMs, or several 16-bit
Windows applications can run in the same NTVDM so they can
share resources. To customize an NTVDM for a DOS application,
a shortcut is created, and then the properties of that shortcut are
modified for Windows NT. Each DOS application can have
individual initialization files, but by default, they will all use
AUTOEXEC.NT and CONFIG.NT. Customizing NTVDM for 16-
bit window applications requires that the properties be changed to
allow the program to be run in separate memory space.

How to use some Windows NT troubleshooting techniques

and tools
Windows NT provides several diagnostic tools to help support
users and to help with troubleshooting. The Task Manager allows
users to monitor processes and applications running on the PC, and
to start and stop them. It also displays performance measurements,
including processor time, main memory and virtual memory size,
and number of threads, to help in diagnosing problems with poor
performance. The Even Viewer is used to view a log that Windows
NT created because of a failed event. It tracks events as they are
performed by the applications, the OS, services, or processes, and
by user actions. When an attempted action causes a problem, this
event, as well as significant successful events, is recorded in the
Event Viewer. Windows NT Diagnostic utility is a graphical view
of the Windows NT Registry showing hardware and OS data,
which can be used to resolve conflicts, diagnose failed hardware,
view information about drivers and services that are loaded, and
more. Although information can not be updated using this utility, it
is a convenient way to view the information.

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Windows NT vs Windows 9x
Windows NT and Windows 9x share the same user interface and
utilities. Windows NT offers higher performance, built-in security
and is more reliable than Windows 9x.
Features of Windows NT
Some of the following features are built-in to the Windows NT
operating system include:
• Desktop performance. Window NT is a 32-bit operating system
that supports a powerful multitasking environment.
• Hardware profile. Windows NT has the ability to maintain
separate hardware configurations within the same operating
system.
• Internet Explorer. Internet Explorer is the built-in web browser
that comes with the Windows NT operating system.
• Peer web services. This feature provides a personal Web server.
• Security. Windows NT provides file and folder level security as
well as user level security.
• OS stability. Protective processing prevents applications from
causing errors that are damaging to the operating system's stability.
The minimum hardware requirements for Windows NT are:
• 486DX, 33MHz or better
• 12 MB of RAM
• 120 MB of hard drive space
Windows NT is not limited to PC hardware - Windows NT also
supports MIPS, DEC and RISC hardware. HAL stands for
hardware abstraction layer. The HAL is responsible for all
communications between the hardware and the operating system.
HCL stands for hardware compatibility list. The HCL is a
comprehensive list of all supported hardware for Windows NT.
The difference between the Windows 9x and the Windows NT
command prompt is the Windows 9x prompt is actually accessing
a version of DOS, whereas the Windows NT prompt only emulates
a command prompt. There are no DOS programs underlying
Windows NT.

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Choosing Between Windows 9x and Windows NT
Consider the following before choosing an operating system:
• Does NT support all of the devices on your system? (Check the
HCL)
• Is the PC powerful enough? (Check the hardware requirements)
• Will your software work better under Windows NT or Windows
9x?
• Is price a factor? (NT costs more)

Windows 9x cannot be upgraded to Windows NT because their

registries are incompatible. However, Windows NT can be
installed in a separate folder to create a dual boot system in which
both Windows NT and Windows 9x can coexist.

Chapter Summary
The following points summarize the key concepts in this chapter:

A New Operating System

• Windows 95 and 98 represent the new generation of

operating system technology for personal computers.
• It replaces the older MS-DOS and Windows 3.x systems with
a new 32-bit operating environment offering better memory
management, and simplified hardware installation.
• The new desktop operating environment offers an improved
user interface and easier networking tools.
• Unlike Windows 3.x (which is an operating environment),
Windows is a full operating system and does not rely on MS-
DOS. MS-DOS (often called MS-DOS 7.0) is available for
the purpose of maintaining backward compatibility.
• Windows 95 supports long filenames, but retains a 8.3
filespec directory for backward compatibility.
• Windows 95 supports multithreading and multitasking.

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Installing and Configuring Windows 95

• Installing Windows 95 is a simple process. It can be installed

as an upgrade to a MS-DOS/Windows 3.x system or as a
stand-alone operating system. It can also be installed in a
dual-boot system with either Windows 3.x or Windows NT.
• Hardware installation is simple with support for Plug and
Play. Hardware management is made simple by using the
Device Manager.

How Windows 95 Works

• The Registry is the biggest difference between Windows 95

and Widows 3.x. The registry replaces the .INI configuration
files used by Windows 3.x, although they can still be used to
provide backward compatibility.

Windows NT and Windows 9x compared

• Windows NT and Windows 9x share the same user interface
and utilities. Windows NT offers higher performance, built-in
security and is more reliable than Windows 9x.

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Chapter Review Questions
1. What does DOS stand for?
2. What was DOS created to do?
3. Which version of MS-DOS is bundled with Windows 95?
4. Describe the core operating systems within MS-DOS.
5. What are the two MS-DOS startup files?
6. Which MS-DOS command is used to determine the amount
of free space left on a disk?
7. Describe the difference between real mode and protected
mode.
8. Windows provides a GUI for the user. What does "GUI"
stand for? What is its advantage over the older MS-DOS
system?
9. Describe the three kinds of fonts used in a Windows
environment.
10. Name five settings that can be changed from the
Windows Control Panel.
11. Which wildcard character can be used to replace a
single character in a search string?
12. Name three ways that Windows 95 differs from
Windows 3.x.
13. What is Plug_and_play? What is required for a
component to be Plug and Play-compliant?
14. Does Windows 95 still require MS-DOS?
15. Which version of MS-DOS comes with Windows 95?
16. Is CONFIG.SYS required to install GUI drivers?
17. Why would you want to set the swap-file size in
Windows 95?
18. What is the main difference between Windows 3.x and
Windows 95?
19. Why can't older versions of disk utilities be used with
Windows 95?
20. After turning on the power to the computer, what is the
first step in the boot-up process?

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21. In which directory do you find the external MS-DOS
commands?
22. What is FDISK used for?
23. Define virtual memory.
24. The Registry is composed of two binary files. Name
them.
25. What is the difference between an MS-DOS session and
MS-DOS mode?
26. If you are running in MS-DOS mode and the CD-ROM
does not run, what must you do to get it running?
27. Do you need a .PIF file to run an MS-DOS program in
Windows 95?
28. What are the five steps of a Windows 95 installation?
29. Which version of Windows 95 uses FAT32?
30. What is safe mode and what is it used for?
31. What are the three Registry backup tools provided with
Windows 95?

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