COMPUTER MAINTENANCE AND INTERACTIVE GUIDELINE ON COMPUTER UNIT ASSEMBLAGE

COMPUTER MAINTENANCE AND INTERACTIVE GUIDELINE ON COMPUTER UNIT ASSEMBLAGE

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Thursday, 18 August 2011 By Unknown

INTRODUCTION TO PERSONAL COMPUTER

Welcome to Upgrading and Repairing PCs, This blog is for people who want to upgrade, repair, maintain, and troubleshoot computers. It covers the full range of PC-compatible systems from the oldest 8-bit machines to the latest in high end 64-bit workstations.

In addition, this write up covers state-of-the-art hardware and accessories that make the most modern personal computers easier, faster, and more productive to use. Hardware coverage includes all the Intel and Intel-compatible processors through the Pentium, Pentium Pro, and Pentium II CPU chips; new cache and main memory technology; PCI local bus technology; CD-ROM drives; tape backups; sound boards; PC-Card and Cardbus devices for laptops; IDE and SCSI-interface devices; larger and faster hard drives; and new video adapter and display capabilities.

Furthermore I am going to show you how to troubleshoot the kind of hardware problems that can make PC upgrading and repairing difficult. Troubleshooting coverage includes IRQ, DMA channel, and I/O port addressees, as well as memory address conflicts. I will also show to you how to avoid problems with system resources, and how to make installing a new adapter board in your computer a simple Plug-and-Play operation. More also common software problems associated with computer will still be discussed, *starting with the basics of how DOS or Windows works with your system hardware to start up your system. You also learn how to troubleshoot and avoid problems involving system hardware, the operating system, and applications software.

The most important aspect of my write-up is the amazing step by step guidelines on system assemblage that will be showed to you practically and I am assuring you that this will wider your knowledge no matter your experience in system engineering. The primary objective is to help you learn how to maintain, upgrade, and repair your PC system. To that end, Upgrading and Repairing PCs helps you fully understand the family of computers that has grown from the original IBM PC, including all PC-compatible systems.

System Components

A modern PC is both simple and complicated. It is simple in the sense that over the years many of the components used to construct a system have become integrated with other components into fewer and fewer actual parts. It is complicated in the sense that each part in a modern system performs many more functions than the same types of parts in older systems. In this section, we briefly examine all the components in a modern PC system. Each of these components will be explained in detail.

Here are the components needed to assemble a basic modern PC system:

• Motherboard

• Processor

• Memory (RAM)

Other PC Components, Features, and System Design

• Case (chassis)

•  Power supply

•  Floppy drive

•  Hard disk

•  CD-ROM drive

•  Keyboard

•  Mouse

•  Video card

•  Monitor (display)

•  Sound card

•  Speakers

Motherboard

The motherboard is the core of the system. It really is the PC, everything else is connected to it, and it controls everything in the system. Motherboards are available in several different shapes or form factors. 

Motherboard

The motherboard usually contains the following individual components:

 Processor socket (or slot)

 Processor voltage regulators

 Motherboard chipset

 Level 2 cache

 Memory SIMM or DIMM sockets

 Bus slots

 ROM BIOS

 Clock/CMOS battery

 Super I/O chip

The chipset contains all the primary circuitry that makes up the motherboard, in essence the chipset is the motherboard. The chipset controls the CPU or processor bus, the L2 cache and main memory, the PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) bus, the ISA (Industry Standard Architecture) bus, system resources, and more. If the processor represents the engine of your system, then the chipset represents the chassis in which the engine is installed. As such, the chipset dictates the primary features and specifications of your motherboard, including what types of processors, memory, expansion cards, disk drives, and so on. the system supports.

The ROM BIOS contains the initial POST (Power-On Self Test) program, bootstrap loader (which loads the operating system), drivers for items built-in to the board (the actual 27 BIOS code), and usually a system setup program (often called CMOS setup or BIOS setup) for configuring the system. 

Processor

The processor is often thought of as the “engine” of the computer. Also called the CPU (Central Processing Unit), it is the single most important chip in the system, as it is the primary circuit that carries out the program instructions of whatever software is being run. Modern processors contain literally millions of transistors etched onto a tiny square of silicon called a die, which is about the size of your thumbnail. The processor has the distinction of being one of the most expensive parts of most computers, even though it is one of the smallest parts. In most modern systems, the processor costs from two to ten times the cost of the motherboard it is plugged into.

Memory (RAM)

Memory is normally purchased and installed in a modern system in SIMM (Single Inline Memory Module) or DIMM (Dual Inline Memory Module) form. Formerly very expensive, more recently memory prices have dropped, significantly reducing the cost of memory as compared to other parts of the system. Even so, the cost of the recommended amount of memory for a given system is usually equal or greater than that of the motherboard. 

