Computer Repair & Support

COMPUTER REPAIR AND SUPPORT

HANDOUT

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Motherboard components, types and features

A motherboard, also known as a mainboard, logic board, or system board, and sometimes abbreviated
as mobo, is the central or primary circuit board of the computer. A typical computer is built with the
microprocessor, main memory, and other basic components on the motherboard. Other components of
the computer such as external storage, control circuits for video display and sound, and peripheral
devices are typically attached to the motherboard via ribbon cables, other cables, and power connectors.

Four types of Motherboards

Today our class is about motherboard types and differences. we already discussed about motherboard,
which is the main circuit board and it interconnects the remaining parts of computer.

Totally we have 4 types of motherboards so far. They are XT, AT, Baby AT and ATX.

XT Motherboards:

XT Stands for eXtended Technology. These are all old model motherboard. In this motherboards, we
find old model processor socket LIF (Low Insertion Force) sockets, ram slots Dimms and ISA (Industry
Standards Architecture) slots, 12pin Power Connector and no ports.

They have slot type processors, Dimms memory modules, ISA slots for add-on card, and no ports. There
are connectors and add-on cards for ports.

Eg: Pentium-I, Pentium-MMX, Pentium -II and Pentium-II Processors.

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AT Motherboards:

AT stands for Advanced Technology. Advanced Technology Motherboards have PGA (Pin Grid Array)
Socket, SD Ram slots, 20pin power connector PCI slots and ISA slots. we find the above components on
AT motherboards.

Eg: Pentium-III Processors

Baby AT Motherboards:

Baby AT Motherboards have the combination of XT and AT. They have both slot type processor
sockets and PGA processor sockets, SD Ram slots and DDR Ram slots, PCI slots and ISA slots, 12 Pin
power connector and 20Pin power connector and Ports.

Eg: Pentium-III and Pentium-IV

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ATX Motherboards:

ATX stands for Advanced Technology eXtended. latest motherboards all are called as ATX
motherboards. designed by ATX form factor. In this motherboards, we find MPGA Processor Sockets,
DDR Ram slots, PCI slots, AGP slots, Primary and secondary IDE interfaces, SATA connectors, 20pin
and 24 pin ATX power connector and Ports.

Eg: Pentium-IV, Dual Core, Core 2 Duo, Quad Core, i3, i5 and i7 Processors.

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Form Factor
Form factor refers to the size and format of motherboards

• ATX (Advanced Technology Extended) is a full size board measuring 12" wide by 9.6" deep (305
mm x 244 mm)
• microATX is a small motherboard size of 9.6" x 9.6" (244 mm x 244 mm). Compared to full size
ATX, microATX has reduced the amount of I/O slots but a smaller power supply can be used.
• NLX (New Low Profile Extended) was a form factor proposed by Intel and developed jointly with
IBM, DEC, and other vendors for low profile, low cost, mass-marketed retail PCs. Release 1.2 was
finalized in March 1997 and release 1.8 was finalized in April 1999. NLX was similar in overall
design to LPX, including a riser card and a low-profile slimline case. It was modernized and updated
to allow support for the latest technologies while keeping costs down and fixing the main problems
with LPX.

Many slimline systems that were formerly designed to fit the LPX form factor were modified to fit
NLX. NLX is a true standard, unlike LPX, making interchangeability of components easier than it was
for the older form factor. IBM, Gateway, and NEC produced a fair number of NLX computers in the late
1990s, primarily for Socket 370 (Pentium II-III and Celeron), but NLX never enjoyed the widespread
acceptance that LPX had. Most importantly, one of the largest PC manufacturers, Dell decided against
using NLX and created their own proprietary motherboards for use in their slimline systems. Although
many of these computers and motherboards are still available secondhand, new production has
essentially ceased, and in the slimline and small form factor market, NLX has been superseded by the
Micro-ATX, FlexATX, and Mini-ITX form factors.

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Common Motherboard Layout (INTEL Socket T (LGA775)

1 CPU Socket

2 CPU_FAN - CPU cooling fan connector

3 DIMM1~2 - 240-pin DDR2 SDRAM slots

4 IRDA - Infrared header

5 FDD - Floppy diskette drive connector

6 ATX1 - Standard 24-pin ATX power connector

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7 IDE1 - Primary IDE channel

8 CLR_CMOS - Clear CMOS jumper

9 SATA1~4 - Serial ATA connectors

10 PANEL1 - Panel connector for case switches and LEDs

11 USB1-2 - Front Panel USB headers

12 1394a - IEEE 1394a header

13 BIOS_WP - BIOS flash protect jumper

14 COM2 - Onboard Serial port hader

15 WOL1 - Wake On LAN connector

16 S/PDIF - SPDIF out header

17 F_AUDIO - Front panel audio header

18 AUX_IN - Auxiliary In connector

19 PCI1~2 - 32-bit add-on card slots

20 PCIE1 - PCI Express x1 slot

21 PCIEX16 - PCI Express slot for graphics interface

22 SYS_FAN - System cooling fan connector

23 ATX12V - Auxiliary 4-pin power connector

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I/O interfaces
Integrated AMD Motherboard

PS2 Mouse Used to connect a PS/2 pointing device.

PS2 Keyboard Used to connect a PS/2 keyboard.

VGA Port Connect your monitor to the VGA port.

