PC TROUBLESHOOTING

BY

Roland Jason L. Aquino

 PC TROUBLESHOOTING

I. Introduction to Computers
II. Personal Computer Components
III. Laptop and Portable Devices
IV. Operating Systems
V. Printers and Scanners
VI. Networks
VII. Security
VIII. Safety and Environmental Issues
 I. Introduction to Computers

• A computer is a programmable
machine that receives input,
stores and manipulates data, and
provides output in a useful
format.
• Modern computers are electronic
and digital. The actual machinery
-- wires, transistors, and circuits
-- is called hardware; the
instructions and data are called
software.
 I. Introduction to Computers

Computers can be generally classified by size and power as follows,

though there is considerable overlap:

personal computer : A small, single-user computer based on a microprocessor. In

addition to the microprocessor, a personal computer has a keyboard for entering data, a
monitor for displaying information, and a storage device for saving data.
workstation : A powerful, single-user computer. A workstation is like a personal computer,
but it has a more powerful microprocessor and a higher-quality monitor.
minicomputer : A multi-user computer capable of supporting from 10 to hundreds of users
simultaneously.
mainframe : A powerful multi-user computer capable of supporting many hundreds or
thousands of users simultaneously.
supercomputer : An extremely fast computer that can perform hundreds of millions of
instructions per second.
 I. Introduction to Computers

System Resources
Everything in a PC is a resource--system RAM, processor speed, hard disk space, etc. However, there
are in particular several special resources in the system that are shared by the various devices that use it.
These are not physical "parts" of the system for the most part, though they have hardware that implement
them of course. Rather they are logical parts of the system that control how it works, and are referred to as
the PC's system resources.
Devices in a computer utilize 4 categories of system resources as follows:
* IRQ - The IRQ (interrupt request) value is an assigned location where the computer can expect a
particular device to interrupt it when the device sends the computer signals about its operation.
* I/O Address - Input/output addresses are resources used by virtually every device in a computer and
represent locations in memory that are designated for use by various devices to exchange information
between themselves and the rest of the PC. No devices share the same I/O address.
* DMA - Direct Memory Access channels allow hardware devices (like sound cards or keyboards) to
access the main memory without involving the CPU. This frees up CPU resources for other tasks.
* Memory Address - In some situations an expansion card will have onboard RAM or ROM that needs
to borrow memory from the system RAM so that the CPU can access it.
 I. Introduction to Computers

IRQ (Interrupt Requests)

• IRQ 1 Keyboard

• IRQ 2(9)Video Card

• IRQ 3 Com2, Com4

• IRQ 4 Com1, Com3

• IRQ 5 Available (Normally LPT2 or sound card)

• IRQ 6 Floppy Disk Controller

• IRQ 7 Parallel Port (LPT1)

• IRQ 8 Real-time clock

• IRQ 9 Redirected IRQ2

• IRQ 10 Available

• IRQ 11 Available

• IRQ 12 PS/2 Mouse

• IRQ 13 Math Coprocessor

• IRQ 14 Hard Disk Controller

• IRQ 15 Available
 II. Personal Computer Components

A. Cables and Connectors

B. Power Supplies
C. Motherboards
D. Processors
E. Memory
F. Storage
G. Multimedia
H. Input Devices
I. Preventative Maintenance
 Personal Computer Components:
Cables and Connectors

Cable - consists of two or more wires running side by side and bonded, twisted or braided
together to form a single assembly.

Connectors - the part of a cable that plugs into a port or interface to connect one device
to another. Most connectors are either male (containing one or more exposed pins) or
female (containing holes in which the male connector can be inserted).

Computer cables and connectors can be confusing so here’s a quick visual guide that will
help you quickly identify almost every cable that came bundled with your computer and
other electronic gadgets.

Note: DB - This term you will see in the context of DB-25 or DB-9. What this is describing is the
shape of the connector. The connector has a definite shape like a capital D (also could be called a
trapezoid with rounded angles).
 Personal Computer Components:
Cables and Connectors - Serial Port

Standard: RS-232
Connector Name: DB-9 (most common) sometimes DB-
25
Transfer mode: Asynchronous
Sometimes called: COM ports
Number found on a system: 2 possible of 4
IRQ: 3(Com 2 & 4) and 4(Com 1 & 3)
I/O range: COM 1=03f8-03ff COM 2=02f8-02ff COM
3=3E8-3EF and COM 4=2E8-2EF
Max length: 50 feet
Max data rate: 1.5 Mbps (with 16550A UART)
Quick recognition:
· On the computer: Male DB-9 connector. Usually 2 of them. Note: this is usually the ONLY male connector on the
back of your PC. It is sometimes confused with the VGA connector because of similar physical size. But you can
quickly tell the difference because a serial connector on the back of a computer is male and only has 9 pins where a
VGA connector has 15 pins and is female (usually colored blue). Also, if you are looking at a really old computer, you
might confuse a serial port for the video port. The really old EGA and CGA video connector used a DB-9 connector,
but on the box they were female. So again, it is important to remember to look for the male aspect of this connector
for identification.
· On the peripheral you can quickly identify it by its female connector as shown in the image above.
Normally used with: This is normally seen on older mice and modems. Two computers can be networked together
using a null modem cable. This is a serial cable that has its send and receive crossed over so the 2 computers are not
trying to send information to the other's send port.
 Personal Computer Components:
Cables and Connectors – Parallel Port

Standard: IEEE-1284
Connector Name: DB-25(on PC), Centronics
Transfer mode: Synchronous
Sometimes called: LPT
Number found on a system: 1 (up to 2)
IRQ: LPT1 =7 LPT2=5*
Max length: 10 Meters (approx. 30 feet) absolute
Maximum
Max data rate: 4 Mbps

Quick recognition:

This connector stands out as the biggest connector (usually) on the back of your PC. It is usually next to the serial
ports. It is a DB-25 connector on the PC and usually a Centronics 36 pin connection to the peripheral. *Warning*
There are SCSI 1 connectors that look like this and will actually fit together. Just look for the SCSI symbol to tell the
difference. You usually will not see a SCSI connector on a PC. But on an old Apple Macintosh you will. There is also
no parallel port on a Mac to make things difficult.
Normally used with: You usually see this on printers and scanners. if you plug an older device in and it is not
recognized, you may need to go into Device Manager on you computer and "Enable legacy Plug and Play detection.”.
In modern computers they can be set not to use an IRQ for an LPT port.
 Personal Computer Components:
Cables and Connectors – DIN 6

Standard: PS/2
Connector Name: DIN 6 (6 pin)
Sometimes called: PS/2 port, Mouse port, keyboard port,
mini DIN 6
Number found on a system: 2
IRQ: 12 and 1
Max length: 100 ft

• Quick recognition:

This will look like a small round connector on the back of your PC. Usually color-coded green or purple. The
green is for the mouse and the purple is for the keyboard. If they are not color-coded, look close to the connector
for an indicator or look it up in the owner’s manual. Or go by the rule that the mouse is the one on the inside of
the PC. If you do attach the wrong connector and start up the PC you will get a "beep" (if the internal speaker is
still connected) and an error message ("No keyboard present").
Normally used with: This is used for mice and keyboards
 Personal Computer Components:
Cables and Connectors – USB 2.0

Connector Name: DIN 5

Transfer mode: N/A
Sometimes called: old keyboard connector
Number found on a system: 1
IRQ: 1

Quick recognition:

On computer: On the keyboard cable this is a larger round connector with bigger pins arranged in a circular fashion. On
some older motherboards, this may be the only built-on connector. It is also considered out-of-date. It was replaced by the
PS/2 stile connector, which in turn is being phased out by USB.

Normally used with: Only used on keyboards.

 Personal Computer Components:
Cables and Connectors – USB 1.1

Standard: USB 1.1 (by USB-IF)

Connector Name: USB A/B
Transfer mode: Asynchronous
Number found on a system: 2-5
Maximum number of Devices: 127
IRQ: 11
Max length: 3-5 meters
Max data rate: 12 Mbit/sec (1.5 MB/sec)
Power: 2.5w

Quick recognition:

The cable has 2 male connectors; one on each side. The difference between the a and b standard is that the 2
power wires are not at the b end. You would see this on a printer that gets its power from the wall.

Normally used with: Mice, keyboards, scanners, modems and other low-power peripheral devices. Even some
hard drives can be powered by this low current. This can also be found on digital cameras and some camcorders to
download the movies and pictures to your computer. Also you can get speakers that use this type of connector. This
interface has all but replaced the serial port.
 Personal Computer Components:
Cables and Connectors – DIN 5

Standard: USB 2 (by USB-IF)

Connector Name: USB
Transfer mode: Asynchronous
Sometimes called: USB 2
Number found on a system: Still being determined
IRQ: 11
Max data rate: 480 Mbit/sec (60MB/sec)
Power: 2.5w

• USB 2 is really just an upgrade in speed from USB 1.1. So everything is the same, just faster. You can use the
same cables but you do need a new hub. The old hub will work, but it will only allow the USB 1.1 speed.
 Personal Computer Components:
Cables and Connectors – Firewire (IEEE-1394)

Standard: IEEE-1394
Connector Name: IEEE-1394 A B
Transfer mode: Asynchronous/Isosynchronous
Sometimes called: Firewire, IEEE-1394 or iLink
Number found on a system: 2
Max length: 4.5m (between devices)
Max data rate: 100Mbps, 200Mbps, 400Mbps
(12.5MB/sec 255MB/sec 500MB/sec). Most computers
support 400Mbps but most devices are only 200Mbps
Max # of devices: 63

Quick recognition:

This looks like a USB cable with 2 corners cut out. On computer: Looks like a square with 2 corners filled in.
Normally used with: You will see Firewire on high-end devices like high res. scanners, high res. printers, hard
drives, CD-RW, DVD, DVD-R/W, Video cameras, etc.
 Personal Computer Components:
Cables and Connectors – Video

Standard: VGA
Connector Name: DB-15

Quick recognition:

This is our old standby and by far the most common of our video connectors. It is easy to find. It is the only small
three-rowed DB connector we will find on a PC. It is usually away from the other connectors because it is on a
replaceable card. There are, however, motherboards that do have video built in. If so, then this connector will be close
to the other connectors.
 Personal Computer Components:
Cables and Connectors – Power

The power connector is almost completely standard.

This looks almost exactly like an extension cord with the
exception of the ground being a slot instead of a round
hole. Not much more to say.
Make sure that the power switch on the back of your
computer is set for the correct voltage (115 or 230) for
your location.
Be careful with laptops and some newer Apple Macintosh
computers that may have different looking power
connectors on the computer.
 Personal Computer Components:
Cables and Connectors – Minijack

Connector Name: 1/8 minijack

Sometimes called: headphone jack
Number found on a system: 1-5

Quick recognition:

This the same jack that you have been plugging into your walkman for years. It is a small pointed metal plug with
one or two plastic bands imbedded in it. On computer: These can be found on the front on most CD-ROM and CD
writers. On some CD readers and writers, you can plug a pair of headphones in and play audio CDs independently of
the computer. You will also find these on the back side on the PC. If you have a sound card, there will be 3 or more.
One for your speakers (this is usually lime green). The other minijack is the sound-in connector. This is for connecting
a microphone or other device that can deliver sound to your PC. This is color coded pink. There is one more plug that
goes with this set--the line-in port. It has many different uses.

Normally used with: Any PC with sound. The male end you will find on any set of speakers or set of
headphones.

.
 Personal Computer Components:
Cables and Connectors – Joystick

They come on most sound cards. It is a DA-15 port female on the PC and male on the device. This port on the PC
will usually be colored gold. This is quickly being replaced by USB. Adapters are available to convert from the DA-
15 to USB.
 Personal Computer Components:
Cables and Connectors – RJ-11

RJ-11 is a common telephone cable. The end is

called an RJ-11 connector and the cable is called
category 1 (Cat 1). Some computers will have an
internal dial-up modem port to use to connect to the
internet.
 Personal Computer Components:
Cables and Connectors – Firewire (IEEE-1394)

Standard: Conectors EIA/TIA 568a/b Cables

Category 3, 4, 5 or 5e
Connector Name: RJ-45
Transfer mode: Serial
Sometimes called: Unshielded twisted pair (UTP)
Shielded twisted pair (STP just UTP with some more
shielding), 10BaseT, 100BaseT, 1000BaseT. Crossover
cable
Number found on a system: 1 (sometimes more)
IRQ: Would be assigned to the Network interface card.
Max length: 100 meters (328 ft.)
Min length: 1 Meter (3 ft.)

Max data rate: 10/100/1000 Mbp/sec

Quick recognition:

On the computer it looks like an over-sized telephone jack.

Normally used with: Networking equipment for connecting 2 computers.
 Personal Computer Components:
Cables and Connectors – SCSI

Connector Name: DB25, IDC50, Centronics 50,

HDI30, DB50, HPDB50, HPDB68, HP Centronics 60, HP
Centronics 68, SCA 80-Pin, and VHDCI68
Number found on a system:SCSI devices can be daisy
chained, so the number connected to a system will vary
Max length: 1.5 meters to 25 meters depending on the
type
Max data rate: 360 MB/sec max

Quick recognition:

This is the biggest connector you will see on a system

Normally used with: Hard drives, CD-ROM drives, tape drives, scanners etc.
Personal Computer Components:
Cables and Connectors – SCSI

25 Pin D Sub
50 Pin Centronics:
This connector is at
the device end of
some peripherals

DB-50: This is 68 Pin MicroD: This

a rare looks like the 50 Pin
connector that MicroD but longer
has 3 rows of and with more pins.
pins. It was This interface is used
used on HP on all SCSI Wide
and DEC
connectors.
computers. It
is not very
common.
 Personal Computer Components:
Power Supplies

Introduction:
A computer's power supply converts electricity received from a wall outlet into DC current amounts that are
needed by the various components of the system. The back of the power supply has a plug for the cord
that goes to the wall outlet. There are 2 different types of power supplies that correspond to 2 different
types of motherboards, and hence, case designs.

Voltage Switch:
Most power supplies have a switch on the back that sets the power supply to 115 or 230 volts (for
European countries). Setting this switch to 230 in the U.S. won't damage anything, but the PC probably
won't boot, or will shut down in the process. Setting this switch to 115 volts in Europe, will fry the power
supply and possibly other components in the computer. Make sure the switch is in the correct position if
there is one.

Wattage:
Every device in a PC uses power which means that you need to have a power supply with enough wattage
to run the system. If you have a 250 Watt power supply for a server with 10 hard drives, there are going to
be problems. In fact, it may not boot up all the way. Power supplies for new computers are almost always
capable of handling normal loads. If you are going to add a ton of drives or new devices to a system, that
is when you might consider upgrading the power supply.
 Personal Computer Components:
Power Supplies
Power Connectors:
For most current PCs the ATX power supply is the standard. There are slight variations such as the 12v
and 12v 2.0, but for the most part power supplies for desktops are pretty standardized, although newer
BTX power supplies are a different size and shape than the ATX type. Power supplies offer 12, 5 and 3.3
volt currents to power the various electronics in a computer. This is done via power cables coming out of
the power supply. Here are some of the common power connector types:

P1 Power Connector - ATX power supplies use a single 20 or 24 pin (on

newer versions) to connect to the system board. Some motherboards require
an additional 4, 6, or 8 pin auxiliary power connector. Power connectors are
keyed to make sure that the connector is plugged in properly.

SATA Connectors - SATA hard drives use a special 15 pin power

connector. This connector supports 3.3, 5, and 12 volt devices. Make sure
your power supply has one of these or you can get a molex to SATA
adapter if it doesn't.
Personal Computer Components:
Power Supplies

Molex Connectors - These connectors are used for connecting IDE

hard drives, DVD and CD drives, and other devices that require 5 or
12 volts of power. These are keyed to prevent plugging them in
upside-down, however, it is possible to do and will cause serious
problems/damage to the system.