Case (Chassis)

Computer Casing

The case is the frame or chassis that houses the motherboard, power supply, disk drives, adapter cards, and any other physical components in the system. There are several different styles of cases available, from small or slim versions that sit horizontally on a desktop to huge tower types that stand vertically on the floor, and even some that are designed to be rack mounted for industrial use. In addition to the physical styles, different cases are designed to accept different form factor  motherboards and power supplies. Some cases have features that make installing or removing components easy, such as a screwless design that requires no tools to disassemble, side open panels or trays allowing easy motherboard access, removable cages or brackets that give easy access to disk drives, and so on. Some cases include additional cooling fans for heavy-duty systems, and some are even available with air filters to ensure the interior remains clean and dust free. Most cases include a power supply, however, you can also purchase bare cases and power supplies separately.

Power Supply

The power supply is what feeds electrical power to every single part in the PC. As such it has a very important job, yet it is one of the least glamorous parts of the system, so it receives little attention. Unfortunately, this often means it is one of the components that is most skimped on when constructing a system. The main function of the supply is to convert the 110v AC wall current into the 3.3v, 5v, and 12v power that the system requires for operation.

Power pack

Floppy Disk Drive

The floppy drive is a simple, inexpensive, low-capacity, removable, media magnetic storage device. For many years floppy disks were the primary media for software distribution and system backup. With the advent of CD-ROM and DVD-ROM discs as the primary method of installing or loading new software in a system, and inexpensive high-capacity tape drives for backup, the floppy drive is not used often in most modern systems, except perhaps by a system builder, installer, or technician. Because the floppy drive is the first device a PC attempts to boot from, it is still the primary method to load initial operating systems start up software as well as core hardware diagnostics.
Recently some advancements in technology have created new types of floppy drives with as much as 120M or

more of storage, making the drive much more usable for temporary backups or for moving files from system to system.

CD-ROM Drive “Optical Storage.”

CD- (Compact Disc) and DVD- (Digital Versatile Disc) ROM (Read Only Memory) drives are relatively high-capacity, removable, media optical drives. They are primarily a 29 read-only medium, which means the drives can only read information, and the data on the discs cannot be altered or rewritten. There are writable or rewritable versions of the discs and drives available, but these are much more expensive than their read-only counterparts and therefore are not standard in most PCs. CD-ROM and DVD-ROM are the most popular media for distributing software or large amounts of data, because they are inexpensive when produced in quantity and they can hold a great deal of information.

Hard Disk Drive

The hard disk is the primary archival storage memory for the system. It is used to contain copies of all programs and data not currently active in main memory. A hard drive is so named because it consists of spinning platters of aluminum or ceramic that are coated with a magnetic media. The platters come in various sizes, and by the density, size, and number of platters, hard drives can be created with many different storage capacities. Most desktop systems today use drives with 3 1/2-inch platters, while most laptop or notebook computers use 2 1/2-inch platter drives.

Hard Disk

Keyboard , “Input Devices.”

The keyboard is the primary device on a PC used by a human being to communicate with and to control a system. Keyboards are available in many different languages, layouts, sizes, shapes, and with numerous special features or characteristics. One of the best features of the PC as designed by IBM is that it was one of the first personal computers to use a detached keyboard. Most systems prior to the PC had the keyboard as an integral part of the system chassis, which severely limited flexibility. Because the PC uses a detached keyboard with a standardized connector and signal design, in most cases it is possible to connect any PC-compatible keyboard you like to your system. This gives you the freedom to choose the one that suits you best.

Mouse

With the advent of computer operating systems that used a Graphical User Interface (GUI), it became necessary to have a device that enabled a user to point at or select items shown on the screen. While there are many different types of pointing devices on the market today, the first and most popular device is the mouse. By moving the mouse across a desk or tabletop, a corresponding pointer can be moved across the computer screen, allowing items to be more easily selected or manipulated than by using a keyboard alone. Standard mice as used on PCs have two buttons, one used for selecting items under the pointer and the other for activating menus. Mice are also available with a third button, wheel, or stick that can be used to scroll the display or for other special functions.

Video Card

The video card controls the information you see on the monitor. All video cards have four basic parts—a video chip or chipset, Video RAM, a DAC (Digital to Analog Converter), and a BIOS. The video chip is what actually controls the information on the screen by writing data to the video RAM. The DAC reads the video RAM and converts the digital data there into analog signals to drive the monitor. The BIOS holds the primary video driver that allows the display to function during boot time and at a DOS prompt in basic text mode. More enhanced drivers are then usually loaded from disk to enable advanced video modes for Windows or applications software.