DVI-I Port Connect a monitor with DVI connection

HDMI Connect a monitor or HDTV with HDMI connection.

Optical S/PDIF Used for sound connections to home audio receivers or powered PC speakers with
optical connections.

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1394a Port Use the 1394a port to connect to any firewire device.

LAN Port Used to connect an RJ-45 cable to a Network hub or router.

USB Ports Used to connect USB devices such as printers, scanners cameras et...

Analog Audio Ports Used to connect audio devices.

• Orange - Center & Woofer

• Black - Back Surround
• Grey - Side Surround
• Blue - Line-in
• Green - Front Out
• Pink - Mic_in Rear

Memory slots
RIMM - Were commonly used on the Intel Pentium 4 motherboards. Unlike most other types of
computer memory, computers that support RIMM require a continuous signal. If a memory slot is left
empty the PC will not work. The empty slot must be filled with another RIMM module or a C-RIMM
pass through module which enables a continuous signal.

DIMM - Come in three common pin configurations.

• 240-pin slots - for DDR2 SDRAM memory for desktop computers.

• 184-pin slots - for DDR SDRAM memory for desktop computers.
• 168-pin slots - commonly found in Pentium and Athlon systems.

< Installed DIMM

< Open DIMM Slots

SODIMM

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Small outline dual inline memory module. Smaller and thinner than standard DIMMs, SODIMMs are
typically used in laptop computers.

The most common current laptop memory is the Small Outline Dual In-line Memory Module. The cards
are 5cm long by 2.5cm tall, or about 2x1 inch.

Where SODIMMS can differ is in the number of pins that connect to the computer's bus; the more pins,
the wider the pathway for data, and higher the potential speed.SODIMMs have identifying notches along
the pin end of the module that prevent installation of the wrong type of memory in a slot.

Speed Clock Rate Data Rate

PC2-3200 100MHz 400MT/s
PC2-4300 133MHz 532MT/s
PC2-5300 167MHz 667MT/s
PC2-5400 167MHz 667MT/s
PC2-6200 200MHz 800MT/s
SIMM

Single inline memory module. A high-density DRAM package alternative consisting of several
components connected to a single printed circuit board.

Processor sockets
A motherboard is designed for a certain range of processors. One of the determining factors of processor
compatibility is the slot or socket connector soldered onto the board. 242-contact and 330-contact slot
connectors were used for a short time to allow for L2 cache to be packaged close to the processor die.
Processor manufacturing advancements now allow L2 cache to be manufactured on the same die as the
processor, requiring a smaller form-factor processor packaging. PGA (pin grid array) sockets are more
common, flexible, and compact, but have many variations in the amount of pin connects and pin layouts.

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CPU Socket Processors PIN's
AMD Athlon (650 MHz - 1400 MHz)

AMD Athlon XP (1500+ - 3200+)

Socket A AMD Duron (600 MHz - 1800 MHz) 453

AMD Sempron (2000+ - 3300+)

AMD Athlon MP (1000 MHz - 3000+)

AMD Athlon 64 (2800+ - 3700+)

Socket 754 AMD Sempron (2500+ - ) 754

AMD Turion 64 (ML and MT)

AMD Athlon 64 (3000+ - 4000+)

AMD Athlon 64 FX
939
Socket 939 AMD Athlon 64 X2

Some AMD Opteron 1xx series

Some Sempron 3xxx

Socket 940
AMD Athlon 64 FX
940
NOT compatible with
AMD Opteron
Socket AM2 940 pin CPUs
Athlon 64

Athlon 64 X2
940
Socket AM2 Athlon 64 FX

Opteron

Sempron
Athlon 64

Athlon 64 X2
Socket AM3
940
Athlon 64 FX

Sempron

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CPU Socket Processors PIN's
Intel Pentium 4 (1.4 - 3.4 GHz)
Intel Celeron (1.7 - 3.2 GHz)
Socket 478 478
Celeron D (to 3.2 GHz)
Intel Pentium 4 Extreme Edition (3.2, 3.4 GHz)
Intel Pentium M (900 MHz - 2.267 GHz)
Intel Celeron M (800 MHz - 1.733 GHz)
Socket 479 Intel Core Duo (1.667 - 2.167 GHz) 479
Intel Core Solo (1.667 GHz)
VIA C7-M (1,5 GHz and 1,8 GHz)
Intel Pentium 4 (2.66 - 3.80 GHz)
Intel Celeron D (2.53 - 3.46 GHz )
Intel Pentium 4 Extreme Edition
(3.20 - 3.73 GHz)
LGA775 Intel Pentium D (2.66 - 3.60 GHz) 775
Intel Pentium Extreme Edition
(3.20 - 3.73 GHz)
Intel Core 2 Duo (1.60 - 2.67 GHz)
Intel Core 2 Extreme (2.66 - 2.93 GHz)
Intel Core Solo
Intel Core Duo
Socket M 478
Intel Dual-Core Xeon (1.67, 2.0)
Intel Core 2 Duo (T5x00, T7x00)

Bus architecture
Front side buses serve as a backbone between the CPU and a chipset. The chipset (northbridge and a
southbridge) is the connection point for all other buses in the system. The PCI, AGP, and memory buses
all connect to the chipset to allow for data to flow between the connected devices

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Bus slots
PCI: Peripheral Component Interconnect, is a specification introduced by
Intel Corporation that defines a local bus system that allows up to 10 PCI-
compliant expansion cards to be installed in the computer. Many netword,
modem, sound, and graphics adapters et... use the PCI bus.

