Showing posts with label Hardware. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hardware. Show all posts

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Motherboard


The motherboard is the main circuit board in a PC. It contains all the circuits and components that run the PC.

Major Components found on the motherboard are: 
  • CPU - the Central Processing Unit is often an Intel Pentium or Celeron processor. It is the heart of every PC. All scheduling, computation and control occurs here.
  • BIOS - Basic Input Output System is a non-volatile memory that contains configuration information about the PC. It contains all the code required for the CPU to communicate with the keyboard, mouse video display, disk drives and communications devices.

    When a PC is powered on it uses the BIOS 'boot code' to set up many required functions that bring the PC to a point where it is ready to work.
  • RTC - the Real Time Clock chip keeps date, day and time in a 24 hour format just like your watch. The PC uses this clock to 'time stamp' files as they are created and modified. When you print a file it time stamps the pages as they are printed.
  • Chip Set - these are large chip(s) that integrate many functions that used to be found in separate smaller chips on the motherboard. They save space and cost.

    The functions performed by these chip sets often broken into two devices with one providing an interface from the CPU to the memory and the other providing controllers for IDE, ISA, PCI and USB devices (see below).
Primary Connectors found on the motherboard are: 
  • Power - A 20 pin connector accepts a plug from the power supply. This plug carry DC power to all the circuits on the motherboard.
  • Keyboard - A Mini-din 6-pin (round) connector found at the back of the motherboard is where the keyboard plugs in.
  • Mouse - A Mini-din 6-pin connector found next to the keyboard connector is where the where the mouse plugs in.
  • Display - This connector is not integrated into the motherboard but is included in this list since its function is absolutely necessary. It is a 15-pin, D-shell type connector found on a video card that plugs into the AGP connector of the motherboard (see below).
  • IDE - stands for Integrated Drive Electronics. These are 40 pin connectors that provide a place to connect the ribbon cables from the drives (hard and CD/DVD). All data between the motherboard and the drives is carried in these cables. They are not accessible unless the PC cover is removed.
  • FDD connector - it is similar in function to the IDE connector. It is a 34 pin ribbon connector that carries data between the motherboard and any floppy drive installed in the PC. Not accessible with PC cover on.
  • DRAM - Dynamic Random Access Memory connectors for SIMM and DIMM type memory modules. Not accessible with chassis cover on.
  • Serial Connectors

    • Standard Serial Connector - This connector has been around in PCs since they first appeared. It was originally located on ISA expansion type cards (see below). Today it is an integral part of newer motherboards. It is a 9- pin, D-shell connector that allows you to connect external devices with serial ports to your PC. The maximum data rate is 115 KB/s.
    • USB - Universal Serial Bus This is a relatively new serial bus. Originally specified as low speed, 1.2 Mb/s, it was enhanced to full speed, 12Mb/s. The latest version 2.0 is specified as high speed, 400 MB/s.

      Someday USB will completely replace the standard serial connector that has been the workhorse serial port in earlier PCs. USB is now a standard connector on all new motherboards.

      Unlike serial and parallel ports, the USB port is designed to power devices connected to it. The devices must be low power devices and must be able to reduce their current draw to less than 0.5uAmps when commanded to do so by the PC.
  • Parallel Connectors

    • Centronix or Standard Parallel - This connector has been around in PCs since they first appeared. It has 37-pins and is now integrated on new motherboards. It is usually used to connect your printer to the PC and moves data at about 1MB/s.
    • SCSI - Small Computer System Interface moves data at a maximum of up to 80Mb/s. It not integrated into most PC motherboards. It can be added to a PC as an Expansion card (see below). Some printers and hard disk drives use SCSI interfaces.
  • Expansion Card Connectors - The CPU connects to expansion card connectors through one of the chip set ICs mentioned above. They are located on the motherboard near the rear of the PC. These connectors allow special function cards to plug into and work with the PC.

    Before motherboards integrated the serial and centronix connectors they were found on expansion boards that plugged into ISA slots.