System Components

PC Components, Features, and System Design

Monitor (Display)

In most systems, the monitor is housed in its own protective case, separate from the system case and chassis. In portable systems and some low-cost PCs, the monitor is built into the system case. Monitors are generally classified by three criteria—diagonal size in inches, resolution in pixels, and refresh rate in hertz (Hz). Desktop monitors usually range from 14" to 21" diagonal measure (although as you will see in Chapter 8, the actual viewable area is smaller than the advertised measure) and LCD monitors in portable systems range from 11" to 14". Resolution ranges from 640´480 pixels (horizontal measurement first, then vertical) to 1600´1200 pixels. Each pixel in the monitor is made up of a trio of dots, one each for the colors red, blue, and green. An average monitor is capable of refreshing 60 times per second (60 Hz) while higher quality monitors may refresh at 100 Hz. The refresh rate measures how often the display of the screen is redrawn from the contents of the video adapter memory. Both resolution and refresh rate of the

monitor are tied to the capability of the system video adapter. Most monitors are capable of supporting several different resolutions and refresh rates (with the common exception of LCD screens in portables).

COMPUTER ASSEMBLAGE MAKE SIMPLE 

To those of you that have been finding it difficult overtime to handle simple Computer engineering work such as computer hardware troubleshooting, system unit assemblage, system software troubleshooting and e.t.c. here is a complete interactive guideline to build a whole system unit on your own without you being a computer expert or computer literate. The guide line is made simple with graphical representation of the whole processes backed up with the help of 3d animating software which include 3d studio max and sketchup. Assembling a personal system unit using computer graphics software could be accomplished by modeling all peripherals to be used and then animating it so that all the peripherals would be brought together to form a complete system unit.

In assembling a computer system, the following system unit are required

• Computer motherboard

• Computer Case

• RAM

• CD-ROM

• HARD-DRIVE

• Jumper Cable

• VGA Cable

• Monitor

• Power Pack

   The above listed are the basic component that made up the system unit

Note: Not all motherboard  are compatible with all computer cases as a result of different technology  in their form factors and the same thing is applicable with the RAM. Therefore during purchased try and make enquires about their compatibility.  

ASSEMBLING STEPS

The assembling steps  entails bringing all the components into a full blown system. In this case, scenes (animation) would be created to show how a PC is assembled from different views with sketchup 3d animating software. The whole processes were animated which enable you to watch each components as they get fixed into their slots until the entire system unit is assemble. The scenes is as shown below.

Annotated diagram of system component

Scene 1: It shows the PC case (at three (3) different views); the front view, side view and back view.

Scene 2: It shows how the motherboard moves into the PC case. Here, we create a scene to make the motherboard  move into the PC case from the side (i.e when we have the PC case up standing) and when the PC case is lying flat on the ground (here, the motherboard is coming from the top down into the case). 

Note: make  sure to use an insulator like flat foam to linen the case before inserting their motherboard to prevent electric shock from the motherboard component

Scene 3: It shows how the RAM moves into its slot on the motherboard from the side and from the top (when the PC case is lying flat on the ground).

Scene 4: It shows how the processor moves into its slot on the motherboard from the side and from the top (when the PC case is lying flat on the ground). Note that some system have their processor being fixed up to the motherboard from the manufacturer most especially the celeron motherboard.

Scene 5: It shows how the processor fan covers the processor from the side and from on top when the PC case is lying flat on the ground.

Scene 6: It shows how the hard drive moves into its slot from the side and the front view. the IDE cable should then be used to loop the motherboard and the Hard-drive. For  those Hard drive using SATA cable the same approach must be taken to fix the Hard drive to the motherboard

Scene 7: It shows how the disk drive moves into its slot from the side and the front view. Either IDE cable and SATA cable is also used to fix the CD-ROM to the motherboard

Scene 8: It shows how the power-pack moves into its slot from the back and side view. The power pack supplies voltage to all 

Scene 9: It shows how the cover case moves to cover-up the other side of the case

The figure above shows the pictorial view of the components during assembling process,

For your better understanding, I have tried as much as possible to render the whole scenes and converted the rendering animating process into video format so that it will be playable on video player DVD. Now packaged on Video DVD only for you to watch, get the understanding and be the expert on system engineering on your own, as you know a picture is more than a millions words.If you are intersted in getting a copy of the DVD just mail me at oolusola2011@gmail.com or contact my moblile line on +2348071732009 or for those of you living around lagos you can order for your copy at actech computer ltd. No 251 block 1, ipaja Lagos Nigeria.

Here are the features embedded in the disk

Video DVD

1  Introduction to computer engineering                              

2  Basic component of computer system identification

3  Explanation on each component

4  Assembling process through animation and lots more

 I belief you enjoy this article, on my next post I will be taking you basic software engineering in computer and its maintenance, always check on this blog for your enjoyment and better understanding of system engineering.

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