PROCESSOR

A processor is the logic circuitry that responds to and processes the basic instructions that drive a computer. The term processor has generally replaced the term central processing unit (CPU). The processor in a personal computer or embedded in small devices is often called a microprocessor. The brain of any computer is the central processing unit (CPU). This component does all the calculations and performs 90 percent of all the functions of a computer. From the 2MHz Intel 4004 launched in 1971 to the mind boggling 2 GHz Pentium 4 in 2002 from the same company-the Microprocessor technology has come across a long way over these thirty years.

A microprocessor is an integrated circuit (IC) that contains a complete CPU on a single chip.

All the processors are backward compatible with 8086, and therefore appropriately called as x86 processors. The original IBM PC design was based on CPUs incorporating CISC architecture while its nearest rival, the Apple Macs were designed on Motorola 680x0 and IBM PowerPC processors features featuring RISC architecture. Though initially all x86 processors came with CISC architecture, present day x86 processor architecture is actually a perfect blending of RISC and CISC.

Working of CPU

The CPU is centrally located on the motherboard. Since the CPU carries out a large share of the work in the computer, data pass continually through it. The data come from the RAM and the units (keyboard, drives etc.). After processing, the data is send back to RAM and the units. The CPU continually receives instructions to be executed. Each instruction is a data processing order. The work itself consists mostly of calculations and data transport:

Data have a path to the CPU. It is kind of a data expressway called the system bus.

CISC and RISC instructions

CISC (Complex Instruction Set Computer): The first CPUs had a so called Complex Instruction Set Computer (CISC). This means that the computer can understand many and complex instructions. The X86 instruction set, with its varying length from 8 to 120 bit, was originally developed for the 8086 with its mere 29000 transistors. RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer):

The RISC instructions are brief and the same length (for example 32 bit long, as in Pentium Pro), and they process much faster than CISC instructions. Therefore, RISC is used in all newer CPUs. However, the problem is that the instructions arrive at the CPU in 8086 format. Thus, they must be decoded for every new CPU generation; the instruction set has been expanded. The 386 came with 26 new instructions, the 486 with 6 new instructions, and Pentium with 8 new instructions. These changes mean that some programs require at least a 386 or a Pentium processor to work.

Computer Memory
The term computer memory refers to any form of electrical storage device inside a computer. However, most often the term refers to fast, temporary forms of storage. If the processor needs to retrieve each and every piece of data from the hard disk drive, the speed of the processor will become considerable slow. But when the same piece of data is stored in the computer memory, the processor can access it more quickly. Most forms of memory are intended to store data temporarily.

Types of Computer Memory

Cache and registers RAM ROM FLASH Memory EMBEDED Memory OTPICAL Memory

Memory Allocation

How the memory is allocated for use by the CPU is called memory mapping

It uses hexadecimal addresses to define ranges of memory.

 The original processors developed by Intel were unable to use more than 1 MB of RAM, and the original IBM PC allowed only the first 640 KB of memory for direct use. MS-DOS applications were written to conform to this limitation. The first 640 KB was reserved for the operating system and applications (designated as conventional memory). The remaining 384 KB of RAM (designated as upper memory) was earmarked for running the computer's own housekeeping needs (BIOS, video RAM, ROM, and so on).

Memory Errors: Detection and Correction

Almost all computers check every memory bit at system startup to determine whether there are any memory errors. There are two methods available to detect and correct the memory errors. These are: Parity checking Error-correction code (ECC)

Motherboard

A motherboard is the main printed circuit board in a computer that contains the central processing unit, appropriate coprocessor and support chips, device controllers, memory, and also expansion slots to give access to the computers internal bus. The motherboard is the PCs center of activity. All devices in a computer are in some way connected to the motherboard. After CPU, motherboard is the second most important component in the system and therefore, it definitely needs special attention. The design of a motherboard is dependent on the type of CPU and mainly oriented around the chipset present onboard. The motherboard features decide the system performance to a great extent, upgrade potential, etc. As there are numerous types of processors, there are different types of motherboards as well. The classification is usually done on the basis of types of CPU sockets carried by these boards.

Functions of Motherboard
Motherboard provides a substrate upon which other components of a system such as CPU, RAM, ROM, Chipset, and Expansion Slots can reside. Motherboard provides the electrical connection between various components in the system.

 Motherboard provides interface for various add-on cards such as 3D graphics cards, NIC, Sound cards, etc. through various expansion slots such as PCI, ISA, AGP, etc. Motherboard provides the necessary interface with a host of I/O devices. E.g., on-board IDE or SCSI interface for harddisks, CD-ROM drives etc. They also provide other traditional I/O connectors such as PS/2interface, RS232 serial COM ports, Bi-directional parallel port (LPT), Joystick connection through game port, floppy disk interface, etc. The battery driven RTC chip on the motherboard stores CMOS setup information. They provide IR port, CNR slot, IEEE 1394, USB for attaching emerging high-speed serial devices.