The PCI bus is being replaced by PCI Express

AGP: Accelerated Graphics Port , used for graphics adapters. The AGP port
is being replaced by the new PCIe slot.

PCIe: PCI Express (PCIe) is a new I/O bus technology that, over time, will
replace Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI), PCI-X, and the
Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP). PCIe hardware is backwards compatible
with PCI software (not with hardware PCI slots) on the Microsoft Windows
2000 and Microsoft Windows XP operating systems.

The PCI features supported by current Windows operating systems will

continue to work with PCIe without any need for modifications in the
applications, drivers, or operating system; however, the advanced PCIe
features will be natively supported only in Windows Vista and later versions
of Windows.

PCIe slots today are mostly used for graphics cards which require the
greater bandwidth PCIe is capable of.

AMR: Audio Modem Riser, is an expansion slot found on the motherboards

of some Pentium III, Pentium 4, and Athlon personal computers. Drawbacks
of AMR are that it eliminates one PCI slot, it is not plug and play, and it
does not allow for hardware accelerated cards (only software-based).

CNR: Communications and Networking Riser, is a slot found on some

motherboards. A motherboard manufacturer can choose to provide audio,
networking, or modem functionality in any combination on a CNR card.

Today nearly all riser technologies, such as ACR, AMR, and CNR, have
been generally obsoleted in favor of on-board or embedded components.

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PATA
In 2003, the original ATA (Advanced Technology Attachment) was
retroactively renamed Parallel ATA (PATA)

IDE: Integrated Drive Electronics

EIDE: Enhanced IDE, sometimes referred to as Fast ATA or Fast IDE

Are standard interfaces for connecting storage devices such as hard disks
and CD-ROM drives inside personal computers.

SATA
SATA: Serial ATA (Advanced Technology Attachment) is a computer bus
technology primarily designed for transfer of data to and from hard disks
and optical drives. The SATA connectors will only fit in one orientation.

The main differences between the serial interconnect and the parallel
interconnect of ATA are as follows:

Serial ATA is point to point, meaning only one storage device can be
connected to a single Serial ATA cable. Parallel ATA has a shared channel
and can connect up to two storage devices on a single cable.

Serial ATA is faster. Currently Serial ATA transfers data at a rate of 150
megabytes (MB) per second and will likely advance to 300 MB and 600
MB per second in the near future.

Serial ATA has a thinner cable and a smaller connection that is keyed so
they cannot be connected incorrectly, unlike some parallel ATA cables.

eSATA
Aimed at the consumer market, eSATA enters an external storage market already served by the USB
and FireWire interfaces. Most external hard-disk-drive cases with FireWire or USB interfaces use either
PATA or SATA drives and "bridges" to translate between the drives' interfaces and the enclosures'
external ports, and this bridging incurs some inefficiency. Some single disks can transfer 131 MB/s
during real use, more than twice the maximum transfer rate of USB 2.0 or FireWire 400 (IEEE 1394a)
and well in excess of the maximum transfer rate of FireWire 800, though the S3200 FireWire 1394b
spec reaches ~400 MB/s (3.2 Gbit/s). Finally, some low-level drive features, such as S.M.A.R.T., may
not operate through USB or FireWire bridging. eSATA does not suffer from these issues. USB 3.0's
4.8Gbit/s and Firewire's future 6.4Gbit/s will be faster than eSATA I, but the eSATA version of SATA
III will operate at 6.0Gbit/s, thereby operating at negligible differences of each other.

HDMI, Ethernet, and eSATA ports on a Sky+ HD Digibox

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eSATA can be differentiated from USB 2.0 and FireWire external storage for several reasons. As of
early 2008, the vast majority of mass-market computers have USB ports and many computers and
consumer electronic appliances have FireWire ports, but few devices have external SATA connectors.
For small form-factor devices (such as external 2.5-inch disks), a PC-hosted USB or FireWire link
supplies sufficient power to operate the device. Where a PC-hosted port is concerned, eSATA
connectors cannot supply power, and would therefore be more cumbersome to use.

Owners of desktop computers that lack a built-in eSATA interface can upgrade them with the
installation of an eSATA host bus adapter (HBA), while notebooks can be upgraded with Cardbus or
ExpressCard versions of an eSATA HBA. With passive adapters the maximum cable length is reduced
to 1 metre (3.3 ft) due to the absence of compliant eSATA signal-levels.

Contrast RAID (levels 0, 1, 5)

Raid (redundant array of inexpensive disks) is now used as an umbrella term for computer data
storage schemes that can divide and replicate data among multiple hard disk drives. The different
schemes/architectures are named by the word RAID followed by a number, as in RAID 0, RAID 1, etc.
RAID's various designs involve two key design goals: increase data reliability and/or increase
input/output performance. When multiple physical disks are set up to use RAID technology, they are
said to be in a RAID array. This array distributes data across multiple disks, but the array is seen by the
computer user and operating system as one single disk. RAID can be set up to serve several different
purposes.

