PC Troubleshooting

PC Troubleshooting

Mr. Joseph B. Ramirez Jr.Resource Speaker

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Part 1 – Hardware and Software Overview• Computer System’s Components • Popular Software Used

Part 2 – PC Troubleshooting and Maintenance• Troubleshooting

Popular Troubles and their Solutions• PC Maintenance

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Computer System’s Components

Main Components of the PC• System Board (Motherboard)• Memory (RAM)• Processor (CPU)• Secondary Storage devices

Hard Disk Drive Optical Drives Floppy Disk Drive Flash Drive

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• Input/Output Ports and Devices Keyboards/Mice USB, Serial, Parallel Ports Other input/output devices

• Interface Cards Sound Card Video Card Network Interface Card (LAN) Modem Other Add-on interface

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• Monitor/ LCD• Power Supply• PC Casing

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System Board (motherboard)• The main circuit board of a microcomputer.• It contains the connectors for attaching

additional boards. Typically, the motherboard contains the CPU, BIOS, memory, mass storage interfaces, serial and parallel ports, expansion slots, and all the controllers required to control standard peripheral devices, such as the display screen, keyboard, and disk drive. Collectively, all these chips that reside on the motherboard are known as the motherboard's chipset.

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Motherboard Form FactorsThe form factor refers to the physical dimensions (size

and shape) as well as certain connector, screw hole, and other positions that dictate into which type of case the board will fit.

Obsolete Form Factors■ Baby-AT■ Full-size AT■ LPX (semiproprietary)■ WTX (no longer in production)■ ITX (flex-ATX variation, neverproduced)

Modern Form Factors

ATX - Standard desktop, mini-tower, and full-tower systems; most common form factor today; mostflexible design for power users, enthusiasts, low-end servers/workstations, and higher-endhome systems; ATX boards support up to seven expansion slots.

Mini-ATX - A slightly smaller version of ATX that fits into the same case as ATX. Many so-called ATXmotherboards are actually mini-ATX motherboards; mini-ATX boards support up to six expansion slots.

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micro-ATX - A smaller version of ATX, used in Mid-range desktop or mini-tower systems. Fits micro-ATX or ATX chassis.

Flex-ATX - Smallest version of ATX, used in expensive or low-end small desktop or mini-tower systems; entertainment or appliance systems. Fits in flex-ATX, micro-ATX, or ATX chassis.

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Mini-ITX - Minimum-size flex-ATX version, used in set-top boxes and compact/small form factor computers; highly integrated with one PCI expansion slot. Fits in mini-ITX, flex-ATX, micro-ATX, or ATX chassis.

NLX - Corporate desktop or mini-tower systems; fast and easy serviceability.

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All Others■ Fully proprietary designs (certain

Compaq, Packard Bell, Hewlett-Packard, notebook/portable systems, and so on)

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When mounted inside the case, the ATX motherboard is oriented so that the CPU socket is near the power supply fan and case fan (if your case includes one).

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ATX, mini-ATX, & micro-ATX motherboard I/O Ports

Line/Speaker Out

PS/2 mouse port

PS/2 Keyboard

portUSB Ports

Mic In

Line In

Parallel Port

Serial Ports

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ATX Motherboard Parts

PCI Slots

I/O Ports

CPU Socket

AGP Slot

ATX Power Supply Connector

DIMM/DDR Memory Socket

IDE Drive Connectors

Floppy Drive Connector

Chipset

CMOS battery

BIOS Chip

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Motherboard Slots

• Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) standard specifies a computer bus for attaching peripheral devices to a computer motherboard. These devices can take the form of:

integrated circuits fitted on the motherboard itself (called planar devices in the PCI specification); or

expansion cards that fit in sockets.

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The PCI bus is common in modern PCs, where it has displaced ISA and VESA Local Bus as the standard expansion bus, but it also appears in many other computer types. The bus will eventually be succeeded by PCI Express and other technologies, which have already started to appear in new computers.

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32-bit PCI expansion slots on a motherboard

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AGP • The Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) (also called

Advanced Graphics Port) is a high-speed point-to-point channel for attaching a graphics card to a computer's motherboard, primarily to assist in the acceleration of 3D computer graphics. Many classify AGP as a type of computer bus, but this is something of a misnomer since buses generally allow multiple devices to be connected, while AGP does not. Some motherboards have been built with multiple independent AGP slots. AGP is slowly being phased out by PCI Express.

