Computer Hardware
Computer Hardware
Computer Hardware
INDEX
People : People who operate the computer and also create computer
soft-ware instructions.
The easiest way to identify a PC/XT system is by the 8-bit ISA expansion slots
regardless of the processor present in the system. AT systems can be similarly
identified by having 16-bit of greater slots of any type (ISA, EISA, PCI) slots.
4 Computer Hardware
1.1.4 System components
Component needed to assemble a basic modern PC system.
Motherboard
Processor
Memory (Primary)
Hard disk
CD-ROM
Floppy Drive
Keyboard
Mouse
Monitor
Power Supply
Cabinet
The processor is often thought as the engine of the computer. Then the
proces-sor reads the commands from the memory and then executes
them. the proces-sor is one of the most
expensive parts of the computers and is also one of the smallest parts.
Primary Memory
CD-ROM drive
1. What is a computer?
2. Name different types of computers?
3. Name the system components?
4. How many types of memories are there?
5. What is SMPS?
6. Which type of input is given to SMPS?
7. What is the difference between ROM and RAM?
The meter leads are narrow enough to fit into the connector beside the wire and
make contact with the metal terminal inside. The technique is called back prob-
ing because you are probing the connector from the back. You must use this
back probing technique to perform all of the following measurements.
To test a power supply for the proper output, check the voltage at the
Power_Good pin for +3v to +6v of power. If the measurement is not
within this range, the system never sees the Power_Good signal and
therefore does not start or run properly. In most cases, the power supply
is bad and must be re-placed.
Continue by measuring the voltage ranges of the pins on the motherboard and
12 ComputerHardware
Hard Disk power connectors. If you are measuring voltages for testing
purposes any reading within 10 % of the specified voltage is considered
acceptable, although most manufactures of high quality power supplies
specifies a tighter 5% tolerance. For ATX power supplies,
the specification requires that voltages must be within 5% of the rating ,
except for the 3.3v current which must be within 4%.
Power_Good signal has tolerances that are different from the other
signals, al-though it is nominally a +5v signal in most systems. The
trigger point for Power_Good is about +2.5v, but most systems require
the signal voltage to be within the tolerances listed.
Signal Minimum Maximum
Power_good +5v 3.0v 6.0v
Replace the power supply if the voltages are measured out of these ranges.
Again, it is worth noting that any and all power supply tests and measurements
must be made with the power supply properly loaded, which usually means
that it must be installed in a system and the system must be running.
2.1.2 Meters
The DMM has a pair of wires called test leads or probes. The test leads
make the connections so that you can take readings, depending on the
meters setting; the probes measure electrical resistance, direct current
(DC) voltage, or alter-nating Current (AC) voltage.
If you are taking a measurement and are unsure of the actual voltage,
start at the highest stage and work your way down.
Initially you have to check if the current from wall socket is 230 V or
not. For this go through the following steps:
1) Adjust the multimeter by roatating the knob of the multimeter and set
it to any AC voltage higher than 230 V.
2) Now put the positive lead(Red) of the mutlimeter into phase(+ve
terminal) and
Negative lead (Black) into neutral(-ve teminal) of the wall socket.
3)Note down the readings. Which has to be 230 V. But practically
anything between 210
and 230 V is acceptable.
Follow the steps which are given below to check the power in Hard Disk Drive.
Summary:-
Short questions: -
1. What is a Multimeter?
2. What is the difference between multimeter and digital multimeter?
3. What is back probing?]
4. What is Power_Good Signal?
The motherboard is the main circuit board inside the PC which holds the
processor, memory and expansion slots and connects directly or indirectly
to every part of the PC. It’s made up of a chipset(known as the “glue logic”),
some code in ROM and the various interconnections or buses.
2.1.2 Evolution
The original PC had a minimum of integrated devices, just ports for a
keyboard and a cassette deck (for storage). Everything else, including a
display adapter and floppy or hard disk controllers, were add-in
components, connected via expansion slots.