Mini Connectors - These connectors also supply 5 or 12 volts, but

are basically only used to connect floppy drives. These are even
easier to plug in upside-down.
 Personal Computer Components:
Power Supplies

Laptop Power:
Laptops and portables utilize an external power supply and rechargeable battery system. Batteries were
typically nickel-cadmium, but newer technologies have introduced nickel metal-hydride and lithium-ion
batteries that provide extended life and shorter recharge times. Lithium batteries are also used to power a
computer's CMOS ROM.

Installation/ removal

To remove a power supply from a PC, follow these steps:

1. Unplug the computer from the wall

2. Disconnect all of the internal power connections (i.e. CD Rom, Motherboard, hard disk, etc)

3. Remove the 4 retaining screws

4. Pull power supply out of the computer

Repeat these steps in opposite order to install a power supply

 Personal Computer Components:
Power Supplies

Troubleshooting:
Power supply problems can be some of the most difficult to diagnose particularly when the problem is
intermittent. Often the fuse in a power supply will blow and you may actually hear a pop and/or smell
smoke. Oftentimes, if you shake the power supply, you will hear a rattle. This means it is dead and needs
to be replaced. You should not open the power supply and replace the fuse or try to fix any other part of it.
There are capacitors inside that hold a charge and power supplies are way too inexpensive to risk injury
on.

Intermittent problems can display a wide range of symptoms from not booting correctly, to errors, to locking
up after a period of use. It is a good idea to keep a spare on hand for troubleshooting.
 Personal Computer Components:
Motherboards

A motherboard may also be called a planar board, system board, or main board. There are various
types of motherboards that differ depending on the type of case that they fit in and the type of processor
that they host.
 Personal Computer Components:
Motherboards

Form Factors
The form factor of the motherboard describes
its general shape, what sorts of cases and power
supplies it can use and its physical layout. A
company can make 2 motherboards that have
basically the same functionality but that use a
different form factor and the only real differences
will be the physical layout of the board and the
position of the components.

Currently, the ATX form factor is the most

widely used for new PCs. The BTX standard
provides better airflow and cooling, specifically
the thermal unit which blows hot air from the CPU
directly out of the case.

Looking at a motherboard, you should see

that the top side of the motherboard contains
ports used for connecting various peripherals.
 Personal Computer Components:
Motherboards

The chipset of a motherboard defines the type of

processor(s) that the motherboard can take, the
type and size of RAM, and many other
capabilities and features of the motherboard.
Chipsets are made up of 2 main chips which are
known as Northbridge and Southbridge. The
Northbridge's duties are typically to facilitate the
relationship between the processor and RAM and
handle video, while the Southbridge handles
storage and expansion devices.
 Personal Computer Components:
Motherboards

Motherboard Installation
When working with internal components on a
computer, don't forget to wear your anti-static
wrist strap. Below are the steps for installing a
motherboard.

* Lay the case on its side with the open side

facing up.
* Insert the little risers with screw holes on
one end into the holes on the back inside of
the case. These little risers are called
standouts and are used to elevate the
motherboard off the back wall of the case.
Make sure that the locations you have placed
the standouts align with the screw holes on
the motherboard. Some cases come with the
standouts already installed.
* Next, you might choose to install the RAM
and CPU beforehand, or go ahead and put the
motherboard in first.
 Personal Computer Components:
Motherboards

* Insert the motherboard into the case and

screw it into the standouts.
* If you have not already, install the CPU,
CPU fan, and RAM.
* Connect the power from the power supply
to the motherboard.
* Connect a monitor and boot the system. If
you see the BIOS splash screen, you are
probably in good shape.
* Connect the wires for items such as the
power button, reset button, power LED,
system speaker, hard drive activity LED, front
side USB, etc. These BERG connectors have
a positive and negative side. If a particular
item is not working, plug it in the other way.
* Connect all drives and periperals .
 Personal Computer Components:
Motherboards

In order to accomodate expansion cards from various manufacturers, they needed to have a standard
for them to adhere to, and thus, the expansion bus was born. The expansion bus provided a method for
standardizing the physical characteristics and speed.
 Personal Computer Components:
Motherboards

EISA (Extended Industry Standard

ISA (Industry Standard Architecture) Slot
Architecture) Slot
VESA (Video Electronics Standards
Association) Slot
Personal Computer Components:
Motherboards

MCA (Micro Channel

Architecture) Slot
 Personal Computer Components:
Motherboards
The Accelerated Graphics Port (often shortened to AGP) is a high-speed point-to-point channel
for attaching a video card to a computer's motherboard, primarily to assist in the acceleration of
3D computer graphics.
 Personal Computer Components:
Motherboards

PCI (Peripheral Component PCI-X (Peripheral

Interface) Slot Component Interface) Slot

PCI Express (PCIe

or PCI-E) Slot
 Personal Computer Components:
Motherboards

The BIOS and CMOS

BIOS stands for Basic Input/Output System and

is a collection of small software programs that allow
a CPU to talk to the hardware components of the
PC. The BIOS resides on a system ROM chip
categorized as firmware. BIOS routines begin when
the computer is booted and are mad up of 3 main
operations. Processor manufacturers program
processors to always look in the same place in the
system BIOS ROM for the start of the BIOS boot
program.

BIOS
 Personal Computer Components:
Motherboards

3 main operations of BIOS

1. Power On Self Tests (POST) are conducted. These tests verify that the system is operating correctly
and will display an error message and/or output a series of beeps known as beep codes which vary
depending on the BIOS manufacturer.

2. Initialization in which the BIOS looks for the video card. In particular, it looks for the video card's built
in BIOS program and runs it. The BIOS then looks for other devices' ROMs to see if any of them have
BIOSes and they are executed as well.

3. Initiate the boot process. The BIOS looks for boot information that is contained in file called the
master boot record (MBR) at the first sector on the disk. Once an acceptable boot record is found the
operating system is loaded which takes over control of the computer.
 Personal Computer Components:
Motherboards

CMOS

CMOS stands for Complimentary Metal Oxide

Semiconductor and in the old days was a completely
separate chip on the motherboard.

While the BIOS contains basic information that

allows communication between the CPU and
hardware, it cannot take into account all of the specific
features and brands of hardware available. This is
where the CMOS comes in. The CMOS setup
program (AKA CMOS Setup Utility) is a program that
allows us to access the information and settings
stored on the CMOS chip.

CMOS Setup Utility of

Award Software
 Personal Computer Components:
Processor

• The processor, also known as a microprocessor

and the CPU, can be thought of as the brains of
the system and is responsible for executing
software commands and performing calculation
functions.

CPUs are rated by clock speed - this is the

maximum speed that the CPU can operate at.
The motherboard has a system crystal soldered All processors are capable of operating at much
to it that sends a pulse out at a given speed that faster speeds than the chips on the
is received by the CPU. This is referred to as the motherboard. To deal with this, CPU
system bus speed. The CPU will normally manufacturers began creating clock-multiplying
operate at the system bus speed even if it can CPUs which can operate at faster speeds for
handle faster speeds. With most CPUs it is internal functions (they still communicate at
possible to tell the clock chip to operate to slower speeds over the address bus and
multiply the system pulse to go faster than the external data bus). The external speed, also
CPU's designed speed. This is called known as the front side bus or FSB, is
overclocking which is a risky option that can multiplied by the multiplier to give the internal
lead to hardware failure. CPU speed. For example, if the FSB has a clock
speed of 133 MHz and the CPU multiplier is 10x,
then the processor would run at 1.33 GHz.
 Personal Computer Components:
Processor

Voltage:
The transistors on a motherboard use 5 volts of electricity, however, CPUs have varying voltages.
Decreasing the voltage allows manufacturers to use smaller transistors, and hence, fit more of them into
the CPU. To deal with the varying voltages, modern motherboards have an integrated Voltage Regulator
Module (VRM) that adjusts the voltage level that the CPU receives from the system.

CPU Terms:

Registers - Registers are special storage locations located inside the CPU. The data contained here
can be accessed much quicker than the data contained in other memory locations, such as the RAM
(random-access memory) and the ROM (read-only memory). Registers in different parts of the CPU are
used for different functions. In the control unit, the registers are used to store the computer's current
instructions and the operands Meanwhile, the registers found in the ALU, called accumulators, are used to
store the results of the arithmetic or logical operations.

Address Bus - The address bus is a collection of wires connecting the CPU with main memory that is
used to identify particular locations (addresses) in main memory. The width of the address bus (that is, the
number of wires) determines how many unique memory locations can be addressed.

Arithmetic/Logic Unit (ALU) - The ALU is the part of the CPU that does the actual computing and
calculations sent to it by programs.
 Personal Computer Components:
Processor

Cache - Small memories on or close to the CPU chip can be made faster than the much larger main
memory. Most CPUs since the 1980s have used one or more caches, and modern general-purpose CPUs
inside personal computers may have as many as half a dozen, each specialized to a different part of the
problem of executing programs. It is very similar to the concept of a browser cache that stores data from
visited web sites making subsequent visits to those sites load faster.
Hyperthreading - The Intel Pentium 4 introduced hyperthreading which allows each pipeline to run
more than one thread at a time. This essentially tricks the system into thinking that there are 2 processors.
Hyperthreading only works with operating systems and applications that support it.

Current Trends:
A few years ago, Intel was the first to introduce a 64-bit processor (Itanium II). Since that time, 64 bit
processors have become the standard. Clock speeds hit a brick wall at around 4GHz a few years back
which forced CPU manufacturers to find new ways to squeeze more performance out of their chips. Intel
and AMD both released "dual core" processors that are essentially 2 processors in one. The Intel Pentium
D was basically 2 Pentium 4 processors together with their own cache. AMD launched a similar product
called the AMD Athlon 64 X2 processor, however, the L1 cache was shared by the processors. Shortly
after, Intel abandoned their Pentium line of processors which gave way to the Intel Core series. Core
processors come in "Solo" or "Duo" (dual core) versions. This line was followed by the Intel Core 2
architecture that comes in "Duo" or "Extreme" versions.
 Personal Computer Components:
Processor

Installing a Processor:
Before installing (or buying) a processor, you
should make sure that your motherboard supports it.
It is also very important to make sure that your
motherboard uses the same package as your
processor. In other words, a socket 775 processor
(shown left) will not fit into a 478 socket. If you try to
force it, you will likely bend the metal pins sticking
out of the bottom of the processor. Typically,
installation is as easy as placing the CPU in the
socket and pushing down on the locking lever
attached to the motherboard which can be seen on
the left side of the image to the left. This lever is
located on the side of the socket. Most CPUs and
sockets are keyed so that you place it in the correct
spot.
 Personal Computer Components:
Processor

Cooling:
CPUs get very hot and the faster the CPU, the
hotter it will get. This is why we need to attach a fan
or newer cooling method such as a liquid cooling
system. A typical cooling fan is pictured to the right.
Before you install your fan, place a little bit of
thermal compound on the top of the CPU. The fan
will typically have clamps that lock onto the side of
the socket on the motherboard. These can be
difficult to install. Be patient and try not to damage
your motherboard, especially when removing the
fan. After securing the fan, you will need to plug in
the power cable to the appropriate spot on your
motherboard. See your motherboard manual for the
location.
 Personal Computer Components:
Processor

The table below outlines the various socket/slot types and the processors that they support.
 Personal Computer Components:
Memory

RAM stands for "random access memory" and is volatile. When an application is launched, it is placed
in RAM for faster access by the CPU. It is one of the main components that affects system performance.
Over the years a variety of memory types have emerged including DIP, SIP, SIMM, DIMM and most
recently RIMM.
A SIMM, or single in-line memory module, is a
Physical Types: type of memory module containing random
access memory used in computers from the
Type Pins early 1980s to the late 1990s.
A DIMM, or dual in-line memory module,
comprises a series of dynamic random access
SIMMS 30/72 pins memory integrated circuits.

DIMMS 168/184/240 pins

micro-DIMMS 68/144/172 pins

SO DIMMS 72/144/200 pins

 Personal Computer Components:
Memory
Types of RAM:

Static RAM (SRAM) - SRAM doesn’t have to be constantly refreshed. Uses a lot of power. Used in old
IBM XT machines and was limited to 256K per chip. This type of memory is no longer used and has been
replaced by DRAM.

Dynamic RAM (DRAM) - DRAM uses capacitors instead of transistors and switches. Needs constant
refreshing. This type of memory is still in use, however, has undergone upgrades such as the SDRAM and
RDRAM varieties below.

Synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM) - SDRAM is tied to the system clock
which provides support for the faster bus speeds of modern computers. The speed of the memory that you
install in a system must match or exceed the system speed in order to work. Installing RAM that is faster
than the system speed will operate at the system speed. For example, if you put PC 133 RAM into a
system that is running at 100 MHZ, the RAM would operate at the 100 MHz speed. You can sometimes
mix speed ratings when installing multiple modules, however, it is not recommended because it can cause
the system to lock up or not start at all.

Example of SDRAM
 Personal Computer Components:
Memory

Direct Rambus DRAM or DRDRAM (RDRAM) used RIMMS which required a heat spreader to be
attached to the RIMM to deal with its increased heat levels. Unused slots on a RDRAM motherboard had
to be terminated with a CRIMM in order to function. Due to the higher cost and the licensing fees that
manufacturers had to pay to Rambus, RDRAM never took off.

Double Data Rate Synchronous DRAM (DDR SDRAM) - With the failure of RDRAM and increasing
bus speeds, manufacturers still needed an upgrade to regular SDRAM and DDR SDRAM was born. Like
RDRAM, DDR SDRAM increases performance by supporting 2 processes per clock cycle. DDR SDRAM
utilizes 184 pin DIMMS for desktops and either 200 pin SO DIMMS or 172 pin micro-DIMMS for laptops.
The naming convention for this type of memory is PCxxxx. It is calculated by taking the clock speed,
doubling it (double data rate), and multiply it by 8 (the number of RAM chips on a stick). So if a module has
a 200 MHz clock speed, the name would be PC3200. Like RDRAM, you must have 2 identical sticks of
RAM installed as a pair. Unused slots do not need terminating though. Recently, DDR2 SDRAM was
created. DDR2 clock doubles the input/output circuits on the chips, but does not actually increase the core
speed of the RAM.
 Personal Computer Components:
Memory
Important Terms:
Double-sided RAM - RAM comes in single-sided (most common) and double-sided varieties. Single-
sided has chips on only one side, while double-sided has chips on both sides. The motherboard must
support double-sided RAM in order for it to work.
Parity RAM - RAM occasionally "misfires" and makes mistakes. For home users this isn't a big deal,
but for mission critical applications it can be. Parity checking adds an extra bit to the data that the MCC
uses for error detection. Parity RAM is unable to correct the errors and doesn't always catch them.
Error Correction Code RAM (ECC) - ECC RAM is a high-end type of memory that detects and
corrects RAM errors. Due to the expense, this type of RAM is rare and only used in mission critical
situations. The motherboard must support ECC in order for it to work.
Dual-channel architecture describes a technology that theoretically doubles data throughput from the
memory to the memory controller. Dual-channel-enabled memory controllers utilize two 64-bit data
channels, resulting in a 128-bit data path. Dual-channel architecture is a technology implemented on
motherboards by the motherboard manufacturer and does not apply to memory modules. Theoretically any
matched pair of memory modules may be used in either single- or dual-channel operation, provided the
motherboard supports this architecture.
Triple-channel architecture describes a technology that theoretically increases the data throughput
to speeds greater than that of its predecessor, dual-channel. The architecture can only be used when all
three, or a multiple of three, memory modules are identical in capacity and speed, and are placed in three-
channel slots. When two memory modules are installed, the architecture will operate in dual-channel
mode.
 Personal Computer Components:
Memory

Several motherboard manufacturers only support configurations where a "matched pair" of modules
are used. A matching pair needs to match in:
Capacity (e.g. 1024 MB). Certain Intel chipsets support different capacity chips in what they call Flex
Mode: the capacity that can be matched is run in dual-channel, while the remainder runs in single-channel.
Speed (e.g. PC5300). If speed is not the same, the lower speed of the two modules will be used.
Likewise, the higher latency of the two modules will be used.
Number of chips and sides (e.g. 2 sides with 4 chips on each side).