As of 2004, newer versions of AGP increase the transfer rate from two to eight times. Available versions include:

• AGP 1x, using a 32-bit channel operating at 66 MHz resulting in a maximum data rate of 266 megabytes per second, doubled from the 133MBytes/s transfer rate of PCI bus 33MHz / 32bit; 3.3 V signaling.

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• AGP 2x, using a 32-bit channel operating at 66 MHz double pumped to an effective 133 MHz resulting in a maximum data rate of 533 megabytes per second; signaling voltages the same as AGP 1x;

• AGP 4x, using a 32-bit channel operating at 66 MHz quad pumped to an effective 266 MHz resulting in a maximum data rate of 1066 megabytes per second; 1.5 V signaling;

• AGP 8x, using a 32-bit channel operating at 66 MHz octuple pumped to an effective 533 MHz resulting in a maximum data rate of 2133 megabytes per second; 0.8 V signaling.

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AGP slot (maroon), although the color is usually brown.

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PCIe (PCI Express)

• PCI Express, or PCIe, (formerly known as 3GIO for 3rd Generation I/O, not to be mistaken for PCI-X) is an implementation of the PCI computer bus that uses existing PCI programming concepts, but bases it on a completely different and much faster serial physical-layer communications protocol.

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• PCI Express is intended to be used as a local interconnect only. As it is based on the existing PCI system, cards and systems can be converted to PCI Express by changing the physical layer only – existing systems could be adapted to PCI Express without any change in software. The higher speeds on PCI Express allow it to replace almost all existing internal buses, including AGP and PCI.

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PCI Express slots (from top to bottom: x4, x16, x1 and x16), compared to a traditional 32-bit PCI slot (bottom)

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Memory (RAM)

Memory is the workspace for the computer’s processor. It is a temporary storage area where the programs and data being operated on by the processor must reside. Memory storage is considered temporary because the data and programs remain there only as long as the computer has electrical power or is not reset. Before being shut down or reset, any data that has been changed should be saved to a more permanent storage device (usually a hard disk) so it can be reloaded into memory in the future.

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• Memory often is called RAM, for random access memory. Main memory is called RAM because you can randomly (as opposed to sequentially) access any location in memory. This designation is somewhat misleading and often misinterpreted. Read-only memory (ROM), for example, is also randomly accessible, yet is usually differentiated from the system RAM because it maintains data without power and can’t normally be written to. Disk memory is also randomly accessible, but we don’t consider that RAM either.

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Types of RAM Package

• DIP (dual in-line package)• SIPP (single in-line pin package)• SIMM (singe in-line memory module)

30-pin module 72-pin module (EDORAM)

• DIMM (dual in-line memory module) 168-pin module (SDRAM) 184-pin module (DDR) 240-pin module (DDR2)

• RIMM (Rambus in-line memory module) 184-pin or 232-pin RDRAM RIMMs

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Latest

DDR2 OCZ platinum edition 2GB

Crucial Ballistix 2GB PC3-12800 DDR3 Dual Channel Memory Kit

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Microprocessor (CPU)

The brain or engine of the PC is the processor (sometimes called microprocessor), or central processing unit (CPU). The CPU performs the system’s calculating and processing. In terms of computing power, the CPU is the most important element of a computer system. The speed of the CPU is measured in Megahertz (MHz) and Gigahertz (GHz)

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Advanced Micro Devices Corp.Integrated Electronics Corp.

Common microprocessors available for desktop PC’s are from Intel and AMD.

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Examples of Microprocessor

AMD Athlon XP (Socket A/462)

Intel Pentium 4

(µPGA 478)

Intel Pentium III (Socket 370)

AMD K6/III (Socket 7 / Super 7)

Intel Pentium 4 Socket T (LGA-775)

AMD Athlon 64 FX (Socket 939)

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Latest Processor

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Cache MemoryCache memory is a high-speed memory buffer that

temporarily stores data the processor needs, allowing the processor to retrieve that data faster than if it came from main memory. But there is one additional feature of a cache over a simple buffer, and that is intelligence. A cache is a buffer with a brain. It holds the data the processor is most likely to need in advance of it actually being needed.