• RAID 0 (striped disks) distributes data across multiple disks in a way that gives improved speed
at any given instant. If one disk fails, however, all of the data on the array will be lost, as there is neither
parity nor mirroring. In this regard, RAID 0 is somewhat of a misnomer, in that RAID 0 is non-
redundant. A RAID 0 array requires a minimum of two drives. A RAID 0 configuration can be applied
to a single drive provided that the RAID controller is hardware and not software (i.e. OS-based arrays)
and allows for such configuration. This allows a single drive to be added to a controller already
containing another RAID configuration when the user does not wish to add the additional drive to the
existing array. In this case, the controller would be set up as RAID only (as opposed to SCSI only (no
RAID)), which requires that each individual drive be a part of some sort of RAID array.
• RAID 1 mirrors the contents of the disks, making a form of 1:1 ratio realtime backup. The
contents of each disk in the array are identical to that of every other disk in the array. A RAID 1 array
requires a minimum of two drives. RAID 1 mirrors, though during the writing process copy the data
identically to both drives, would not be suitable as a permanent backup solution, as RAID technology by
design allows for certain failures to take place.
• RAID 5 Striped set with distributed parity or interleave parity. Distributed parity requires all
drives but one to be present to operate; drive failure requires replacement, but the array is not destroyed
by a single drive failure. Upon drive failure, any subsequent reads can be calculated from the distributed
parity such that the drive failure is masked from the end user. The array will have data loss in the event
of a second drive failure and is vulnerable until the data that was on the failed drive is rebuilt onto a

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replacement drive. A single drive failure in the set will result in reduced performance of the entire set
until the failed drive has been replaced and rebuilt.

Chipsets
The motherboard chipset consists of a north bridge, or Memory Controller Hub (MCH), which is
responsible for controlling communication between system memory, the processor, AGP, and the south
bridge, or I/O Controller Hub (ICH). The ICH controls communication between PCI devices, system
management bus, ATA devices, AC'97 (audio), USB, IEEE1397 (firewire), and LPC controller. These
chipsets are soldered onto the motherboard and cannot be changed or upgraded.

Hyper threading
Is Intel's trademark for their implementation of the simultaneous multithreading
technology on the Pentium 4 microarchitecture. The technology improves processor
performance under certain workloads.

Dual core CPU that includes two

complete execution cores per physical processor. It has combined two processors
and their caches and cache controllers onto a single integrated chip. Dual-core
processors are well-suited for multitasking environments because there are two
complete execution cores instead of one, each with an independent interface
to the frontside bus. Since each core has its own cache, the operating system
has sufficient resources to handle most compute intensive tasks in parallel.

Triple core

Quad core

Onchip cache
L1: Now usually found on the processor. The size of 2nd level cache.
L2 Cache is ultra-fast memory that buffers information being transferred between
the processor and the slower RAM in an attempt to speed these types of transfers.

L2: Is a type of cache that is found on the motherboard instead of the

processor. The size of 3rd level cache, typically larger then L2. L3 Cache is ultra-fast memory that
buffers information being transferred between the processor and the slower RAM in an attempt to speed
these types of transfers. Integrated Level 3 cache provides a faster path to large data sets stored in cache
on the processor. This results in reduced average memory latency and increased throughput
for larger High-end Desktop workloads.

Speed (real vs. actual)

Between 2001 and 2003, Intel and AMD made few changes to the designs of their processors. Most
performance increases were created by raising the processor's clock speed rather than improving the

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microprocessor's core. Around mid 2004, Intel encountered serious problems in increasing their Pentium
4's clock speed beyond 3.4 GHz because of the enormous amount of heat generated by the already hot
Prescott core processor when working at higher clock speeds. In response, Intel started exploring ways
to improve the performance of its microprocessors in ways other than raising the clock speeds of the
processors such as increasing the sizes of the processors' caches and using multiple processing cores in
its processors.

Because of the philosophy change, a Pentium 4 clocked at 3.0 GHz with a 1MB

L2 cache could now outperform a 3.4 GHz Pentium 4 with 512KB L2 Cache. Clock speeds could no
longer solely differentiate the performance of different Pentium 4s. As a result, Intel has adopted a PR
rating of its own using three digit numbers. Intel now faces the challenge of making consumers compare
its processors based on PR ratings rather than raw clock speed, ironically a problem which Intel created
itself.

Some analysts regard the PR scheme (and a raw MHz/ GHz rating) as nothing more than a marketing
tactic, rather than as a useful measure of CPU performance. Many professionals or interested amateurs
now consult extensive benchmark tests to determine system performance on various applications.

32 vs. 64 bit
A change from a 32-bit to a 64-bit architecture is a fundamental alteration, as most operating systems
must be extensively modified to take advantage of the new architecture. Other software must also be
ported to use the new capabilities; older software is usually supported through either a hardware
compatibility mode (in which the new processors support the older 32-bit version of the instruction
set as well as the 64-bit version), through software emulation, or by the actual implementation of a 32-
bit processor core within the 64-bit processor die (as with the Itanium processors from Intel, which
include an x86 processor core to run 32-bit x86 applications). The operating systems for those 64-bit
architectures generally support both 32-bit and 64-bit applications.

Explain cooling methods and devices

Heat sinks
In earlier PC's it was possible to cool most components using convection (passive cooling), more
efficient cooling has become a necessity on many components. To cool these components, fans are used
to move heated air away from the components and draw cooler air over them. Fans attached to
components are usually used in combination with a heatsink to increase the surface area available for
heat conduction, thereby improving the efficiency of cooling.

Heat sink: A device that absorbs and dissipates heat produced by an electrical component, such as an
integrated circuit, to prevent overheating. Heat sinks are usually made of metal and often have fins that
assist in transferring heat to the atmosphere.

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CPU topped by heatsink and fan

CPU and case fans

Areas where cooling fans may be used:

• Power Supply (PSU) fans : often play a double role, not only keeping the PSU itself from
overheating, but also removing warm air from inside the case.
• CPU fan: Used to cool the CPU (central processing unit).
• Case fans: move air through the case, usually drawing cooler outside air in through the front and
over the internal motherboard components expelling it through the rear.
• Chipset fan: Used to cool the north bridge of a motherboard's chipset.
• Graphics card fan: Used to cool the GPU and/or memory on graphics cards.
• PCI slot fan: A fan mounted in one of the PCI slots, usually to supply additional cooling to the
PCI and/or graphics cards.
• Hard disk fan: A fan mounted next to or on a hard disk drive.

BIOS / CMOS / Firmware

Basic input/output system (BIOS) is the set of essential software routines that test hardware at startup,
start the operating system, and support the transfer of data among hardware devices. The BIOS is stored
in read-only memory (ROM) so that it can be executed when you turn on the computer. Although
critical to performance, the BIOS is usually invisible to computer users.

The BIOS Setup Utility displays the PC system’s configuration status and provides you with options to
set system parameters. The parameters are stored in battery-backed-up CMOS RAM that saves this

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information when the power is turned off. When the system is turned back on, the system is configured
with the values you stored in CMOS.

Most BIOS Setup Utilities enable you to configure:

• Hard drives, diskette drives and peripherals

• Video display type and display options
• Password protection from unauthorized use
• Power Management feature

(CMOS) complementary metal oxide semiconductor is an on-board semiconductor chip powered by a

CMOS battery inside IBM compatible computers that stores information such as the system time and
system settings for your computer.

Firmware is software that is embedded in a hardware device. It is often provided on flash ROMs or as a
binary image file that can be uploaded onto existing hardware by a user. Most devices attached to
modern systems are special-purpose computers in their own right, running their own software. Some of
these devices store that software ("firmware") in a ROM within the device itself. Over the years,
however, manufacturers have found that loading the firmware from the host system is both cheaper and
more flexible. As a result, much current hardware is unable to function in any useful way until the host
computer has fed it the requisite firmware. This firmware load is handled by the device driver.

Riser card / daughterboard

Riser card is a PC expansion card that can be added to a PC to give it audio, modem or networking
capabilities.

Daughter boards are expansion boards that commonly connect directly to the motherboard and give the
computer an added feature such as modem, audio capability ect.. . Today, these types of boards are not
found or used in desktop computers and have been replaced with PCI boards. But, many laptops still use
these types of boards.

Classify power supplies types and characteristics

AC adapter
Most portable computers have power supplies that provide 25 to 100 watts. In portable computers (such
as laptops) there is usually an external power supply which converts AC power to one DC voltage, and
further DC-DC conversion occurs within the laptop to supply the various DC voltages required by the
other components of the portable computer.

ATX
Today, PCs will use either an ATX or ATX12V power supply. It contains software control of the power
on/off signal so that it can shut down the system. Since the ATX/ATX12V power supplies are software
activated/deactivated, you need to connect the Power SW cable from the chassis to the motherboard.

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Most power supplies require to have a load connected to the power supply. In other words, you must
have at least one component such as a drive or motherboard connected to the power supply.

Most power supplies designed to be used in the United States operate at 120 volts with a frequency of 60
Hz. In other nations, the supply voltage and frequency may be different. In Europe, you will find 230
volt with a 50 Hz frequency as the standard. Today, most PC power supplies will operate at either
voltage. Some can automatically switch over to the proper voltage while most are done by using a small
switch on the rear of the power supply. Ensure when plugging in your PC and turning it on, the correct
voltage is selected. If you have a power supply switched over to 230 V and the voltage is 120 V, the PC
will not boot up. Unfortunately, if the power supply is set to 120 V and it is connected to a 230 V outlet,
it will seriously damage your power supply and other important components.

The ATX12V power supply provides increased 12 V, 3.3 V, and 5 V current and provides additional
cooling capability. An ATX12V power supply can be easily identified by the addition of an additional
new 2x2 pin connector and an optional 1X6 pin connector.

Power Connections on typical modern motherboard

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The ATX power supply uses the PS_ON signal to power up the system. A +5 volt signal is constantly
sent through pin 14 (PS_ON) of the ATX power connector. When the PS_ON is shorted tells the power
supply to turn on and start the boot process. A push button contact switch is connected to two pins on
the motherboard that link to the PS_ON signal to ground. When the push button is pushed, it connects
the PS_ON signal to ground. When the push button is pushed, it connects the PS_ON signal with
ground, shorting it out. Therefore, when you are installing an ATX motherboard, you need to connect
the push button wires (usually labeled PWR SW) to the motherboard. If you decide to test a
motherboard without physically installing it into an ATX case, you can start the system by either
connecting a push button switch to the motherboard and pressing the button or by taking a small screw
driver and make contact with the two pins that make up the power switch connector. Since the switch
only toggles the on/off status, the switch carries only +5 V of DC power, rather than the full 110 V AC
current used in the T power supplies.