Over time, more devices have been integrated into the motherboard. It’s a slow
trend though, as I/O ports and disk controllers were often mounted on expan-
sion cards as recently as 1995. Other components - typically graphics, net-
working, SCSI and sound - usually remain separate. Many manufacturers have
experimented with different levels of integration, building in some or even all
of these components. However, there are drawbacks. It’s harder to upgrade the
specification if integrated components can’t be removed, and highly integrated
motherboards often require non-standard cases. Furthermore, replacing a single
faulty component may mean buying an entire new motherboard.
Consequently, those parts of the system whose specification changes fastest
- RAM, CPU and graphics - tend to remain in sockets or slots for easy
replace-ment. Similarly, parts that not all users need, such as networking or
SCSI, are usually left out of the base specification to keep costs down.
The basic changes in motherboard form factors over the years are
covered later in this section - the diagrams below provide a detailed look
at the various com-ponents on two motherboards. The first a Baby AT
design, sporting the ubiqui-tous Socket 7 processor connector, circa
1995. The second is an ATX design, with a Pentium II Slot 1 type
processor connector, typical of motherboards on the market in late 1998.
16 Computer Hardware
Early PCs used the AT form factor and 12in wide motherboards. The
sheer size of an AT motherboard caused problems for upgrading PCs and
did not allow use of the increasingly popular slimline desktop cases.
These problems were largely addressed by the smaller version of the full
AT form factor, the Baby AT, introduced in 1989. Whilst
this remains a common form factor, there have been several
improvements since. All designs are open standards and as such don’t
require certification. A conse-quence is that there can be some quite wide
variation in design detail between different manufacturers’ motherboards
There are several common form factors used for PC motherboards. The
form factors refer to the physical dimensions and size of the board, and
dictates what type case is motherboard will fit into. The PC motherboard
form factors gener-ally available include the following.
Baby – AT NLX
LPX Backplane systems
ATX Proprietary designs
BAT(Baby –AT)
ATX
The Intel Advanced/ML motherboard, launched in 1996, was designed to solve
these issues and marked the beginning of a new era in motherboard design. Its size
and layout are completely different to the BAT format, following a new scheme
known as ATX. The dimensions of a standard ATX board are 12in wide by 9.6in
long; the mini ATX variant is typically of the order 11.2in by 8.2in.
• Expansion slots
• CPU(Main Processor)
• Coprocessor
• Memory
• BIOS and
• Support circuits of chipset for interrupt, DMA etc.
Expansion Slots
One can connect various expansion cards such as display card, hard drive
con-troller, sound card, network card, modem card etc. on these slots.
When an adapter card is connected to the expansion slot, it is actually
con-nected to the data, address and control bus on the motherboard.
What is a Bus?
A bus is an electronic path on which signals are sent from one part
of the computer to another.
These buses are categorizes according to the number of BINARY
DIGITS (bits) that thety can transfer at a time.
• If the data bus is 8 bit wide then it can transfer 8 bits of
information at a time and called an 8 bit bus.
•
Chapter -1 21
Name : Motherboard
Another very common term while talking about bus is , its “ bandwidth”.
• The bandwidth of a bus is the measure of data that can fit in the
bus at a given time.
You can increase the data movement through a bus either by increasing
the bus width( from 8 bit to 16 bit) of by increasing the bus bandwidth
(8 Mhz to 20 Mhz).
This is similar to the way you can increase water output from a pipe, either
you can increase the pipe diameter or you can increase the water flow.
Depending on the width and the technology, the expansion slot bus
can be divided into the following categories.
8 bit ISA
16 bit ISA
MCA
EISA
VESA local bus or VL bus
PCI local Bus
Coprocessor
What is a coprocessor?
Coprocessor is a special purpose microprocessor, which is used to spped
up main processor job by taking over some of the main processors work.
Most common type of coprocessor is a math coprocessor.
Coprocessor chips are used to help the main processor in carrying
out its various functions.
A math coproessor helps main processor in performing mathematical
calcula-tions
Older system (XT, AT, AT-386) required a coprocessor chips to be
inserted into special socket on the motherboard, but the current feneration
of CPU’s have math coprocessor built inside the main processor itself.
