UNDERSTANDING

MOTHERBOARD AND
BIOS

MOTHERBOARD CONTD

The motherboard is the primary circuit board within a computer, and it holds several
key components, including the processor, random access memory (RAM), expansion
slots, and more.

IDENTIFYING MOTHERBOARD COMPONENTS

 1.Miscellaneous connectors and jumpers. Connectors are available to connect to a

speaker, to fans, and to the front of the case for power and displays. They can be
located in different places on the motherboard.
2.Expansion slots. Expansion slots allow you to add additional cards to a motherboard
for additional capabilities. Several different types of expansion slots are available,
including Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI), Accelerated Graphics Port
(AGP),and more.
3.Rear connectors. Several connectors are attached to the motherboard and are
accessible via the rear of the computer. These include connectors for audio and video
Universal Serial Bus (USB) devices and more. Chapter 5, "Exploring Peripherals and
Expansion Cards," discusses common connectors.
4.CPU 12-v power. A 4-pin plug from the power supply plugs into here to provide power
to the Central Processing Unit (CPU). On systems with multiple CPUs, this can be two 4pin plugs or an 8-pin plug.

 5. CPU Fan. CPUs generate a lot of heat, so it's common to attach a fan on top of
them. A connection on the motherboard provides power for the fan. CPU fans are often
variable speed so that they can spin faster when the CPU gets hotter.
6. Chipset. This consists of one or more integrated circuits (ICs) that connect the CPU
with other components and devices on the system. Chipsets are designed to work with
specific CPUs and are soldered into the motherboard. They can get hot and often have
heat sinks on top of them designed to dissipate heat.
7. CPU. The majority of work done by a computer occurs within the processor. The
motherboard includes a CPU socket into which a CPU is plugged, and the CPU is
normally covered with a heat sink and a cooling fan.

 8. SATA connectors. Most computers support Serial Advanced Technology Attachment

(SATA) drives. SATA connectors have a distinctive L shape. SATA connectors come in
different versions, and these different versions are identified with different colors.
However, there isn't a standard with the colors between motherboard manufacturers.
9. Battery. The battery provides power to the Basic Input/output System (BIOS) so that
certain settings are retained. The battery is often circular but can have a barrel shape.
10.BIOS jumper. There is often a jumper close to the battery. Shorting the two pins on
this jumper will reset the BIOS password or return the BIOS settings to the factory
defaults.
11.RAM. Motherboards usually have at least two RAM slots, and many have four or six.
RAM slots are very specific and will accept only certain types of RAM based on the
specifications of the motherboard.

12. IDE connectors. Extended Integrated Drive Electronics (EIDE) connectors are used for
EIDE devices such as hard drives and optical drives. Many systems have replaced EIDE
drives with SATA drives, but you still might see the connectors. When the board includes
them, you'll see two connectors labeled IDE1 and IDE2, or sometimes IDE0 and IDE1.
13.P1 power connector. The primary power connection from the power supply is either a
20-pin connector or a 24-pin connector.
14. Floppy drive connector. This is for 3.5-inch floppy drives. They are rare today, but if
the system has a floppy connector, it is usually by the IDE connectors.

MOTHERBOARD FORM FACTORS/SIZES

motherboards follow a form factor standard and conform to specific sizes.

Form factors are industry-standardized shapes and layouts that enable
motherboards to work with cases and power supplies. A single form factor applies
to all three components.
You need to install a motherboard in a case designed to fit it, so the ports and slot
openings on the back fit correctly.
The power supply and the motherboard need matching connectors, and different
form factors defines different connections.

AT FORM FACTOR
The AT form factor, invented by IBM in the early 1980s, was the predominant form
factor for motherboards through the mid-1990s. AT is now obsolete. The original AT
motherboard was huge, around 12 inches wide by 13 inches deep.
The single greatest problem with AT motherboards was the lack of external ports. The
only externally connected device was the keyboard and the screen.

 One variation from the AT form factor that enjoyed a degree of success was
the slimline form factor. The first slimline form factor was known as LPX
(defined in some sources as low profile extended. It was replaced by the NLX
form factor.
The LPX and NLX form factors met the demands of the slimline market by
providing a central riser slot to enable the insertion of a special riser card or,
as its sometimes called, a daughterboard. Expansion cards then fit into the
riser card horizontally.
The main problem with form factors such as LPX and NLX was their
inflexibility in that they included video and sound connectors that become
absolute the moment new one are released.

ATX FORM FACTOR

The demand for a form factor that had more standard connectors and also was flexible
enough for possible changes in technology led to the creation of the ATX form factor in
1995. and in 1998 it overtook AT as the most popular form factor.
ATX is distinct from AT in the lack of an AT keyboard port, replaced with a rear panel
that has all necessary ports built in.