Dual-Channel Triple Channel

 Personal Computer Components:
Memory
For various technologies, there are certain bus and device clock frequencies that are standardized.
There is also a decided nomenclature for each of these speeds for each type.

SDR SDRAM DIMMs - These first synchronous registered DRAM DIMMs had the same bus frequency
for data, address and control lines.

PC66 = 66 MHz

PC100 = 100 MHz

PC133 = 133 MHz

DDR SDRAM (DDR1) DIMMs - DIMMs based on Double Data Rate (DDR) DRAM have data but not
the strobe at double the rate of the clock. This is achieved by clocking on both the rising and falling edge of
the data strobes.

PC1600 = 200 MHz data & strobe / 100 MHz clock for address and control

PC2100 = 266 MHz data & strobe / 133 MHz clock for address and control

PC2700 = 333 MHz data & strobe / 166 MHz clock for address and control

PC3200 = 400 MHz data & strobe / 200 MHz clock for address and control
 Personal Computer Components:
Memory

DDR2 SDRAM DIMMs - DIMMs based on Double Data Rate 2 (DDR2) DRAM also have data and
data strobe frequencies at double the rate of the clock. This is achieved by clocking on both the rising and
falling edge of the data strobes. The power consumption and voltage of DDR2 is significantly lower than
DDR(1) at the same speed.

PC2-3200 = 400 MHz data & strobe / 200 MHz clock for address and control

PC2-4200 = 533 MHz data & strobe / 266 MHz clock for address and control

PC2-5300 = 667 MHz data & strobe / 333 MHz clock for address and control

PC2-6400 = 800 MHz data & strobe / 400 MHz clock for address and control

PC2-8000 = 1000 MHz data & strobe / 500 MHz clock for address and control

PC2-8500 = 1066 MHz data & strobe / 533 MHz clock for address and control

PC2-9600 = 1200 MHz data & strobe / 600 MHz clock for address and control
 Personal Computer Components:
Memory

DDR3 SDRAM DIMMs - DIMMs based on Double Data Rate 3(DDR3) DRAM have data and strobe
frequencies at double the rate of the clock. This is achieved by clocking on both the rising and falling edge
of the data strobes. The power consumption and voltage of DDR3 is lower than DDR2 of the same speed.
PC3-6400 = 800 MHz data & strobe / 400 MHz clock for address and control
PC3-8500 = 1066 MHz data & strobe / 533 MHz clock for address and control
PC3-10600 = 1333 MHz data & strobe / 667 MHz clock for address and control
PC3-12800 = 1600 MHz data & strobe / 800 MHz clock for address and control
PC3-16000 = 2000 MHz data & strobe / 1000 MHz clock for address and control

DDR, DDR2 and DDR3 for Comparison of SO_DIMM

Desktop PC's Comparison DDR, DDR2 and DDR3 for
Graphic laptops PCs
 Personal Computer Components:
Memory

Installing RAM:
Installing RAM is easy. The hardest part is making sure that you have the right kind and you should
always check the motherboard manual for the specs. You should also try not to mix manufacturers,
speeds, or capacity when buying multiple sticks or upgrading existing RAM. While it will most likely work, it
is better not to do this in order to avoid problems.

Once you have the right kind, installing the memory stick is
as simple as placing it in the slot on the motherboard.
Make sure that you handle it from the top and avoid
touching the contacts. You may have to push with some
force to get it in and to get the tabs on either end of the
slot (see image) to lock onto the notches in the ends of the
stick, but don't push so hard that you damage the memory
or the motherboard. If a memory stick is not going in, make
sure it is the right kind - they are keyed so that only the
right type of RAM will fit in the slot. In the image to the
right, you can see a notch in the middle of the slot - this is
the key. Once your RAM is installed, you can boot the
computer and watch for the RAM count during startup to
make sure that it is being recognized properly. If you miss
that, you can always go into the Device Manager in
Windows to see how much RAM the system sees.
 Personal Computer Components:
Storage

Hard drives are magnetic storage devices that

contain several discs inside called "Platters" that are
attached to a spindle motor. The number of platters
varies depending on the capacity of the drive.
Platters are coated with a film of magnetically
sensitive substance that is primarily made of iron
oxide. Another important ingredient is a thin layer of
cobalt alloy. The read/write heads are responsible
for reading and writing to the platters and are
attached to the head actuator which is in charge of
moving the heads around the platters.

The voice coil actuator is found in modern

drives and assures that the heads are in proper
position which ensures that the appropriate tracks
are read. The guidance system used by the heads is
called a servo. Its job is to position the head over
the correct cylinder. The spindle motor is
responsible for spinning the platters at a rate
ranging from 3600 RPM to 10000 RPM depending
on the drive. Heads typically have a coil of copper
wire inside.
 Personal Computer Components:
Storage

The disk's surface has tracks that are rings that

are located next to each other. Each platter has the
same number of tracks, and the tracks on the
outside are larger than the tracks on the inner part
of the surface. A track location that cuts across all
platters is called a cylinder. Each cylinder is divided
into sectors that are 512K in size. The size of the
sector determines the amount of data that can be
written, and the amount that will be wasted if only a
few characters are in a record. A one byte record
written to a sector occupies the entire track in that
sector.
 Personal Computer Components:
Storage

Hard drive performance is measured as follows:

Access Time - This is a measure of the average time that it takes the drives R/W heads to access data
on the drive.
Seek Time - This is the amount of time it takes for the drives head to move between cylinders and land
on a particular track.
Data Transfer Rate - The megabytes per second (MBps) in which data is transferred between the drive
and the system.
There are several different type of interfaces that can be used including IDE (Integrated Drive
Electronics), ( Enhanced Integrated Drive Electronics) EIDE and (Small Computer System Interface) SCSI.
Each IDE interface can support up to 2 devices. IDE devices each contain their own integrated controllers,
and so in order to maintain order on the channel, it is necessary to have some way of differentiating
between the two devices. This is assigning each device either a master slave designation using jumpers
on the drive, and then having the controller address commands and data to either one or the other.
Another option is to set the jumpers to cable select. This means that the position of the drive on the cable
will determine its status. If you are using two drives on a single channel, it is important to ensure that they
are jumpered correctly. Making both drives the master, or both the slave, will most likely cause problems.
 Personal Computer Components:
Storage

IDE Drives come in 2 types:

Parallel ATA - The older, but still widely used variety, that uses a 40-pin cable to connect to devices.

ATA connector on the left, with two

motherboard ATA connectors on the right.

ATA cables:
40 wire ribbon cable (top)
80 wire ribbon cable (bottom)
 Personal Computer Components:
Storage

Serial ATA - A newer specification that offers a number of benefits including: Faster throughput, thinner
7-pin cable that promotes better airflow through the case, support for longer cables (nearly 40 inches long),
and hot-swappable. In addition, there are no jumpers to worry about because each device connects to its
own controller channel. There are 2 varieties of SATA. The 1.5Gb type has a throughput of 150MBps and
the 3Gb type (sometimes called SATA II) runs at 300MBps. eSATA makes the SATA bus available for
external devices.

SATA ports on a motherboard

SATA cable
 Personal Computer Components:
Storage

There are 2 different transfer modes and protocols that are used by hard drives to access the
computer. Details of each are provided below:

PIO Mode - The Programmed I/O (PIO) mode is the older of the 2 methods for transferring data. This
method uses the CPU to control the transfer of data between the system and hard drive. There are several
different PIO modes that offer different speeds. These are shown in the table below:

PIO Mode Transfer Rate

(MBps)

0 3.3

1 5.2

2 8.3

3 11.1

4 16.6
 Personal Computer Components:
Storage

DMA Mode - Direct Memory Access mode allows devices to transfer data to and from memory without
using the CPU which reduces the overhead. PCI controllers use bus mastering to accomplish direct
memory access. Below are tables which show the different DMA modes and their transfer rates:

DMA Mode Transfer Rate (MBps)

Single Word (16-bit)

0 2.1

1 4.2

DMA Mode Transfer Rate (MBps)

Double Word
2 (32-bit) 8.3

0 4.2

1 13.3

2 16.7
 Personal Computer Components:
Storage

Ultra DMA - The maximum speed of multiword DMA mode 2 was 16.7 MB/s. As faster and faster
hard drives were created the new Ultra DMA specification was needed. The table below shows the
transfer rates:

Ultra DMA Transfer Rate

Mode (MBps)

0 16.7 Drives that use Ultra DMA are typically referred to as

"Ultra ATA/xx" where "xx" is the speed of the
interface. For example, a drive that uses Ultra DMA
1 25
mode 5 is referred to as ATA/100 because its
throughput is 100 MBps.
2 33

3 44.4

Note: Both the hard disk, the system chipset and

4 66.7 BIOS must support the mode in question.

5 100
 Personal Computer Components:
Storage

RAID
Hard drives can be configured in a Redundant Array of Inexpensive Drives (RAID) configuration that is
used for a variety of purposes including data recovery and increased read/write performance depending on
the level of RAID employed. The RAID levels are as follows:
RAID Level 0
Disk striping will distribute data across 2-32 hard disks. This provides the fastest read/write
performance as the system can access the data from more than one place. This level of RAID does not
provide any redundancy.
RAID Level 1
Disk mirroring writes exact copies of data to more than one disk. Each disk or partition of a disk will
contain the exact same data. If one hard disk fails, the data still exists on the other disk. This level of RAID
also increases disk read performance as it can pull the data off of both disks.
RAID Level 2
Uses Hamming error correction codes, is intended for use with drives which do not have built-in error
detection. All SCSI drives support built-in error detection, so this level is of little use when using SCSI
drives. It is seldom used at all today since ECC is embedded in almost all modern disk drives.
 Personal Computer Components:
Storage

RAID Level 3
Stripes data at a byte level across several drives, with parity stored on one drive. It is otherwise similar
to level 4. It can be used in data intensive or single-user environments which access long sequential
records to speed up data transfer. However, RAID-3 does not allow multiple I/O operations to be
overlapped and requires synchronized-spindle drives in order to avoid performance degradation with short
records.
RAID Level 4
Disk Striping in which the parity information is written to 1 drive at a block level. The parity information
allows recovery from the failure of any single drive. The performance of a level 4 array is very good for
reads (the same as level 0). Writes require that parity data be updated each time. The process offers no
advantages over RAID-5 and does not support multiple simultaneous write operations.
RAID Level 5
Very similar to RAID level 4, however, parity information is written to each of the disks in the array. If
one of the disks fails, the data can be reconstructed by installing a working hard disk. The parity
information is used to reconstruct the data that was lost.
 Personal Computer Components:
Storage

Hard Drive Installation

The following procedure outlines the physical installation of a typical hard drive.
1. Disconnect the power to the computer
2. Configure the appropriate master/slave settings or SCSI ID for the drive
3. Insert the drive into an available drive bay. If the drive is too small for the bay, you will need a
mounting kit
4. Screw in the 4 screws - 2 on each side of the bay
5. If the drive is an IDE disk, connect the IDE cable to the drive. There should be a stripe along 1 edge
of the cable. This stripe denotes pin 1. Pin 1 on the drive is usually closest to the power connector on the
drive, however, you should consult the manufacturers documentation. Then connect the signal cable to the
motherboard ID1 or ID2 interface making sure to note the pin 1 orientation there as well. If the drive is a
SCSI drive, a SCSI cable would be connected from the drive to a SCSI controller card.
6. Connect one of the power supply's power connectors to the drive
7. In the old days, we had to launch CMOS and enter the CHS information for the drive, however, we
no longer do that anymore because of a process called Autodetection. CMOS can still be used to configure
the boot order and check for incorrectly jumpered drives.
Due to the magnetic nature of hard disks, they should remain clear of magnetic fields.
 Personal Computer Components:
Storage

Disk partitioning
Disk partitioning is the act or practice of dividing the storage space of a hard disk drive into separate
data areas known as partitions. A partition editor program can be used to create, delete or modify these
partitions.
Basic Disk Partitioning:
The number of partitions you can create on a basic disk depends on the disk's partition style. On master
boot record (MBR) disks, you can create up to four primary partitions, or you can create up to three
primary partitions and one extended partition. Within the extended partition, you can create an unlimited
number of logical drives. A primary partition of a basic disk is a portion of the physical disk that functions
as though it were a physically separate disk. On most Intel based systems this partition is the one that is
marked as active which allows the computer to start up.

Extended partitions allow you to create more than four individual volumes on a basic disk. Unlike primary
partitions, you do not format an extended partition with a file system and then assign a drive letter to it.
Instead, you create one or more logical drives within the extended partition. It's the logical drive of the
extended partition that you format and assign a drive letter to. You can create an unlimited number of
logical drives per disk.
 Personal Computer Components:
Storage

Dynamic Disk Partitioning:

The Windows installation disk only allows you to configure basic disks. If you want to convert your basic
disks to dynamic, you can do so by using the Disk Management snap-in or the DiskPart command line
utility. When you convert a basic disk to dynamic, all existing basic volumes become dynamic volumes.

Dynamic disks provide features that basic disks do not, such as the ability to create volumes that span
multiple disks (spanned and striped volumes), and the ability to create fault-tolerant volumes (mirrored and
RAID-5 volumes). There are five types of dynamic volumes: simple (most common), spanned, striped, disk
mirroring (RAID-1) and striping with parity (RAID-5). Mirrored and RAID-5 volumes are fault tolerant and
are available only on computers running the Windows 2000 and 2003 Server family of operating systems.
Windows has supported a few different file systems over the years as follows:

FAT (File Allocation Table) - The file system during the early years of DOS.
FAT 16 - Available during the later years of DOS and Windows 95.
FAT 32 - Became available after the release of Windows 95 OSR2 and was the format of choice for
Windows 98/ME. FAT 32 is still supported in current Windows operating systems, but rarely used.

NTFS (New Technology File System ) - NTFS was released with the first version of Windows NT
and is now the format of choice for Windows 2000, 2003, XP, and the new Vista. NTFS offers major
improvements over its predecessors offering redundancy, compression, security, encryption, cluster sizing,
and disk quotas.
 Personal Computer Components:
Storage

Floppy Drives
Floppy drives are also a form of magnetic
storage that function similarly to hard drives. There
is a spring loaded metal cover that is moved aside
during operation that exposes a mylar disk that is
coated with a ferro-magnetic substance. The drive's
read/write heads access the disk as it turns on a
spindle. Older PCs used 5.25 inch disks and drives
that were able to hold 1.2mb of data. Modern 3.5
drives can hold 1.44mb of data.
If you are having problems reading a floppy
disk, it is best to first check the disk. If it still will not
read, you should try other disks to see if they work.
Floppy disks do not last forever and can go bad just
sitting around for long periods of time. If no disks will
work in the drive, then you should check the cabling
and make sure that everything is connected
properly. Next, try a different floppy drive. They are
very inexpensive and it might be worth installing a
new one, or taking one from another computer for
testing purposes. If the new drive does not work,
then the most likely suspect is your FDD controller.
 Personal Computer Components:
Storage

The following procedure outlines the installation of a floppy drive.

Disconnect the power to the computer
Insert the drive into an available floppy drive bay
Screw in the 2 screws
Plug the floppy cable into the drive and into the mainboard FD1 interface while noting the pin 1
orientation. The floppy drive will not work if the FDD cable is plugged in backwards. Note the twist in the
cable. Connecting the floppy to the last connector on the cable will make the drive an "A Drive" while
plugging it in to the connector toward the middle of the cable will make it a "Drive B"
Connect one of the power supply's power connectors to the drive.
 Personal Computer Components:
Storage

Optical Disc Drive

An optical disc drive (ODD) is a disk drive that uses laser light or electromagnetic waves near the light
spectrum as part of the process of reading or writing data to or from optical discs. Some drives can only
read from discs, but recent drives are commonly both readers and recorders. Recorders are sometimes
called burners or writers. Compact discs, DVDs (Digital Versatile Disc), HD DVDs (High Definition Digital
Versatile Disc) and Blu-ray discs (BD) are common types of optical media which can be read and recorded
by such drives.