Internal Level 1 CacheAll modern processors starting with the 486 family

include an integrated L1 cache and controller. The integrated L1 cache size varies from processor to processor, starting at 8KB for the original 486DX and now up to 32KB, 64KB, or more in the latest processors.

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Level 2 CacheNewer processors have integrated L2 cache that

runs at the same speed as the processor core, which is also the same speed as the L1 cache. L2 cache holds data that the L1 cache missed, therefore reducing the time it takes to access if it would be from the main memory.

The organization of the cache memory in the 486 and MMX Pentium family is called a four-way set associative cache, which means that the cache memory is split into four blocks. Each block also is organized as 128 or 256 lines of 16 bytes each.

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L3 cache (level three) A third-level memory cache external to the processor

core. The only current Intel compatible processors to include L3 cache are the Itanium and Itanium 2 processors from Intel. Depending on the model, these contain 2MB or 4MB of L3 cache that runs at full processor speed. If a motherboard provides L2 cache, such as many Super Socket 7 motherboards made for Pentium and Pentium-compatible processors, L2 cache becomes L3 cache if a processor with integrated L3 cache, such as the AMD K6-III, is used. Motherboard-based cache modules run at FSB speeds, which are much slower than on-chip or on-die processor speeds. See also cache and disk cache.

Processor FeaturesSMM (Power Management) - Spurred on primarily by the goal of putting faster and more powerful processors in laptop computers, Intel has created power-management circuitry. This circuitry enables processors to conserve energy use and lengthen battery life.

Superscalar Execution - The fifth-generation Pentium and newer processors feature multiple internal instruction execution pipelines, which enable them to execute multiple instructions at the same time.

MMX, Extended MMX, SSE, SSE2,SSE3 (Intel), 3DNow!, Enhanced 3DNow!, Professional 3DNow! (AMD) – these are instruction sets designed to enhance the processors performance in terms of multi-media applications, such as games.

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Hyper-threading Hyper-Threading works by duplicating certain sections of

the processor - those that store the architectural state - but not duplicating the main execution resources. This allows a Hyper-Threading equipped processor to pretend to be two "logical" processors to the host operating system, allowing the operating system to schedule two threads or processes simultaneously.

64-bit microprocessor architectureAMD64 (also x86-64 or x64) is a 64-bit microprocessor

architecture and corresponding instruction set designed by Advanced Micro Devices. It is a superset of the x86 architecture, which it natively supports.

Extended Memory 64-bit Technology (EM64T) is Intel's implementation of AMD64, a 64-bit extension to the IA-32 architecture.

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CPU Sockets

Intel and AMD have created a set of socket and slot designs for their processors. Each socket or slot is designed to support a different range of original and upgrade processors.

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AMD Athlon

64 / Sempron

AMD Opteron

AMD Athlon 64 / AMD Athlon 64

FX to 1GHz /

Sempron

AMD Turion 64

mobile processor

s

AMD Opteron

processors.

AMD "Orleans" Athlon 64,

AMD "Windsor" Athlon 64 X2,

AMD "Orleans4"

Athlon 64 FX.

Intel Celeron

& Pentium

III

Intel Pentium

4

Socket 754

Socket 940Socket 939Socket S1

Socket FSocket AM2Socket 370

Socket 423

Intel Pentium 4 & Celeron

Socket 478

Intel Pentium M

(Single core) & Celeron M

Socket 479

Intel Pentium M (Dual core)

Socket 480

Xeon

Socket 603

Xeon

Socket 604

Intel Pentium 4, Pentium D,

Pentium Extreme

Edition, & Celeron

Socket T (LGA-775)

Intel Itanium

PAC418

Intel Itanium

PAC611

Sorted by date (most recent to oldest).Sorted by date (most recent to oldest).

