PC Hardware Basic Guide

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PC Hardware Basic Guide

• Module 4 - Motherboard

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Module 4 - Motherboard

• Overview
• It is a Printed Circuit Board that performs the
  key functions to enable smooth running of the
  computer.
• Lesson Covered in this Module
• Motherboards
• Standard Expansion Buses

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Lesson 1 - Motherboards

• Introduction
• Motherboard is a Printed Circuit Board which
  possesses different components for various
  purposes. It contains
• CPU
• BIOS,
• Memory
• I/O ports
• External I/O connectors
• I/O controllers
• Expansion slots
• Chipsets.

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Module 4 - Motherboard

• Topics Covered in this Lesson
• Physical Form Factors
• Motherboard Components
• System Chipsets and Controllers
• CMOS Settings
• Power On Self Test (POST)
• System Resources

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Topic 1 - Physical Form Factors

• Personal Computer Extended Technology (PC-XT)
• Introduced by IBM, 8088 microprocessor was used.
• It has socket for the processor and chips

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Topic 1 - Physical Form Factors

• AT and Baby AT
• To overcome the problem created by AT Form
  factor, the Baby AT form factor was introduced.
• Baby AT is designed to hold the peripheral
  devices like keyboard, video and mouse.
• It could not accommodate the combination of
  processor, heat sink and fan. Cooling

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Topic 1 - Physical Form Factors

• ATX and Micro ATX form factor
• Here expansion slots were placed on separate
  riser cards.
• It provides software controlled shut down and
  power up.
• Micro ATX form factor
• More space for I/O connectors was provided at the
  rear end.

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Topic 1 - Physical Form Factors

• LPX and Mini-LPX
• It has sound and video to be integrated on to the
  motherboard.
• It is not suitable for upgrading and offers poor
  cooling.
• NLX
• Small in size
• Suited for low profile desktop cases

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Topic 2 - Motherboard Components

• The major components of the motherboard
• Processor socket or slot
• Chipset
• Super I/O chip
• BIOS
• SIMM/DIMM sockets
• Bus slots

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Topic 2 - Motherboard Components

• Chipset and Functions
• Different chips integrated to a single chip
  called the chipset.
• North bridge and South bridge was introduced to
  the motherboard with PCI slots.
• The south bridge controls the slower I/O
  components like the Serial ports, USB ports and
  the IDE.

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Topic 2 - Motherboard Components

• The new technology, Intel Hub Architecture (IHA)
  uses two chips called hub controllers.
• The hub controllers are
• Graphics and Memory Controller Hub (GMCH)
• I/O Controller Hub (ICH)
• The chipset determine
• The voltage provided to the processor
• Number of processors that can be supported
• The speed of the processor
• The different memory modules that are supported
• Bus speed
• The different expansion bus that are supported
• Power Management

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Topic 3 - System Chipset and Controllers

• The system chipset and controllers are the
  intelligence of the motherboard.
• Chipset has a effect on the quality, feature set
  and speed of the computer.
• Controllers found on motherboards
• The system chip
• The keyboard controller
• The super I/O chip
• Additional built-in controllers

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Topic 3 - System Chipset and Controllers

• Qualities and Functions of Chipset
• Chipset Processor Support
• Support for Processor Class and Optimization -
  Supports one generation of processors
• Support for Processor Speed - Fast processors
  need chipset control circuitry that has the
  capacity to manage them.
• Support for Multiple Processor - Chipset support
  the capability for building motherboards with two
  or four processors on them.
• 
  
  

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Topic 3 - System Chipset and Controllers

• Chipset Cache Support - The cache stores recent
  memory accesses by the processor
• Size of Secondary Cache - Chipsets support cache
  of 256KB or 512 KB.
• Type of Secondary Cache - three major kinds of
  cache, Asynchronous, Synchronous burst, Pipeline
  burst.
• Write Policy of Secondary Cache - A write-through
  cache and a write back cache.
• Cacheability of System Memory - The amount of
  cacheable memory is dependent on the chipset
  control circuitry and the amount of tag RAM on
  the board.