Besides supplying the power to the PC components, the power supply also provides the power-good
signal. During boot up, the processor tells the computer to constantly reset. As soon as the power supply
performs a self-test, testing if all voltage and current levels are acceptable, the power supply will send a
power good signal (+5 volts) to the microprocessor. When the power good signal is sent, the computer
will finish the boot process.

Voltage, wattage and capacity

Computer power supplies are rated based on their maximum output power. Typical power ranges are
from 300 W to 500 W lower than 300 W for Small form factor systems and are intended for ordinary
home computers, the use of which is limited to Internet-surfing and burning and playing DVDs. Power
supplies used by gamers and enthusiasts mostly range from 450 W to 1400 W. Typical gaming PCs
feature power supplies in the range of 500-800 W, with higher-end PCs demanding 800-1400 W
supplies. The power rating of a PC power supply is not officially certified and is self-claimed by each
manufacturer.

Computer power supplies are generally about 7075% efficient. That means in order for a 75% efficient
power supply to produce 75 W of DC output it would require 100 W of AC input and dissipate the
remaining 25 W in heat. Higher-quality power supplies can be over 80% efficient; higher energy
efficient PSU's waste less energy in heat, and requires less airflow to cool, and as a result will be quieter.
As of 2007, 93%-efficient power supplies are available.

Voltage selector switch

Some power supplies have a switch to change between 230 V and 115 V. Other models have automatic
sensors that switch input voltage automatically, or are able to accept any voltage between those limits.

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Pins (20, 24)

ATX Power Supply

24 pin connection on mainboard, some

newer motherboards with 24 pin
connections can accept both 20 and 24 pin
connectors

20 and 24 pin main power connectors

20 main and 4 pin secondary connector -

AMD Athlon 64 and Intel Pentium 4
processors require a power supply with an
extra 12V connector that is connected to a
4-pin header on the motherboard

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8 Pin cpu connector - On some

motherboards, for example boards that
support Intel dual-core processors have a
secondary 8 pin connection.

The ATX form factor has five main power supply designs:

ATX - 20 pin connector (Used through Pentium III and early Athlon XP)

WTX - 24 pin connector (Pentium II and III, Xeon and Athlon MP)

AMD GES - 24 pin main connector, 8 pin secondary connector (some dual-processor Athlon)

ATX12V - 20 pin main connector, 4 pin secondary connector, 8 pin tertiary connector (Pentium 4 and
mid/late Athlon XP & Athlon 64)

EPS12V - 24 pin main connector, 8 pin secondary connector, optional 4 pin tertiary connector (Xeon
and Opteron) defined in SSI specification

ATX12V 2.0 - 24 pin main connector, 4 pin secondary connector (Pentium 4, Core 2 Duo, and Athlon 64
with PCI Express)

ATX12V 2.2 - One 20/24-pin connector, one ATX12V 4 pin connector. Many power supply
manufacturers include a 4 plus 4 pin, or 8 to 4 pin secondary connector instead, which can also be used
as the secondary EPS12V connector.

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CPU Power Supply ATX plug P4 connector (4-pin 12V)

20-pin, sometimes 24-
AMD Socket 754 ATX12V 1.3 or higher sometimes needed
pin
20-pin, sometimes 24-
AMD Socket 939 ATX12V 1.3 or higher sometimes needed
pin
Intel Socket 423 ATX12V 1.3 or higher 20-pin needed
Intel Socket 478 ATX12V 1.3 or higher 20-pin needed
ATX12V 2.01 or 24-pin, sometimes 20-
Intel Socket 775 needed
higher pin

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Categorize storage devices and backup media
FDD

Floppy Connection on Motherboard

Floppy Drive
(floppy disk drive) has only 1.4 Mb storage space. Was used for backup of data and mode of
transferring data from one PC to another. As of 2005 3½-inch drives were still common equipment on
many new PCs other than laptops. But have become pretty much obsolete, portable storage options, such
as USB storage devices and recordable or rewritable CDs / DVDs have taken its place.

HDD

(hard disk drive) A device containing one or more inflexible platters coated with material in which data
can be recorded magnetically, together with their read/write heads, the head-positioning mechanism, and
the spindle motor in a sealed case that protects against outside contaminants. The protected environment
allows the head to fly 10 to 25 millionths of an inch above the surface of a platter rotating typically at
3600 to 7200 rpm; therefore, much more data can be stored and accessed much more quickly than on a
floppy disk. Most hard disks contain from two to eight platters.

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Solid state vs. magnetic

Solid state disk drive, a mass storage device that holds data in RAM rather than in magnetic storage.

Magnetic disk, a computer disk enclosed in a protective case (hard disk) or jacket (floppy disk) and
coated with a magnetic material that enables data to be stored in the form of changes in magnetic
polarity (with one polarity representing a binary 1 and the other a 0) on many small sections (magnetic
domains) of the disk surface. Magnetic disks should be protected from exposure to sources of
magnetism, which can damage or destroy the information they hold.

Optical drives
CD-ROM Compact Disc Read-Only Memory Used for data storage and data transfer. A standard
120mm CD-ROM holds 650 or 700 Mb of data.