Components of a Motherboard
There are various components of a motherboard which fixed together into a single unit leads to the proper functioning of a motherboard. (1) Chips: The active devices on the motherboard are gathered together in chips. These are tiny electronic circuits which are crammed with transistors. (2)Socket: These are holders, which have been soldered to the motherboard. The sockets are built to exactly match a card or a chip. (3) Plugs, Connectors, and Ports: The motherboard also contains a number of inputs and outputs, to which various equipment can be connected. Most ports (also called I/O

ports) can be seen where they end in a connector at the back of the PC. These are: Ports for the keyboard and mouse. Serial ports, the parallel port, and USB ports.

Motherboard Form Factors

A motherboard form factor just describes the dimensions or size of the motherboard and what the layout of the motherboard components is. Active and Passive Backplane. Full size AT Baby AT LPX Mini-ATX AT NLX LPX Mini or

SMPS
SMPS supplies power to different systems components such as the motherboard and the device drives. The main components of SMPS are power connectors and power supply fan. Power connectors provide DC voltage to all the system components and power supply fan is used to keep the unit cool. The form factor of power supply represents the size and the shape of power supply. The different form factors of the power supply unit are the PC/XT,AT,Baby AT,LPX.The power supply unit form factor must match the form factor of the system case and the motherboard.

Accepts the Alternate Current (AC) current from the power socket in the wall and converts the AC current to the Direct Current (DC). Now a days power supplies are available in the range of 250W to 400W

Supplies 3.3V, 5V, and 12V to the different components of the system

Output Voltages
Various voltages provided by the power supply are: -12 V (Blue) required by some of the serial ports -5 V (white) required by some older floppy controllers and ISA bus cards 0 V (Black) - ground

 +3.3 V (Orange) required by processor, DIMMs, PCI/AGP cards +5 V (Red) required by voltage regulators, ISA cards, SIMMs and disk drive logic +12 V (Yellow) used by drive motors and cooling fans

Power Supply Control Signals

Power supplies are operated using different control signals Different control signals are: PG Signal (5V Grey) Power-On (PS_ON) (5V Green) +5VSB (Violet) always on when AC power input is active, even if the system is turned off

Hard disk
A hard disk is a secondary and permanent data storage device that is placed in the system. It is similar to a human brain, where

all the past and present events are stored. It is made up of magnetic material that helps in storing data by following the magnetic recording techniques. The latest technology has reached up to 4-terrabyte(TB) of storage space.

Types of hard disk

The different types of hard disk: IDE/PATA Devices Serial ATA(SATA)Drives Hard disks are of two types depending upon how it is connected to the system. Internal Hard Disk Drives External Hard Disk Drives

Characteristics of Hard Disk Drives

Capacity & Cost With advance technology cost of the HDD gradually decreased and the capacity of the hard disk also increased Performance Depends on the way the data is stored and retrieved on HDD Reliability Measured in terms that user should be able to retrieve and store data when required RPM RPM is the count of the revolutions made by the hard disk per minute

 Standard Drives (IDE/PATA/EIDE) ATA transfers data between the hard disk and system using 16 bits with speeds of up to 100 MB/133MB per second. Uses Programmed Input Output (PIO) or Ultra direct Memory Access (UDMA) technology to transfer data. Maximum 4 HDDs can be connected Serial Attachment (SATA) Transfers with the speed of 600MB per second. wire cable to connect to the system. one SATA drive to a SATA controller and there is no master/slave concept data using 1 bit Uses a smaller 7 You can connect on motherboard

Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI) Hard Disk Drives High-speed interface that enables you to connect up to 15 devices on a single port External Hard Disk Drives Connected using USB2 and Firewire Interfaces Wireless HDD Requires external power supply. DTR is 54 Mbps, supports wireless 802.g standard and provides interface RJ45 and USB 1.1

Components of Hard Disk

Platters Round disks that are made up of metal or glass. Glass platters are preferred as shape of glass does not change when hard disk heats up Recording Media Made up of a magnetic material such as iron oxide and data is stored in this layer

 Read / Write Head Used to read and write the data on the hard disk. While the disk is reading or writing data to the disk the head does not touch the disk Head Actuator Mechanism Moves the read/write head from center of the platter to the edge of the platter Air Filters Cleans the air circulating in the hard disk

Hard Disk Temperature Acclimation Time that hard disk must not be used after it is transported from a place having cold climate to a place having warm climate. Air vents in hard disk that are used for equalizing pressure in hard disk

Optical disk drives (ODD)

Optical disk drives can read and write data from and to optical disks. The optical disk is so named because its technology is based on light. As the disk spins a laser beam follows a spiraling trail of pits and lands in the plastic material of the disk. The pits reflect light differently than the lands, while a device translate the reflective difference to bits of on/off or 1 and 0.The bits from bytes that carry the digital code of the data stored on the optical disk. Different Optical Disk Drives are: CD Drive DVD Drive Blue-ray Drive The Compact Disk

The compact disk (CD) was introduced by Philips and Sony in 1980 to replace LPrecords. It is a small plastic disk with a

reflecting metal coating, usually aluminum. Myriads of tiny indentations are burned into this coating. These indentations contain the music in millions of bits. The CD is organized in tracks. Each track is assigned a number. The big advantage of the CD is its high-quality music reproduction and total absence of back ground noise as well as a great dynamic. During operation, the software in the drive can correct errors caused by such things as finger marks on the disk. All in all, the CD is an excellent music storage media. DVD

The next optic drives we will see in the next few years is the DVD drive. They are being developed by several companies (Philips, Sony, and others) and represent a promising technology. DVD stands for Digital Versatile Disk. They are thought of as a future all-round disk, which will replace CD-ROM and laser disks. In the future, DVD might also replace VHS tapes for videos. Certain DVD drives can both read and write the disks. There are also read only, designed for playing videos.

The DVD is a flat disk, the size of a CD - 4.7 inches diameter and .05 inches thick. Data are stored in a small indentation in a spiral track, just like in the CD.DVD disks are read by a laser beam of shorter wave-length than used by the CD ROM drives. This allows for smaller indentations and increased storage capacity.

The data layer is only half as thick as in the CD-ROM. This opens the possibility to write data in two layers. The outer gold layer is semi transparent, to allow reading of the underlying silver layer. The laser beam is set to two different intensities, strongest for reading the underlying silver layer. Here you see a common type DVD ROM drive:

Other DVD types

DVD-ROM is for read-only, like the CD-ROM. This media is usable for distribution of software, but especially for multimedia products, like movies. The outer layers can hold 4.7 GB, the underlying 3.8 GB. The largest version can hold a total of 17 GB. DVD-R (recordable) are write once-only like CD-R. This disk can hold 3.9 GB per side. DVD RAM can be written and read like a hard disk. Capacity is 2.6 GB per side or whatever they agree on. There are many problems with this format. The Blue ray disk:

Blue-ray also known as blue-ray disk(BD), is the name of a nextgeneration optical disk format.BD is developed jointly y blue-ray disk association(BDA),consumer electronics and media manufacturers. Blue-ray disk enables you to record up to 25 GB of data or up to 2 hours of high definition video on a single sided, which is almost six times the capacity of a DVD.

MONITOR
Monitors are classified based on the technology that they use to display images such as the Cathode Ray Tube (CRT), Liquid Crystal Display (LCD),Thin Film Transistor(TFT), Plasma and LED.

Working of CRT Monitor

In CRT technology, the filaments at the back of the cathode tube shoot a beam of electrons to the screen at front of the tube. Plates on the top, bottom, and sides of the tube control the direction of the beam. The beam of is directed by these plates to start at the top of the screen, move from left to right to make one

line, and then move down to the next line, again moving from left to right. As the beam moves vertically down the screen, it builds the image.

Liquid Crystal Display Monitor

Thin and use little space. Picture on the LCD monitor does not flicker and thus reduces eyestrain as the whole image is drawn at once on the LCD screen. Used in laptops, microwave ovens. The picture on the LCD monitor does not flicker and thus reduce eyestrain because the whole image is drawn at once on the LCD screen. The LCD monitor is also available for desktop use and appears.

TFT Monitors
Uses Thin-Film Transistor technology. Tiny transistor is used for each pixel on the display .Allows faster re-drawing of the image. Displays sharp text, excellent color and an improved response time for multimedia applications. Viewing angles are often in a range of +-30 to +-70 degrees .Has a sandwich-like structure with liquid crystal filled between two glass plates.TFTs are actually the number of pixels displayed.

LED Monitors LED computer monitor has been mainly appreciated for its low power consumption and its great performance which has been considered as perfect for office type of productivity. This computer monitor has been considered to include a very efficient type of power supply and a very low power consumption of less than 1.5 watts in standby mode. Its contrast ration, which has been evaluated at 1000:1 and its dynamic type of contrast ratio which is of 1000000; 1.

I/O Ports and Devices

A Port is used to connect the system and a device together, using a connecting cable, so that they can communicate together. The different ports available are usually located at that the back of the system case or they may also be located at the front side of the system case. Some ports available at the back of the system .

Parallel Port:

Transmits eight bits of data at a time. Has 25 pins. Connects devices such as printers, scanners, external hard drive and tape drive. You can get more parallel ports by installing an expansion card. LPT1 uses IRQ7 and LPT2 uses IRQ5.

Serial Port:

Sends and receives one bit of data at a

time. Known as the Communication or COM port .Has 9 or 25 pins. Connect devices such as the mouse, plotters and modems. Transmitting device sends a start bit then actual data byte followed by a stop bit. Maximum cable length is 50 feet. If you need more serial ports, you can install multi I/O card.

Port Symbols

IEEE 1284:Compatibility Mode used for directing data

from computer to peripheral (output only).Nibble Mode 4 bit (Input only).Byte Mode uses software drivers same as nibble mode (8 bit).Enhanced Parallel Port Mode (EPP) it is hardware driven and bi-directional, high speed parallel port interface. Enhanced Capability Port Mode (ECP) same as EPP uses DMA.

Universal Serial Bus (USB):

Connects up

to 127 devices to a single port. Supplies power to the device. Plug-and-play support. Maximum cable length is 30m thus you can connect 5 hubs to the USB.Has two different connections: connection A and connection B.USB 1.0 1.5 Mbps, USB 1.1 12 Mbps and USB 2.0 480 Mbps.

BIOS/CMOS

The BIOS is a collection of programs embedded in one or more chips, depending on the design of your computer. This collection of programs is loaded first even before the OS is loaded. The BIOS in most PCs have four main functions:

POST Tests computers processor, memory, chipset, video, adapter, disk controllers, disk drives, keyboard and other components.

Setup Enables you to configure the motherboard and chipset settings BIOS - Collection of actual drivers which act as a basic interface between the OS and your hardware

Bootstrap Loader - Job of this program to load the OS from the floppy disk or the hard disk into the computers main memory (RAM).

BIOS Manufacturer: Accessing the BIOS:

Phoenix BIOS

AMI, Award, Phoenix, MR BIOS.

Award BIOS

AMI BIOS IBM BIOS Compaq BIOS

Ctrl+Alt+Esc Ctrl+Alt+F1 Ctrl+Alt+S Ctrl+Alt+Enter Ctrl+Alt+F11 Ctrl+Alt+Ins Ctrl+Alt+Esc Esc Del Del F1, F2 or F10 F10

Enables you to control and troubleshoot the system and the different hardware components before loading the operating system

Complementary Metal Semiconductor (CMOS)

Oxide

The CMOS setup utility enables you to modify the settings and store them in the CMOS.This utility enables you to control the boot sequence. You can also use this utility to change the BIOS setting to correct any hardware problems such as enabling ports that are disabled.

Memory chip located on the motherboard that stores the BIOS settings. Battery must be replaced when it becomes weak or you may lose the stored BIOS settings. Receives power from the battery that is installed on the motherboard. Clear the BIOS settings stored in the CMOS using the jumpers located on the motherboard or by removing the battery from the motherboard.

Printers/Scanners
The printer is a device that prints text documents and images on paper means converts a soft copy to hard copy. Printers are broadly classified in two groups:
Impact printers: Dot matrix printer is a type of Impact

Printer. Uses electromagnet print head and tends to be noisy. Cannot produce high quality document or graphics. Best useful in creation of multi-part document like invoices. No. of metal pins in printer head varies from 9 to 24.Speed varies from 30 to 550 cps.
Non-impact

printers: Known for quite operation as physical contact is not established between head, cartridge and paper. Different types of non-impact printers are: Inkjet printer Laser printer

Inkjet Printers

 Places extremely minute amount of electrically charged ink

on paper to create images or text.Drops of ink are sprayed through a series of nozzles .Uses monochrome as well as color cartridges.Can be connected to LPT or USB port.Provides high quality print.

Laser printers
Uses a beam of laser for printing .Uses static

electricity to combine ink powder and paper. Consists of a revolving drum/cylinder that is made up of photoconductive material .Drum is charged with the help of a charging wire called the charge corona wire.

Scanner A scanner is a device that translates data on a sheet of papers to a form can be stored on a computer. The basic function of a scanner is to convert a document to digital format.

Types of Scanners

Flatbed Scanners

Sheet Fed Scanners

Slide Scanners

Drum Scanners

Flatbed Scanners:

Most widely used type of

scanners. Similar to a photocopy machine in appearance. Also known as desktop scanner.

Sheet Fed Scanners:

Used for scanning sheets of paper. Very versatile in scanning loose sheets of paper. Cannot scan bound documents. Scan photo slides. Enables people to digitalize photographs .Use to restore old slides.

Slide Scanners:

Assembling/Disassembling :
Assembling a computer involves connecting internal and external components. Internal components include the ones that are installed inside a system case such as motherboard, Ram, disk drives, SMPS and daughter cards.

Necessary components for assembling a computer are: Hard Drive, Memory Modules, Microprocessor, Power Supply (SMPS), Heat Sink, Case Fan, Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) Cables, Video Card, and Motherboard. Other components required for assembling a computer are: Network Interface Card (NIC), Sound Card CD ROM, Audio Cable for CD ROM, Floppy Drive, Floppy Drive Cable, Power Cables, Case (Cabinet), and Modem.

Steps to Assemble a PC
1. Select the proper system case 2. Open the system case 3. Install the power supply 4. Install case fan (if available) 5. Configure the motherboard 6. Install the microprocessor and heat sink 7. Install the motherboard 8. Install the memory 9. Mount and install the disk drives (IDE, SATA)
10. Mount

the floppy disk drive Mount and connect Install NIC Card and Connect all the

11. the CD-ROM drive 12. other expansion cards (if any) 13. interface and power cables

14. Connect all connectors (panel connector, audio connector, fan connector) 15. Connect the peripheral devices such as keyboard and Mouse 16. Connect the monitor

Steps to Disassemble a PC

1. Disconnect external devices (Keyboard, mouse and monitor) 2. Remove the system case cover 3. Disconnect all the internal cables (interface and power cables) 4. Remove the device cards from expansion slots 5. Remove the disk drives (CDROM, FDD and HDD) 6. Remove the RAM 7. Remove the heat sink and processor fan 8. Remove the processor 9. Remove the motherboard 10. 11. supply Remove the case fan Remove the power

Storage
A storage device is a hardware device capable of storing information. There are two storage devices used in computers; primary device such as computer RAM and a secondary storage device such as a computer hard disk drive. In the picture to the right, is an example of a Drub, an external secondary

storage device. Below, are some additional examples of storage devices.