IMPROVEMENTS OF ATX OVER AT

The position of the power supply creates better air movement.

The CPU and RAM are placed to provide easier access, and the rearrangement of
components prevents long expansion cards from colliding with the CPU or Northbridge.

RAM closer to the Northbridge and CPU than on AT boards, offer users enhanced
performance as well. As the shorter the wires, the easier to shield them and make
them capable of handling double or quadruple the clock speed of the motherboard.

ATX motherboards come in three variations to accommodate different types

of cases.
The microATX (ATX) motherboard floats in at a svelte 9.6 by 9.6 inches
(usually), or about 30 percent smaller than standard ATX, yet uses the
standard ATX connections. A microATX motherboard fits into a standard
ATX case or in the much smaller microATX cases.
****not all ATX motherboard are the same size****
In 1999, Intel created a variant of the microATX called the FlexATX.
FlexATX motherboards have maximum dimensions of just 9 by 7.5 inches,
which makes them the smallest motherboards in the ATX standard.
Although FlexATX motherboards can use a standard ATX power supply,
most FlexATX systems use a special FlexATX-only power supply. This
diminutive power supply fits into tight FlexATX cases.
Every form factor goes to its own case The exception to this rule is that
larger form factor ATX cases can handle any smaller-sized ATX form factor
motherboards.

 Advanced Technology Extended (ATX). This has been the standard

used in many systems since 1995 and is still used today. It added
capabilities and improved on the original AT motherboard design.
Micro-ATX (mATX or ATX). This is a smaller version of the ATX and is
very popular with desktop computers. It is designed to be
backward-compatible with the ATX form factor so that it can fit in
any ATX case and has the same power connectors. Because it is
smaller, it has fewer expansion slots.
ITX. ITX motherboards originated with VIA technologies and come in
several different small form factor (SFF) designs, including mini-ITX,
nano-ITX, and pico-ITX. They are referred to as embedded boards
and consume very little power compared to ATX-based boards. They
don't need to be cooled with fans.

Mini ITX

Mini-ITX. These are envisioned for use in home theater systems. They
can fit into any case by using standard ATX mount points. Mini-ITX is
the largest and the most popular of the three ITX form factors. At a
miniscule 6.7 by 6.7 inches

NANO AND PICO FORM FACTORS

Nano-ITX. These small boards are designed for smaller devices such
as digital video recorders (DVRs) and set-top boxes.
Pico-ITX. These extremely small boards can be embedded in
different types of mobile devices. The Pico-ITX has been adopted as
an open standard by the Small Form Factor Special Interest Group,
or SFF-SIG.
Nano-ITX at 4.7 by 4.7 inches and Pico-ITX at 3.8 by 2.8 inches are
even smaller. These tiny motherboard form factors are commonly
used for embedded systems and highly specialized devices such as
routers.

PICO ITX

One of the great benefits of these SFF motherboards is the tiny

amount of power needed to support them. ITX power supplies
are quite small compared to a typical power supply. Lower
power usage produces less heat, thus enabling passive cooling
on many SFF systems. The lack of fan noise makes them ideal
for media center PCs.

BUSES

A bus within a computer refers to the connection between two or

more components, and it is used to transfer data between these
components. A computer has multiple busses that often work
independently of each other. However, some busses work together.
computers have a data bus and an address bus, as shown in Figure
2-2. Data bytes are stored in RAM in separate memory locations, and
each location is identified by an address.
When a system wants to retrieve data from a specific location, it
places the desired address on the address bus. The data in that
memory location is then placed on the data bus for the system.
Similarly, when a system wants to write data into a memory
location, it simultaneously places the data on the data bus and the
address on the address bus. These busses also have other signals
that synchronize the activity and control whether data is read or
written.

 The size of the address bus determines how much memory can be addressed. A 32-bit
address bus is limited to 232 addressable locations, or 4 GB of RAM. A 64-bit bus can
address 264 addressable locations, or over 17 exabytes (EB) of RAM.

the size of the data bus determines how much data can be transferred at a time. A 32-bit
data bus can transfer 32 bits of data at a time (which equals 4 bytes). A 64-bit data bus can
transfer 64 bits of data a time.

 Some of the other types of buses you'll come across include the following:
back side bus. The back side bus is the connection between the CPU and its internal
cache memory.
Front side bus (FSB). The front side bus refers to the connection between the CPU
and the supporting chipset on the motherboard. The speed of this is frequently
used to identify the speed of the CPU. Newer systems have replaced the front side
bus with a Direct Media Interface (DMI).
Direct Media interface (DMI) bus. This connects the CPU and newer chipsets in
place of the front side bus.
Expansion slot bus. Expansion slots have their own dedicated busses, and these are
implemented differently depending on the expansion slots included in the system.
Universal Serial BUS (USB). This is used to transfer data between the computer and
external USB devices such as USB flash drives.