    Most PCs have the following expansion connector types:

    • ISA - Industry Standard Architecture connectors have been around since 1980 and first appeared in the IBM XT PC. This type of slot still appears on some newer motherboards so that older expansion boards can still be used. However, many motherboards no longer have ISA connectors on them.
    • PCI - Peripheral Component Interconnect is a newer and faster interface that accepts all expansion cards that have a PCI interface.
    • AGP - Accelerated Graphics Port is a connector that is designed to work with video cards. Your video display plugs into and is controlled by one of these video cards. Many modern video cards offer enhanced 3D-graphics and fast, full motion video.

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Troubleshoot Windows 7/ 8 service triggers with Service Trigger Editor


If you’ve ever spent time troubleshooting low-level PC problems then you’ll know that understanding Windows services can be very helpful. The standard Services applet (Win+R > services.msc) tells you a lot about what’s happening on your system – but there is one important exception.
Windows 7 and 8 support service “triggers”, a mechanism which allows Windows services to start when a particular event occurs (a device is plugged in to the computer, say). The Services applet highlights these by listing their Startup Type as “Manual (Trigger Start)” or “Automatic (Trigger Start)”, but double-click a triggered service and it won’t tell you anything more.
You can view and control triggers via the SC command line tool (try sc query “NcbService”), but that’s hardly convenient. And so if you’re troubleshooting a PC and trying to find out why a service starts (or doesn’t), Service Trigger Editor is a free tool which can tell you more.
Just select a service and its triggers are displayed in the lower pane
The program is portable, conveniently: just download it and run. It immediately displays a basic view of your services: Name, Description, Status (Running/ Stopped) and “# Triggers”. And you can use it just as a simple service admin tool, where you can start or stop a particular service (right-click it, choose an option).
Life gets more interesting if you select a service with a number of triggers, as a lower pane then tells you what these triggers are. If we click “Network Connectivity Assistant”, say, we can see this will start when our computer leaves or joins a domain. Or selecting “Sensor Monitoring Service” tells us this will start when three specific devices are connected, with the GUID of each device.
This is all very low-level technical information, aimed very much at experts and system admins, so don’t be surprised if you’ve absolutely no idea what any of it means (in most cases we didn’t, either). But it could still be useful. If a service is working on one PC, say, not on another, you could at least compare the triggers and see if they’re the same.
But if you’re confident in what you’re doing, Service Trigger Editor also allows you to edit or remove an existing trigger, or add new triggers of your own – just double-click the Add, Edit/ View or Remove buttons. And so you’re able to start or stop a service when your computer joins or leaves a domain, opens or closes a (Windows) firewall port, an IP address becomes available or unavailable, a certain device is connected, a packet arrives on a network protocol, and more.

While Service Trigger Editor is easy enough to use, it should also be treated with respect. Change something important and you’ll cause far more problems than you solve. But if you’re already happy diagnosing Windows service issues via the standard Services applet, the program will help you better understand how your PC is set up, and we’d recommend keeping a copy around for emergencies.

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Customise and configure your PC with Windows Tweaker 5.0


Windows is a highly configurable operating system, with hundreds of settings and options available. But taking full advantage of this can be a challenge, as many settings are buried deep in the Registry, while others are scattered around a host of programs and applets.
Windows Tweaker aims to help by giving easy access to 100+ system tweaks (on Windows Vista and later) from a single interface. It’s portable, open source and entirely free of adware and other annoyances, so we downloaded the latest version 5.0 to take a look.
The program has a surprisingly sparse interface. While most tweaking tools try to impress you by displaying just as many options on one screen as they can, here everything is spread across 11 categories and 50+ subcategories. This does give it a clean, uncluttered, modern look, though, and a search tool means it’s easy enough to find tweaks: just type a keyword – “desktop”, say – and any related options are listed.
The interface is cleaner, simpler, less intimidating than some of the competition
The tweaks aren’t always as impressive. Plenty are already easy to find from Windows (folder display options, default power button action, Windows update settings), while others are based around very familiar tips (God Mode folder).
We also suspect there are a few bogus tips which do precisely nothing at all, such as “unload unused DLLs after an application is closed”. These won’t do any harm, either, but what they suggest is the developer has assembled his tweaks by just copying everything he’s seen on other tip sites, which doesn’t inspire much confidence.
Despite that, there are also plenty of useful options. A “Right-Click” section, for example, can extend your file/ folder context menus with options like “Copy to…”, “Move to…”, “Encrypt”, “Decrypt”, “Open with Notepad”, and more.
Maybe you’d like to limit the harm a non-technical user can do to their system? The “Restrictions” menu can disable the Registry Editor, Task Manager, Control Panel, even the right-click option in Explorer.
There are several other tweaks which normally require Registry access. You can have your system show a message before a user logs on, for example. There’s an option to set the number of icons displayed when Alt+Tabbing. Interface tweaks include adding Recycle Bin to My Computer, and extending Control Panel with a link to Registry Editor.
We have a few minor issues with the program. In particular, it occasionally tells us that a particular tweak is only available in this or that version of Windows. Well, great, but why not simply hide that tweak if it’s not available on the current system?
Windows Tweaker has one or two problems, then, but there are also some helpful and time-saving tweaks here, and the search tool makes them easy to find. Give it a try.