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Socket A (Socket

462)

Socket 563 Slot 2 Slot 1 Slot A Socket 8 Super Socket 7

Socket 7

Later AMD Athlon,

Athlon XP, Duron and Sempron

Low-power Mobile

Athlon XP-M (µ-PGA

Socket, mostly mobile parts)

Intel Pentiu

m II Xeon & Pentium III Xeon

Intel Pentium II

& early Pentium III

Early AMD

Athlon & Alpha 21264

Intel Pentium

Pro

AMD K6-2 & AMD K6-III

(socket 7 with 100 MHz

Front side bus and AGP interface

compatibility)

Intel Pentium

& compatibles from Cyrix, AMD

Socket 6 Socket 5 Socket 4

Socket 3 Socket 2 Socket 1 486 Socket

Intel 486 Intel Pentium

75-133MHz and

compatibles

Intel Pentiu

m 60/66M

Hz

Intel 486 (3.3v and 5v) and

compatibles

Intel 486 Intel 486 Intel 486

Sorted by date (most recent to oldest).Sorted by date (most recent to oldest).

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Socket A (462)

Socket 478

Socket 939

Socket T (LGA-775)

Land Grid Array

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Processor Codenames

Code names have been used to identify microprocessors while in development. In some cases, the code name became the completed product's name, but most of these code names are no longer used once the associated products are released.

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Secondary Storage DevicesSecondary storage is also called auxiliary storage

and is used to store data and programs when they are not being processed. Secondary storage is more permanent than main memory, as data and programs are retained when the power is turned off.

Secondary storage is data on hard disks, tapes, and other external devices. Primary storage is much faster to access than secondary storage because of the proximity of the storage to the processor or because of the nature of the storage devices. On the other hand, secondary storage can hold much more data than primary storage.

Primary Storage – RAM & ROM

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HDD (Hard Disk Drive)

A rigid magnetic disk fixed permanently within a drive unit and used for storing computer data. Hard disks generally offer more storage and quicker access to data than floppy disks do.

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Most desktop hard disks are IDE (ATAPI/EIDE), whereas SCSI drives have traditionally been found on servers and high-performance workstations. The SCSI advantage is that from seven to 15 devices can be attached to the same controller board, which uses only one slot in the PC. SCSI was the first drive technology to employ fault-tolerant RAID systems. Today, IDE drives are used in RAID arrays and in high-performance machines. Hard disks provide fast retrieval because they rotate constantly at high speed, from 5,000 to 15,000 rpm. In laptops, they can be turned off when not being used to preserve battery life.

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Parts of a Hard Disk Drive

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Types of Hard Disk Drive

• IDE (IDE/ATAPI) – Integrated Drive Electronics/Advanced Technology Attachment w/ Packet Interface - A single IDE ATA channel can support up to two drives, master & slave. IDE can only access one drive per channel at a time. There are four IDE drive capabilities, IDE ATA33, IDE ATA66, IDE ATA100 and the latest IDE ATA133.

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• SCSI – Small Computer System Interface. - SCSI (pronounced “scuzzy”) stands for Small Computer System Interface and is a general-purpose interface used for connecting many types of devices to a PC. SCSI is a fast interface, generally suited to high-performance workstations, servers, or anywhere the ultimate in performance for a storage system interface is needed.

• Serial ATA (S-ATA) - is a computer bus primarily designed for transfer of data to and from a hard disk. It is the successor to the legacy Advanced Technology Attachment standard (ATA, also known as IDE).

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Serial ATA 1.0 uses a seven-wire data/ground cable and supports direct point-to-point connections to host adapters at initial speeds of up to 150MBps, which is faster than UltraATA-133. Serial ATA II is a version of the SATA standard designed for servers.

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ATA• ATA (AT

Attachment Interface) An IDE disk interface standard introduced in March 1989 that defines a compatible register set, a 40-pin connector, and its associated signals. See also IDE and SATA.

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RED Wire (Pin 1)

IDE ATAPI Cable

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SCSI is most commonly used for hard disks and tape storage devices, but also connects a wide range of other devices, including scanners, CD-ROM drives, CD writers, and DVD drives. SCSI remains popular on high-performance workstations, servers, and high-end peripherals.

SCSI

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SCSI Cable & SCSI Host Adapter

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Serial ATASerial-ATA is a serial link -- a

single cable with a minimum of four wires creates a point-to-point connection between devices. Transfer rates for Serial ATA begin at 150MBps. One of the main design advantages of Serial ATA is that the thinner serial cables facilitate more efficient airflow inside a form factor and also allow for smaller chassis designs.