Memory
What is a memory?
Memory is the place where computer stores the program(set of
instructions telling ehe computer what to do), and data that help the
program in carrying out its operations.
For example, a marks sheet printing program will require students
rollnumber, name and marks obtained in various subjects etc. as data.
There is basically two type of memory used in a computer which
are dis-cussed in the previous chapter.
• RAM memory
• ROM memory
RAM memory
RAM or random access memory is a read/write type of memory which
is used by the processor to keep program, data and intermediate results
during program executions.
It is VOLATILE type of memory, which lose ists content when the
power supply to it is switched off.
The physical installation of RAM memory on the motherboard can take
place in various ways.
• DIP(dual In-line Pin) memory chips were used on
initial motherboards.
• Later SIMM ( single inline memory modules) became common.
•
Chapter -1 23
Name : Motherboard
BIOS
What is BIOS?
BIOS is an abbreviation if Basic Input Output System. It is one of the
most important program stored in the ROM.
BIOS program lets your application program and the hardware such as
floppy disk, hard disk, video adapter etc. communicate with each other.
It is pronounced “bye-os”.
• The BIOS also contains a program called Power-On-Self-Test or
POST. This post program checks the motherboard and other devices
connected to the computer during the system power-on time.
IBM made the original BIOS for their copyright product, but many
compatible BIOS program BIOS program are available from Award,
Phoenix, American Megatrends Inc. (AMI) etc. various manufacturers.
Cache Memory:
A small amount (normally less than 1MB) of high-speed memory residing on
or close to the CPU. Cache memory supplies the processor with the most
frequently requested data and instructions. Level 1 cache (primary cache) is
the cache closest to the processor. Level 2 cache (secondary cache) is the
cache second closest to the processor and is usually on the motherboard.
Support Chips/Chipsets
Apart from the processor chip and the memory, Motherboard also contains
many controller chips and other devices which everything together.
• A typical system required interrupt controller, DMS controller,
Timer chip, Clock chip, Bus controller chip, I/O peripheral
interface chip etc, to make the computer work as a complete unit.
• The IBM PC, XT, AT, Pentium etc. use standard Inter chips
intended for any computer built around an Intel CPU.
• Modern developments in electronics have made it possible to produce
VERY LARGE SCALE INTEGRATED CIRCUITS(VLSIC), and now
just two or three of these VLSIC chips can do the work which were
previously performed by dozens of different chips.
• These set of VLSIC chips are called ‘CHIPSETS’.
• A typical chipset contains in one or two VLSIC chips all the support
logic required by the processor to function as a complete system.
• Many of these chipset maker include serial and parallel ports,
floppy and hard disk controllers, USB support, LAN and audio
support, and display adapter on the chipset itself.
Large-scale integration along with high –capacity memory chips has let
to even fewer components on a PC’s motherboard.
Chapter -1 25
Name : Motherboard
Motherboard Configuration
A typical motherboard has several options and proper configuration
is re-quired to select the required hardware setup.
• Most of the PC and XT class motherboards are set/configured
using jumpers or switches on the motherboard.
• In the AT and later machines, the configuration options are stored in
CMOS RAM and are set using the SETUP utility in the BIOS ROM.
Summary
1. Motherboard is the main circuit of PC.
2. It holds important components like CPU, Memory, SMPS etc.
3. Integrated motherboards have features such as graphics, LAN,
audio, etc integrated onto the motherboard and aim at providing
solutions for the cost-conscious users.
4. Form factors of motherboard are Baby-AT, ATX, NLX, LPX.
5. To identify motherboard model, see the white sticker on the
side of the last ISA slot or the prints on the board itself.
Short questions :-
1. What is a motherboard?
2. Name the components of a motherboard?
3. What is Cache Memory?
4. What is an integrated motherboard?
5. How can I identify the model and manufacturer name
for my motherboard?