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Are Your Important Documents Safe? Backup Your Files and Be Sure.

You might be wondering why you need to backup your files. What is the importance of having backup files? Are they really necessary? You might find backing up files or documents a tiring job but it is wise to do just that. It is one of the essential parts of the computing if you spend long periods of time on a computer doing documentation or saving up very important files for your business or work. There have been too many stories about users who have lost all of their important files from their computer because of computer crashes, virus infection and mistakes on saving the files. Without back up files, those corrupted important files are virtually non-retrievable.

Back up files are the duplicates or copies of your important files that are saved in a different location, external hard drive, flash disks or CDs. When you back up your files, you are storing them in a secure and safer location, away from damage and virus attacks and can be accessed anytime. In this manner, you are protecting your files from damage and corruption due to virus and Trojan attacks, misuse of the computer or file loss. Do not think that computer problems like that won’t happen to you.
You don’t need to back up the entire computer, mind you. You only do that when you are reformatting the computer or upgrading the operating system to a new version. However, there are many possible methods on how to back up your important files. The most common nowadays is the flash drives or USB. It’s a plug and play kind of device used to copy, save and transfer files from one computer to another. It can store numerous data depending on the capacity it can carry. CDs and DVDs are excellent methods for storing music, movies and important files from your computer. What’s more, CDs allow you to write or add more files in it making it a great storage for documents you will use for presentations and businesses. Also, it is not more likely to be destroyed if it is stored properly.

Another way to save copies of your data is through an external hard drive. An external hard drive is a portable hard drive used mainly for backing up large amounts of files, video presentations, movies and virtually anything you can transfer from your computer to the drive. Another method of saving file is uploading them online on a cloud computer or a virtual storage place. What it is, it is a site where you can upload and save you data and access and download them anytime in any computer. You can upload up to 10 gigabytes of information, depending on the site you are using and the service you got. If you use the site for free, you got lesser storage capacity compared to paid options but still, that free space is enough to save thousands of files you have on your computer. One example of cloud is dropbox.com. All you have to do is install their software and register and you’re on your way to saving your files on a virtual computer.

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How to Use Your iPod for Portable Storage

There are many types of mp3 and portable music players available, but anyone who walks down a busy city street at rush hour can tell you that the iPod has become the most ubiquitous. A decade after its initial launch, iTunes now comes standard on many computers or is one of the first programs users download to accommodate their music collection. Aside from the ability to carry your favorite songs with you wherever you go, many iPod owners don’t realize just how functional this gadget can be.
While iPods can store a large number of music files, they can also provide a more general level of portable file storage. You can use your iPod to save and transport valuable computer files, documents, software, and more. As each new generation of mp3 players tend to have larger memory capacity, this is a viable option not only for portable storage but as an external drive.

1. Connect your iPod to your computer. This should be straight-forward if you’ve owned the device for awhile. If you have just purchased the player, follow the instructions enclosed in the packaging to ensure it is ready for use.
2. Once the iTunes program is open and running, select the iPod icon in the Source pane and click the tab labeled “Summary.”

3. Select either “Enable disk use” or “Manually manage music and videos.” Both of these options will allow you to use your iPod as a disk. However, be aware that choosing “Manually manage music and videos” will stop your iPod from automatically syncing with iTunes.

3. Drag files into iPod disk folder. Once you have changed your iPod settings, your iPod will appear as a disk either on your desktop or in your “My Computer” folder. Open this folder and drag files into it to store them on your iPod.

Reminder: Always eject your iPod from your computer before disconnecting. There is an eject function within iTunes, or you can right click on the disk icon and select to eject manually. Remembering to eject your iPod is particularly important when using your iPod as a storage device.

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How to Choose a Mobile Internet Dongle That Suits Your Needs

Along with web access on our phones and public Internet hotspots, there is another option for those who need reliable Internet while they’re out and about. Many cell phone service providers now offer direct web access via a small USB device, commonly referred to as a “dongle.” Here are some tips to make the most of these handy devices.
1. Consider your bandwidth usage needs. If you will only be using the dongle to check your e-mail at cafes or other locations, it may not be necessary to subscribe to a data-heavy plan. On the other hand, if you will be downloading movies, TV shows, or large amounts of image files, you will need to spend more money to maintain a good and reliable connection speed.
2. Decide on a payment and subscription option. Some providers offer pay-as-you-go options for users who will not regularly need a prescribed amount of bandwidth. This gives you the comfort of knowing you can access the Internet at any time as well as the flexibility to only use what you need. You will not be expected to use a certain amount per month. If you anticipate needing to plug in your dongle on a daily or weekly basis, you will receive better rates for the bandwidth by subscribing to a plan.
3. Choose a provider that has proven success in your area. Just as cell phone coverage differs by provider from region to region, dongle Internet access can be complicated, as well. Conduct some research by talking to friends who use dongles and by looking up reviews for their mobile Internet services in your area.
4. Before signing a contract and purchasing your USB mobile Internet device, “test-drive” it in the store to make sure it works with your hardware. You wouldn’t buy a new car without making sure the brakes work, so don’t be afraid to bring your laptop along to the provider’s store to make sure the device works for you. If you will be using it to download large files, try downloading a sample file with the dongle plugged in to ensure you will be able to get the bandwidth you need.
Finally, take your time when shopping for mobile Internet devices as many providers will run seasonal sales or specials. With a little extra research, you will be guaranteed good mobile broadband access at a reasonable price.

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How to Add a Printer to your Shared Home Network

Once you have a wireless network set up at home, you will soon feel spoiled by the freedom of accessing the Internet from anywhere in your house. You can e-mail from bed, track your Fantasy Football stats in front of the TV, and look up recipe information from the kitchen. After growing accustomed to this level of convenience, you will likely feel bothered if you have to walk downstairs to print a picture or document. Traditionally, it was necessary to plug your computer directly into the printer in order to print. Fortunately, you can set up your home wireless network so that all networked computers share the same default printer, regardless of whether they are physically connected to the machine.
1. From the main network computer, go to the Control Panel from the Start menu and click “Printers and Faxes.” Next, click “Add a printer.”
This will start the Add Printer Wizard. Click “Next.” Take note that if your printer meets the specifications in the informational paragraph, you do not need to go through the formal set up process.


2. Select the option for “A network printer, or a printer attached to another computer.” Once you have highlighted this selection, click “Next.”
3. Choose to “Browse for a printer” and locate the printer in the network. In order Once you have found the correct printer, click “Next.”
This will bring up a warning screen, as seen below. Click “Yes” to continue.
4. On the next screen, confirm your choices and click “Finish.” At this point, the printer should be accessible to all computers on your network. You can search for and use the printer in the same way you would use a physically-connected printer from all computers in the network.
Tip: You will need to set the printer as the default individually on each computer, but there is no limit on the number of machines that can designate a given printer as their default.