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Topic 3 - System Chipset and Controllers

• Chipset Memory Support - The chipset determines
  several permissible features of the memory
• Support for Maximum Memory-Determines the maximum
  quantity of RAM a system can have on the
  motherboard
• DRAM Technology - Regulates whether motherboard
  can make use of FPM, EDO, BEDO, or SDRAM memory.
• Support for DRAM Packaging and Size - Two main
  types of memory packages are, single in-line
  memory module (SIMM) and dual in-line memory
  module (DIMM).
• Support for Parity and Error Correction - Error
  correction logic is offered as part of the memory
  control circuits of the chipset.

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Topic 3 - System Chipset and Controllers

• Chipset Peripheral and I/O Bus Control - Most
  recent computers use two buses, (ISA) bus and l
  component (PCI) bus.
• Bus Types - The chipset determines what type of
  buses the system can support.
• Bus Bridges Bridge is used for connecting
  together devices on two different buses.
• IDE/ATA Hard Disk Controller - All motherboards
  have integrated into them support for four IDE
  hard disks
• DMA Controller and DMA Mode Support Process of
  transferring information directly to and from
  memory with no interference of the processor.

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Topic 3 - System Chipset and Controllers

• Interrupt Controller
• USB Support
• AGP Support
• Plug and Play

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Topic 3 - System Chipset and Controllers

• Chipset Power Management Support Works through
  a number of BIOS settings that determine when to
  shut down different parts of the computer
• Energy Star
• Advanced Power Management
• Display Power
• Management Signalling
• System Management Mode
• Hard Disk Spindown

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Topic 3 - System Chipset and Controllers

• Super I/O Controller Chip super I/O controller
  handles three ports
• Serial Port Control controls the serial ports,
  UART
• Parallel Port Control manages and controls the
  parallel port
• Floppy Disk Drive Control supports the Floppy
  Disk Drive and floppy based tape drives

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Topic 3 - System Chipset and Controllers

• Processor
• Two major components
• Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALU) performs
  Arithmetic and Logic Operations
• Control Unit (CU) provides the control signals
  for performing different operations.
• Cache Memory
• It is high speed storage memory made of Static
  RAM (SRAM).
• Two types of cache memory are L1 or the internal
  cache and L2 cache or the external cache.

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Topic 3 - System Chipset and Controllers

• I/O Ports
• Each device connected to a computer uses I/O port
  address.
• Functions of I/O address
• Sending commands to the peripheral device
• Receiving the status of the device whether it is
  idle or busy
• Send and receive data
• Configure the device for interrupts
• Bus Speed
• The speed of the bus refers to the amount of the
  data that can be transferred across the bus.

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Topic 3 - System Chipset and Controllers

• Some of the bus types are,
• Front side Bus - The bus speed in general refers
  to the speed of the Front Side Bus (FSB).
• AGP Bus It connects the video card to the
  memory and the CPU.
• Back side Bus It connects the processor to the
  L2 Cache

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Topic 3 - System Chipset and Controllers

• Memory bus It connects the north bridge to the
  memory.
• IDE or ATA bus It connects the south bridge to
  the disk drives.
• PCI Bus It connects the PCI slots to the south
  bridge.

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Topic 3 - System Chipset and Controllers

• Jumpers
• It is a small connector which can be placed
  between two pins to make electrical connections.
• DIP switch
• The dual inline package switch is a small block
  provided with a lever.

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Topic 4 - CMOS Settings

• CMOS BIOS ROM
• Stores the basic system configuration. The four
  major components of BIOS are
• POST
• Bootstrap Loader
• CMOS Setup
• BIOS ROM

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Topic 4 - CMOS Settings

• CMOS Battery
• Battery is used to power up the Real time Clock
  Chip.
• This chip maintains the system date and time.
• System Configuration
• The BIOS should find an operating system on a
  hard disk or floppy disk drive to start the
  computer.
• Starting the Setup Program
• The settings made in the BIOS setup program are
  stored in the nonvolatile RAM of the CMOS chip.

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Topic 4 - CMOS Settings

• Step-by-Step CMOS/BIOS Configuration
• From the CMOS setup menu, select the menu point
  to examine or change setting and choose Standard
  CMOS setup to begin.

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Topic 4 - CMOS Settings

• From the standard CMOS configuration screen you
  can set Date, Time, Hard drives connected to the
  IDE interface, Floppy disk drive types for drives

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Topic 4 - CMOS Settings

• Advanced CMOS Configuration
• Here, you can perform the Number Lock setting,
  keyboard repeats speed, type of video, settings
  for cache memory, and other special features.