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Serial ATA connectors on motherboard

Serial ATA Cable and power supply

adapter

Serial ATA PCI Controller Card

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Floppy Disk Drive• The floppy disk drive

(FDD) was the primary means of adding data to a computer until the CD-ROM drive became popular. In fact, FDDs have been an key component of most personal computers for more than 20 years.

• Basically, a floppy disk drive reads and writes data to a small, circular piece of metal-coated plastic similar to audio cassette tape.

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Floppy Disk

floppy disks : Relatively slow and have a small capacity, but they are portable, inexpensive, and universal. Basically, a floppy disk drive reads and writes data to a small, circular piece of metal-coated plastic similar to audio cassette tape.

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Optical Storage

The optical storage device that most of us are familiar with is the compact disc (CD). A CD can store huge amounts of digital information (783 MB) on a very small surface that is incredibly inexpensive to manufacture. The design that makes this possible is a simple one: The CD surface is a mirror covered with billions of tiny bumps that are arranged in a long, tightly wound spiral. The CD player reads the bumps with a precise laser and interprets the information as bits of data.

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CD-ROM Drive 52X

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• When you play a CD, the laser beam passes through the CD's polycarbonate layer, reflects off the aluminum layer and hits an optoelectronic device that detects changes in light. The bumps reflect light differently than the flat parts of the aluminum layer, which are called lands. The optoelectronic sensor detects these changes in reflectivity, and the electronics in the CD-player drive interpret the changes as data bits.

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DVD Drive

Philips DVD 52X rewriter Portable Drive

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Flash Storage• A keydrive is a small removable

data storage device that uses flash memory and a USB connector. These storages device are active only when powered by a connection to a computer, and require no external power source or battery power when not in use. To access the data stored in a keydrive, it must be connected to a computer, either by direct connection to its USB port or via a USB hub.

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• Most keydrives feature the larger type-A USB connection, although some feature the smaller "miniUSB" connection. There is no separate power connection; keydrives are run from the limited supply afforded by the USB connection.

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Input Devices

These are devices that are used to input data and give instructions to the computer. The most common input device is the keyboard. In a GUI environment, a pointing device, typically a mouse is used to move and select objects on the screen for action.

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Keyboard

One of the most basic system components is the keyboard, which is the primary input device. It is used for entering commands and data into the system.

The primary keyboard types are as follows: 104-key Windows keyboard 101-key Enhanced keyboard 83-key PC and XT keyboard (obsolete) 84-key AT keyboard (obsolete)

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Keyboards are also classified according to their design:

• Windows keyboard – keyboards with key

• Ergonomic keyboard – a good example of ergonomic keyboard is the MS natural keyboard. (shown below)

• Specialized keyboards – are keyboards with special keys or buttons added such as volume controls for the audio, or launch the browser.

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Keyboard Connectors

• 5-pin DIN (PC/AT)

• 6-pin mini-DIN (PS/2)

• USB (Universal Serial Bus)

USB

PS/2

PC/AT

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Mice• A mouse is a handheld pointing device for

computers, involving a small object fitted with one or more buttons and shaped to sit naturally under the hand. The underside of the mouse houses a device that detects the mouse's motion relative to the flat surface on which it sits. The mouse's 2D motion is typically translated into the motion of a cursor on the display.

• It is called a mouse primarily because the cord on early models resembled the rodent's tail, and also because the motion of the pointer on the screen can be mouse like. In popular usage, the plural can be either mice or mouses.

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The standard mouse consists of several components: A housing that you hold in your hand and move

around on your desktop A method of transmitting movement to the

system: either ball/roller or optical sensors Buttons (two or more, and often a wheel or toggle

switch) for making selections An interface for connecting the mouse to the

system; conventional mice use a wire and connector, whereas wireless mice use a radio-frequency or infrared transceiver in both the mouse and a separate unit connected to the computer to interface the mouse to the computer

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Onto-mechanical Mouse

Optical Mouse

Optical Mouse uses laser light to detect and transfer motion instead of ball and rollers

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• Serial • PS/2 • USB• Wireless

(via USB port)

Pointing Device Interface

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Input/Output Ports

• USB – Universal Serial Bus is an external peripheral bus standard designed to bring Plug and Play capability for attaching peripherals externally to the PC. USB is a high-speed I/O port which enables you to connect several devices on a single USB port. It has a data transfer rate up to 60Mbps.