Ports
2.2.1 Introduction
The most basic communication ports in any PC system are the serial and
par-allel ports. The serial ports were originally used for devices that must
commu-nicate bi-directional with the system. Such devices include
modems, mice, scan-ners and any other devices that “ talk to” and receive
information from the PC. Newer parallel port standards now allow the
parallel port to perform high-speed bi-directional communications.
All computer operating systems in use today support serial ports, because
serial ports have been around for decades. Parallel ports are a more
recent invention and are much faster than serial ports. USB ports are only
a few years old, and will likely replace both serial and parallel ports
completely over the next several years.
The name “serial” comes from the fact that a serial port “serializes”
data. That is,
Unit II Chapter -2 27
Name : Motherboard
it takes a byte of data and transmits the 8 bits in the byte one at a time.
The advantage is that a serial port needs only one wire to transmit the 8
bits (while a parallel port needs 8). The disadvantage is that it takes 8
times longer to transmit the data than it would if there were 8 wires.
Serial ports lower cable costs and make cables smaller.
Before each byte of data, a serial port sends a start bit, which is a single
bit with a value of 0. After each byte of data, it sends a stop bit to signal
that the byte is complete. It may also send a parity bit.
Serial ports, also called communication (COM) ports, are bi-directional. Bi-
directional communication allows each device to receive data as well as transmit it.
Serial devices use different pins to receive and transmit data — using the same pins
would limit communication to half-duplex, meaning that information could only
travel in one direction at a time. Using different pins allows for full-duplex
communication, in which information can travel in both directions at once.
Fig 2.2.2 This 40-pin Dual Inline Package (DIP) chip is a variation of the Na-
tional Semiconductor NS16550D UART chip.
Serial ports rely on a special controller chip, the Universal Asynchronous
Receiver/Transmitter (UART), to function properly. The UART chip takes the
parallel output of the computer’s system bus and transforms it into serial form
for transmission through the serial port. In order to function faster, most UART
chips have a built-in buffer of anywhere from 16 to 64 kilobytes. This buffer
allows the chip to cache data coming in from the system bus while it is
processing data going out to the serial port. While most standard serial ports
have a maximum transfer rate of 115 Kbps (kilobits per second), high speed
serial ports, such as Enhanced Serial Port (ESP) and Super Enhanced Se-
rial Port (Super ESP), can reach data transfer rates of 460 Kbps.
computer. The pin assignments reflect that. Let’s take a closer look at what
happens at each pin when a modem is connected.
9-pin connector:
1. Carrier Detect - Determines if the modem
is connected to a working phone line.
2. Receive Data - Computer receives
infor-mation sent from the modem.
3.Transmit Data - Computer sends
informa-tion to the modem.
4.Data Terminal Ready - Computer tells
the modem that it is ready to talk.
5.Signal Ground - Pin is grounded.
6.Data Set Ready - Modem tells the com-
puter that it is ready to talk.
Chapter -2 29
Name : Motherboard
7. Request To Send - Computer asks the
mo-dem if it can send information.
8. Clear To Send - Modem tells the
computer that it can send information.
9. Ring Indicator - Once a call has been
placed, computer acknowledges signal
(sent from modem) that a ring is detected.
25-pin connector:
1. Not Used
2. Transmit Data - Computer sends
information to the modem.
3. Receive Data - Computer receives
information sent from the modem.
4. Request To Send - Computer asks the
modem if it can send information.
5. Clear To Send - Modem tells the
computer that it can send information.
6. Data Set Ready - Modem tells the
computer that it is ready to talk.
7. Signal Ground - Pin is grounded.
8. Received Line Signal Detector -
Determines if the modem is connected
to a working phone line.
9. Not Used: Transmit Current Loop
Return (+)
10. Not Used
11. Not Used: Transmit Current Loop
Data (-)
12. Not Used
13. Not Used
14. Not Used
15. Not Used
16. Not Used
17. Not Used
18. Not Used: Receive Current Loop
Data (+)
19. Not Used
20. Data Terminal Ready - Computer
30 Computer Hardware
Printers
Scanners
Chapter -2 31
Name : Motherboard
CD burners
External hard drives
Iomega Zip removable drives
Network adapters
Tape backup drives
Parallel Port Basics
printer to your PC. When IBM was in the process of designing the PC, the
company wanted the computer to work with printers offered by Centronics,
a top printer manufacturer at the time. IBM decided not to use the same
port inter-face on the computer that Centronics used on the printer.