External Optical Disc Drive

Internal Optical Disc Drive

 Personal Computer Components:
Storage

The following procedure outlines the

installation of a CDROM drive.
1. Disconnect the power to the computer
2. Configure the appropriate master/slave
settings or SCSI ID for the drive
3. Insert the drive into an available drive bay
4. Screw in the 4 screws - 2 on each side of the
bay
5. If the drive is an IDE, connect the IDE cable to
the drive. There should be a stripe along 1 edge of
the cable. This stripe denotes pin 1. Pin 1 on the
drive is usually closest to the power connector on the
drive, however, you should consult the manufacturers
documentation. Then connect the signal cable to the
motherboard ID1 or ID2 interface making sure to note
the pin 1 orientation there as well. If the drive is a
SCSI drive, a SCSI cable would be connected from
the drive to a SCSI controller card.
6. Connect one of the power supply's power
connectors to the drive.
 Personal Computer Components:
Storage
Most current Optical disc drives have the capability to record data. There are 2 main types of CD and
DVD recorders.

CD-R/DVD-R (Recordable) - Uses a chemical layer with a thin metal layer (silver alloy or gold).
“Burning” removes reflective parts to simulate pits and lands and represent 1s and 0s.

CD-RW/DVD-RW (ReWritable) - CD-RW and DVD-RW/+RW media can be rewritten multiple times
whereas DVD-R/+R and CD-R can only be burned once. CD-RW and DVD-RW/+RW uses phase-change
material that crystallizes to write, and rewrite CDs/DVDs through a heating and cooling process. You can
only record on DVD-R/RW or CD-R/RW media if the Optical drive supports it.

Blu-ray Disc Compact Disc Digital Versatile Disc

 Personal Computer Components:
Storage

The DVD+R format is divergent from the DVD-R format. Hybrid drives that can handle both, often labeled
"DVD±RW", are very popular since there is not a single standard for recordable DVDs. Significant technical
differences between the "dash" (it's not a minus symbol) and the "plus" format;

1. DVD+R style ADIP (ADdress In Pregroove) system of tracking and speed control being less susceptible
to interference and error which makes the ADIP system more accurate at higher speeds than the LPP
(Land Pre Pit) system used by DVD-R.

2. DVD+R(W) has a more robust error management system than DVD-R(W), allowing for more accurate
burning to media independent of the quality of the media.

3. Additional session linking methods are more accurate with DVD+R(W) versus DVD-R(W), resulting in
fewer damaged or unusable discs due to buffer under-run and multi-session disks with fewer PI/PO errors.
 Personal Computer Components:
Storage

When working with CD-ROM and DVD-ROM burners, one of the most common problems is buffer
underruns. Burners come with buffer RAM onboard that temporarily stores the data coming from the
source. There are many causes for buffer underrun errors, but following are the most common things that
will fix this.
* Make sure that your burner has a large enough buffer.
* Make sure that you close as many applications and processes on your computer before burning.
Also make sure that screen savers, anti-virus software, etc. do not start running while you are burning.
* Try burning at a slower speed.
* Make sure that your media is not scratched or dirty.

NOTE: CD-R/RW media comes in 74 minute 650MB capacity and 80 minute 700MB capacity
versions.
 Personal Computer Components:
Storage

For comparison, the table below shows storage capacities of the four most common DVD recordable
media, excluding DVD-RAM. (SL) stands for standard single-layer discs, while DL denotes the double-
layer variants. See articles on the formats in question for information on compatibility issues.

Disc Type Data Capacity

sectors
(2,048 B
each)
Bytes GB GiB

DVD-R (SL) 2,298,496 4,707,319,808 4.7 4.384

DVD+R (SL) 2,295,104 4,700,372,992 4.7 4.378

DVD-R (DL) 4,171,712 8,543,666,176 8.5 7.957

DVD+R (DL) 4,173,824 8,547,991,552 8.5 7.961

SL / DL – Single/Dual layer
 Personal Computer Components:
Storage

TAPE Drives

With advances in digital and optical storage technologies as well as advancements in Windows'
backup capabilities (e.g. back up to network storage), this technology is becoming obselete. Tape drives
are another form of magnetic storage media that functions similarly to the other types. The tape is belt
driven and read/write heads magnetize portions of the tape as it passes by them.
 Personal Computer Components:
Storage

Flash Drives and Flash Cards (Memory Cards)

A memory card or flash card is an electronic flash memory data storage device used for storing digital
contents. They are commonly used in many electronic devices, including digital cameras, mobile phones,
laptop computers, MP3 players, and video game consoles. They are small, re-recordable, and they can
retain data without power.

For popular formats of memory cards, there are USB cardreaders available that can be attached a
computer. Some printers, home entertainment systems, and computers come with card readers built in.

USB Card Reader

 Personal Computer Components:
Storage

Here are some of the memory cards:

MultiMediaCard (MMC)

Compact Flash

MMC RS-MMC/MMC Mobile

SmartMedia
MMCplus MMCmicro
 Personal Computer Components:
Storage

Secure Digital Memory Stick

Memory Stick Memory Stick Pro

SD MiniSD MicroSD

Memory Stick Duo Memory Stick Pro Duo

SDHC MiniSDHC MicroSDHC

Memory Stick Pro-HG Duo Micro (M2) Memory Stick XC

 Personal Computer Components:
Storage

xD-Picture Card (extreme digital)

Standard Type M Type H

USB Flash Drive

Also known as thumb drives, USB flash drives offer advantages over other portable storage
devices and are partially responsible for the disappearance of floppy and ZIP disk technologies.
They are more compact, generally faster, hold more data, and are more reliable due to both their
lack of moving parts (solid state), and their more durable design. These types of drives use the
USB mass storage standard, and therefore, can be used with Linux, Mac OS X, Unix, and
Windows.
 Personal Computer Components:
Multimedia

Video Displays

Video displays, also known as monitors, are responsible for displaying the picture that is output by the
PC. There are 3 basic types of displays: CRT, LCD, and projection which are discussed in more detail
below.

CRT Monitor LCD Monitor

Projector
 Personal Computer Components:
Multimedia

CRT (Cathode Ray Tube):

CRT displays were the most common type and were basically just like a traditional television set. CRTs are
based on the use of an electronic screen called a cathode ray tube (CRT). Inside a CRT monitor is a
picture tube that narrows at the rear into a bottleneck. In the bottleneck is a negative charged filament or
cathode enclosed in a vacuum. When electricity is supplied, the filament heats up and a stream or "ray" of
electrons pour off the element into the vacuum. The negatively charged electrons are attracted to positively
charged anodes which focus the particles into three narrow beams, accelerating them to strike the
phosphor-coated screen. Phosphor will glow when exposed to any kind of radiation, absorbing ultraviolet
light and emitting visible light of fluorescent color. Phosphors that emit red, green and blue light are used in
a color monitor, arranged as "stripes" made up of dots of color. The three beams are used to excite the
three colors in combinations needed to create the various hues that form the picture.
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CRT (Cathode Ray Tube):

To precisely direct the beams, copper steering coils are used to create magnetic fields inside the tube. The
fields move the electron beams vertically or horizontally. By applying varying voltages to the steering coils,
a beam can be positioned at any point on the screen. Each image is painted on the screen -— and
repainted -- several times each second by scanning the electron beams across the screen at incredible
rates. This must be done even when the picture being displayed is unchanging, because the phosphor
only glows for a very short time.
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CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) other specifications:

The surface of the CRT only glows for a small fraction of a second before beginning to fade. This means
that the monitor must redraw the picture many times per second to avoid having the screen flicker as it
begins to fade and then is renewed. The speed of this redrawing process is called the "refresh rate".
Though monitors differ in their capabilities, lower resolutions normally have higher refresh rates because it
takes less time to paint a lower resolution. Therefore a setting of 800 x 600 might have a refresh rate of
85Hz, (the screen will be repainted or refresh 85 times per second). Anything less than 60Hz is generally
considered inadequate, and some people will detect "flicker" even with acceptable refresh rates.

Display quality depends on the resolution, which is measured as the number of horizontal times the
number of vertical pixels. Common resolutions today are 1024x 768, 1280 x 960, 1280 x 1024, and 1600 x
1200. Notice that each of these uses a 4:3 ratio which is known as the aspect ratio. The aspect ratio is
different for widescreen and other formats.

Another factor affecting quality is Dot Pitch. Dot Pitch is a measurement of the distance between dots of
the same color on the screen. The closer together they are, the smaller the dot pitch and the better the
picture. Dot Pitch is measured in millimeters.

The CRT monitor comes in 15-inch to 21-inch sizes (38 — 53 cm) and larger, though the actual viewing
screen is about 1 inch (2.5 cm) smaller than the rated size. Screens are measured diagonally from corner
to corner, including the case.
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CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) other specifications:

CRT displays now have a wide variety of contours to the front of the screen or tube. Original tubes similar
to TV sets had a rounded surface to make is easier for the scanning electron beam to provide a clear
image. As technology progressed, flat screens arrived which still had the contour on the left and right but a
flat surface vertically. Now CRT monitors are available with perfectly flat screens for both horizontal and
vertical surfaces. So, what does the contour matter? Rounded screen surfaces tend to reflect more light
causing a glare on the screen. Similar to low refresh rates, large amounts of glare on a computer screen
increases the amount of eye fatigue.
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LCD (Liquid Crystal Display):

Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) panels were previously only available for laptops, however, they are now the
most common type for PCs as well. LCD are lighter, thinner, use less than half the power, and do not
flicker like their CRT counterparts. As the name would imply, this technology uses a liquid with crystals in
it. LCDs have resolution, refresh rates, and the other discussed terms in common with CRTs. Below are a
few terms that are specific to LCDs.

* Response Rate - This refers to the amount of time it takes for all of the pixels on the screen to go from
black to white and back to black.

* Contrast Ratio - This is the difference between the lightest and darkest spots that the LCD can display.

* Backlighting - LCD monitors are backlit for brightness. The strength of this backlighting affects the
overall picture quality.

Unlike analog CRTs, LCDs use a digital signal. The output from a video card is initially digital, but they use
a chip called RAMDAC which converts the digital output to analog for use with CRT monitors. Well, what if
you are using a LCD? Fortunately, most LCDs are able to convert the analog stream back into digital. In
fact, many LCDs use a DB-15 connector just like their CRT predecessors. Some video cards and LCDs
use are now using a Digital Video Interface (DVI) connector where the video card sends out digital data
which is received in digital format by the LCD. There are no conversions done in this situation.
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LCD (Liquid Crystal Display):

There are 3 types of DVI interfaces as follows:

* DVI-D - True Digital Video DVI-D format is used for direct digital connections between source video
(namely, video cards) and digital LCD (or rare CRT) monitors. This provides a faster, higher-quality image
than with analog, due to the nature of the digital format.

* DVI-A - High-Res Analog DVI-A format is used to carry a DVI signal to an analog display, such as a
CRT monitor or an HDTV.

* DVI-I - The Best of Both Worlds DVI-I format is an integrated cable which is capable of transmitting
either a digital-to-digital signal or an analog-to-analog signal, but it will not work transmitting a digital-to-
analog or analog-to-digital signal.

In addition to the above formats, the DVI interface has 2 additional types: single link and dual link. Dual link
has a lot more pins so it offers higher throughput, hence, better resolutions can be supported.
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LCD (Liquid Crystal Display):

Below is a chart of the various DVI types available:

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LCD (Liquid Crystal Display):

The next great thing may be the High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI). While currently used on
newer home entertainment systems and gaming consoles, it hasn't been completely adopted in the PC
world. The big advantage of HDMI is that it supports video and sound with one cable and connector unlike
DVI which just supports video. HDMI also supports High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP)
which prevents copyright infringing media from playing at full resolution. HDMI is backward compatible with
DVI via the use of an adapter.

HDMI cable and connector HDMI port

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Projector:

Projectors, like the ones often used in board rooms and class rooms, project what is showing on the
computer screen onto a wall or screen. Just like monitors, there are CRT and LCD projectors. Strangely
enough, CRT projectors are typically have a higher quality picture, but they are much larger, heavier, and
more expensive. LCD projectors, while lacking high end picture quality are usually portable.

Below are a few terms you might want to know regarding projection displays:

* Lumens - This refers to the brighteness of the projector. The number of lumens that is appropriate
depends on the size and brightness of the room it will be used in.

* Lamps - The lamp is essentially a heavy duty light bulb that produces the light needed by the projector.
They do fail and are fairly expensive to replace. The also generate a lot of heat, but the projector will have
a fan to cool it.

* Throw - This is the size of the image on the wall or screen given a certain distance from it. Projectors
have a minimum and maximum throw distance that varies depending on the lens it has.
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Video Card

The video card, also known as the display adapter, is the component that provides communications
between the the system board and the display. Video cards are typically an expansion card that is inserted
into the motherboard, however, many systems come with onboard video. Typically, onboard video isn't
near the quality of a high-end video card so many gamers, graphics professionals, and others choose to
add a video card instead.

Samples of Video Cards

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Video Card

A modern video card consists of a printed circuit board on which the components are mounted. These
include:

Graphics processing unit (GPU)

A GPU is a dedicated processor optimized for accelerating graphics. The processor is designed
specifically to perform floating-point calculations, which are fundamental to 3D graphics rendering. The
main attributes of the GPU are the core clock frequency, which typically ranges from 250 MHz to 4 GHz
and the number of pipelines.

Video BIOS
The video BIOS or firmware contains the basic program, which is usually hidden, that governs the video
card's operations and provides the instructions that allow the computer and software to interact with the
card. It may contain information on the memory timing, operating speeds and voltages of the graphics
processor, RAM, and other information.
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Video Card

Video memory
The memory capacity of most modern video cards ranges from 128 MB to 4 GB, though very few cards
actually go over 1 GB. Since video memory needs to be accessed by the GPU and the display circuitry, it
often uses special high-speed or multi-port memory, such as VRAM, WRAM, SGRAM, etc. Around 2003,
the video memory was typically based on DDR technology.

Type Memory clock Bandwidth

rate (MHz) (GB/s)

DDR 166 - 950 1.2 - 30.4

DDR2 533 - 1000 8.5 - 16

GDDR3 700 - 2400 5.6 - 156.6

GDDR4 2000 - 3600 128 - 200

GDDR5 3400 - 5600 130 - 230

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Video Card

RAMDAC
The RAMDAC, or Random Access Memory Digital-to-Analog Converter, converts digital signals to analog
signals for use by a computer display that uses analog inputs such as CRT displays.

Outputs:

9-pin VIVO for S-Video (TV-out), DVI for HDTV, and DE-15 for VGA outputs.

Slot

Video card today uses two type of slot the AGP and
PCIe. PCIe is much more faster compare to AGP slot.
 Personal Computer Components:
Multimedia

Video cards may use a lot of electricity, which is converted into heat (Modern video cards with a power
consumption over 75 watts usually include a combination of six-pin (75W) or eight-pin (150W) sockets
that connect directly to the power supply to supplement power. ). If the heat isn't dissipated, the video
card could overheat and be damaged. Cooling devices are incorporated to transfer the heat elsewhere.
Three types of cooling devices are commonly used on video cards:

* Heat sink: a heat sink is a passive-cooling device. It conducts heat away from the graphics card's
core, or memory, by using a heat-conductive metal (most commonly aluminum or copper); sometimes in
combination with heat pipes. It uses air (most common), or in extreme cooling situations, water (see water
block), to remove the heat from the card. When air is used, a fan is often used to increase cooling
effectiveness.
* Computer fan: an example of an active-cooling part. It is usually used with a heat sink. Due to the
moving parts, a fan requires maintenance and possible replacement. The fan speed or actual fan can be
changed for more efficient or quieter cooling.
* Water block: a water block is a heat sink suited to use water instead of air. It is mounted on the
graphics processor and has a hollow inside. Water is pumped through the water block, transferring the
heat into the water, which is then usually cooled in a radiator. This is the most effective cooling solution
without extreme modification.
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Video Card cooling devices:

Heat sink

Water block
Video card fan
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Video Card Installation:

Where you will install a video card depends a lot on

what type of video card you have and which slots are
available. If the card is AGP, there is only one choice
as motherboards only have 1 AGP slot. If installing a
PCI or PCIe card, it is good idea to leave the slot on
the fan side of the video card blank for ventilation as
modern video cards can get pretty hot. Once you
have identified the correct slot, simply insert the edge
with the metal contacts into the slot making sure not
to touch the contacts. Once inserted, screw the card
into the case to lock it in and connect the monitor
cable to the back of the card. The final step is to
install the driver for the video card. This will usually
be located on an accompanying disk, however, it is
usually better to go download an updated driver from
the manufacturer's website which may contain bug
fixes and enhancements.
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Troubleshooting Video

The most common video problem is incorrect settings in the video card properties. When viewing these
properties, Windows will often allow you to set the resolution and/or color depth to a level that your
monitor can't support (but your video card can). For example, if your monitor only supports a maximum
resolution of 1024x768, but you change the properties in Windows to 1280x1024, the screen is most likely
going to get garbled, or more likely go blank with static lines. Fortunately, most video cards require a
confirmation after the change is made and if it is not confirmed, it will revert to the previous resolution after
a short waiting period. If for some reason incorrect settings are made, you can boot into safe mode (more
about this in the operating systems section) which uses a VGA display mode (640x480) and you can
change the settings back manually.