Devices which connects to USB port: Printers, Scanners External drives Digital cameras

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• Parallel Port - Parallel ports are normally used for connecting printers to a PC. Even though that was their sole original intention, parallel ports have become much more useful over the years as a more general-purpose, relatively high-speed interface between devices (when compared to serial ports).

Parallel Port

USB Port

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• Serial Port - The asynchronous serial interface was designed as a system-to-system communications port. Asynchronous means that no synchronization or clocking signal is present, so characters can be sent with any arbitrary time spacing. Serial refers to data that is sent over a single wire, with each bit lining up in a series as the bits are sent.

Devices that connects to a Serial Port Serial Mouse External Modem

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Interface Cards

Interface cards generally refer to devices which are inserted into the expansion slots on the motherboard to add capabilities to the computer such as playing music, connect to the internet and many more. Devices such as Sound card, internal Modems, and Network Interface card are just some of the examples.

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Sound CardsAn expansion board that enables a computer to

manipulate and output sounds. Sound cards are necessary for nearly all CD-ROMs and have become commonplace on modern personal computers. Sound cards enable the computer to output sound through speakers connected to the board, to record sound input from a microphone connected to the computer, and manipulate sound stored on a disk.

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Sound Cards converts digital signals on your computer to analog signal and send it out to the speakers. It can also accept sound from external sources such as microphone or stereo system for recording.

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Current sound cards usually plug into a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) slot, while some older or inexpensive cards may use the Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus. Many of the computers available today incorporate the sound card as a chipset right on the motherboard. This leaves another slot open for other peripherals.

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Sound Card JacksSound Card Jacks

Line IN (blue or light blue)

Mic IN (pink or

red)

Line Out (no standard color)

Speaker Out (lime or green)

MIDI / Game Port (gold)

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Video CardsA A graphics cardgraphics card or or video video

cardcard is a component of a is a component of a computer which is computer which is designed to convert a designed to convert a logical representation of logical representation of an image stored in an image stored in memory to a signal that memory to a signal that can be used as input for a can be used as input for a display medium, most display medium, most often a monitor utilizing a often a monitor utilizing a variety of display variety of display standards. Typically, it standards. Typically, it also provides functionality also provides functionality to manipulate the logical to manipulate the logical image in memory.image in memory.

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Video Adapter Types

The three ways computer systems connect to either CRT or LCD displays are as follows:

Add-on video cards. This method requires the use of an AGP or a PCI expansion slot but provides the highest possible level of performance, the greatest amount of memory, and the largest choice of features.

Video-only chipset on motherboard. Performance is generally less than with add-on video cards because older chipset designs are often used.

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Motherboard chipset with integrated video. This has the lowest cost of any video solution, but performance can also be very low, especially for 3D gaming or other graphics-intensive applications. Resolution and color-depth options are also more limited than those available with add-on video cards.

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ATX Motherboard with on-board Video, Sound, and Network Interface card.

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Network Interface CardA network card (also called

network adapter, network interface card, NIC, etc.) is a piece of computer hardware designed to provide for computer communication over a computer network.

Most newer computers have a network interface built into the motherboard, so a separate network card is not required unless multiple interfaces are needed or some other type of network is used.

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Modem

The word "modem" is a contraction of the words modulator-demodulator. A modem is typically used to send digital data over a phone line. The sending modem modulates the data into a signal that is compatible with the phone line, and the receiving modem demodulates the signal back into digital data.

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Modems come in two forms: External modem which are connected to your PC by means of Serial Port or USB Port. USB modem doesn’t require external power source, it get its power from the USB port. Internal modems are installed on the expansion slot on the motherboard, usually on the PCI slot.

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Typical 56K Internal Modem

External 56K USB Modem

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Power Supply

The basic function of the power supply is to convert the type of electrical power available at the wall socket to the type the computer circuitry can use. The power supply in a conventional desktop system is designed to convert either 115-volt (nominal) 60Hz AC (alternating current) or 230v (nominal) 50Hz AC power into +3.3v, +5v, and +12v DC (direct current) power.