Fig 2.2.5
SPP/EPP/ECP
The original specification for parallel ports was unidirectional, meaning that
data only traveled in one direction for each pin. With the introduction of the
PS/2 in 1987, IBM offered a new bidirectional parallel port design. This mode
is commonly known as Standard Parallel Port (SPP) and has com-pletely
replaced the original design. Bidirectional communication allows each
device to receive data as well as transmit it. Many devices use the
eight pins
Chapter -2 33
Name : Motherboard
(2 through 9) originally designated for data. Using the same eight pins limits
communication to half-duplex, meaning that information can only travel in
one direction at a time. But pins 18 through 25, originally just used as
grounds, can be used as data pins also. This allows for full-duplex (both
directions at the same time) communication.
In 1994, the IEEE 1284 standard was released. It included the two
specifications for parallel port devices, EPP and ECP. In order for them to
work, both the operating system and the device must support the required
specification. This is seldom a problem today since most computers
support SPP, ECP and EPP and will detect which mode needs to be used,
depending on the attached device. If you need to manually select a mode,
you can do so through the BIOS on most computers.
1. Printers
2. Scanners
3. Mice
4. Joysticks
5. Flight yokes
6. Digital cameras
7. Webcams
8. Scientific data acquisition devices
9. Modems
10. Speakers
11. Telephones
12. Video phones
13. Storage devices such as Zip drives
14. Network connections
USB Connections
Fig 2.2.9A typical “A” connection Fig 2.2.10 Typical “B” connection
POST (Power-On Self Test): The POST tests your computers processor,
memory, chipset, video adaptor, Hard disks, Floppies, keyboard and
other important components.
Bootstrap Loader: A routine that finds the operating system and loads it
in RAM.
CMOS setup : This is normally a menu driven program that allows you
to configure the motherboard and chipset settings, along with date and
time, passwords, disk drives, and other basic system settings.
Some older PC’s cannot co-operate with all the modern hardware
because their BIOS doesn’t support that hardware. The operating system
cannot call a BIOS routine to use it; this problem can be solved by
replacing your BIOS with a newer one, that does support your new
hardware, or by installing a device driver for the hardware.
Unit III Chapter -1 39
Name : Bios & Cmos
The small program is most often not itself an operating system, but only a
sec-ond-stage boot loader, such as NTLDR, LILO or GRUB. It will then be
able to load the operating system proper, and finally transfer execution to it.
The system will initialize itself, and may load device drivers and other
programs that are needed for the normal operation of the OS.
3.1.3 Booting
In computing, booting is a bootstrapping process that starts operating
systems when the user turns on a computer system. A boot sequence is
the set of operations the computer performs when it is switched on which
load an operating system.
In modern PC machines the way a computer boots is roughly:
Most embedded systems must boot almost instantly — for instance, waiting a
minute for the television to come up is not acceptable. Therefore they have their
whole operating system in ROM or flash memory, so it can be executed directly.
Summary:
1. BIOS stands for Basic Input Output System.
2. BIOS has four components.
3. The steps for the system to start is called booting sequence.
4. Bootstrap loader is a program, which pulls part of the
operating system from hard disk.