DVD-ROM Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc is an optical disc storage media format that can
be used for data storage, including movies with high quality video and sound. DVDs resemble compact
discs as their physical dimensions are the same but they are encoded in a different format and at a much
higher density allowing for a greater data capacity of about 4.7 GB

CD-RW

• CD-RW recorder can rewrite 700 MB of data to a CD-RW disc roughly 1000 times.
• CD-RW recorders can also write CD-R discs. Except for the ability to completely erase a disc,
CD-RWs act very much like CD-Rs.
• CD-RWs cannot be read in CD-ROM drives built prior to 1997.
• CD-R is considered a better technology for archival purposes as disc contents cannot be
modified.

DVD-RW

• Rewritable optical disc with equal storage capacity to a DVD-R, typically 4.7 GB.
• Primary advantage of DVD-RW over DVD-R is the ability to erase and rewrite to a DVD-RW
disc.
• DVD-RW discs may be written to about 1,000 times before needing replacement, making them
comparable with the CD-RW standard.
• DVD-RW discs are commonly used for volatile data, such as backups or collections of files.

Dual Layer recording allows DVD-R and DVD+R discs to store significantly more data, up to 8.5
Gigabytes per disc, compared with 4.7 Gigabytes for single-layer discs

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BLU-RAY

Is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the standard DVD format. Its main uses are for
storing high-definition video, and other data, with up to 25 GB per single layered, and 50 GB per dual
layered disc. The disc has the same physical dimensions as standard DVDs and CDs.

The name Blu-ray Disc derives from the blue-violet laser used to read the disc. While a standard DVD
uses a 650 nanometer red laser, Blu-ray uses a shorter wavelength, a 405 nm blue-violet laser, and
allows for almost six times more data storage than a DVD.

Removable storage
Tape drives mainly for backup and long-term storage. Can be connected with SCSI (most common),
parallel port, IDE, USB, FireWire or optical fibre. Tape drives can range in capacity from a few
megabytes to upwards of 800 GB compressed.

External CD-RW and hard drive May be used for backup, easy transfer of data to another PC, and are
good choices for offsite backup data storage in case of fire et..

Thumb drive, flash and SD cards small, lightweight, removable and rewritable data storage devices.
Some recent USB flash drives act as two drives - as a removable disk device , and as a USB floppy
drive. This is likely intended to make it easier to use them as a bootable device.

Hot swappable devices and non-hot swappable devices

Hot swapping and hot plugging are terms used to separately describe the functions of replacing system
components without shutting down the system. Hot swapping describes changing components without
significant interruption to the system, while hot plugging describes changing or adding components
which interact with the operating system. Both terms describe the ability to remove and replace
components of a computer, while it is operating. For hot swapping once the appropriate software is
installed on the computer, a user can plug and unplug the component without rebooting. A well-known
example of this functionality is the Universal Serial Bus (USB) that allows users to add or remove
peripheral components such as a thumb drive, external hard drive, mouse, keyboard, or printer.

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TROUBLESHOOTING MEMORY PROBLEMS
Troubleshooting Memory - there are two types of memory errors: Hard and soft which do you have?

Troubleshooting Memory (RAM) errors, did you hear any beeps?

RAM problems come in two forms, hard errors and soft errors.

Troubleshooting RAM techniques:

Hard RAM errors are the easiest to detect and repair because you get a immediate indication of
hardware failure. Most of your troubleshooting of hard RAM errors will be done by the computer.

Your computer BIOS will give you an error code when you start your system or it will give you a beep
code depending on the manufacture and BIOS publisher.

The only thing you have to discern is if you have more than one RAM module in the system, two or
more modules and you will have to troubleshoot them by removing all but one and then put them back
in one at a time to find the failed module.

When Troubleshooting Memory errors Observe ESD!

Soft memory errors are harder to detect and troubleshoot. The problems run the gambit of problems.
From unable to write to the hard drive, system lockups, programs hanging, or extremely slow system
response.

Normally any of the above problems would point to a specific device but after troubleshooting the
device, say a hard drive, and find that the device is not at fault then you would look at the memory.

To find a soft memory error some BIOS programs have an advanced feature you can turn on (the one
that comes to mind is the IBM ThinkPad series of computers) called advance diagnostics. It will show
any boot time (POST -Power On Self Test) errors that occur and will do a test of the
physical RAM (Random Access Memory) in the system.

It is rarely used in systems that have a large amount of ram because the test can take up to five minutes
or more to run. If you suspect a memory problem this is the best way to find out if one of the RAM
modules is failing or is having a problem that would not cause a hard error when booting the system.

The Windows Operating System's System Information is somewhat helpful but it is not conclusive, it
only lists memory ranges for system drivers, if the error is not in the range that the system drivers are
loaded into this is of little or no use. The event viewer will list system errors if the program running can
pass on the error to the event notification driver (and if it is enabled!).

If you suspect that you are experiencing a soft memory error check the event log for errors. You will
have to search Microsoft's web site for information to decode the error, they are quite cryptic.

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For soft memory errors there are programs that will test memory while the system is running. The
programs that run in the Windows environment are not that reliable unless they come from the
motherboard manufacture.

