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CompTIA A+ 220-801
PC Maintenance Facts
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Interference | Signal that corrupts or destroys regular signals. Affects signals used by two devices to communicate on a network. |
| Two types of Interference | Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) |
| Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) | Interference that affects wired networking signals. |
| Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) | Interference on the radio channel used by wireless networking devices. |
| To clean an inkjet printer: | Use the printer's cleaning function to clean the print head. |
| To clean a laser printer: | Use an anti-static vacuum to remove excess toner |
| Why should't you use a regular vacuum to clean a printer? | It will build up electrostatic charge from the toner. |
| What should you use to manually clean a floppy disc drive? | A proprietary cleaning kit |
| What should you use to automatically clean the interior of a floppy disc drive? | A cleaning utility program. |
| What should you use to clean dust and debris off of CD-ROM and DVD disc surfaces, drive bays and off of drive bays? | Compressed air |
| What should you use to clean smudges off of CD-ROM and DVD disc media surfaces? | Dry, soft lint-free cloths |
| A fan blowing in the wrong direction will improve or negate the airflow through the case? | It will negate and cause the system to overheat. |
| Surge | Over voltage that last seconds |
| Spike | Over voltage that last milliseconds |
| Sag | Under voltage that lasts milliseconds |
| Brownout | Under voltage that last seconds (lights dim) |
| Blackout | Complete power failure |
| Surge protector | Protects against over voltages |
| Line conditioner | Modifies the power signal to remove noise and create a smooth alternating current (AC) signal. |
| Standby Power Supply (SPS) | Offline device that switches over to provide power when an under voltage occurs. If the switch-over is not fast enough, the computer loses power. |
| Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) | An online device that is constantly providing battery power to the computer and being recharged by the wall outlet. |
| Two types of UPS systems: | 1) Online UPS constantly powers the computer from the battery. 2) Offline UPS power the computer from the wall power. |
| ATX Form Factor | Most common form factor for full-sized computers. 12" x 9.6" |
| Mini-ATX | Slightly smaller variation of the full ATX size that measures 11.2" x 8.2". |
| Micro-ATX | Smaller version of the ATX standard, with a maximum size of 9.6" x 9.6". Mounting holes are in the same position as ATX motherboards |
| Mini-ITX | Smallest variation of the ATX standard, with a maximum motherboard size of 6.7" x 6.7". The mini-ATX standard also includes standards for a power supply that provides less than 100 Watts. |
| NLX | older form factor used for slimline desktop-style computers. An improvement over an even earlier LPX form factor. Uses a riser card in the middle of the board. Riser card does not have built-in ports for audio, joystick, USB, network, and modem. |
| BTX | Designed to give developers better options for managing system performance and balancing thermal management. Processor is at the front and turned on an angle to increase air flow across the processor. |
| Desktop System Case | Sit horizontally and are usually used for low-end systems that are not meant to be upgraded (i.e. there may be few or no expansion slots). Specific sizes include: Desktop and Slim Line |
| Tower | Can be as high as two feet tall. They have extensive room for expansion. Size classifications include: Mini with typically 1-2 drive bays for expansion, Midsize typically have between 2-4 drive bays and Full size which may have 6-10 drive bays. |
| Small form factor (SFF) | Use mini-ITX or custom motherboards to reduce the size of the system. Some SFF cases might be classified as minitowers with 1-2 drive bays. |
| Notebook | Generally proprietary and often vary among models. |
| Power supplies must be matched to: | motherboard and case form factor |
| AC (Alternating current) | Type of current distributed through wall sockets. With AC, the voltage alternates (at a quick rate) between a negative and a positive charge. This type of current is good for appliances requiring a high current. |
| DC (Direct current) | Type of current used inside a computer. Negatively charged particles being drawn toward a positive charge create a direct current flow. This type of predictable reliable current is ideal for an application where a lower current is required. |
| How many volts does the Standard ATX Power supply provide? | + 3.3 volts, +/-5 volts, and +/-12 volts (DC power) |
| How many volts does most modern components require? | +12 volt output |
| How many volts does the MicroATX power supply provide? | + 3.3 volts and +/-12 volts (+/-5 volt components are not typically used) |
| Rail | Each separate voltage output circuit. |
| In the US, power supplies use how many volts? | 110 volts |
| In many parts of Europe, power supplies use how many volts? | 220 volts |
| Power supplies are rated in? | watts |
| Define Watts | Describes how much work or how much power can be supplied to various devices. |
| Formula for calculating system's wattage requirements: | Multiply volts by amps (W= V x A) |
| In older ATX systems, the fan direction: | blows air into the case and across the CPU |
| New ATX systems, the fan direction: | reverses to pull air from inside of the case (blow air out) |
| An ATX power supply provides soft power. What is soft power in this case? | Condition where the motherboard always has power, even when the computer is turned off. |
| Four symptoms of a bad power supply include: | 1) The system does not start 2) The system shuts off 3) The system reboots 4) Fan does not run or is noisy |
| Which tool should you use to measure the voltage on internal connectors? | Voltmeter (multimeter) |
| 20-pin | Main motherboard connector and supplies 3.3, 5, and 12 volts to the motherboard. On older motherboards, the CPU is powered through a 5 volt wire in this connector. |
| 24-pin (20+4 pin) | Replaces the 20-pin connector in older motherboards. The additional 4 pins supply an extra wire for 3.3, 5, and 12 volts. |
| 4-pin +12 volt power (P4) | Starting with the P4 processor, CPUs required more power than could be provided through main motherboard connector. Processors are powered using 12 volts instead of 5 volts. The 4-pin 12 volt connector supplies 2 additional wires of 12 volt power. |
| 8-pin EPS +12 volt | Provides 4 lines of 12 volt power. This connector is used with some older dual processor systems or some newer quad-core processors. |
| 6-pin PCI Express | Also known as a PEG connector (PCI Express Graphics), plugs in directly to the video card to supply the additional power. The 6-pin connector provides up to 75 watts. |
| 4-pin accessory power | (Often called a 4-pin Molex connector) is used by IDE hard drives, optical drives, and other accessory devices. The connector provides both 5 volts (red wire) and 12 volts (yellow wire). |
| SATA power cable | Has 15 pins and provides 3.3, 5, and 12 volts. |
| 4-pin mini-Molex | Provides both 5 and 12 volts and is used by floppy drives. |
| Four types of Expansion slots: | 1) Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) 2) Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) 3) Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) 4) Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) |
| Examples of onboard devices: | Network Cards, audio cards, video cards, USB or Firewire connectors |
| Examples of faceplate connectors: | PS/2 mouse and keyboard ports, USB ports, Serial ports (COM 1,2,3, and 4) Parallel ports (LPT 1 and 2) Mic in, line in, line out connectors, and MIDI/Game port |
| BIOS chip | Firmware attached to the motherboard and is essential in booting the computer. |
| CMOS Battery | Supplies power to the CMOS to retain systems settings used by the BIOS during the system boot. |
| Chipset | Group of chips that facilitate communications between the processor, memory components, and peripheral devices. Controls the bus speed and also power management features. |
| Modern chipsets consist of the following: | Northbridge - Control for main and cache memory, front side bus, and the AGP and PCIe graphics. Southbridge - Provides the real time clock, controls power management, and provides the controllers for the PCI bus and USB devices. |
| Other than the northbridge and southbridge, what are two other important chipsets? | Keyboard controller & I/O controller |
| Define Jumpers | Electrical connection points that can be set to control devices and functions attached to the motherboard. |
| Which installs first? The CPU, fan, heatsink and memory OR the motherboard? | CPU, fan, heatsink, and memory |
| What is the biggest advantage of 64-bit processors over 32-bit processors? | The amount of memory they can use. 32-bit are limited to 4GB. 64-bit have a limit of 16.8 TB (although limited by OS and hardware limitations) |
| Which processor instruction set does the 32-bit processor use? | IA-32 (also referred to as the x86) |
| Which processor instruction set does the Itanium process from Intel use? | IA-64 |
| Which processor instruction set does the AMD64 and Intel 64 processors use? | x86-64 (Also referred to as x64) |
| x64 processors execute both 32-bit and 64-bit instructions in the hardware. True or False? | True |
| Itanium processors use a hardware layer to translate between IA-32 and IA-64. True or False? | True |
| 32-bit applications typically perform better than 64-bit applications. True or False? | False |
| Multi-core Processor | Has multiple processors within a single processor package. |
| The dual-core, triple-core and quad-core processors are typical in which system? | Desktops |
| Cache | Memory that the processor can access directly without using the system RAM. |
| Level 1 (L1) cache | Cache is integrated on the processor die itself and stores instructions for the processor. On multi-core systems, each processor typically has its own L1 cache. Some processors might have two L1 caches, one for instructions and one for data. |
| Level 2 (L2) cache | Additional cache used for both instructions and data. Depending on the processor, L2 cache might be shared between two or more cores, or exclusive to a single core. |
| Level 3 (L3) cache | Additional cache beyond the other levels of cache. For multi-core systems, This cache is shared between all cores. |