5. Bootstrap loader is multistaged.
6. BIOS includes low level routines which can directly talk to hardware.
1. Expand BIOS?
2. What is boot sequence?
Chapter -1 41
Name : Bios & Cmos
3. Name few companies who make BIOS?
4. What are the different components of BIOS?
5. Define bootstrap loader? List the stages in it?
3.2.1 :
Standard BIOS features inculde date and time, Floppy Disk Drive,
VGA/ EGA.,
HALT, IDE
Swap Floppy Drives – Used if you have two floppy drives and
you wish to assign the A and B drives letters interchangably
Integrated Peripherals
Enable the ports you intend to use, disable the ports you intend not to use:
IDE Ports -
USB
PnP/PCI Configuration
This section controls aspects of “Plug-n-Play” and the PCI bus. Most
selec-tions should be left at default; but two deserve your attention:
• PnP OS Installed
• Reset Configuration Data –
44 Computer Hardware
PC Health
Also known by other names, this section monitors some very basic
operational settings, such as voltage levels, fan speed, internal processor
temperature. In some versions you can set the temperature at which the
computer would auto-matically shut down.
Defaults
In many BIOS versions, a few clicks will set all default settings
automatically without your need to attend to individual settings. Some
versions offer “Fail-safe” defaults as well as “Optimized” defaults. If a
Default section is available in your BIOS version, feel free to use it.
Passwords
Many BIOS versions have a Password section to allow for the use of pass-
words. If you use it, be very sure to record your password somewhere safe.
Should you loose it, the entire BIOS system will lock and you will only be
able to use your computer after the entire BIOS system is reset.
There are two passwords, which we can set.
1) System Password: This feature helps user to set password to
protect unauthorized users from using the system.
2) CMOS setup Password: This allows the system administrator to
only set the system configuration for the users.
settings,
Design Variations
Each manufacturer also has a different design and arrangement to
its BIOS Setup Utility. Therefore, use the following list of BIOS
set-tings only as a rough guide.
Chapter -2 47
Name : Bios Features and Configuration
General Rule
There are several approaches to Bios settings. Some like to use BIOS
settings to make their system run exactly the way they prefer. There is
certainly merit to that approach. However, this is an initial con-
figuration of BIOS, so it is wise to take a conservative approach.
Integrated Peripherals
Enable the ports you intend to use, disable the ports you intend not
to use:
• IDE Ports - Enable if you will use both.
- Device options may be available; if
so, set to AUTO when possible.
Defaults
In many BIOS versions, a few clicks will set all default settings auto-
matically without your need to attend to individual settings. Some
ver-sions offer “Fail-safe” defaults as well as “Optimized” defaults. If
a Default section is available in your BIOS version, feel free to use it.
Passwords
Select change password option to set new password. Now
system prompts
Enter New Password :*******
Retype New Password :*******
New password installed, press any key to continue.
To Finish:
1. Click “Save”
2. Make sure your O/S Installation Disk with
System Boot is in the CD-ROM drive, or the
floppy System Boot Disk is in Drive A:.
3. Exit BIOS Setup Utility. This will
automatically reboot your
machine.
4. You have now finished BIOS configuration
Summary:
1. CMOS is a menu driven program to configure BIOS.
2. CMOS includes various items through which we can
decide the systems behavior.
3. BIOS is powered by a battery which resides on motherboard.
4. Using CMOS we can set the password when
system is booting.
Short questions: -
4.1.1 Introduction :
This procedure explains how to setup a new hard disk. Warning - if you are
setting up a hard disk which contains data, the following procedure would
completely erase your hard disk and the data would be unrecoverable.
Before a new hard disk can be used it needs to be setup. This involves
partitioning and formatting the hard disk. Windows 98 or ME boot disk
contains the required software to perform this procedure. FDISK.EXE
and FORMAT.COM are the files required in your bootable floppy disk.
Start the partition and format procedure by booting your PC using a
Windows boot disk. Make sure you set the BIOS so that the boot sequence
is set to detect the floppy disk first. If your system has no problems booting
you will be presented with a Windows boot disk menu. This gives you the
option to start the system with or without CD-ROM support. At this stage
you do not need the CD-ROM support, so choose the option to boot without
CD-ROM support. You should end up in the MS DOS prompt A: (A drive).