Floppy diskette CD-ROM disc CD-R disc CD-RW disc DVD-R / DVD+R / DVD-RW / DVD+RW disc Jump drive / USB flash drive Hard disk drive LS-120 Tape cassette Zip diskette

COMPUTER STORAGE DEVICES Types of storage devices Floppy Drive - The smallest and most portable of all the storage devices usually holds about 1.44MB of storage. SuperDrive The LS120 or SuperDisk is a drive which supports a special floppy diskette which can store up to 120MB or 240MB of information as well as being backwards compatible and still supporting the standard floppy diskettes. ZipDrive New generation similar to the floppy disk drive created by Iomega The Iomega Zip Drive was first released 1994 and today is becoming a popular solution for PC and Macintosh computers as a removable solution. Zip Drives Disks come in100MB,

250MB and 750MB CD Burner An optical storage device that holds data anywhere from 650MB to 700MB (74-80 minutes) Dvd Burner - A newer optical storage device that holds data anywhere from4.70-17.08GB DVD Capacity DVD-5 4.7GB DVD-9 8.54GB DVD-10 9.4GB DVD-18 17.08GB (8 hours) Newest DVD format Blu-Ray HD-DVD 15-30GB DVD 25-50GB (2hours) (4hours) (4.5hours)

Hard Drive - A hard drive is usually built inside your computer and holds anywhere from 1GB to 4TB of capacity. There are three types of internal hard drives are PATA, SATA and SCSI. External hard drives come in USB, Fire wire, SATA and SCSI. Flash Drive - A compact and portable device use for storing data anywhere from 128MBupto4GB.

RAM Troubleshooting
Before you start troubleshooting remember that you are dealing with electricity that can KILL. Only work inside the computer case when the power has been switched off and disconnected. Never

open the power source. Is the RAM installed correctly? Some motherboard must have their slots filled in a special sequence. Sometimes DIMMs must be in a specific sequence. Remove the memory modules from their slots. Take the opportunity to clean the slots on the motherboards and the memory module connectors. Use compressed air to blow dust away and clean contacts with a soft cloth. Don't use a vacuum cleaner if it touches any component it may create a short and cause damage to the motherboard or other components. Don't use solvent that may attract dust and never poke things like cotton buds or student eraser or wash the pins with the pure alcohol and try again in to slots. Check the memory module and memory slot contacts. They are either tin or gold. The color will tell you which they are. Mixing tin and gold can result in corrosion that prevents proper contact. Look for any sign of physical damage to the memory module, memory slots or the motherboard. With the last two you are looking at replacing the motherboard. Reset the memory modules. You should hear an audible click when they are in place. Do not use too much force to reseat the memory module in to the slot this can cause damage to the module , slot or motherboard. Swap modules in to different slots. If you have more than one memory module try different combinations or one at a time. This might identify a faulty component. If you have changed or upgraded the memory modules try taking your system back to its original configuration. Does it still work? If yes then suspect a fault or compatibility problem. If no but you

may have damaged the motherboard. If your compute isn't recognizing your entire RAM it might be a problem with the BIOS. Check with the motherboard or PC manufacturers web site for possible BIOS upgrades. Word of WARNING - BIOS upgrades can seriously damage your wealth. Make double sure that you have the correct BIOS update for your motherboard. Flash the wrong upgrade can result in needing a new motherboard. Check for viruses with an up to date virus checker. Some viruses cause problems that look like memory errors. Try removing recently installed hardware or software. Sometimes operating systems misinterpret problems as memory related.

Windows blue screen errors

Before fixing a Microsoft Windows blue screen or blue screen of death error (BSoD) you must first identify what error it is. Since there are different blue screen errors. Note: If you're getting a blue screen and then your computer immediately reboots without being able to read the text in the blue screen, follow the steps below. If you're unable to get into Windows to perform the steps below, boot the computer into Safe Mode.
1. 2. 3.

From the desktop right-click on My Computer. Click the Properties option.

In the System Properties window click the advanced tab. In Advanced click the Settings button under Startup and Recovery.
4. 5.

In the Startup and Recovery window uncheck the automatically restart check box. 6. Click Ok.

Blue screen errors Windows NT, 2000, XP, Vista, and later versions of Windows will have a blue screen error that's similar to the example shown below. Thankfully these error messages often contain more detailed information, and will contain information that can be more easily searched for and found. If you're not getting a blue screen error that looks like the below skip to the next Fatal exception section.

1.

Identify the blue screen by locating a line containing all capital letters with underscores instead of spaces, such as the above example: BAD_POOL_HEADER. Write this information down. If you do not see anything written in all caps with underscores like this, skip this step. Get either the STOP: error message at the top of the error, or in the "Technical Information:" portion of the error. For example, in the above error it's STOP: 0x00000019 ... write the first potion of this error message down.