Another common problem is the installation of an incorrect driver. If you are having video problems, make
sure you have the correct and updated driver from the manufacturer. Again, you can use safe mode to
uninstall the current driver and install the correct one.
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Troubleshooting Video

Video cards don't have too many hardware failures. If the card has a fan, it can fail and cause the card to
overheat. You can always open the case to make sure the fan is still running. This and other hardware
failures will typically result in a garbled screen and possibly lock up the computer. One way to confirm a
hardware failure is to use our trusty friend safe mode. If the problem doesn't show up there, it probably
isn't a hardware problem and is more likely one of the above.

If you suspect that an onboard video adapter has gone bad, you can insert a video adapter and see if that
works. If so, you can replace the motherboard, or just continue running the video off the video card.

You should never attempt to repair a CRT monitor as they can contain electrical charges as high as
30,000 volts - a potentially lethal amount. Most display repairs should be referred to a professional and
are not typically part of a hardware technician's job due to the complexity and danger involved. Keep in
mind that a large number of repair jobs will cost as much or more than the monitor itself. Typically, when a
monitor goes bad, it is replaced.
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Display Resolution

The display resolution of a digital television or display device is the number of distinct pixels in each
dimension that can be displayed.
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Sound Cards:

Your computer's sound card is responsible for taking

sound data from a disk (like an MP3 file) and
converting it so your computer's speakers can play
it. Usually, this tweaking consists of changing digital
ones and zeros into analog waveforms your ears
can recognize. This process is referred to as sound
output.

The sound card is also responsible for doing it the

other way around. It takes external sounds such as
your voice as you talk into a microphone and
converts those waveforms into ones and zeros so
that they can be stored on a disk. This process is
referred to as sound capture.

Sound cards are internal cards that are either built

into the motherboard or are installed in an expansion
slot - usually PCI. The back of the sound card
contains RCA jacks for connecting speakers and
microphones.
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Sound Cards:

When choosing a sound card, you will need to take

into account a variety of considerations since not all
sound cards are created equal. For example, many
sound cards support surround sound and have
inputs for multiple speakers. Others provide sub-
woofer support, a joystick jack, and possibly other
features.

Installation of a sound card is basically the same

procedure as described above for a video card.
Once the card is installed, you will need to connect
an MPC2 cable from the sound card to each of your
optical drives (or they won't play sound). In the back
of the sound card, plug in your speakers,
microphone and any other devices. Install the latest
driver from the manufacturer.
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Sound Card

Formats:
Sound on your PC can be in a wide variety of formats, many of them proprietary. The most common are
WAV, MP3, and WMA. Let's take a look at a few common formats a little more in depth.
WAV - Once the most common format. WAV files can be very high-quality, but suffer from large file
sizes.
MP3 - The MP3 format was developed to remove some of the unnecessary sound data thus creating
smaller sized files. This compression has allowed MP3 to become the most common format used today.
MIDI - The Musical Instrument Digital Interface format uses text files that provide a series of
instructions to a sound card as to which notes to play on which instruments. The sound when played
depends on the capabilities of the sound card. Since this format uses synthesis, it is rarely used for
listening to music. In fact, MIDI is not used much anymore except occasionally in games. MIDI files are
extremely small.
WMA - Windows Media Audio is a fairly popular format. It is proprietary to Microsoft and plays on the
Windows Media Player.
AIFF - The Audio Interchange File Format is common on Macintosh computers and play in
QuickTime player.

There are a number of video formats that contain sound and you have to make sure that you have the
proper codec installed to support the video and sound. Common formats for video with sound are: AVI,
MPEG, MOV, WMV, and DIVX.
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Troubleshooting Sound:

Most problems with sound are pretty easy to figure out. If you are having a problem getting sound, check
the following items: Make sure that the speakers are on and the volume is turned up high enough on the
speakers. On the computer, make sure that volume in Windows is turned up and not muted. Make sure
that your speakers are plugged into the correct RCA jack on the sound card. Make sure that you have the
correct driver installed. If you aren't getting sound from an optical drive such as a DVD-ROM player, make
sure you have the MPC2 cable connected correctly. If particular file formats aren't playing, make sure you
have the correct codec's installed and are using a media player that supports the format you are trying to
play.
 Personal Computer Components:
Input Devices

Input Devices:

A PC requires a variety of external devices in order to function - some of these are input devices and
some are output devices. As the names imply, an input device provides information TO the PC while an
output device provides you with data FROM the PC. Common input devices include mice, keyboards,
webcams, digital cameras, and scanners. There are also specialty input devices such as bar code
scanners, fingerprint scanners, touch screens, and others.
 Personal Computer Components:
Input Devices

Input Devices:

Keyboards:

Keyboards are one of the oldest and most common input devices. They connect to the motherboard at the
back of the PC (USB keyboards can connect in front if there front-side USB ports). Older keyboards used
a 6-pin mini DIN connector knows as PS/2, however, newer keyboards are typically USB or wireless. Most
keyboards are of the 101/102 key variety.

Most keyboards simply plug in and work. Some advanced keyboards may need to have a driver installed
for advanced features. Keyboard features can be configured in the keyboard control panel applet.

A PS/2 keyboard should never be attached or unplugged while the computer is on as they are not hot-
swappable like USB keyboards. If a wireless keyboard start behaving erratically, it most likely needs new
batteries.
 Personal Computer Components:
Input Devices

Mouse
The other most common input device is the mouse In addition to the connection type, the mouse
which has evolved significantly over the last several itself has changed in recent years. Older mice
years. Older mice also used a PS/2 connection as used a ball and rollers which often got dirty
described above. The mice and keyboards were and had to be regularly cleaned. Newer mice,
color coded to help prevent them from being plugged called optical mice, use LEDs or lasers to
into the wrong port. If you plugged the mouse into track the movements of the mouse. Optical
the keyboard port and the keyboard into the mouse mice rarely require any maintenance or
port, neither would work. Normally, you would get a cleaning. In addition to this improvement,
302 keyboard error during the boot process. Like many mice now come with a scroll wheel
keyboards, PS/2 mice have all but been replaced by between the 2 buttons that allows you to scroll
USB and wireless varieties. pages on the screen up and down.

A mouse can be configured in the Mouse

control panel applet. This allows you to adjust
such settings as double-click speed,
acceleration, right-hand/left-hand orientation,
and other settings.
 Personal Computer Components:
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Input Devices:

Scanner:

In computing, a scanner is a device that optically

scans images, printed text, handwriting, or an object,
and converts it to a digital image.

Scanner will be discuss further on the next chapter

(Printers and Scanners)
 Personal Computer Components:
Input Devices

Digital Cameras:

Digital cameras have been slowly replacing film cameras for many applications as prices have come
down over the years. They offer the advantage of being able to view a picture right after it is taken,
massive storage, and of course, the ability to connect to a PC. Almost all digital cameras connect to PCs
via a USB connection - typically USB mini-B. Once connected, pictures can be saved to the hard drive,
emailed to people, and printed. Most cameras come with some sort of software for managing pictures.
Windows XP offers a wizard that will help you download the pictures from your camera. Many cameras
will also show up in My Computer and you can open the camera like you would your hard drive and
browse the contents. Some computers and printers have card readers that you can insert the memory
card directly in to.

The quality of picture a digital camera can take is measured in megapixels - higher being better. It is
important to note that the higher the quality, the bigger the file size and the less pictures you can fit on a
memory card.
 Personal Computer Components:
Input Devices

Web Cameras:
Most webcams come with drivers that should
Web cameras, or webcams, are mainly used for web be installed before connecting the camera.
conferencing (and porn, but that won't be on the Once installed, you can usually access the
exam) and typically connect via USB. Applications camera's properties in the control panel where
such as MSN Messenger and Skype allow you to you can modify audio settings, video settings,
video conference with another person with a and access special features such as facial
webcam for free. Not all webcams are equal and recognition if offered.
vary widely on quality. Quality is basically
determined by 2 things: resolution and frame rate.
Like digital cameras, resolution is measured in
megapixels. There are webcams with very high
resolution, however, this creates large video sizes
that are difficult to transmit over the internet. The
frame rate is the number of "pictures" your camera
takes per second. The higher the frame rate, the
smoother the video will appear on the other end.
 Personal Computer Components:
Input Devices

Specialty Devices: Touch screens are computer monitors that are

technically input and output devices. You input
There are many less common input devices, some commands by touching the screen with your finger or
proprietary or custom built, that can be connected to a stylus. These are most commonly found in PDA
a PC. Here is a brief discussion of a few of them. format or in store/information kiosks. Touch screens
allow one to get rid of the keyboard and mouse.
Biometrics are playing an increasing role in computer
security and biometric devices are becoming more Bar code readers are used to read standardized
common on PCs. These devices provide access Universal Product Code (UPC) bar codes that are
security by requiring verification of a person's identity. commonly found on most products you will find in any
major store.

Barcode
scanner
 Personal Computer Components:
Output Devices

Output Devices

An output device is any piece of computer hardware equipment used to communicate the results of data
processing carried out by an information processing system (such as a computer) to the outside world.
Examples of output devices:

* Speaker
* Headphones
* Screen (Monitor)
* Printer

Speaker

Computer speakers, or multimedia speakers, are

speakers external to a computer, that disable the
lower fidelity built-in speaker. They often have a
low-power internal amplifier. The standard audio
connection is a 3.5mm (1/8 inch) stereo jack plug
often colour-coded lime green (following the PC 99
standard) for computer sound cards.
 Personal Computer Components:
Output Devices

Headphones:

Headphones are a pair of small loudspeakers, or

less commonly a single speaker, with a way of
holding them close to a user's ears and a means of
connecting them to a signal source such as an audio
amplifier, radio or CD player. They are also known
as earphones, earbuds, stereophones, headsets or,
colloquially cans. In the context of
telecommunication, the term headset is used to
describe a combination of headphone and
microphone used for two-way communication, for
example with a telephone.

Headphone

Headset
 Personal Computer Components:
Output Devices

Monitors:

A monitor or display (sometimes called a visual display unit) is an electronic visual display for computers.
The monitor comprises the display device, circuitry, and an enclosure. The display device in modern
monitors is typically a thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD), while older monitors use a
cathode ray tube (CRT).

Printer:

In computing, a printer is a peripheral which produces a hard copy (permanent readable text and/or
graphics) of documents stored in electronic form, usually on physical print media such as paper or
transparencies.

Printer will be discuss

further on the next chapter
Printer (Printers and Scanners)
 Personal Computer Components:
Preventive Maintenance

Regular cleaning of computers and their components can extend their lifespan, prevent accidents and
injury, and save money. Computers and their components are delicate pieces of equipment, so proper
and regularly scheduled care is very important. The following tips are a basic guideline that you can use
to keep your PC maintained to run efficiently, increase component lifespan and also help lessen the
overall likelihood of PC failure:

I. Operating & Environment Conditions

1. Do not place a PC directly near a heating or cooling source, such as heating vents or air
conditioners. Both excessive heat and cold can damage a PC. This includes putting the PC in the path of
direct sunlight.
2. Manufacturers often recommend that PCs be in a humidity-controlled environment, but again the PC
should not be positioned so that an air conditioner is blowing cool air directly onto the unit (as temperature
drops, the likelihood of static electricity increases).
3. Keep the PC's air vents and fans unobstructed and free of dust.
4. Do not smoke around a PC. Cigarette smoke can damage exposed metal contacts.
5. Do not place a PC near water sources that can splash onto the components or drip down into them.
This includes open windows through which rain can come and also under plants than can drip water down
into them.
6. Do not connect power sources directly into wall outlets but rather connect them first to some form of
surge protector. Surge protectors prevent electrical surges from destroying hard drives and erasing data.
 Personal Computer Components:
Preventive Maintenance

7. Buildup of dust can seriously hamper a PC's capability to cool down, and even if you never open your
computer's case dust can still get in through the drive openings. Dust also compromises the lifespan of
your PC's hardware. An efficient way to clean dust from the inside of a computer is with compressed air or
canned air, blowing dust away from the motherboard and other components. You should never blow air
directly into a floppy drive as this can cause dust to lodge in the drive and cause it to malfunction. Users
who are not familiar with working inside a computer case should take the unit to a professional for
cleaning because it is possible to do more harm than good to a computer if you do not know how to safely
work inside of a case.
8. Always turn off and unplug the system before you clean any of the components inside the case. It is
also important to ground yourself to prevent static electricity discharge before touching any components
inside.
9. Be extremely careful when moving a PC from one location to another. Even small jolts can dislodge
chips and expansion boards, so be sure to power off the system before moving it — even if it's only going
from one side of your desk to another.
10. Save all documentation that comes with your PC and its components. You may need to refer to the
documentation if something goes wrong.
11. Always shut your system down properly (in Windows use the Start --> Shutdown method) whenever
possible. It is also important to respond to warnings and error messages to prevent possible data loss or
corruption.
 Personal Computer Components:
Preventive Maintenance

II. Operating System & Data Maintenance

1. Always ensure you have downloaded and installed the latest patches and service updates for your
operating system, especially on a Windows-based PC. These updates will fix bugs and security exploits.
2. Keep the root directory organized. Only keep your system's startup and software initialization files in
the root directory. Application files and their data belong in a separate directory from the root directory.
3. Do not store data files in the same directory that you store the software. This will eliminate the
possibility of accidentally erasing or overwriting a software file.
4. Keep a set of backup rescue disks for the operating system.
5. Keep meticulous records of default settings, any changes you make in a system's CMOS setup that
differ from the default settings, and any maintenance you perform on the system. You can often use this
record to backtrack when you are troubleshooting a problem and will become valuable if you decide to
upgrade any of the system's components. It is also possible for the CMOS to lose settings and you will
want a record of the setup to reconstruct it.
6. Keep backup copies of any important data on a removable medium. Hard drives can fail and having
important data on more than one medium can save a lot of stress and headaches.
7. If possible use a secondary hard drive in your system for saving files. Your main drive, which is
accessed more frequently is prone to mechanical drive failure sooner than your less frequently accessed
secondary hard drive would be.
8. Over time when you add and remove software, devices and drives, you'll be left with extraneous
system registry entries, which can lead to slower performance. You can use system utilities (purchased or
good shareware) that will help you keep your Windows system registry cleaned.
 Personal Computer Components:
Preventive Maintenance