From A: command prompt type fdisk. You will be presented with following message:
54 Computer Hardware
Choose option 1 - Create primary DOS Partition. FDISK verifies the integrity
of your drive and will ask you if want to use the maximum available size of
your hard disk to create the primary partition and set it active. To keep things
simple we will create one large partition. Choose “Y” to use maximum
available space. When the partition has been created successfully you will be
notified by the system. Your drive is now known as C: (C drive). Press “Esc” to
return to the menu. Press “Esc” again to exit FDISK. You need to restart your
system for the changes to take affect. Leave boot disk in the drive.
When the system reboots, choose start without CD-ROM from the boot
disk menu. While booting from floppy disk you might get error message
like “Invalid media type reading drive C” this is OK for this stage as the
hard disk is not formatted.
If you want to create extended DOS partitions, specify the size of the
partitions in the bytes for primary partition. And remaining space can be
utilized to create logical drives in the extended partition. Like D, E , F etc.
From A: command prompt type format c:
indicator. The time it takes to format a hard disk depends on the size and speed of
the drive. This could be around 5-30 minutes. Once the format is complete you
need to reset your system. You are now ready to install an operating system
1. Windows 98 CD.
2. Computer with CD-ROM Access.
19. Once setup is done copying files Windows will restart automatically.
20. The Windows 98 Startup Menu will appear. Select option 1 (Boot
from Hard Disk)
21. The Windows 98 booting screen will appear!
22. Now Windows will prompt you for user information, enter it and
click continue.
23. Now the License Agreement. Read and if you agree click on “I accept the
Agreement” and click next. If you select “”I don’t accept the Agreement”
then setup
will end.
24. Now input your product key computer. Click next to continue.
25. Next click on Finish.
26. Setup will now finalize the hardware and install settings.
27. Setup will now install plug and play devices.
28.Your computer will restart automatically.
29. The Windows 98 Startup Menu will appear. Select option 1 (Boot
from Hard Disk)
30. Windows will start booting for the second time.
31. Setup will continue installing hardware.
32. Now setup will prompt you to enter in your time, date, and time
zone. Once selected
click on apply and then ok.
33. Windows will continue to setup Windows items.
34. The computer will restart automatically once again.
35. The Windows 98 Startup Menu will appear. Select option 1 (Boot
from Hard Disk)
36. Windows will boot for the third time.
37. Windows will update system settings.
38. Now finally you have reached the Windows Desktop!
39. You also may need to install your hardware drivers. If
everything is working properly
then you shouldn’t worry about them.
Summary:
1.2.1 Introduction
There are several types of diagnostic software available for PC’s. This
software some of which is included with the system when purchased,
assist user identify-ing many problems they can occur with a computer
component. The types of diagnostic software are as follows.
For example
repairing utilities.
There are three other disk utilities available which are Speedisk, Disk Doctor
and Calibrate that help in hard drive diagnostics and software level repair.
Summary :
1) Expand POST?
2) How do POST report errors?
3) What is trouble shooting?
4) List the various types of Software’s available to troubleshoot?
5) Give examples of third party softwares to troubleshoot?
5.1.1 Viruses
They’re the common cold for computers; we’ll show you how
they operate and how to protect your PC.
Virus: A virus is just a computer program. Like
any other program, it contains instructions that
tell your computer what to do. But unlike an
application, a virus usually tells your computer to
do something you don’t want it to do, and it can
usually spread itself to other files on your
computer—and other people’s computers.
What is a virus?
A virus is a malicious piece of software with the following characteristics. It is:
Delayed action : Thus you won’t know you’ve got it until you have been
infected for a considerable time, possible with your backups also infected.
They can spread very fast across open networks such as the Internet,
causing billions of dollars worth of damage in a short amount of time.
These software “pranks” are very serious; they are spreading faster than
they are being stopped, and even the least harmful of viruses could be
life threatening. For example, in the context of a hospital life-
Support system, a virus that “simply” stops a computer and displays a message
until a key is pressed, could be fatal. Further, those who create viruses cannot
halt their spread, even if they wanted to. It requires a determined effort from
computer users to be “virus-aware”, rather than continuing the unawareness that
has allowed computer viruses
to become such a problem.