Those that run in DOS are very reliable because they can access the hardware directly where as in a
more complex Operating Systems like Windows NT through Windows 7 the hardware layer is not
accusable by user programs.

In conclusion hard memory errors will show when the system boots. Soft memory errors will be harder
to find and diagnose.

The best way to test for soft memory errors is with a test program from DOS. This means you will
have to get the program and then have a DOS boot device.

TROUBLESHOOTING MOTHERBOARD PROBLEMS

Troubleshooting Motherboard- how do you know it is the physical motherboard and not an embedded
device?

Troubleshooting motherboard errors is like trouble shooting your car when it won't start. Is the battery
dead, is it out of gas, is the spark getting to the spark plugs. See where I am going with this. Your
problem could be anywhere from the power cord plugged into the wall socket all the way to the
keyboard.

When you have a failure and have ruled out all the external devices [mouse, keyboard, commercial
power, and monitor] then you start on the internal devices, hard drive, CD ROM, floppy, video card, any
installed auxiliary cards like the sound card, NIC, power supply, and so forth.

One indication that your motherboard is experiencing problems is when you power it up and goes
straight into the BIOS setup. Sometimes you will get an error message about why it went into the BIOS
setup, sometimes nothing but the setup screen. Another indication is with the newer motherboard one of
the embedded devices has failed, you can press on and install a card to replace that device or if under
warranty send it back to the manufacture for repair or replacement.

Troubleshooting Motherboard errors:

So what is your motherboard doing that is out of the ordinary?

• Not starting at all?

• Dumps to BIOS setup?
• Can't see the hard drive or cd rom?
• Mouse not working or intermittent?
• Keyboard not functioning?
• No sound from the embedded sound device?
• No network connectivity from the embedded NIC?

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• Your USB will not connect on one or more ports?

Well let's see if you can fix that failure.

Before we run down the list did you get a POST error or fault beep code? If you did then go to the
manufactures web site and look it up, this will be faster than trying to find the solution through this
check list.

Question: Have you changed anything in the BIOS? Added any new cards? Removed any cards?
Added memory? Upgrades of any kind?

If you have changed anything from the BIOS to adding or removing cards or devices then the fault may
not be not your motherboard!

If you have not changed anything then we know that the failure has something to do with hardware, let's
assume that the power supply, mouse, keyboard, and video is good.

First go into BIOS, check the time and date [yup, this is an indicator] if it has reverted to the default time
[any time other than the current date and time will be the default] then your internal battery has
died and needs to be replaced. You can set the time and date and reset all the BIOS settings but when
you power the system down you will lose those settings and have to do it again when you power it back
up. [This is assuming you have your computer connected to a power strip with surge protection and
power everything down while not in use!]

If the BIOS settings are correct then we need to look at your problem.

When Troubleshooting Motherboard Observe ESD!

Troubleshooting Main Board instructions:

Normal trouble shooting is to reseat all cable connections including power connectors, memory, cards,
and the processor [use care while removing and reseating the processor!].

Troubleshooting Motherboard- fault still persisting?

If reseating everything did not cure your failure next disconnect all cables from your mother board,
remove any cards with the exception of the video card, and leave the power to the motherboard, the
memory, and the processor. Did the problem go away?

Let's assume that your problem is not an embedded device [sound, NIC, video, or USB] and it persists
once you have the board stripped down to minimum support devices [mouse, keyboard, video card, and
memory].

You are down to four possibilities:

• The processor is failing [over heated and intermittent].

• A memory module has failed.
• Something on the motherboard has burnt and is shorting out.

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• An auxiliary wire [power led, hard drive activity led, reset button, or soft power button] has
shorted out.

After checking the memory [if you have two or more memory modules try removing one if that doesn't
work swap them out] and the aux wires and the failure persists you will need a magnifying glass to look
at all the IC's and wire traces on the motherboard looking for burnt areas or IC's.

Note: If you have an IC or a internal trace (in between the layers of the motherboard) that has
burned through there isn't any you can do but buy a new motherboard

SIGNS OF BROKEN MOTHERBOARDS

In personal computers, the motherboard is the central circuit board that holds many of the crucial
components of the system. It essentially provides the electrical connections needed for the different parts
of the computer to communicate. Motherboards have no moving parts, so failure is rare. Physical
damage to the motherboard is the biggest cause of failure, so it is important to know whether or not
damage has been done to the computer. Motherboard failure is rare. It is more likely that your computer
problems are coming from a defective power supply, hard drive, or memory. However, it is important to
know the signs of broken motherboards.

Key Signs of a Broken Motherboard

1. The computer does nothing when you push the power button. This is more likely to be a power
supply problem, but a defective motherboard is also a possibility.

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2. The computer goes to a screen that says something is wrong with the motherboard. For example, it
may say “BIOS failure” or show random numbers that do not match your processor or system
temperature.

3. A certain computer component that is known to be working (such as an HD or memory chip) shows
failure when you hook it up. The motherboard is the source of all internal computer communication,
so this failure may be related to a defective motherboard.

Signs that the Issue is NOT with the Motherboard

1. You see an error message to the effect of: operating system not found

2. There is any kind of screen prompt.

3. The power supply fan turns on, but nothing else happens. This is likely to be a processor failure.

4. Everything seems fine with the computer, but you cannot see anything on the monitor. This is
probably a display or video problem.

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