III. Hardware & Hard Drive Maintenance:

A. Expansion Cards
1. Keep records of any expansion cards you install and the procedures you follow to install them.
2. Be sure to update drivers and software for your expansion cards, such as video or sound cards. By
using updated drivers your hardware usually will run better.
3. Oxidation corrosion can slow down or even prevent electricity from flowing through contact points.
Oxidation buildup can be removed by rubbing with an emery board or eraser. It can also be cleaned with
a special cleaning solution.
B. Hard Disk Drive
4. Windows has a disk clean up function which will remove temporary files created by programs. This
can free up additional hard drive space.
5. Hard drives can have clusters go bad so it is important to check for these so that the operating
system knows not to use them. In Windows, error checking can be done in the following manner:
i) Open My Computer
ii) Right click on the drive to be checked and select "properties".
iii) Click on the "Tools" tab.
iv) Click on the "Check Now" button.
6. Defrag your hard drives. A PC runs better with regular disk Defrag. Defragging your hard drive
organizes your hard drive so that access to files and programs is more efficient.
 Personal Computer Components:
Preventive Maintenance

C. Mouse
1. If you are using a trackball mouse be sure to frequently clean the rollers inside to keep the mouse
moving smoothly.
2. Ball mice need to occasionally have the X and Y rollers cleaned with a lint-free swab, while little
maintenance is needed on optical mice. If an optical mouse starts behaving strangely and you know the
batteries are good, try cleaning the optics with a damp cotton swab.
D. Keyboard
1. Keyboards can tend to collect dust between the keys. They can be vacuumed with a small vacuum
or the dust can be blown out with compressed air while holding it upside down.
2. If you spill liquid inside a keyboard, it can often be repaired by taking it apart and cleaning the inside,
however, most keyboards are so inexpensive that it usually isn't worth it.
E. Monitor
1. Clean your CRT monitor with standard glass cleaner and a lint free cloth. Be sure to spray the cloth
with cleaner and then wipe — do not spray cleaner directly on the monitor.
2. Most LCD displays can be cleaned with isopropyl. However, you should check your manual for the
manufacturer's cleaning recommendations.
3. Extend the lifespan of your computer monitor by shutting it off when not in use.
 Personal Computer Components:
Preventive Maintenance

IV. Software Maintenance

1. Keep a backup copy of original software, either on CD or DVD. This type of software copying is
perfectly legal.
2. Be wary of installing file sharing and other peer-to-peer software as they represent a security risk to
your PC. While the software itself may very well be virus-free and not represent a security risk, sharing
your files and downloading other users' files can be.
3. Purge your software. Getting rid of unused software frees up additional system resources and hard
disk space. To uninstall software on a Windows PC, use the "Add/Remove Programs" function from the
Control Panel.
4. For better system performance avoid using shareware (or freeware) wallpaper, screensavers, and
similar audio and visual apps. These will usually require extra system resources to run.
 Personal Computer Components:
Preventive Maintenance

V. Antivirus Protection

1. Install an antivirus program that automatically scans for viruses when the system boots.
2. Once you have an antivirus program you will need to update the virus definitions daily to ensure your
system is protected against the latest threats.
3. Do not download any files from the Internet unless you are certain the source is not transmitting a
virus to you.
4. Do not use any storage media that has been used in another computer unless you are certain the
other computer is free of viruses and will not pass the virus on to your system.
5. Never open e-mail attachments from people you don't know; and don't open any file attachment that
ends in '.exe., All downloaded files should be scanned by your anti-virus application before you run or
install it.
 III. Laptop and Portable Devices

A. Laptop Hardware
B. Other Portable Devices
C. Troubleshooting Portable Devices
 Laptop and Portable Devices:
Laptop Hardware
Laptop

A laptop is a personal computer designed for mobile use and small and light enough to sit on a person's
lap while in use. A laptop integrates most of the typical components of a desktop computer, including a
display, a keyboard, a pointing device (a touchpad, also known as a trackpad, and/or a pointing stick),
speakers, and often including a battery, into a single small and light unit. . There are many different terms
used for these devices including portable computers, notebooks, and laptops. In this guide, we are going
to call them laptops.
 Laptop and Portable Devices:
Laptop Hardware
Power:
Laptops can run on AC power or on rechargeable batteries. There are 3 types of batteries that are used in
laptops as follows:

* Nickel-Cadmium (Ni-Cd) - This is an older technology that had a few problems. First, the batteries
needed to be completely discharged before recharging or they wouldn't hold a very good charge. This
was known as battery memory and resulted in comparatively short lifespan. They also had problems
when overcharged. These batteries are extremely toxic and MUST be recycled.
* Nickel-Metal Hydride (Ni-MH) - Still commonly used today, these do not have the charging problems
that the Ni-Cd types did. They are much less toxic, but should still be recycled.
* Lithium-Ion (Li-Ion) - These are the most commonly used batteries used today. They can hold a
charge much longer than their predecessors, although cannot be recharged as many times. If a lithium-
ion battery is overcharged, it can explode which is why devices that use these batteries have a built-in
mechanism to prevent overcharging.

Although power management is used with desktops, it is of much greater concern with laptops. Today, we
use specifications known as Advanced Power Management/Advanced Configuration and Power Interface
or APM/ACPI to manage computer power. Devices that work with these specifications are known as
Energy Star compliant which means that they use less power and allow APM/ACPI to shut them off when
not being used. In addition to compatible devices, modern power management requires a compliant BIOS
and operating system. All BIOSes offer APM/ACPI and newer Windows operating systems support
APM/ACPI.
 Laptop and Portable Devices:
Laptop Hardware
Processors:
Both Intel and AMD make processors for laptops. These special CPUs are smaller, use less heat, and
less power. On some laptops, these processors are upgradable, however, there are a couple of things to
beware of:
*Heat - Laptops are sensitive to heat and difficult to cool. A perfect example of this is my Toshiba
Satellite which runs too hot for the design. It has to have the back propped up on a book to get more
airflow underneath or else it overheats and shuts off. If you replace your CPU with one that runs too hot
for the design of your system, you will likely run into overheating problems.
*Installation - Installation of a laptop CPU may basically require you to tear the entire thing apart and
put it back together. This depends on the particular make and model, but you should check out the
procedure before deciding to upgrade.

Memory:
The majority of laptops have upgradeable RAM slots and most current laptops use 200-pin DDR/DDR2
SO-DIMMS, although some use 172-pin micro-DIMMS. Older laptops used 72 or 144-pin SDRAM SO-
DIMMS. Some older laptops used proprietary RAM that had to be purchased at high prices from the
laptop manufacturer.
 Laptop and Portable Devices:
Laptop Hardware
Installing RAM on a laptop varies widely by manufacturer. The location of the RAM will vary widely, but in
most cases there is a panel on the underside of the laptop that must be unscrewed.
Note that RAM isn't vertically oriented as in a desktop computer and lays down flat. To remove the RAM,
there will be some sort of lever or other restraining mechanism. In the image below, this laptop has a
metal restraining metal piece which the white arrows are pointing to.

If we push these metal pieces outward, the RAM pops up at a 45 degree angle as shown
below.
 Laptop and Portable Devices:
Laptop Hardware

you can simply pull the RAM out and insert a new one. After inserting the new one, press down lightly and
the metal clamps should automatically lock in. Again, the locking mechanism can vary by manufacturer,
but most are similar to this.

Hard Drives:
They are the same as desktop hard drives, only they are smaller and have smaller storage capacities for
the most part. Desktop hard drives are 3.5 inch and laptop hard drives are 2.5 inch.

To remove or install a hard drive, there is usually a panel on the underside of the computer just as there is
for memory. Unscrew the panel and insert or remove the hard drive.
 Laptop and Portable Devices:
Laptop Hardware
Modular Drive
Refers to the design of any system composed of separate components that can be connected together.
The beauty of modular architecture is that you can replace or add any one component (module) without
affecting the rest of the system. The opposite of a modular architecture is an integrated architecture, in
which no clear divisions exist between components.

Displays:
Laptops use built-in LCD screens which are typically between 12 and 17 inches, although there are larger
ones available. Most laptops have the capability to connect a larger CRT or LCD monitor as well.

Laptop LCDs can be classified by whether or not they use Thin Film Resistors (TFT, AKA Active Matrix) or
are Passive Matrix. The older passive matrix LCD screens uses a grid of wires to produce the image on
the screen. Dual-scan passive matrix improved refresh performance, but has been replaced with TFT
technology which uses a transistor for each individual pixel instead of wires for the rows and columns.

LCD screens come in Matte Finish and High Gloss finish varieties. High gloss versions are newer and
provide better contrast and brighter colors, but have more reflection.
 Laptop and Portable Devices:
Laptop Hardware
Docking Stations and Port Replicators:
The purpose of both of these devices is to add desktop functionality to a laptop. These devices are only
commonly needed in a couple of different situations.
* first is if you have a legacy peripherals that your laptop doesn't have ports for such as a parallel port.
*the other situation might be if you have an ultralight laptop that lacks the ports or drives included on
larger laptops.
With most laptops, modular drive bays, PCMCIA slots, and USB ports make it possible to connect or add
just about any device needed without a docking station or port replicator.

A docking station contains a mixture of ports, A port replicator, on the other hand, is a
slots, drive bays and security features. It smaller, stripped down version of a docking
usually attaches to the notebook from station that mainly features the ports that you
underneath with a proprietary connection. would find on a typical desktop PC, but lacks
drive bays and slots. Port replicators typically
connect via a USB connection.
 Laptop and Portable Devices:
Laptop Hardware
PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card International Association) :
The PCMCIA bus was developed for smaller computing devices and is hot-swappable. PCMCIA cards,
now referred to as PC Cards, are very thin and provide connectivity for everything from removable media
to ethernet connections. There are 2 types of PC Cards - 16-bit and 32-bit.
* 16-bit - This obselete version of PC Card only supported 2 functions per card (i.e. modem and
ethernet connection) at a throughput of 160 Mbps. These cards can be used in 32-bit slots.
* 32-bit - Also known as CardBus, this type comprises almost all of the PC Card slots you will come
across. These cards support up to 8 functions on one card and provide a throughput of 1056 Mbps. 32-bit
do not work in 16-bit slots.

Both of these PC Card types have 3 sub types as

follows:

* Type I - 3.3mm thick and used as memory

expansion units.
* Type II - 5mm thick and supports most
expansion functions except removable hard drives.
Type I cards will work in them.
* Type III - 10.5mm thick and used mainly for
removable drives. Type I and II cards will work in
PC Cards
them.
 Laptop and Portable Devices:
Laptop Hardware
ExpressCard:
On newer laptops, the PC Card standard is being replaced by a serial version called ExpressCard.
These cards are smaller and are not backward compatible with PC Cards. ExpressCards use either the
USB bus at speeds up to 480 Mbps or the PCIe bus at speeds up to 2.5 Gbps. They come in 34mm or
54mm width sizes with the 54mm versions missing a corner (see picture above). The thickness is 5mm.
 Laptop and Portable Devices:
Laptop Hardware
Mini PCI:
Mini PCI is a version of the PCI bus for laptops. Although most laptops come with most ports needed and
their functionality can be expanded using PC Card and ExpressCard devices, there are some occasions
when you might want to upgrade a component in a laptop. For example, when the next generation of wi-fi
becomes standard, it will likely provide better security and speed. To take advantage of this, you may
want to swap out the wi-fi PCI card in the laptop.

A mini PCI Wi-Fi adapter

 Laptop and Portable Devices:
Laptop Hardware
Laptop Control Devices:
On a laptop, the keyboard is built in and you can certainly attach an external mouse. But laptops come
with built-in mouse-like devices. There are 2 basic types commonly used today as follows:

The older of the 2 types is called TrackPoint and

was invented by IBM. TrackPoint uses a small
pencil eraser sized "nub" to move the computer
cursor around. This "nub" is usually located in the
middle of the keyboard and acts much like a
joystick does. The functionality of a mouse's left
and right click buttons are provided by 2 buttons
below the space bar.

The second type is called a touchpad. Touchpads

provide a small touch-sensitive pad located just
below the spacebar on the keyboard. Moving your
finger across the touchpad moves the cursor on the
screen. Below the touchpad are the 2 buttons that
act like a mouse's left and right click buttons.
Touchpads are typically provided on larger sized
laptops that have room to include them. Some
laptops provide a TrackPoint device as well as a
touchpad
 Laptop and Portable Devices:
Laptop Hardware
Function Keys:
Laptops come with a special function key (Fn) that is located where the Windows key is located on
desktop keyboards. The Fn key is pressed in combination with one of the F1-F12 function keys to perform
various tasks such as adjusting the screen brightness, disabling wi-fi, and other tasks. These tasks vary
by manufacturer.
 Laptop and Portable Devices:
Other Portable Devices
Laptops certainly aren't the only portable devices on the market and they certainly aren't the smallest.
There are a wide variety of portable options available today, many of them providing some of the
functionality of a computer.

Tablet PCs:
Tablet PCs come in 2 different form factors called Convertible and Slate. Slate varieties are flat and thin
much like a tablet of paper. Convertible varieties can be configured just like a laptop or have the screen
folded on top of the keyboard so that it resembles the slate variety. These devices have many of the same
ports and slots that a laptop does. Many will have USB and/or firewire ports, PC Card or ExpressCard
slots, and ethernet connection. Most tablet PCs have Bluetooth and WiFi capabilities as well. What you
won't find on most of these devices is an internal optical drive.
 Laptop and Portable Devices:
Other Portable Devices
You may be wondering how these devices function without a mouse and keyboard. Tablet PCs use a
device called a digitizer which is usually located behind the LCD screen. This input device allows you to
interact with the screen using a special pen called a stylus. There are a couple of different digitizer
technologies available as follows:

* Active Digitizer - can track the position of the pen when it is in proximity to the digitizer. This can
provide helpful functionality such as the ability to view tooltips and auto-hidden items, and to navigate
through menus without accidentally activating an item. The advantage of using active digitizer is that only
movement of the stylus affects the mouse pointer and ignores other contact like your hand on the screen.
* Passive Digitizer - also known as touchscreens. This type only knows where the position of the finger
is when the user presses down on it. Passive digitizers are either capacitive or resistive. The capacitive
touch screen panel is coated with a material that stores electrical charges. When the panel is touched, a
small amount of charge is drawn from the point of contact (the finger). Circuits located at each corner of
the panel measure the charge and send the information to the controller for processing. Capacitive touch
screen panels must be touched with an unprotected finger. The resistive touchscreen panel is coated with
a thin metallic electrically conductive and resistive layer that causes change in the electrical current which
is registered as a touch event and sent to the controller for processing. The resistive touchscreen panel
can be operated by fingertip, stylus, and does not need direct skin contact in order to operate. Both
capacitive and resistive touchscreens offer lower accuracy and a higher rate of error such as the case
when a user's hand rests on the screen surface. This makes them less common in tablet PCs.
 Laptop and Portable Devices:
Other Portable Devices
Personal Digital Assistants:
Also known as PDAs, these devices are similar in some respects to tablet PCs, but are much smaller -
most of them being handheld size. Input to a PDA is similar to that of a tablet PC. They use a stylus and a
touchscreen that is similar to a passive digitizer in behavior. They also include a virtual keyboard, can use
character recognition, or digital ink as input methods just like tablet PCs.

PDAs use memory sticks like a digital camera.

The most commonly used types now are
MiniSD and MicroSD which are smaller versions
of the SD standard that are commonly used in
cell phones.
 Laptop and Portable Devices:
Troubleshooting Portable Devices
This section will provide a list of some troubleshooting tips that are specific to portable devices.

1. If a laptop or tablet PC does not power on, first make sure you have it plugged into a wall outlet. If it still
won't power on and none of the LEDs on it light up, try plugging another device into the outlet to make
sure the outlet is good. If that works, then try removing any peripheral devices such as USB, FireWire,
smart cards, ExpressCards, PC Cards, etc. If it still won't boot, try replacing the AC adapter. Make sure
that you get one that meets the specs of your laptop or you could damage it.

2. If your laptop battery discharges very quickly or will not charge all the way, replace it.

3. If a PDA won't power on, make sure that the battery is charged (most don't come with AC adapters).

4. If you are having problems with a WiFi connection on a laptop, make sure that the physical switch on
the back or side of the laptop is on. Not all laptops have these switches to turn on WiFi, but many do. If
your laptop has a Fn key combination for enabling wireless networking, check to make sure it is enabled.