Five years ago, very rarely computers used to get infected by virus i.e once
in a year, where as the chance you receive a virus today is increased.
computer, or attack it? If you know the answer to this question you can
prevent infection by protecting these possible virus entry-points.
Worms are different to other viruses since they do not infect other files.
Their sole objective is to propagate or spread to other systems as quickly
as possible. They do however make use of replication (propagation)
techniques. In fact, their objective is to copy themselves and then infect
other systems. Their infections or replications usually take place through
e-mails, computer networks and Internet IRC Channels. They could also
replicate inside the memory of a PC. Trojan Horses (or Trojans):
Chapter -1 67
Name : Viruses
Trojans cannot be considered viruses as such. They take their name from
Greek mythology (the famous wooden horse in which Greek soldiers hid so
that they could enter the city of Troy undetected and then attack it). Trojans
work in a similar way. They seem to be harmless programs which get into a
computer through any channel. When that program is executed (they have
names or characteristics which trick the user into doing so), they install
other programs on the computer which could be harmful.
Logic Bombs:
These activate and damage an infected system only when one or more
condition/ s are met. They are not considered viruses as such, since they
do not replicate, but rather depend on the actions taken by the user (the
user usually copies and/ or executes them unintentionally).
Encrypted:
Rather than a virus category, this is a technique that viruses could use. A
virus could belong to another category and be also encrypted (if it uses
this technique). The virus encodes or encrypts itself so that antivirus
programs cannot easily detect it. In order to perform these activities, the
virus de-encrypts itself and, when it is finished, encrypts itself again.
68 Computer Hardware
Polymorphic:
These are virus that use a new technique to avoid detection by antivirus programs
(they are usually the hardest viruses to find). They change with every infection they
carry out. In this way, they create a large number of copies of themselves.
The main targets of viruses are files located in storage devices such as hard
and floppy disks. They target program files, although other types of files
and docu-ments can also be infected. A program is simply a file with an
EXE or COM extension, which can be run to perform specific operations.
As we have already mentioned, there are viruses designed to infect files that are
not programs. However, these documents contain elements known as macros.
Macros are small programs that the user can include in certain types of files.
Other elements prone to virus attack are the storage devices themselves,
especially boot sector. By attacking the places in which files are stored, the
damage produced by the virus will affect all of the information they contain.
2. Do not open any files attached to an email unless you know what it is,
even if it appears to come from a dear friend or someone you know.
Some viruses can replicate themselves and spread through email. Better
be safe than sorry and confirm that they really sent it.
4. Delete chain emails and junk email. Do not forward or reply to any to
them. These types of email are considered spam, which is unsolicited,
intrusive mail that clogs up the network.
9. When in doubt, always err on the side of caution and do not open,
download, or execute any files or email attachments. Not executing is
the more important of these caveats. Check with your product vendors
for updates which include those for your operating system web
browser, and email . One example is the security site section of
Microsoft located at http: // www.microsoft.com/security.
Chapter -1 71
Name : Viruses
Summary:
1) What are computer viruses? And why should I worry about them?
2) How does a computer get infected with virus?
5.2.1 Introduction:
1.In the Norton Setup Type window, select Unmanaged and click Next.
Chapter -2 75
Name : Installation of Norton - Antivirus
16. If you see an Old Virus Definition File dialog box after
restarting, click Close.
80 Computer Hardware
24. Set the scan to run at a time when you expect your computer
to be powered on, such as at lunch time, and click Next.
Chapter -2 83
Name : Installation of Norton - Antivirus
26 The Daily Scan job which was created now appears under
the Scheduled Scans folder on the left side of the window.
84 Computer Hardware
Summary :
1) Antivirus software is used to scan the Computer for viruses.
2) Frequently used antiviurs software are Mcafee, Norton,
AVG etc.
Short type questions:
1) Define Antivirus software?
2) Name few antivirus softwares available?
3) Can Antivurs software be infected? Why?
Long type questions :
4. In the When section of the window, select a day and time you
would normally expect your computer to be powered on (up
and running, already connected to the Internet), and click OK.
Summary: