1. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Mike Meyers’ CompTIA A+ ® Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting PCs Third Edition The Visible PC Chapter 3

2. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Mike Meyers’ CompTIA A+ ® Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting PCs Third Edition Overview In this chapter, you will learn how to –Describe how the PC works –Identify all the connectors and devices on a typical PC system unit –Discuss the major internal components of a PC

3. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Mike Meyers’ CompTIA A+ ® Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting PCs Third Edition How the PC Works Hardware –Pieces you can kick (mouse, monitor, motherboard, etc.) Software –Operating system (Windows, Mac OS X, Linux) –Applications (PowerPoint, Word, Outlook, Internet Explorer)

4. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Mike Meyers’ CompTIA A+ ® Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting PCs Third Edition How the PC Works (continued) Getting data into the computer Keyboard, mouse, webcam, etc… Input Occurs when the computer processes or manipulates data CPU Processing Provided as the result of processing data Softcopy (monitor), Hardcopy (printer) Output Keep the data for later use Hard drive, optical media, flash drive Storage

5. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Mike Meyers’ CompTIA A+ ® Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting PCs Third Edition The Art of the PC Technician –Hardware and software interact to accomplish the four stages –Your goal is to understand all the parts and how they interact in the various stages By understanding how it works, you’re better able to fix it when it breaks Broken PCPC techFixed PC The Art of the PC Technician

6. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Mike Meyers’ CompTIA A+ ® Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting PCs Third Edition Name the big pieces The Complete PC

7. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Mike Meyers’ CompTIA A+ ® Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting PCs Third Edition External Connections Plug goes into a port Port/jack accepts a plug Connector can be either a port or a plug

8. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Mike Meyers’ CompTIA A+ ® Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting PCs Third Edition External Connections (continued) There are six basic types of connections: –Mini-DIN connectors –USB connectors –FireWire connectors –DB connectors –RJ connectors –Audio connectors

9. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Mike Meyers’ CompTIA A+ ® Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting PCs Third Edition Mini-Din Connectors DIN connectors are round and come in two sizes: –DIN (ancient) –Mini-DIN (a.k.a. PS/2) Always a female connector Used by a keyboard or mouse

10. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Mike Meyers’ CompTIA A+ ® Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting PCs Third Edition USB B USB A USB Connectors Universal Serial Bus (USB) –Used by many devices today –Devices are hot-swappable USB B plugs into devices USB A plugs into computers USB mini-B connects to smaller devices

11. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Mike Meyers’ CompTIA A+ ® Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting PCs Third Edition FireWire Connectors/IEEE 1394 FireWire connectors move data at incredibly high speeds –Also known as IEEE 1394 Do not confuse this with the IEEE 1284 (parallel standard) –Popular with video applications. –Uses a six-wire connector (note the rounded edge) –Some devices use a four-wire connector –Hot-swappable –Faster FireWire devices use a nine-wire connector

12. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Mike Meyers’ CompTIA A+ ® Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting PCs Third Edition DB Connectors DB connectors have a slight D shape Male DB connectors have pins Female DB connectors have sockets DB is the oldest type of connector in the PC Officially called D-shell or D-subminiature

13. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Mike Meyers’ CompTIA A+ ® Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting PCs Third Edition Registered jack or RJ connectors RJ-11 connectors are used by telephone lines RJ-45 connectors are used in network interface cards (NICs) RJ Connectors

14. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Mike Meyers’ CompTIA A+ ® Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting PCs Third Edition Audio Connectors Audio connectors are found on sound cards –Used to connect speakers, microphones, and other audio devices Mini-audio jacks –Also called 1/8” jack

15. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Mike Meyers’ CompTIA A+ ® Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting PCs Third Edition All the Colors of the Rainbow The connections on the back of the computer have been standardized ConnectionColor VGA Blue Parallel Burgundy Audio Line-In Blue Audio Line-Out Lime Microphone Pink PS/2 Mouse Green PS/2 Keyboard Purple

16. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Mike Meyers’ CompTIA A+ ® Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting PCs Third Edition Devices and Their Connectors

17. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Mike Meyers’ CompTIA A+ ® Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting PCs Third Edition Cards vs. On-boards Connectors are exposed on the rear and front of PCs Some connectors attach directly to the motherboard Some connectors attach to boards that plug into the motherboard

18. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Mike Meyers’ CompTIA A+ ® Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting PCs Third Edition Keyboard Keyboards connect into dedicated mini- DIN (usually purple) or USB Mini-DIN plugs and ports are usually either purple (for keyboards) or green (for mice)

19. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Mike Meyers’ CompTIA A+ ® Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting PCs Third Edition Monitors Monitors connect to ports on video cards –S-Video connector (left) –Digital visual interface (DVI) connector (center) –15-pin blue female DB connector (right)

20. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Mike Meyers’ CompTIA A+ ® Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting PCs Third Edition Sound Converts digital information into sound Converts sound from a microphone into digital data Mini-audio jacks for speakers and microphones DB-15 connector for a joystick or musical instrument Newer Sony/Phillips digital interface format (S/PDIF)

21. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Mike Meyers’ CompTIA A+ ® Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting PCs Third Edition Video vs. Sound Two types of 15-pin connections –15-pins in 3 rows  VGA (video connections) –15-pins in 2 rows  MIDI, could connect an old joystick, or musical instrument MIDI Port VGA (15 pins/3 row)

22. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Mike Meyers’ CompTIA A+ ® Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting PCs Third Edition Network Networks: groups of PCs connected together Network interface cards (NICs) typically on motherboard (can be expansion card) Typical connector is RJ-45

23. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Mike Meyers’ CompTIA A+ ® Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting PCs Third Edition Mouse A mouse enables you to select graphical items on a screen Connects through mini-DIN port (light green), USB port, or Bluetooth A trackball may be used instead of mouse

24. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Mike Meyers’ CompTIA A+ ® Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting PCs Third Edition Modem Modems convert analog telephone signals into digital data and vice-versa –Internal modems are expansion cards –External modems connect to a serial port or a USB port –May use one or two RJ-11 sockets Cable from wall to computer is mandatory, and from computer to phone is optional

25. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Mike Meyers’ CompTIA A+ ® Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting PCs Third Edition Printers output data from the PC onto paper Historically used a female DB-25 on the computer side and a Centronics connection on the printer side Today, printers use USB or wireless connections Printer

26. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Mike Meyers’ CompTIA A+ ® Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting PCs Third Edition Joysticks Joysticks are used almost exclusively to play games on the computer –Originally designed as an input device to be used like a mouse –DB-15 connector (typically orange) –Most joysticks use USB today

27. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Mike Meyers’ CompTIA A+ ® Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting PCs Third Edition Special connector for external hard drives and optical drives eSATA

28. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Mike Meyers’ CompTIA A+ ® Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting PCs Third Edition Inside the System Unit

29. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Mike Meyers’ CompTIA A+ ® Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting PCs Third Edition The case houses all of the internal components –Protects internal components –External connections in front and rear –Provides access to storage devices such as CDs Case

30. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Mike Meyers’ CompTIA A+ ® Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting PCs Third Edition Going Inside Most cases open with a Phillips screwdriver Some use thumbscrews Proprietary cases open in odd ways, like with Torx wrenches When inside, be careful! –ESD issues –Dropped screws (use plastic tools) Inside you’ll find internal components: –Motherboard –Devices attached to the motherboard –Start in the center with the CPU

31. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Mike Meyers’ CompTIA A+ ® Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting PCs Third Edition CPU Central processing unit (CPU) –Also called a microprocessor Performs calculations Generates a lot of heat –Cooling fan and/or heat sink used to keep them cool

32. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Mike Meyers’ CompTIA A+ ® Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting PCs Third Edition CPUs come in different packages: –Pin grid array (PGA) –Land grid array (LGA) CPU (continued) Makes –Intel –AMD Models –Phenom –Athlon –Pentium –Core

33. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Mike Meyers’ CompTIA A+ ® Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting PCs Third Edition RAM Random access memory (RAM) –Stores programs and data currently used by the CPU –Measured in megabytes (MB) and gigabytes (GB) –Each piece or module of RAM called a stick –Dual inline memory module (DIMM) most common today

34. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Mike Meyers’ CompTIA A+ ® Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting PCs Third Edition Motherboards The motherboard is a thin, flat piece of circuit board –Everything connects directly or indirectly to the motherboard –Contains sockets for the CPU, RAM, power, and external devices such as mice, printers, and keyboards –Expansion slots allow the addition of new components

35. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Mike Meyers’ CompTIA A+ ® Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting PCs Third Edition Power Supply Provides electrical power to PC components –Uses 110-VAC power from the wall outlet –Has power connectors for the motherboard and other devices –Uses a fan to keep itself and the PC cool inside Safety Alert! –High-voltage capacitor holds power after being unplugged

36. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Mike Meyers’ CompTIA A+ ® Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting PCs Third Edition Floppy Drive The floppy drive uses floppy diskettes to store data –Connects to the computer via a ribbon cable –Connects to the floppy controller on the motherboard –Uses a connector from the power supply

37. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Mike Meyers’ CompTIA A+ ® Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting PCs Third Edition Hard drives store programs and data not currently in use by the CPU –Capacity is quoted in megabytes (MB) or gigabytes (GB). –A typical PC has one hard drive but may contain more –Common types include: Parallel AT attachment (PATA) Serial AT attachment (SATA) Small computer system interface (SCSI) Uses a power cable from the power supply Hard Drive

38. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Mike Meyers’ CompTIA A+ ® Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting PCs Third Edition Optical Media Drives Three groups –CD Stores about 700 MB of data –DVD Stores about 4-16 GB of data –Blu-ray Disc (BD) Stores about 25-50 GB of data

39. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Mike Meyers’ CompTIA A+ ® Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting PCs Third Edition