| A processor with more cache performs better than a processor with less cache (all other things being equal). True or False? | True |
| All three cache levels are located on the RAM. True or False? | False |
| Process Size | Refers to the manufacturing process used to etch transistors onto the silicon wafer that will become the CPU. A smaller size means smaller transistors, which translates into a smaller CPU die with more transistors and less power consumption. |
| Hyper-threading | Enables a processor to execute two threads at the same time. For example, on a quad-core Intel system that supports this process, the processor can execute 8 threads at a time (2 on each core). |
| Hyper-threading and Multithreading are the same thing. True or False? | False? |
| What is the difference between hyper-threading and multi-threading? | Hyper-threading allows a single processor to run threads in parallel. Multi-threading allows it to send multiples threads at the same time. |
| Throttling | Process of modifying the operating characteristics of a processor based on current conditions. |
| What type of processors are used in notebook computers where portability and mobility are a concern? | Mobile processors. |
| What is Virtualization? | Allows a single physical machine (known as the host operating system) to run multiple virtual machines (known as the guest operating systems). The virtual machines appear to be self-contained and separate physical systems. |
| VMware, Virtual PC, Virtu al Server, and Hyper-V are types of what kind of software? | Virtualization software |
| What type of feature does a processor need to support virtualization? | Intel's Virtualization Technology (VT) AMD's AMD Virtualization (AMD-V) |
| Heat sink, thermal paste or a thermal pad helps in what process? | Cooling |
| Adding more RAM, using a faster disk, or improving cooling and ventilation will improve what? | Increased performance |
| Overclocking | Feature that causes the processor to operate at a higher speed. |
| Pin Grid Array (PGA) | Processor socket that implement a series of pins on the underside of the processor package in an array. The pins are inserted into corresponding receptacles within the processor socket on the motherboard. |
| Land Grid Array (LGA) | Processor socket moves the connecting pins from the processor package to the socket itself. Conducting pads are implemented on the bottom of the processor that contact the protruding pins from the processor socket. |
| Intel 775 | Used with the Intel Pentium 4, Celeron D, Intel Pentium 4 Extreme Edition, Pentium D, Pentium Dual-Core, Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Extreme, Core 2 Quad, Xeon, and Celeron processors. |
| Intel 1155 | Used with the Intel Pentium 4, Celeron, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, Core i7 Extreme, and Xeon processors. |
| Intel 1156 | Used with the Intel Pentium 4, Celeron, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, and Xeon processors. |
| Intel 1366 | Used with the Intel Celeron, Core i7, and Xeon processors. |
| AMD 940 | Used with the AMD Opteron and Athlon 64 FX processors |
| AMD AM2 | Used with the AMD Athlon 64, Athlon 64 X2, Athlon 64 FX, Opteron, Sempron, and Phenom processors. |
| AMD AM2+ | Used with the AMD Athlon 64, Athlon 64 X2, Athlon II, Opteron, Phenom, and Phenom II processors. |
| AMD AM3 | Used with the AMD Phenom II, Athlon II, Sempron, and Opteron processors. |
| AMD AM3+ | Used with the AMD Phenom II, Athlon II, Sempron, and Opteron processors. |
| AMD FM1 | Used with the AMD Athlon II processor along with the A-series APU's. |
| AMD F | Used with the AMD Opteron and Athlon 64 FX processors. |
| Process size | Refers to the manufacturing process used to etch transistors onto the silicon wafer that will become the CPU. In general, the smaller the process size, the less power required by the CPU. |
| (DRAM) Dynamic Ran Access Memory | Stores data using a single transistor for every bit of data (a 0 or a 1). To maintain the state of the transistor, dynamic RAM must continually supply power to the transistor; when the power is turned off, the data is lost. |
| (SRAM) Static Random Access Memory | Stores data using four transistors for every bit of data. Static RAM does not require constant power to maintain the contents of memory. |
| (SDRAM) Synchronous Dynamic RAM | Synchronized with the system bus clock, allowing it to receive instructions in a continuous flow. New instructions can be received, even before the first instruction has finished executing. |
| (DDR) Double-Data Rate Synchronous Dynamic RAM | Variation of the original SDRAM |
| DDR2 | Doubles the data transfer rate of DDR, for four times the bandwidth of SDRAM. |
| DDR3 | Doubles the data transfer rate of DDR2, for eight times the bandwidth of SDRAM (twice that of DDR2). |
| RDRAM (Rambus DRAM) | Alternative to DDR that was developed jointly with Intel. |
| Modern motherboards no longer use which types of memory? | SDRAM, DDR and RDRAM |
| SIMM (single in-line memory module) | Has contacts on both sides of the module, but the pins are redundant on both sides. |
| DIMM (dual in-line memory module) | Has a separate set of contacts on each side of the module, each side is independent of the other, both sides have memory modules |
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