5. If your PDA or tablet PC is no longer recognizing handwriting, you probably need to calibrate the
digitizer.

6. If the touch pad on a laptop isn't working, make sure it hasn't been disabled via a Fn key combination,
or utility provided by the manufacturer.
 Laptop and Portable Devices:
Troubleshooting Portable Devices
7. If you are getting strange output when typing on your laptop, check to make sure that you haven't
accidentally enabled an overlay via the Fn key. Some laptops come with overlays that fit on top of the
keyboard and are activated using a Fn key combination. As an example, my Toshiba laptop has a 10-key
overlay that is activated by pressing Fn + F9.

8. If the keyboard isn't working at all, the keypad connector may have been disconnected.

9. If you aren't getting any sound on a PDA or laptop, make sure the sound is not only turned up in the
operating system, but on the device as well.
 III. Operating System

A. Operating System Basics

B. File Systems
C. Windows 2000 and XP
 III. Operating System:
Operating System Basics
What is an operating system?

An operating system (OS) is software (programs and data) that provides an interface between the
hardware and other software. The OS is responsible for management and coordination of processes and
allocation and sharing of hardware resources such as RAM and disk space, and acts as a host for
computing applications running on the OS. An operating system may also provide orderly accesses to the
hardware by competing software routines.

Operating systems can be classified as follows:

multi-user : Allows two or more users to run programs at the same time. Some operating systems
permit hundreds or even thousands of concurrent users.

multiprocessing : Supports running a program on more than one CPU.

multitasking : Allows more than one program to run concurrently.

multithreading : Allows different parts of a single program to run concurrently.

real time: Responds to input instantly. General-purpose operating systems, such as DOS and UNIX,
are not real-time.
 III. Operating System:
Operating System Basics
Introduction to DOS (Disk Operating System):

Developed by Microsoft for IBM, MS-DOS was the standard operating system for IBM-compatible
personal computers. The initial versions of DOS were very simple and resembled another operating
system called CP/M. Subsequent versions have became increasingly sophisticated as they incorporated
features of minicomputer operating systems. However, DOS is still a 16-bit operating system and does not
support multiple users or multitasking.

Introduction to UNIX:

Originally developed in 1969 by AT&T employees, UNIX was the operating system of choice for decades
and is the oldest of the bunch. Traditionally, it was command line based although newer versions do have
a graphical user interface (GUI) like Windows. Solaris by Sun Microsystems is the most popular version of
UNIX in use, although HP-UX and AIX still have some market share. UNIX is used as an operating
system on servers and for specialty applications. It is not typically used for personal computing.
 III. Operating System:
Operating System Basics
Introduction to Linux:

Linux is a UNIX-like operating system, that was

invented by Linus Torvalds in 1991. Although it is a
lot like UNIX, it is open source which means that the
operating system and source code are freely
available including most supporting applications
which are freely licensed under the GNU public
license. Because the source code is freely available,
various organizations have modified the code and
created their own variations known as "distributions".
Some of the more common ones are Red Hat,
SuSE, Debian, and Fedora Core. Linux has become
a very popular platform for servers, particularly web
servers. It also has a wide variety of GUIs that can
be used for personal computing.

Tux
 III. Operating System:
Operating System Basics
Linux Distribution

A Linux distribution (also called GNU/Linux distribution by some vendors and users) is a member of the
family of Unix-like software distributions built on top of the Linux kernel. One can distinguish between
commercially backed distributions, such as Fedora (Red Hat), openSUSE (Novell), Ubuntu (Canonical
Ltd.), and Mandriva Linux (Mandriva) and entirely community-driven distributions such as Debian and
Gentoo, though there are other distributions that are driven neither by a corporation nor a community,
perhaps most famously Slackware.

Debian 5.0 "Lenny" Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala"

 III. Operating System:
Operating System Basics
Introduction to OS X:

Macintosh computers produced by Apple are proprietary systems that run Mac OS operating systems.
Mac OS X is the successor to the original Mac OS, which had been Apple's primary operating system
since 1984. Unlike its predecessor, Mac OS X is a Unix-like OS based on BSD. Beginning in 2006, Macs
began running on Intel CPUs for the first time instead of their own proprietary hardware.

Versions of OS/X Codename

Mac OS X Server 1.0 Hera
Public Beta Kodiak
10.0 Cheetah
10.1 Puma
10.2 Jaguar
10.3 Panther
10.4 Tiger
10.5 Leopard
10.6 Snow Leopard Mac OS X v10.6 "Snow Leopard"
 III. Operating System:
Operating System Basics
Introduction to Windows:

Microsoft Windows is a series of software operating systems and graphical user interfaces produced by
Microsoft. Microsoft first introduced an operating environment named Windows in November 1985 as an
add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces (GUIs). Microsoft
Windows came to dominate the world's personal computer market, overtaking Mac OS, which had been
introduced previously.

Product Name Version/Build

Windows 3.1 NT 3.0x
Windows 95 NT 4.0x
Windows NT NT 4.0x
Windows 98 NT 4.1x
Windows Me NT 4.9x
Windows 2000 NT 5.0x
Windows XP NT 5.1x
Windows Vista NT 6.0x
Windows 7
Windows 7 NT 6.1x
 III. Operating System:
File Systems
In an operating system, the file system is the structure by which files are organized, stored, and named.
The file system determines what features and controls you have with regards to the organization,
maintenance, and security of your data. Different file systems handle this job differently and vary in the
features that they support.

Partitions:
Partitions are configurable logical storage units on your hard drive. Partitions and other storage units,
allow you to divide a hard drive in order to better manage the organization of your data and applications.
The following are common hard disk configurations.
Partition - A partition is a portion of a physical hard disk. A partition can be primary or extended
Primary Partition - This is a bootable partition. One primary partition can be made active.
Extended Partition - An extended partition is made from the free space on a hard disk and can be
broken down into smaller logical drives. There can only be one of these per hard disk.
Logical Drive - These are a primary partition or portions of an extended partition that are assigned a
drive letter.
Volume - This is a disk or part of a disk that is combined with space from the same or another disk to
create one larger volume. This volume can be formatted and assigned a drive letter like a logical drive,
but can span more than one hard disk. A volume set can be extended without starting over, however to
make it smaller, the set must be deleted and re-created.
 III. Operating System:
File Systems
File Systems:
Once a drive has been partitioned the way you want, you then need to format it. Formatting is the process
that installs the file system on the drive. There are several different types of file systems that are
explained below:

* FAT16 - FAT16 table entries are 16 bits in length limiting hard disk sizes to 2GB. Note that even if the
OS supports larger partition sizes, the BIOS must also support logical block addressing (LBA) or the
maximum partition that you will be able to create will be either 504 or 528 MB. This file system is no
longer used.
* FAT32 - Created to allow more efficient use of hard drive space. Although the FAT32 file system
supports hard disks up to 2 terabytes in size, some hard disks may not be able to contain bootable
partitions that are larger than 7.8 GB because of BIOS limitations (must support the INT13 interface). In
order to format a drive as FAT32, the "Large disk Support" must be enabled when starting FDISK. FAT32
is not compatible with older versions of Windows including Windows 95A and NT. In Windows 9.x, the
CVT1.EXE can be used to convert FAT16 partitions to FAT32.
* NTFS 4 - NTFS 4 is the file system used by Windows NT that provides increased security and
reliability over other file systems. On an NTFS partition, you can't boot from a DOS boot disk - this is one
of the security features of NTFS. Additionally, a floppy disk cannot be formatted as NTFS. For this reason
it might not be a bad idea to have a small partition formatted FAT so that you can boot into DOS for
recovery purposes. In order to convert a FAT partition to NTFS, NT includes a utility called convert.exe.
 III. Operating System:
File Systems
File Systems:
Once a drive has been partitioned the way you want, you then need to format it. Formatting is the process
that installs the file system on the drive. There are several different types of file systems that are
explained below:

* FAT16 - FAT16 table entries are 16 bits in length limiting hard disk sizes to 2GB. Note that even if the
OS supports larger partition sizes, the BIOS must also support logical block addressing (LBA) or the
maximum partition that you will be able to create will be either 504 or 528 MB. This file system is no
longer used.
* FAT32 - Created to allow more efficient use of hard drive space. Although the FAT32 file system
supports hard disks up to 2 terabytes in size, some hard disks may not be able to contain bootable
partitions that are larger than 7.8 GB because of BIOS limitations (must support the INT13 interface). In
order to format a drive as FAT32, the "Large disk Support" must be enabled when starting FDISK. FAT32
is not compatible with older versions of Windows including Windows 95A and NT. In Windows 9.x, the
CVT1.EXE can be used to convert FAT16 partitions to FAT32.
* NTFS 4 - NTFS 4 is the file system used by Windows NT that provides increased security and
reliability over other file systems. On an NTFS partition, you can't boot from a DOS boot disk - this is one
of the security features of NTFS. Additionally, a floppy disk cannot be formatted as NTFS. For this reason
it might not be a bad idea to have a small partition formatted FAT so that you can boot into DOS for
recovery purposes. In order to convert a FAT partition to NTFS, NT includes a utility called convert.exe.
 III. Operating System:
File Systems
* NTFS 5 - This is the native file system for Windows 2000, 2003, and XP. NTFS 5 has many new
features as follows:
o Encrypted File System(EFS) - Windows 2000, 2003, and XP NTFS volumes have the ability to
encrypt data on the disk itself. Cipher.exe is a command line utility that allows for bulk or scripted file
encryption.
o Disk Quotas - Provides the ability to set space limitations on users on a per volume basis.
o Defragmentation - Windows 2000 and XP include a disk defragmenter that can be used on NTFS
partitions. Windows NT did not offer this.
o Volume Mount Points - Provides the ability to add new volumes to the file system without having
to assign a drive letter to them. This feature is only available on an NTFS partition.
o Compression - In Windows 2000 and XP files, folders and entire drives can be compressed by
right clicking on the item to be compressed and selecting "properties" and then "advanced".
The convert.exe utility can be used to convert a FAT or FAT32 partition to NTFS.
* HPFS - Stands for High Performance File System and is used with OS/2 operating systems. This file
system can only be accessed by Windows NT 3.51 and OS/2.
 III. Operating System:
Windows Installation
Windows Installation:

Will be doing an actual installation of a Windows operating system for this topic.
 IV. PRINTERS AND SCANNERS

A. Printer Overview
B. Installing and Configuring Printers
C. Scanners
 IV. PRINTERS AND SCANNERS:
Overview
Introduction:

There are several different types of printers and you will need to know their print processes and common
issues. First we'll take a look at the common connection types and then dive into the various different
types of printers.

Connections:
Very old printers utilized a RS-232 connection that was either a 9 or 25 pin serial port and cable. The
cable should be less than 50 feet long (15.25 meters). These connections required that the port be
configured with parity type, speed, protocol and character frame.

This connection type was eventually replaced with a higher speed parallel connection which have recently
become obselete. Parallel connections utilize a DB-25 port on the computer to connect to the printer. The
newest parallel ports were Extended Capability Ports (ECP) which offered increased performance over
previous parallel standards. Both the computer's parallel port and the peripheral's port had to support
ECP in order to take advantage of the higher speeds. Parallel cables are limited to less than 10 feet (3
meters) in length.

Most current printers use USB, firewire, or ethernet (RJ-45) network connections. More expensive models
are available that offer WI-Fi or Bluetooth connections. USB and Firewire connected printers can be
shared over a network, however, the host computer that it is connected to must be left on in order for
others to print to the printer. This is an advantage of the newer network printers which do not have this
limitation.
 IV. PRINTERS AND SCANNERS:
Overview
TYPES OF PRINTER

Dot Matrix:
Dot Matrix printers for home use are nearly obselete having been replaced with faster, higher quality
varieties, however, you may still come across them at some businesses. In fact, most cash registers use
a dot matrix printer for printing out receipts. Dot Matrix printers use an impact printing process whereby a
matrix of pins imprint an image on a ribbon. The ink from this ribbon is transplanted to the paper. Very old
dot matrix printers used a pin feeding system that used paper with a series of holes along the sides of the
paper. After printing the perforated edges with the holes are torn off. Newer models of dot matrix printers
typically use a friction feed (rollers) mechanism.

Troubleshooting:
1. Smudges can be caused by the ribbon tension
being too high.
2. Broken printhead pins can cause incomplete or
missing characters.
3. If the tops of characters are missing, the printhead
is misaligned with the platen and needs to be reseated
or the printhead carriage may need to be adjusted.
4. If the print gets lighter on the page from left to right,
the printhead distance from the plate is uneven and will
need to be adjusted.
 IV. PRINTERS AND SCANNERS:
Overview
Thermal Wax:
These are not a very common printer type, however, you will run across them in use for specialty
applications. Thermal wax printers use a roll of cellophane like film that is made up of colored wax panels.
These panels are either cyan, magenta, and yellow (CMY) or cyan, magenta, yellow, and black (CMYK).
This film is rolled past a printhead containing thousands of heated elements that burn the wax from the
film onto the paper. When the roll is all used up, simply replace it with a new one. These printers are very
slow because the ribbon prints each color separately so it takes 3 or 4 (depending on the roll type) panels
to pass a page to complete it. These printers typically print 300 dpi at about 1 ppm.
 IV. PRINTERS AND SCANNERS:
Overview
Dye Sublimation:
The print process is very similar to the thermal wax printers, however, there are a couple of differences.
Dye-sublimation printers use film that contains dye rather than wax and must be used with specially
coated paper. Second, dye-sub printers do not melt wax from the ribbon to the paper; the printhead turns
the dye into gas which then solidifies on the paper. Most importantly, they offer extremely high quality due
to their continuous tone printing. Continuous tone refers to the fact that the dots put down by the printer
can vary in size and intensity depending on the heat output by each element on the printhead. This is in
contrast to the use of a dithering process like other print processes. For this reason, dye-sub printers can
produce photographic quality output and are used for desktop publishing, medical imaging, and other
high-end applications. The image to the right shows an example of a large poster-size dye-sub printer.
 IV. PRINTERS AND SCANNERS:
Overview
Ink Jet:
Ink jet printers are the most common types of printers for home use because of their good quality and
affordable price. The image to the right shows the printhead of an ink jet printer. This particular one has
an extra black cartridge, however, most have CMYK cartridges. Each of these cartridges contains liquid
ink that is sprayed onto the paper through very tiny nozzles in the printhead. The printhead makes a pass
across the width of the page printing a strip. Then the paper is fed a little and the printhead passes back
across the page printing another strip. This process continues until the whole page is printed. Ink jets can
print 2400+ dpi at 24+ ppm which is a big part of their attraction.

Troubleshooting:
1. Occasionally, the nozzles on the printhead can
become clogged. Most printers have a software program
built into the driver that will tell the printer to do a
printhead cleaning. In some cases this can/must be
activated from the front panel of the printer. Do not run
this process unless necessary as it uses a lot of ink. If
the printer has a bin for collecting the excess ink from the
cleaning process, make sure you empty it.
2. If the output is disfigured or wavy, make sure that the
paper thickness level is in the correct position, if
applicable. If it is, then the paper feed rollers probably
need to be replaced.
 IV. PRINTERS AND SCANNERS:
Overview
Solid Ink:
Solid Ink printers were invented by Tektronix which is now owned by Xerox. Solid ink printers are very fast
and offer vibrant colors because of the inks that they use, and a printing process that produces
continuous tone output. These printers use solid blocks of wax ink that are melted down into the printhead
that sprays the ink onto a drum. The paper is then rolled over the drum which transfers the ink to the
paper. These printers are pretty expensive.

