1. Motherboards

2. Parts of a motherboard
Motherboards connect the diverse elements of a PC, enabling them to communicate with one another and work together.
Motherboards have easily identifiable slots designed to fit the various PC components that need to communicate, indicating the CPU, memory, hard drive, and video card. Each component slot is easily identifiable.
Motherboards have external ports that enable input devices such as mice and keyboards to communicate with the system.

4. CPU socket/slot CPU fan connector Memory slots Power connector
Slotted – older Athlon, Celeron
Socketed – current Pentium 4, Athlon XP, Dual Cores
CPU fan connector
Small three- or four-wire power connector
Plugging incorrectly will cook the fan or short the power connector
Memory slots
ATX – have two to four black slots
Also DIMM or RIMM slots
Power connector
- P1 power connector only powers the CPU and memory

5. Expansion slots (AGP, PCI, CNR)
EIDE and FDD ports
Enhanced Integrated Drive Electronics
Floppy Disk Drive
EIDE – 40 pins
FDD – 34 pins
Chipset
Two chips: Northbridge and Southbridge
Northbridge – helps CPU work with RAM
Southbridge – handles expansion devices and mass storage
VIA Technologies (brand)
Expansion slots (AGP, PCI, CNR)
Accelerated Graphics Port – for 32bit, 66-MHz connections for video cards
Peripheral Component Interconnect – general purpose, 33-MHz slots
Communications and Networking Riser – for Internet and small network connections

6. Front Panel Connectors
Date and Time Battery
Enables system to reatin accurate date and time settings
Flash ROM
BIOS (Basic Input Output System) – a small set of code that enables the CPU to communicate properly with the devices built into the motherboard.
AMI, Award BIOS and Phoenix (brand)
Front Panel Connectors
Power and reset buttons, power and hard drive activity lights and the tiny speaker.
Jumpers and DIP switches
Jumper – a pair of wires that you enable or disable by placing a small plastic and metal shunt over both wires.
DIP switch – a little plastic box, often blue, with tiny switches.

7. External Ports
PS/2 – two small round ports on the edge closest to the CPU mini-DIN ports
Green – mouse plug , purple – keyboard plug
Parallel and serial ports
Parallel – 25-pin, D-shaped female port (printer and scanner)
Serial – 9-pin, male port (mouse)
USB (Universal Serial Bus) – enables you to connect up to 127 different devices at the same time
Network Port – Internet connection via a standard RJ-45 port
Sound and Game Ports
Green (speaker), pink (microphone), blue (line-in)
Game port – 15-pin, two row, female, D-shaped port

9. Types of Motherboard
The ATX mother board is the most common motherboard form factor
The ATX form factor was developed from the earlier AT form factor. AT motherboards were original motherboards for PC system.
Baby AT motherboards were smaller, but did not solve the problematic issues with the AT design.

10. AT Baby AT ATX MicroATX FlexATX Old-style computer motherboard
Invented by IBM
Large keyboard plug (DIN connector), split P8/P9 style power socket
Baby AT
Smaller AT version
ATX
Standard motherboard form factor at present time
MicroATX
Smaller version of ATX
Less expensive
FlexATX
Created by Intel, 1999
9x7.5 inches dimension
For lowest cost computers

11. AT motherboard
Baby AT above AT

12. AT and ATX
microATX

13. Install a motherboard in a system
Installing a motherboard requires four things:
Research, preparation, common sense and patience
Make certain that you have the proper case for you motherboard form factor, antistatic protection, and the standout screws and standard screws ready and waiting.
Use common sense: don’t force something if it doesn’t seem to want to go in easily. Be patient and through; check and double check your connections to make certain that they line up, and that you have the parts oriented properly.
It is often easier on the tech and the motherboard to install the CPU, CPU fan, and RAM on a motherboard before installing the motherboard in the case.

14. Review Questions
The original form factor for a PC motherboard was the . AT
Baby AT
ATX
LBX

15. Review Questions Which external port is usually used for printers?
Serial
Parallel
Game
Print

16. Review Questions
Which port allows simultaneous connection of up to 127 devices?
USB
Parallel
Serial
Game

17. Review Questions
Which port on the motherboard provides a standardized interface for hard drives?
FFD
AGP
PCI
EIDE

18. Review Questions
What portion of the motherboard connects to the power supply?
P8/P9 power connector
P1 power connector
P4 power connector
P1/P2 power connector

19. Review Questions
What portions of a motherboard can enable or disable some built-in devices?
Jump switches
Serial switches
Jumpers
Parallel switches

20. Review Questions
What is the generic name for DIMM slots and RIMM slots?
Memory slots
AGP slots
PCI slots
P8/P9 slots

21. Review Questions
What is the name of the keyboard connector on an AT motherboard?
Flex
PS/2 P8
DIN