2.

3. Finally, if technical information is shown write down the file and the address. Once you have the above information you can start troubleshooting the issue. Below are common blue screen errors and links to pages that contain the troubleshooting steps fore ach of these errors. If your error is not listed in the below sectionsearch for the error you wrote down. BAD_POOL_HEADER DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE

IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL NTFS_FILE_SYSTEM PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA STATUS_IMAGE_CHECKSUM_MISMATCH THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER UNEXPECTED_KERNEL_MODE_TRAP UNKNOWN_HARD_ERROR Fatal exceptions

Many of the blue screen error messages you'll encounter with earlier versions of Windows will be fatal exception error messages or Fatal 0E messages. If your blue screen message starts out withA fatal exception 0E ... or An exception ... you're encountering this error.

System Performance Tuning

System Performance Tuning answers one of the most fundamental questions you can ask about your computer: How can I get it to do more work without buying more hardware? In the current economic downturn, performance tuning takes on a new importance. It allows system administrators to make the best use of existing systems and minimize the purchase of new equipment. Well-tuned systems save money and time that would otherwise be wasted dealing with slowdowns and errors. Performance tuning always involves compromises; unless system administrators know what the compromises are, they can't make intelligent decisions. Tuning is an essential skill for system administrators who face the problem of adapting the speed of a computer system to the speed requirements imposed by the real world. It requires a detailed understanding of the inner workings of the computer and its architecture. System Performance Tuning covers two distinct areas: performance tuning, or the art of increasing performance for a specific application, and capacity planning, or deciding what hardware best fulfills a given role. Underpinning both subjects is the science of computer architecture. This book focuses on the operating system, the underlying hardware, and their interactions. Topics covered include:

Real and perceived performance problems, introducing capacity planning and performance monitoring (highlighting their strengths and weaknesses).

An integrated description of all the major tools at a system administrator's disposal for tracking down system performance problems. Background on modern memory handling techniques, including the memory-caching filesystem implementations in Solaris and AIX. Updated sections on memory conservation and computing memory requirements. In depth discussion of disk interfaces, bandwidth capacity considerations, and RAID systems. Comprehensive discussion of NFS and greatly expanded discussion of networking. Workload management and code tuning. Special topics such as tuning Web servers for various types of content delivery and developments in cross-machine parallel computing

Upgrading a PC
We should upgrade the PC but we may also need to upgrade on account of the poor performance of the components or to load the latest software etc. There are various problems which lead to the gradation of the PC some of them are: Poor performance of the PC. Continuously hanging. Component not compatible with the operating system like windows 7 etc. For good pixel resolution we may need to install a new graphics card.

Advantages of upgrading PC:

Increased performance of PC. Provides better storage capacity. Compatible to load latest OS and software.

Beep Sound Error Code

The BIOS program does the power on self test(POST) testing as the system turns on.This testing is done to ensure that the system is working properly. If the computer fails to start, a long beep is generates. This beep indicates that there is a requirement to check the BIOS of the motherboard for errors. AMI BIOS beep codes Below are the AMI BIOS Beep codes that can occur. However, because of the wide variety of different computer manufacturers with this BIOS, the beep codes may vary. Beep Code 1 short 2 short 3 short Descriptions DRAM refresh failure Parity circuit failure Base 64K RAM failure

4 short 5 short 6 short 7 short 8 short 9 short

System timer failure Process failure Keyboard controller Gate A20 error Virtual mode exception error Display memory Read/Write test failure ROM BIOS checksum failure

AWARD BIOS beep codes Below are Award BIOS Beep codes that can occur. However, because of the wide variety of different computer manufacturers with this BIOS, the beep codes may vary. Beep Code 1 long, 2 short Description Indicates a video error has occurred and the BIOS cannot initialize the video screen to display any additional information

Any other RAM problem. beep(s) If any other correctable hardware issues, the BIOS will display a message. IBM BIOS beep codes

Below are general IBM BIOS Beep codes that can occur. However, because of the wide variety of models shipping with this BIOS, the beep codes may vary. Beep Code No Beeps 1 Short Beep 2 Short Beep Continuous Beep Repeating Short Beep One Long and one Short Beep Description No Power, Loose Card, or Short. Normal POST, computer is ok. POST error, review screen for error code. No Power, Loose Card, or Short. No Power, Loose Card, or Short. Motherboard issue.

Hardware Troubleshooting
Hardware troubleshooting involves finding and fixing the problem of the components.In other words, troubleshooting means eliminating the problem. Four common sense techniques and strategies to solve common computer hardware problems. 1. Trial and error : Personal computersare highly modular by design. The most powerful trouble-shooting technique is to isolate the problem to a specific component by trial and error. 2. Check cables :

More than 70% of all computer problems are related to cabling and connections. Ensure all cables are connected firmly. SATA,IDE and ribbon cables and power cables can often become loose.Ensure microprocessor , memory modules , and adapters such as video card and sound card are inserted correctly. 3. Dont be frausted : Dont be afraid of computer problems. Its often the best opportunity to learn. Troubleshooting is part of the fun of owning a computer.Imagine the satisfaction you could get y solving a problem yourself.

Maintaining Storage Devices

Storage devices enable you to store and transfer data between the computer and different storage media Different storage devices are: Floppy Drive Zip Drives CD & DVD Drive Tape Drive Maintaining Floppy Drives: Do not use dirty or corrupted disks Clean the head regularly by using a floppy drive cleaning kit Clean the CD-ROM drive by using a CD Lens cleaner kit for proper functioning

Maintaining the I/O Devices

Input output devices refer to the external components that are attached tothe system Input devices are: Mouse (Clean and troubleshoot from control panel) Keyboard (clean) Scanner Output devices are: Monitor (Clean and show how to check E to N voltage) Printer Speakers

Server Motherboard
Server Motherboards are those motherboards which are powerful and have more advanced features as compared to ordinary motherboards. For those who dont know what a server is?, or those who want to confirm their knowledge - A server is a type of computer that coordinates and works with other computers over a network. Servers can be built from common computer components, but specialized hardware is recommended for heavy-

load/critical applications. Coming back to the topic under the spot - Server Mother Boards have higher memory capacity, allow high speed processors and have more expansion capabilities as compared to a regular desktop motherboard. Server board is mainly meant for linking with other computers over a network and enabling effective interaction. Server mother boards are usually built from higher-grade components than desktop computers. It is essential for an efficient server mainboard to support dualcore (two processor cores) or quad-core (four cores) chips. This is because servers usually require a lot of processing power to handle running multiple computers. Server motherboards have a range of memory slots available to meet heavy performance demands as needed. As computing power and memory needs increase, a server motherboard is equipped with a corresponding number of slots for expansion and stabilization of overall system overall. Server mobos have network adapters built into them, those which dont have them can be equipped with a separate network adapter card. A server board is a very important part of a sever network as it allows the various systems on the network to communicate with each other. A server based mother board is usually meant for power users like astronomers, physicists, mathematicians and huge financial institutions. the motherboard, sometimes called the system board or mainboard, is the backbone of the computer and a crucial piece of hardware to which all system components, including the CPU, memory and expansion cards are connected and interact through. Based on the functions of

the system, there are various types of motherboards made for different applications. Motherboards for server systems are different from those for home and office use and are enhanced for heavy work and processing loads. The Vitals of a Server Motherboard A motherboard includes a variety of components that define its capabilities. Selecting the motherboard that is perfect for all your needs can be a complicated process. The two issues that require the closest attention when choosing a motherboard are: 1. The chipset, which determines the functionality, compatibility and connectivity of a motherboard, and 2. The CPU and memory support. Motherboard, CPU and memory should be considered as a whole when building a server system, since they are closely related to each other. Your choice of any one of them will affect your options for the other two. Chipset Traditionally, the term "chipset" (sometimes called core logic) often refers to the two main chips on the motherboard: the Northbridge and the Southbridge. The Northbridge often refers to the chip that handles communications between the CPU, memory, AGP or PCI Express and the Southbridge. The Northbridge often includes the memory controller. The Southbridge provides connections to I/O devices, such as the PCI bus, USB, PATA, SATA and PCI Express devices. Other Southbridge functions include interrupt controller, real time clock,

power management (ACPI and APM), SMBus and so on. Southbridge chips are usually connected to Northbridge chips. Motherboards often include other types of chips to provide additional functions, such as SCSI controller, PCI-X controller/hub and network controller chips. The words "Northbridge" and "Southbridge" are older, but still sometimes used terms for today's server/workstation chipsets, but the functions are similar. For example, MCH (Memory Controller Hub) and ICH (I/O Controller Hub) from Intel are essentially equivalent to "Northbridge" and "Southbridge" in function. CPU Support There are two concerns when it comes to CPU support: CPU type and count. For both AMD and Intel platform motherboards (compatible only with AMD or Intel processors respectively), the CPU socket type is required to match the motherboard's CPU socket for proper installation. For example, an LGA 771 CPU must be installed on an LGA 771 motherboard. LGA 775, Socket 603/604 and LGA 771 are Intel-compatible socket types, while Socket 939, Socket AM2, Socket 940 and Socket F (Socket 1207) are AMD-compatible socket types. The chipset is equal in importance to CPU support - the selected motherboard must feature a chipset that will support the CPU you have chosen. Server systems require a lot of processing power to deal with heavy data requests or processing loads, so multiple CPU support is an important feature that make a good deal of sense for certain users, since more CPUs boost the processing power available. There are many server

motherboards that feature more than one CPU socket, and dual CPU socket motherboards are currently the most popular in personal/home/small business domains. Of course, there are also quad socket motherboards provided for the most demanding users. Multiple-core (dual-core, quad-core or more) CPUs are currently gaining in popularity. These CPUs are able to deliver much higher processing power over their singlecore predecessors and are similar in concept to the multi CPU motherboard. You may choose to pair these multi-core CPUs on a dual socket motherboard and enjoy even higher levels of performance! Memory Support The Northbridge chip traditionally contained the memory controller, meaning that memory support - defined by memory type, memory channels, memory speed and memory capacity - was determined by the chipset. However, for AMD Opteron processors, the memory controller is integrated into the CPU. Therefore, the CPU, not the chipset determines the memory support on modern AMD platforms. Memory capacity is vital to a server, so please be sure there are enough memory slots on the motherboard to meet your performance demands. In addition, please pay special attention to the motherboard's ECC and registered memory support, which are features critical to servers. ECC As the name "Error Checking and Correction" suggests, ECC technology allows computers to correct memory

errors. The most popular type of ECC is single bit error correction. This enables the detection and correction of single-bit errors (within a byte, or 8bits of data). Chip kill is an advanced ECC memory technology developed by IBM. Chip kill technology distributes the bits of an ECC word across multiple memory chips, thus a single memory chip failure will only affect one ECC bit out of an ECC word. Chip kill thus allows memory data to be reconstructed in the event of a memory chip failure or multi-bit data errors from a single memory chip. Registered Memory With increasing system memory, the stability and performance deterioration of unbuffered memory is inevitable - the memory controller has to address each memory chip on all modules directly, which results in high electrical loads. To solve this problem, higher density systems use registered memory instead. Registered modules contain registers as a buffer to temporarily hold data (address and command data only) for one clock cycle before it is transferred. This increases the reliability of high-speed data access to high density memory but sacrifices some performance since there is one additional clock cycle between the Chip Select and the Bank Activate command. Besides the popular DDR and DDR2 memory modules, there is a new type of memory called FB-DIMM, which is utilized by some of the latest Intel server platforms. Fully Buffered DIMM or FB-DIMM technology aims to increase reliability, bandwidth and density of the memory

system. FB-DIMM architecture introduces Advanced Memory Buffer (AMB) between the memory controller and DRAM chips. The interface between AMB and DRAM chips supports DDR2 today, and will support DDR3 in the future. This is the same as common memory modules. But unlike the parallel interface utilized by traditional memory modules, the interface between memory controller and the AMB of FB-DIMM memory is a point-to-point serial bus. FB-DIMM technology brings excellent scalability and throughput - up to 192GB capacity, 6 channels and 6.7GB/s bandwidth per channel. Compared to the 240 pins per channel of current DRAM modules, FB-DIMM only has a pin count of 69 per channel. This makes board layouts significantly easier to design and reduces costs tremendously.

Portable PC
Types of Portable PC
Laptop - Portable computer that can perform all the tasks of a desktop computer Notebook - Small and lightweight version of a portable computer. use flat panel technologies to produce a lightweight display screen Subnotebook Smaller and lighter version of notebook. Generally have smaller keyboards and screens as compared to notebooks and usually have external drives Palmtop - Also known as Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) that can fit in the palm of a hand. Uses pen/stylus for input. Most palmtops do not have disk drives because of their size limitations.

Laptop Design
Most important point to be considered while designing a laptop is its portability Design characteristics of a laptop are: Size and weight

 Screen size Performance Battery life Onboard Components Ports and sockets

Laptop Components
Motherboard Memory Use SODIMM and size varies between 16MB to 1 GB Microprocessor Has multiple sleep modes and operates at lower voltage Hard Drives size varies from 6 to 80 GB Floppy Drives CD and DVD Drives Batteries - different types of batteries used by laptops include nickel-cadmium, lithium ion and nickel-metal hydride out of which lithium ion batteries are most popular Device card (PCMCIA card) - used to connect devices such as a fax, modem or memory device and has a 68-pin connector Infrared ports I/O Ports A/C Adapters

 Gaming computers are equipped with numerous ports including USB, Fire wire, headphone and microphone. Some companies like Alien ware, Storm Freeze Technology and others are specialized in producing custom gaming PC

Types of gaming pc
A gaming computer is a personal computer that is capable of playing modern video games. Gaming computer similar to the personal computer but the main difference between them is of high performance oriented video card an RAM. Different types of Gaming PC are available they are Entry level, Mid range and high end. Gaming PC has several distinct hardware components that set them apart from a typical PC.

Keyboard and Mouse Keyboard :

Primary input device of the computer and used to enter commands and type text. Its similar to typewriter. Present day keyboards have 101 or more keys

Main types of keys on a Windows keyboard are:

Alphanumeric Enables the user to enter text and numbers Punctuation Enables the user to punctuate sentences and add additional characters Navigation Used to move the cursor between different places on a screen Special Perform some special functions on the data Windows Open Windows-specific items like the Start menu Function Used to perform certain functions like provide help Numeric Enables the user to perform numerical operations on the data Modification Enables the user to use additional features like capitalizing letters (caps lock)

Mouse

 Douglas Engelbart invented mouse The name is so because the appearance and movement are very similar to that of a mouse Enables user to move cursor or pointer to specific point on screen Can have two or three buttons or a scroll button When you move the mouse, the cursor on the screen also moves in the same direction Mouse is important for Graphical User Interface (GUI) applications You can use the mouse to draw objects on the screen Serial Connector PS/2 Connector USB Connector