Troubleshooting:
1. Clogged jets - The most common problem with solid
ink printer also occurs on ink jets. Occasionally some of
the jets on the printhead get clogged. To remedy this,
run the cleaning procedure from the front panel or driver
of the printer. Like ink jets, this uses a lot of ink.
2. Jams - Most jams are caused by dirty rollers. These
can be cleaned with isopropyl alcohol and a lint-free
cloth.
3. Waste Ink - Some solid ink printers have an ink waste
bin where excess ink goes. This needs to be emptied
periodically or it may overflow.
 IV. PRINTERS AND SCANNERS:
Overview
Laser Printers:
Laser printers are very popular in offices, but not so much for home use due to their initial cost and cost of
consumables (items which must be periodically replaced). Laser printers use dry ink, called toner, static
electricity, and heat to place and bond the ink onto the paper. This is known as the electro-photographic
process. Before we exam the steps of this process, let's first take a look at some of the components of a
laser printer:
Cleaning Blade - This rubber blade or felt pad removes excess toner off the drum after the print
process has completed.
Photosensitive Drum - The core of the electro-photographic process. This component should not be
exposed to light and needs to be replaced periodically. Also known as an "imaging unit" or "imaging kit".
Primary Corona Wire - Highly negatively charged wire erases the charge on the Photosensitive drum
to make it ready for another image. Needs to be cleaned periodically.
Transfer Corona - A roller that contains a positively charged wire to pull the toner off the
photosensitive drum and place it on the page.
Toner - Plastic resin that is the ink for a laser printer. Naturally negatively charged.
Fusing unit - Bonds the toner particles to prevent smearing. Uses heat to bond. Needs to be
replaced periodically as the fusing platens (rollers) get worn down. Often the thermal fuse will blow and
then you will know it is time to replace the unit because it will no longer heat up. Note: Fusers can reach
temperatures over 200 degrees - make sure you let it cool before handling it.
 IV. PRINTERS AND SCANNERS:
Overview
Although slightly repetitive, let's go through the 6 steps of the
electro-photographic process:
Cleaning - The drum is cleaned by the cleaning blade and the
excess toner goes into a waste bin. The drum is electrically erased
by the erase lamp leaving the drum electrically neutral.
Charging - The photosensitive drum is negatively charged by the
primary corona.
Writing - The Laser sweeps the length of the drum removing the
negative charge where the toner should be applied.
Developing - The toner is transferred to the area on the drum which
has been swept by the laser. Remember that toner is negatively
charged and like charges repel. This means that toner will not be
applied to areas where the laser did not remove the negative charge
made by the primary corona.
Transferring - Once the image is on the drum the paper is fed
through. The transfer corona uses a positive electrical charge to
attract the negatively charged toner and pull it off the photosensitive
drum onto the paper.
Fusing - The paper passes through the fuser unit. The non-stick
fusing rollers use heat and pressure to bond the toner to the paper.
 IV. PRINTERS AND SCANNERS:
Overview
Troubleshooting:
1. Blank Pages - Can be caused by no toner, transfer corona failure or a power supply failure. If you have
installed new toner cartridges, make sure that you remove the seal. If the toner cartridges aren't empty,
try reseating them. If still having the problem, look at the photosensitive drum and if the image is still
there, it means the transfer corona or power supply has failed.

2. Speckled Pages - Due to a failure in the cleaning step of the EP process, or a scratch on the
photosensitive drum.

3. Ghosted Images - Ghosting usually occurs with images that require a large amount of toner. When the
toner cartridge can’t provide sufficient toner, a residual electrical charge can be left on the drum that will
repeat down the length of the page. If your printer has a toner density setting, try reducing the density.
Laser printers can be very particular about the paper being used. Try higher quality paper. Also make
sure that the humidity is reasonable.

4. Smudged Images - The fusing process must have failed. The heating elements in the fusing rollers may
be faulty.

5. Dark spots - Can indicate toner buildup at some point in the paper path. If the spots repeat at regular
intervals, there may be toner built up on the fuser rollers. Running blank sheets through it may clear
problem. It is important to periodically clean the printer. The best way is with a low static vacuum. Canned
air will work, but will blow toner everywhere.
 IV. PRINTERS AND SCANNERS:
Overview
6. Unfused Toner - If pages come out with loose toner that can be smudged, it means that the toner isn't
being fused to the paper. First try media that meets the printer's specifications. If still having a problem,
replace the fuser.

7. Jams in laser printers usually occur in the paper pickup area, the fuser or the registration area. They
can be caused by dirty rollers, incorrect paper settings, media types, or environmental conditions.

Page Description Languages:

PDLs are programming languages used to "describe" the contents of a page in terms that a printer can
understand. Adobe's PostScript and HP's Printer Control Language (PCL) are the 2 most common PDLs
used in desktop publishing. When sent to the printer, a document is parsed by the driver which converts
the document into the language that the printer understands and instructs the printer how to format the
document. This is why it is so important to use the correct driver for your printer. If you use a PCL driver
for a PostScript printer, most likely a bunch of garbled text or nothing will print out.
 IV. PRINTERS AND SCANNERS:
Installing and Configuring Printers

Introduction:

Installing modern printers is very easy as most of them are now plug-and-play. One caveat is in regards
to the driver. You need to make sure that Windows loads the correct driver for your printer or you may
miss out on some of the features of the printer, or you may run into a variety of problems. Best practice is
to use the installation disk that comes with the printer, or download an updated driver from the
manufacturer's web site. Because there really isn't much to know about printers that install automatically,
we are going to walk through the various types of manual printer installation below and then we'll take a
look at how to configure and optimize a printer.

Installing a Printer Connected Via the Parallel Port:

If you need to manually install a printer, first click the Start button and select Printers and Faxes in
Windows XP. In Windows 2000, click the Start button, then Settings, then Printers. In both operating
systems, this can also be accessed via the control panel.
 IV. PRINTERS AND SCANNERS:
Installing and Configuring Printers

Notice the printer with a

check mark by it. This is
known as the default printer.

Now, we simply click Add a

Printer to start the installation
wizard.
 IV. PRINTERS AND SCANNERS:
Installing and Configuring Printers

Here you can see that there is

an option to add a local
printer or a network printer. If
the printer is going to be
attached with a parallel cable
or will be a network printer
that doesn't currently have a
print server, then you would
select local. While USB
printers are also local
printers, they should have
installed automatically via
plug-and-play.
 IV. PRINTERS AND SCANNERS:
Installing and Configuring Printers

If we select a local printer, the

next screen looks like this:

Here we select the port. If the

printer is going to be
connected with a parallel
cable, then in most cases this
will be LPT1. If it is an old
serial connection or you have
multiple parallel ports on the
PC, then you will have to
choose the appropriate port
from the drop down menu.
 IV. PRINTERS AND SCANNERS:
Installing and Configuring Printers

Next, we need to select the

driver for our printer. Notice the
Have Disk button. You can click
this if you need to install the
driver from a CD or downloaded
driver from the manufacturer.
 IV. PRINTERS AND SCANNERS:
Installing and Configuring Printers

Next we need to give the printer

a name. This name is how your
printer will be displayed in the
printer folder. We also need to
decide if this will be the default
printer or not. There can be only
1 default printer at a time.
 IV. PRINTERS AND SCANNERS:
Installing and Configuring Printers

Next, we need to choose

whether the printer will or won't
be shared. If you choose to
share it, you need to give it a
share name. The share name is
how the printer will appear to
those trying to connect to it.
 IV. PRINTERS AND SCANNERS:
Installing and Configuring Printers

The following window only

appears if you choose to share
the printer. Here you can add
details about the printer that will
help other users be sure that
they are connecting to the right
one.

After this, you have the option to

print a test page which is
recommended, and then the
installation is complete.
 IV. PRINTERS AND SCANNERS:
Installing and Configuring Printers

Installing a Network Printer - No Print Server Exists:

There are 2 different types of network printer installation. Most network printers need a print server and a
port to function. A print server is a host computer or device to which one or more printers are connected
and which accepts print jobs from external client computers. It hosts the queue where client print jobs are
spooled and it also hosts the printer port. On most networks, this will be a TCP/IP port.

The instructions in this section will describe how to set up a printer when no other computer or device is
acting as a print server. When using this installation method, it will make the computer you are installing
the printer on the new print server.
 IV. PRINTERS AND SCANNERS:
Installing and Configuring Printers

As in the last example, we

launch the Add Printer Wizard
and indicate that we wish to
add a local printer. This time,
however, we are going to
create a new TCP/IP port.
 IV. PRINTERS AND SCANNERS:
Installing and Configuring Printers

When you click Next, it will

launch the Add Standard
TCP/IP Printer Port Wizard.
Click next on the first screen
and you will see this:

First, you will need to enter

the IP address or host name
of the printer and then the
desired port name. After this,
the Add Standard TCP/IP
Printer Port Wizard is finished
and the window where you
choose the printer driver
appears. From here on, the
steps are exactly the same as
adding a parallel printer
described above.
 IV. PRINTERS AND SCANNERS:
Installing and Configuring Printers

Installing a Network Printer - Print Server Already Exists:

In this scenario, we'll go through the installation of a printer where a print server and port already exists
on the network. Just as before, we start by launching the Add Printer Wizard.
 IV. PRINTERS AND SCANNERS:
Installing and Configuring Printers

This time we are going to select

the network printer radio button
instead of local.
 IV. PRINTERS AND SCANNERS:
Installing and Configuring Printers

Next, we need to find the printer

we want to connect to. The first
option allows you to search
active directory. Since we know
the location of the printer, we are
going to use the 2nd option. If
you know the path to the printer,
you can enter it, or leave the
field blank to browse. The 3rd
option is for internet printers.
Some printers can be accessed
over the internet or across a
wide area network (WAN). This
option will be rarely used.
 IV. PRINTERS AND SCANNERS:
Installing and Configuring Printers

We chose to browse for our

printer and found the
CanonMP8. Select the printer
and click next.
 IV. PRINTERS AND SCANNERS:
Installing and Configuring Printers

We chose to browse for our

printer and found the
CanonMP8. Select the printer
and click next.

That completes the installation.

So why didn't we have to install
a driver? The drivers are located
on the print server and are
installed from there.
 IV. PRINTERS AND SCANNERS:
Installing and Configuring Printers
The Print Queue:
When you print to a printer, the print job is parsed by the driver and the document is converted into the
PDL (PCL, PostScript, etc.) that the printer understands. If you want to see the output of a file after it has
been converted by the driver, select the Print to File option in the printer preferences and then open the
new file in wordpad. Anyway, after the document is converted it is spooled to the print queue. If there are
other documents waiting to print, the document you sent will sit and wait, although there are options that
can be set to make your documents jump to the head of the line. The queue is not much more than disk
space on your computer where the document sits until it is sent off to be ripped by the printer.

With the right permissions, you can

manage the documents in the queue.
You can pause, restart, and delete print
jobs. Sometimes print jobs get stuck in
the queue or have errors and these
options allow you to take care of the
problem.

The easiest way to view the queue is to

click Start and select Printers and Faxes
(in Windows XP). Then simply double
click on the printer icon and the queue
will be displayed as follows:
 IV. PRINTERS AND SCANNERS:
Installing and Configuring Printers

Printer Configuration:

When we talk about printer software, we are mainly referring to the printer's driver which allows you to
take advantage of and configure the various features a printer has. Let's take a look at an example to
see how this works. Let's say you are using Microsoft Word (or any other application) and click File
then Print. This brings up the generic Windows Print dialogue box.
 IV. PRINTERS AND SCANNERS:
Installing and Configuring Printers

There are a couple of important

settings here, but none of them
are specific to any printer. If we
want to see what our printer is
capable of, we need to highlight
it, and click the Preferences
button on the right. This brings up
the setting for our printer from the
driver. This is why it is so
important to have the correct and
latest driver installed. Imagine if
you wanted to print from the
cassette tray, but the printer
driver you have installed doesn't
support that feature. That is one
of many problems you might run
into with the wrong driver.
 IV. PRINTERS AND SCANNERS:
Installing and Configuring Printers

After clicking the preferences

button, we see a window
(above) with several tabs. This
particular printer is fairly nice
and has a ton of features to
choose from. We aren't going
to get into all of those, but you
need to know where to find
these.

That's a lot of settings to deal

with, but there are even more.
If we go to the Printer and
Faxes folder (via control panel
or start menu), we can right
click on our printer and select
Properties.
 IV. PRINTERS AND SCANNERS:
Installing and Configuring Printers

The next thing to note is that in

both of the last 2 screen shots
there is a Maintenance tab.
Not all printers will have this,
or they may have it in a
different location. If we click on
this tab, we see:
 IV. PRINTERS AND SCANNERS:
Installing and Configuring Printers

If you recall the section on ink jet printers, you might remember that ink jets are prone to clogged
nozzles and that they should be cleaned periodically. This is the place to perform cleaning, printhead
alignment, and other tasks. The tasks available will depend on the printer as well as the printer type.
In other words, maintenance tasks for an ink jet will not be the same as those for a laser printer. Most
printers will allow you to perform these tasks from the front panel as well. In fact, some printers will
only allow you to do these types of things from the front panel. It just depends on the printer.

Another thing that you may want to configure for your printer is color matching. Computer monitors
display color in red, green, blue (RGB) format and most printers print in cyan, magenta, yellow, and
black (CMYK). Inevitably, the colors you see on the screen probably will not match those in your
prints. Most printer manufacturers provide an International Color Consortium (ICC) profile which can
be used to tell the printer to match what is on the screen. ICC profiles are also used for monitors,
digital cameras, scanners, and other devices. Some printers come with their own proprietary color
matching software as well.
 IV. PRINTERS AND SCANNERS:
Scanners
Scanners are input devices that are comprised of a Charge Coupled Device (CCD) array. This array is like
a series of "eyes" that read and record light intensities and stores them in digital form. This is achieved
when the scanners internal light source passes over the image that is being scanned.

Scanners come in three basic types. The simplest type of scanner is the hand held in which the scanning
device is moved across images or text. A Page scanner works by inserting a page into the top of the
scanner which is pulled via rollers through the scanner. The most common type of scanner is the flatbed
scanner which allows you to place a image or document on the top of its surface, much like a photocopier.

Page Handheld scanners

Flatbed
scanner
scanner
 IV. PRINTERS AND SCANNERS:
Scanners

Most scanners sold today use a plug-and-play USB or firewire connection. Older scanners typically
used a SCSI, parallel, or proprietary connection method depending on the scanner model.

To scan a document, simply place it face down on the scanner's glass and close the lid. Most
scanners will allow you to initiate the scan from the front panel or from the software/driver that is
included with it. If you initiate the scan from the front panel, the software will open on the PC anyway.
This software will allow you to control important scan settings that are discussed below:

Resolution - Scanner quality is measured in DPI or dots per inch. 300 DPI is usually adequate for
normal scanning, however, modern scanners can scan at resolutions of 9600 DPI and higher. The
higher the resolution, the larger the resultant scanned file will be.

Color Depth - This describes the number of bits of information that the scanner can use to describe
each dot. The higher the bits, such as 36 and 48-bit scanners sold today, the greater the variations in
color, shade, hue, etc. the scanner can reproduce.

Grayscale Depth - This is the same as color depth, but is a measure of how many shades of gray the
scanner can reproduce. Once again, higher is better.
 IV. PRINTERS AND SCANNERS:
Scanners

When buying a scanner, you need to take the above capabilities into consideration along with the
scanner's speed and connection type.

Most scanning problems are the result of the scanner's glass getting dirty or getting fingerprints on it.
The glass should be cleaned with a glass cleaner that does not have ammonia in it and a soft cloth.
Do not pour or spray the cleaner onto the glass - spray the cloth lightly. Do not use any type of cloth
that might scratch the glass.

Most scanners have a lock for the light assembly. Make sure you lock this when moving a scanner or
you may damage the light assembly. Make sure you unlock this before you try to scan again.
 V. NETWORK

Computer network or also known as network or networking is combination of computer hardware,

network media, network device and computer software which allows computers to share resources
with other computers.
 V. NETWORK:
Network Models/Architecture

When buying a scanner, you need to take the above capabilities into consideration along with the
scanner's speed and connection type.

Most scanning problems are the result of the scanner's glass getting dirty or getting fingerprints on it.
The glass should be cleaned with a glass cleaner that does not have ammonia in it and a soft cloth.
Do not pour or spray the cleaner onto the glass - spray the cloth lightly. Do not use any type of cloth
that might scratch the glass.

Most scanners have a lock for the light assembly. Make sure you lock this when moving a scanner or
you may damage the light assembly. Make sure you unlock this before you try to scan again.