BUS SPEEDS
Motherboards include one or more oscillator crystals, which vibrate
at specific frequencies when a voltage is applied. The output is a
sine wave that alternates at a specific frequency such as 66 MHz or
100 MHz.
A hertz (Hz) is a cycle and refers to how many times a signal can go
up, down, and return to the starting point in one second. Alternating
current (AC) power in North America runs at 60 Hz, meaning that it
can finish 60 cycles a second. A 100-MHz signal completes 100
million cycles in a second, and a 1-GHz signal completes 1 billion
cycles in a second.
A computer uses these cycles as a clock to transfer data. For
example, when the cycle is rising (rising edge), the system
interprets this as a clock tick and takes an action such as reading or
writing data to RAM. Many systems use the rising edge as one clock
tick and use the falling edge as another clock tick.

 Computers can process data more quickly than the base frequencies of
these crystals, and they use additional multiplier circuitry to increase the
frequency. For example, if a crystal gen-erates a 100-MHz signal and the
motherboard uses a two-times (2X) multiplier, the output is 200 MHz.

frequency of the bus directly impacts how much data a bus can transfer
the faster the frequency, the more data the bus can transfer.
Additionally, the amount of data a bus can transfer is dependent on how
many bits can be transferred at a time. Two common data bus widths in use
today are 32 bits and 64 bits. That is, for each clock cycle on a 32-bit bus,
the system will send 32 bits of data. If it's a 64-bit bus, it can send 64 bits
of data at a time.

EXPANSION SLOTS
Motherboards include expansion slots so that you can add expansion cards.
E.g. if you want to install a tv card or you want to upgrade you video card
The following sections cover the common types of expansion slots you should
know about for the A+ exams. The standards are as follows:
Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI). This comes in 32-bit and 64-bit
versions and reaches speeds up to 533 MB/s. Newer motherboards might still
include a PCI slot.
Accelerated Graphics port (AGP). AGP was introduced as a dedicated slot for a
graphics card. It allowed high-end graphics to transfer data at speeds up to
2,133 MB/s without competing with other PCI device data transfers.
PCI-Extended (PCI-X). This was an improvement over PCI and could reach up to
1,064 Mb/s. It is primarily used in servers.
PCI Express (PCIe). This is the primary standard in use today and replaces PCI,
AGP, and PCI-X on many motherboards. It can reach speeds up to 2 GB/s on
multiple lanes simultaneously.

 PCI
The Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) standard was a replacement for earlier
industry standard architecture (ISA) and extended ISA expansion cards. It originally
used a 32-bit data bus but was later improved to use a 64-bit bus.
Another difference in PCI cards is that early versions used 5 volts but newer versions
used 3.3 volts. Lower voltages decrease the heat generated by the cards. They also
increase the speed of the devices because it takes less time for a signal to reach 3.3 V
than it does to reach 5 V

PCI KEYING

AGP

Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) is a dedicated expansion slot used for graphics. A
huge benefit of AGP over PCI was that it used a separate bus for graphics data so it
wasn't competing with data from other expansion cards.
AGP came in four versions, with each successive version doubling the data rate.

PCI-X
PCI-Extended (PCI-X) was developed as an enhancement over PCI. It came in 64-bit
versions and was primarily used on servers. A benefit was that PCI-X was backwardcompatible with PCI so the PCI-X expansion cards could plug into PCI expansion
slots.
The most common frequency used with PCI-X is 133 MHz, giving a data throughput
rate of 1,064 MB/s. PCI-X also came in versions with different frequencies and data
rates.

 PCIe
PCI Express (PCIe) is the primary standard you'll see in use today in
place of PCI, PCI-X, and AGP. Engineers designed this significantly
differently from other busses.
It is a bit different from other buses in the following ways;
Data sent in byte streams. Previous expansion busses used 32 bit or
64-bit connections and would transfer these bits in parallel, as 32
bits at a time or 64 bits at a time. PCIe instead sends the data as a
continuous stream of data bytes and achieves higher data
throughputs. The stream is sent as serial data (one bit at a time)
instead of parallel.
No external clock signal. Because the data is sent as a stream of
bytes, PCIe isn't tied to an external clock signal. This effectively
allows it to transfer data much more quickly.
Multiple two-way lanes. A PCIe expansion card includes one or more
lanes used to transfer serial data streams. Because the lanes are
two-way, a device can send data at the same time it is receiving
data. These multiple lanes allow a PCIe card to send and receive
more data at the same time. A PCIe can have 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, or 32

PCI AND PCIE COMPARISON

MINIPCI

MiniPCI
MiniPCI slots were developed for use in laptop computers. They are smaller and use
a 32-bit, 33-MHz bus. They are commonly used to install a wireless network
interface card into the slot so the laptop can connect to wireless networks.
MiniPCI Express (MiniPCIe) is an upgrade to MiniPCI

CNR
CNR
Some motherboards have a Communications and Networking Riser (CNR)
expansion slot. It is about the size of a PCIe x1 slot, although it is not compatible
with PCIe. The CNR slot is specifically designed to accept audio, modem, and
network interface cards.