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Power Supply Form Factor

Form factor is used to describe the size and format of PC motherboards, but also of hard drives, power supplies, cases, and add-in cards. The term can also be used refer to the shape of a housing or package or mechanical connection associated with a device or mechanism within the context of its interface with other devices or mechanisms, also in regards to a human interface.

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Other power supply form factors are already obsolete, below are the still available in modern PC:

AT/Baby AT (being phased out) ATX (new PC’s have this type of power

supply)

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Power supply removed from the PC case

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Power Supply Output Voltage

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All power supplies are generally sold based on their wattage rating. What people don't know is that this is the combined total wattage rating of the power supply at full load across each of the individual voltage lines. Since the power supply has multiple voltage outputs, each voltage rail will pull its own current from the power supply.

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Below is a chart of various PC case sizes and the recommended ratings of a power supply for that size case with the number of devices that could potentially be installed in the case:

Case Size Recommended Wattage Min. +12v Max Load

Mini-tower 330-350 W 15 A

Mid-tower 350-380 W 15 A

Full tower 380-450 W 18 A

Server tower 450-550 W 20A

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Monitor

A computer display, monitor or screen is a computer peripheral device capable of showing still or moving images generated by a computer and processed by a graphics card. Monitors generally conform to one or more display standards. Monitors can either be CRT (cathode ray tube or LCD (liquid crystal display)

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CRT monitor

The original display technology, and still the most popular, is cathode ray tube (CRT) technology the same technology used in television sets. CRTs consist of a vacuum tube enclosed in glass. One end of the tube contains an electron gun assembly that projects three electron beams, one each for the red, green, and blue phosphors used to create the colors you see onscreen; the other end contains a screen with a phosphorous coating.

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LCD monitorLCD or flat panel computer

displays are the latest and greatest offerings in the desktop computer industry. They have been used for years in the portable and notebook computing markets, but recent developments have increase performance and size while reducing costs making them viable in the desktop environment. LCD displays are lightweight, extremely thin and use much less power than CRT based monitors.

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Resolution is the amount of detail a monitor can render. This quantity is expressed in the number of horizontal and vertical picture elements, or pixels, contained in the screen. The greater the number of pixels, the more detailed the images. The resolution required depends on the application. Character-based applications (such as DOS command-line programs) require little resolution, whereas graphics intensive applications (such as desktop publishing and Windows software) require a great deal.

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CasingThis is the box where all the components of

the PC are installed. Usually made of plastic and metal. The case provides electromagnetic insulation to keep radio radiation within. It also offers structural integrity for all the components in the system. It also provide a hard mounting point for all the components is the system, keep the system cool by providing good ventilation. Most of all, it defines the cosmetic look of the system.

The PC case also has form factors. These includes:

•Full Tower •Mid-Tower•Mini Tower•Desktop•Cube

Cube Cases are designed for micro-ATX motherboards.

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Different case form factors:(right to left) desktop case, mini-tower, full-tower, mid-towers and LPX)

Popular Software Used

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Popular Software UsedOperating System

Windows Family Windows 98, ME, XP, Vista Windows 2000, 2003, 2007 Windows Longhorn

Linux Operating System Linux XP Desktop Mandriva Ubuntu

Software Applications Microsoft Office 2003, 2007 OpenOffice.Org

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• Other Software Anti-virus Network and Computer Games

Mandriva Linux

•(formerly Mandrakelinux or Mandrake Linux) is a Linux distribution created by Mandriva (formerly Mandrakesoft).

•The first release was based on Red Hat Linux (version 5.1) and KDE (version 1.0) in July 1998. •It has since diverged from Red Hat and has included a number of original tools mostly to ease system configuration.

•Mandriva Linux (at the time named Mandrake Linux) was originated by Gaël Duval, who was also a co-founder of Mandrakesoft and was fired from the company in 2006.

Mandriva Linux

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Ubuntu (official IPA

pronunciation /ùbúntú/ (oo-BOON-too)) is a predominantly desktop-oriented Linux distribution, based on Debian GNU/Linux but with a stronger focus on usability, regular releases, and ease of installation.

Ubuntu is sponsored by Canonical Ltd, owned by South African billionaire entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth.

Ubuntu LinuxUbuntu Linux

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End of Part 1