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Topic 4 - CMOS Settings

• Recommended Advanced CMOS Settings
• Depending on the BIOS version, you have to press
  the ESC key, to return to the main menu

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Topic 4 - CMOS Settings

• Power Management Configuration
• After a user defined period of inactivity of
  devices like the monitor, the hard drive, or the
  CPU will go into different low power modes.
• Standby mode
• Suspend mode

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Topic 4 - CMOS Settings

• Built-In Ports/Peripherals Setup
• It can enable or disable ports which built in new
  systems.

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Topic 4 - CMOS Settings

• Security/Passwords
• Two types of passwords are
• One must be entered to allow any use of the
  system
• Another one must be entered to allow access to
  the BIOS/ CMOS setup
• Saving and Recording BIOS/CMOS Settings
• BIOS allows you to save the changes and it will
  reject the changes that happen accidentally.
• Record the critical BIOS settings

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Topic 4 - CMOS Settings

• BIOS Upgrades
• Change the physical chip or to change its
  contents with software
• Flash BIOS Upgrade
• Install the BIOS upgrade loader and BIOS image to
  a floppy disk
• Incorrect CMOS Configuration
• Restart by using the BIOS Setup auto-configure
  options, double-check drive configurations, save
  changes, and restart.

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Topic 4 - CMOS Settings

• Incorrect Flash BIOS or Failed Update
• If the update can't be installed, the motherboard
  might have jumpers that write-protects the flash
  BIOS.
• Clearing the BIOS Password
• It can be cleared by using a CMOS jumper that is
  present in the motherboard.

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Topic 5 - Power On Self Test (POST) Error codes

• Some main functions of BIOS during POST
• Helps to start the Operating System.
• Check for the integrity of the BIOS code
• Some error beeps
• No beep - Power supply or system board problem
• 1 long, 1 short beep - System board problem
• Long beeps - 3270 keyboard card
• Some error codes
• 100 to 199 - System board
• 200 to 299 - Memory
• 300 to 399 - Keyboard

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Topic 6 - System Resources

• System resources are components that are required
  to communicate between the hardware components in
  a PC.
• Interrupt Request Channels (IRQ)
• Hardware devices use IRQ signal to the processor
• There are 16 IRQ channels .

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Topic 6 - System Resources

• The snapshot shows the different IRQ channels
  associated with different devices.

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Topic 6 - System Resources

• Direct Memory Access (DMA) channels
• Here the data is transferred between the
  peripheral device and the memory without the
  intervention of the CPU.
• Devices connected to serial and parallel port do
  not use DMA channels
• I/O Port Address
• It is an interface present in a PC to connect
  devices
• The port address ranges from 0000h to FFFFh

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Topic 6 - System Resources

• The snapshot displays the I/O address range used
  by different devices

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Topic 6 - System Resources

• Checking for Resource Availability
• For Windows 3.x or MS-DOS, the resource settings
  can be verified by using the MSD command present
  in the DOS directory.
• For Windows 2000 or Windows XP, follow the step
  given below to identify the resources used by the
  different devices
• Click Start ? Programs ?
  Accessories ?System Tools-gt System Information

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Lesson 2 - Standard Expansion Buses

• Introduction
• The expansion slots are used to enhance the
  features of the PC.
• The expansion slots can hold expansion cards like
  the sound card, VGA card, AGP card, Network card
  etc
• There are different types of expansion slots.
  Industrial Standard Architecture (ISA) bus
• Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) Bus
• Extended ISA (EISA) Bus
• Video Electronics Standard Association (VESA) Bus
• Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI)Bus
• Peripheral Component Interconnect X
• Accelerated Graphics Port
• Audio Modem Raiser and Communication Network
  Raiser

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Lesson 2 - Standard Expansion Buses

• Topics Covered in this Lesson
• PC Bus
• Industrial Standard Architecture (ISA) Bus
• Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) Bus
• Extended ISA (EISA) Bus
• Video Electronics Standard Association (VESA) Bus
• Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) Bus
• Accelerated Graphics Port
• Audio Modem Raiser and Communication Network
  Raiser

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Topic 1 PC Bus

• PC bus is an 8 bit expansion slot to connect 8
  bit expansion cards.

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Topic 2 - Industrial Standard Architecture (ISA)
Bus

• ISA bus is a 16 bit slot present in 80286, 80386,
  80486 and Pentium systems.
• The ISA card is configured through jumpers or
  switches

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Topic 3 - Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) Bus

• Bus Mastering - The components that can take
  control over the bus are called bus masters.
• Features of MCA
• It is a 16 or 32 bit bus created by IBM
• Supports bus mastering
• Operates at 10-12 MHZ
• Can be configured through software
• Has Lower Noise Level

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Topic 4 - Enhanced ISA

• It is a 32 bit bus.
• Capable of using multiple bus mastering devices.
• Compatible 8 bit PC bus, 16 bit ISA bus.
• Software setup capability for boards

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Topic 5 - Video Electronics Standard Architecture
(VESA) bus

• It is a 32 bus.
• It is used to connect video cards, I/O cards and
  multimedia expansion cards
• Disadvantages of the VESA
• 80486 dependence
• Limited number of slots
• No bus mastering
• Boards are configured through jumpers

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Topic 6 - Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI)
bus

• PCI
• Operates at a speed of 33 MHz or 66 MHz
• It is a 64 bit bus
• Communicates with processor using a bridge
  circuit.
• PCI-X
• Operates at 133 MHz bus speed
• Offers 64 bit Band width
• Supports 1 GB/Sec data transfer rate
• Supports efficient bus operation
• Provides backward Compatibility

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Topic 7 - AGP Bus

• It is designed for connecting video cards.
• PCI bus with 2.1 version at 66MHZ is the basis
  for AGP slot.
• It supports a new technique called texture cache.

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Topic 8 - Audio Modem Raiser and Communication
Network Raiser

• This specification developed by Intel.
• The function of the modem and the analog I/O
  audio circuitry are combined together on a small
  circuit board
• The small circuit board is called raiser card
• The AMR card enhances the performance by
  providing better quality audio solutions.

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Topic 8 - Audio Modem Raiser and Communication
Network Raiser

• Communication Network Raiser Card
• This is a standard developed by Intel
• It contains chips for the functioning of modems
  and audio devices.
• PCMCIA or PC Card
• It is an expansion board used for laptop and
  notebook computers.
• It is used for interfacing components like the
  Memory, fax/modems, SCSI adapters

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Topic 8 - Audio Modem Raiser and Communication
Network Raiser

• The following figure shows different Bus
  interfaces and the devices that can be connected
  to each of them

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Lesson 3 - Choosing, Installing and
Troubleshooting a Motherboard

• Introduction
• Motherboard is the most important component of
  the computer.
• This is the central component to which every
  other component is attached,
• Topics covered in this module
• Choosing a Motherboard
• Installing a Motherboard
• Troubleshooting a Motherboard

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Topic 1-Choosing a Motherboard

• Choosing a Motherboard
• Choosing an appropriate motherboard can be quite
  a challenging task. A lot of factors affect the
  choice of the motherboard.
• Future upgradeability of the system is the most
  important one
• It should support a higher hard drive capacity, a
  higher Memory slot on the motherboard, whether it
  has an AGP slot.

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Topic 1-Choosing a Motherboard

• IT should support the following
• Mother form factor
• CPU compatibility
• Functionality
• Connectors

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Topic 2-Installing a Motherboard

• Installing a Motherboard
• Installing a motherboard should be done with a
  lot of care.
• Connect the motherboard to the mounting holes and
  tighten the screws.
• Set the jumpers and switches to the appropriate
  positions.
• Once the motherboard is secure, then start
  connecting the different wires to their
  appropriate sockets.

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Topic 3 Troubleshooting a Motherboard

• Troubleshooting a Motherboard
• Troubleshooting the motherboard is the trickiest
  part for a technician.
• This requires a lot of time, patience and
  documentation. Since the troubleshooting has to
  be done at the chip-level, troubleshooting a
  motherboard can cost more time and money than
  buying a new one.

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Conclusion

• PC bus is an 8 bit expansion slot to connect 8
  bit expansion cards
• The major components of the motherboard are
• Processor socket or slot
• Chipset
• Super I/O chip
• BIOS
• SIMM/DIMM sockets
• Bus slots
• ISA bus is a 16 bit slot present in 80286, 80386,
  80486 and Pentium systems
• Future upgradeability of the system is the most
  important one