CPU
CHIPSETS
A CPU chipset is one or more ICs that provide the primary interface between the
CPU and the rest of the system. The two primary manufacturers of CPUs are Intel
and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). The two primary manufacturers of chipsets
that work with these CPUs are also Intel and AMD. Older chipsets divided their
functions into north bridge and south bridge.

 North bridge. The north bridge, also called the memory controller
hub (MCH), is the primary interface for high-speed devices such as
the CPU, RAM, and, if it exists, a dedicated graphics slot
South bridge. The south bridge provides an interface to low-speed
devices, which is essentially everything else in the system. It is also
called the I/O Controller Hub (ICH).

COMBINING NORTH BRIDGE AND SOUTH

BRIDGE

JUMPERS
Motherboards have a variety of different pins that can be connected with jumpers
for different purposes. The most common reason to access a jumper is to reset
the BIOS password. It's possible for a user to set the password for the BIOS so that
only that user can access the BIOS settings. If the user forgets the password, you
can clear it with a jumper so that you are able to manage the BIOS.

ACTUAL MOTHERBOARD

ACTUAL MOTHERBOARD
1. RAM slots. This motherboard includes eight dual in-line memory module (DIMM) slots
for double data rate type 3 (DDR3) memory.
2. SATA ports. Four SATA 3 GB/s ports and two SATA 6.0 GB/s ports are included. It's not
apparent in the figure, but the 3 GB/s ports are black and the 6 GB/s ports are blue, so
that they can be distinguished from each other.
3.intel X79 Express chipset. This chipset uses the Direct Media Interface (DMI) as an
interface to the CPU.
4.voltage regulators covered by heat sinks. The heat sinks keep the voltage regulators
cool. One is providing power for the CPU, and one is providing power to the chipset.
5.CPU socket. This socket is for an Intel Core i7 processor with either four or six cores.
6.One Pci expansion slot. This is for earlier-version PCI cards.
7.Three Pcie 3.0 x 16 expansion slots. These are for newer PCIe boards.

 8.Power-on self test (POST) decoder. This displays different numbers as the system
progresses through the startup cycle. It can be used for troubleshooting the
motherboard in place of a PCI or PCIe card used for providing the same
information.
9.USB ports 3.0 ports. These are accessible via the back panel. Other connectors on
the board can be routed to USB connectors on the front panel.
10.back panel ports. This group includes two RJ-45 network interface connections,
one IEEE 1394 firewall connection, and six USB 2.0 connections.
11.Audio back panel ports. This group includes multiple connections for different
types of audio, including 7.1 systems.
12.cMOS battery. This motherboard is using a circular battery, but the battery is
inserted sideways into a battery slot.
13.Pcie x1 expansion slots. These are for smaller x1 cards.

BIOS
The Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) includes software code that
provides a computer with basic instructions so that it can start.
When a computer is turned on, it runs the program within BIOS to do
some basic system checks, locate the operating system on a disk,
and start.
The program within BIOS is stored in a chip on the computer that
can be rewritten. Older computers used an electrically erasable
programmable read-only memory chip (EEPROM) for the BIOS.
BIOS also includes a BIOS setup application you can use to configure
different settings for your computer. For example, you can set the
time of the computer, identify which drive to boot to, configure the
CPU to support virtualization technologies, and more.

BIOS VS. CMOS

BIOS. This is the firmware. It stores the instructions for starting the computer
and includes a program that can be used to change some settings. The firmware
can be updated in a procedure referred to as flashing the BIOS.
CMOS. This holds only the user-configurable BIOS settings, such as the current
time. Users can change these settings by accessing the BIOS application. CMOS is
volatile, meaning that the data is lost if the system is turned off. Motherboards
include a CMOS battery to retain the CMOS data even if the system is turned off.

HOW TO ACCESS BIOS

Accessing the BIOS Application

When you first turn on a computer, you'll see one or more screens flash onto the
screen, providing bits of information. One of these screens gives you a message
to press a specific key to access the setup options or the setup utility.

BIOS CONFIGURATION
Time and Date
Boot Sequence
Enabling and Disabling Devices
Virtualization Support
Clock Speeds
Security

POST AND OTHER DIAGNOSTICS