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How to Share Photos Safely and Securely Using a Portable Flash Drive

It has become common to anxiously wait for a friend or relative to upload photographs to Facebook after a recent vacation or event. There are many photo websites that provide storage and sharing capabilities. While these sites are often password-protected, many feel uneasy posting family photos on the Internet. Further, it is often impossible to download and save images without paying a fee and it takes a tremendous amount of time to download an entire batch of pictures.
Using a small portable storage drive, you can securely share photographs with your friends and family for free.
1. Purchase a USB storage drive that has enough storage space to hold all of your images. These small devices are sometimes called flash drives, thumb drives, or jump drives. They are rewritable and range in storage capacity. Many can be attached to a key ring, making them highly portable and easy to carry.
2. Connect the flash drive to your computer via a USB port.
3. Locate the files that you wish to share on your hard drive. Highlight the selected files or folders that you wish to copy. To highlight more than one file at a time, hold down the control button while you select them.
4. On a Windows computer, go to My Computer to locate the portable drive. On a Mac, this folder should appear on your desktop once the device is attached. Open the folder.
5. Drag and drop the highlighted files into the portable device’s folder. Depending on the size of the files, it should take no more than one minute.
6. To retrieve the files on another computer, simply plug the flash drive into the device’s USB port. The folder should open automatically, but it can also be located on the desktop or in the My Computer folder. Once the folder is open and the files are visible, copy them to a permanent location on the computer’s hard drive. Using this simple method, photo-sharing is made extremely easy. Mailing a flash drive is quicker and easier than mailing a disk and does not require a large amount of uploading and downloading. It also helps to keep your family photos private and secure.

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How to Watch Video Files Stored on Your Portable Hard Drive

External hard drives have grown in popularity as people have started to use their computers to acquire and watch more large-file media. Movies, television shows, and other video items account for some of the largest files on many people’s computers. After downloading a few movies, a computer’s hard drive can begin to slow down and available storage is greatly reduced. External storage gadgets are an excellent solution to this problem, but a hassle arises when the user then wants to watch the video on their television. Historically, users would have to transfer the file from the external storage drive back to the computer’s main storage drive and then attach the computer to the television using cables. Fortunately, new technology has enabled users to watch files stored on their external units without moving the files.
1. Copy files onto an external drive or storage device.
2. Attach a portable video player (PVP) to your television. These gadgets are still being developed, but the current market leader is the Western Digital WD TV HD Media Player. Various connection options are available, including standard composite AV cables or high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI).
3. Plug in your external storage device. This can be a thumb drive, an external hard drive, or anything that connects via a USB port.
4. Select the video file you would like to watch. Once the external drive is attached to the PVP, the video, audio, and image contents will show up in a menu on the screen.
After identifying the file you want to watch, hit play and enjoy. When you have finished watching, there is no need to disconnect your external drive unless you wish to use it for something else. Supported video files include MPEG, AVI, WMV9, MKV, and MOV.

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Keyboard Troubleshooting

If you begin to experience problems with your keyboard not working or some of the keys not responding, the first thing you should try is to Press CTRL+ALT+DEL (all at the same time).
Depending on what version of Windows you have, you should get the Task List. In Windows 7 you may be given a list with the last option being Start Task Manager and that is the one you select.  A box will pop up that says Windows Task Manager.
In the image above, you will see a list of all tasks currently running including this tutorial being created called “Keyboard Troubleshooting”.
On the right hand side you will see in the title bar, the word “Status”. Under the Status column it indicates which programs are running as shown in the below image.
Not the case for the example above, but on your computer check for any programs that say “Not Responding” and select the first one with a “Not Responding” status. Next, click the End Task button on the bottom of the pop-up box as shown here:
Be sure to repeat the process until all tasks labeled “Not Responding” have ended. You will need to do this one at time.  Periodically check if the keyboard will work properly.
Check the keyboard is properly connected to the computer. If the keyboard has been disconnected, try rebooting the computer.
Recommendation
Your keyboard is one of the dirtiest parts of your computer.  Practice cleaning your computer on a regular basis.  This will help maintain your keyboard.  You can purchase a can of compressed air to blow air in the tiny spaces in between your keys to remove small particles of dust.
If you have tried a number of things and your keyboard is still not working, disconnect the current one and plug in a keyboard that you know is working if one is available.   This may determine if you need to get a new keyboard or if you have a central processing unit (CPU) problem.
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