NATIONAL HND EXAMINATION PAPER STRUCTURE FOR COMPUTER

ENGINEERING: HARDWARE MAINTENANCE

Paper: Practice of PC
Specialty: Hardware Maintenance
Nature of the paper: Practical
Parts: Three (03) parts
Duration of the paper: 5hrs
Coefficient: 4

Objectives of the paper

This paper follows the exact format of the case study paper but everything here is done practically. At
the end of this course, students should be able to:
- Configure a computer on the network
- Troubleshoot various components
- Install operating systems, applications, drivers and updates
- Maintain and interconnect computer peripherals

Content of the paper

1. Programming (practical)
2. Networking (practical)
3. Maintenance that is troubleshooting and Operating system (practical)
N.B: Questions proposed in the practice of PC paper should not be the same as those in the case study
paper.
Marks allocation for each section of the paper
1. Programming should constitute 20% of the entire practice of PC paper
2. Networking should constitute 30% of the entire practice of PC paper
3. Maintenance (troubleshooting and operating system) should constitute 50% of the entire
practice of PC paper.

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Paper: Practice of PC Sample 2
Specialty: HM only
Coef: 4
Duration: 5hrs

Section A: C Programming (20 marks)

1. Write C statements to define and initialize the following arrays using appropriate data types, given
appropriate reasons for your decisions:
a. An array of grades of size 10 initialized all to 0
b. An array of weights has 4 components which have the following values: 5.05, 5.8, 6.3, 6.6
c. An array of ages has 6 components which have the values: 80,60,21,42,22,21.
d. An array of symbols which contains the following characters: '$', '%', '@', '!', '|', '&'.

Section B: Networking (30 marks)

You are provided with two computers. Network the two computers with the following information:
1. Computer names:
- Computer 1 name: post1
- Computer 2 name: post2
- Work group name: HND
- IP addressing class: class C
2. Create a folder called HND on post 1 and share the folder. Copy the default pictures from picture
folder in post 1 and paste in the shared folder. Access and copy the pictures from the shared folder in
post 1 and paste on the desktop of post2.

Section C: Maintenance – Troubleshooting and OS (50 marks)

In this practical you will identify the different components of PATA (IDE) hard drives and cables.
Step 1: shut down your system and remove the cover, following proper electrostatic discharge (ESD)
avoidance procedure.
Step 2: Disconnect all the ribbon cables from the hard drives and examine the connector at the end of the
ribbon.
Q1. How many holes does your connector have for pins _________________________
Q2. Are any of the holes in your connector filled in _____________________________
Q3. Does your connector have a raised portion on one side so that it only fits one way? ______________
Q4. How many connectors are on your ribbon cable? ____________________________
Q5. Do you have a 40-pin wire or 80-pin wire ribbon cable? _______________________

Disconnect the power supply from the PATA drives by unplugging the Molex connector from each one.
Step 3: Now look at the motherboard connections and note the orientation of the cable connectors.
Disconnect the cables from the motherboard
Step 4: Look at the PATA connections on your motherboard, they may be labeled IDE
Q6. How many PATA controllers do you see on your motherboard _________________

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Q7. Look closely at your motherboard and see if you can find any writing on the board next to IDE
connections. Are the interfaces grouped in pairs? Are any of them dedicated to special configurations such
as RAID?
Q8. What are the colors of IDE connections on the motherboard?

Step 5: Remove the hard drive from the system

Step 6: With the hard drive out of the system and on a static free surface, ground yourself, pick up the drive
and examine it carefully.
Q9. Write down all the information on the label. Be sure to include the manufacturers’ and the model
numbers

Step 7: Look at the end of the drive where the ribbon cable connects.
Q10. Is pin1 on the left side of the connector or the right ____________________
Q11. Does your hard drive have jumper(s) ____________________________________
Q12. Some jumpers are set to CS. What does CS stands for?
Q13. How are the jumpers set on your hard drive?
Q14. How are the jumpers set on your optical drive?
Q15. Can you have two masters drive in the system? Why or why not?

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Paper: Practice of PC Marking guide - Sample 2
Specialty: HM only
Coef: 4
Duration: 5hrs

Section A: C Programming (20 marks)

a. int grades[10]={};
b. Reason: Elements in an array that are assigned to an empty bracket or value all assume 0 as the
initial value. (5marks)

c. An array of weights has 4 components which have the following values: 5.5, 5.8, 6.3, 6.6.
float weights []= { 5.5, 5.8, 6.3, 6.6};
Reason: The numbers above all have decimal points and therefore float will be the best data type
to be used for declaration. (5marks)

d. An array of ages has 6 components which have the values: 80,60,21,42,22,21.

int ages[]= {80,60,21,42,22,21};
Reason: Since the array ages are all whole numbers, the int data type will be suite to declare it.
(5marks)

e. An array of symbols which contains the following characters: '$', '%', '@', '!', '|', '&'.
char symbols[]={'$', '%', '@', '!', '|', '&'}
Reason: the array called symbol contains data that are not real values, so the char data type will
be the best type to declare such an array. (5marks)

Section B: Networking (30 marks)

1. To attribute computer names and work groups: (15marks)
- Right click on my computer or computer, drop down menu will appear
- Click on the properties options.
- My computer or computer properties dialog box will open
- Click on the computer name tab
- Computer name tab window will appear
- Click on the change option
- Another dialog box will appear with the following information
 Computer description
 Computer name
 Workgroup
- Click on change computer name and follow the procedures
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With the IP addressing scheme of class C, use:
Start IP: 192.168.1.1
End IP: 192.168.1.2
2. To create a folder: (15marks)
- Right click on an empty space on the desktop.
- A drop down menu will appear
- Point to new, option, a drop down menu will appear
- Click on the folder option
- A new folder will appear
- Type a name and press enter on the keyboard
- Right click on the created folder
- A drop down menu will appear
- Click on the share option and specify how you want the users to access the shared folder

Section C: Maintenance – Troubleshooting and OS (50 marks)

(3x15=45 marks + 5marks how student executes the work assigned)
1) 39 pins
2) Yes
3) Yes
4) 40 or 80 depending on the ribbon present.
5) The answer depends on what is in the center.
6) This answer depends on the motherboard you are using. It can be 1,2 or 3
7) Can be yes or no depending on what is present.
8) Some will be blue while others may be white. Again it depends on the PC you are using
9) The answer should depend on the hard drive present.
10) Right
11) The answer can be yes or no.
12) Cable select.
13) It depends on the PC, it can be master, slave or cable select.
14) It depends on the optical drive on the PC.
15) No because the BIOS will not know where to look for the OS.