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A+ Cram Sheet
A+ Cram Sheet
MOTHERBOARDS:
Two basic types of motherboards: AT (Advanced Technology) and XT
(Extended Technology). Baby AT and ATX are form factors of the AT system
board.
Two basic expansion buses: ISA and PCI. ISA is the Industry Standard
Architecture used on XT and AT boards.
ISA bus slots are usually very long and large, and tend to be nearer one of the
edges of the motherboard.
PCI bus is a 32-bit/64-bit bus specification with smaller slots, generally nearer
the center of a motherboard. PCI slots can sometimes be interwoven between
the ISA slots; first ISA the PCI, then ISA again, and so forth.
Jumpers are used to set the motherboard's clock speed. The clock oscillator can
be tuned to a specific frequency. One Hertz (Hz) is the time it takes for the
oscillator to produce one full wave. One Megahertz is one-million cycles
(clock ticks). Motherboard speeds should match the fastest CPU speed.
Power supplies take in 110 volts (AC) and typically put out 12 and 5 volts
(DC). Sometimes a voltage regulator on the system board can be set by
jumpers to provide other voltages (note the 3.3 volts used by many processors).
MEMORY/PROCESSORS:
Real mode comes from the 8088/86 processor where the chip can only address
1 MB of real memory addresses. The 1 MB is called "conventional memory"
and can be split into low memory (IRQ tables), application memory (640 K),
and high memory (Around 370 K).
Protected mode started with the 80286 processor and means that one
application can run in a different area than another application, and they won't
affect each other if one of them crashes.
Enhanced mode (386 Enhanced mode, 32-bit Protected mode), comes from the
80386 chip. All current processors can use Enhanced mode. The 32-bit 386
was the first chip that could run both Real mode and Protected mode, without
resetting the system.
Parity is a way to test RAM chips (SIMMs and DRAM) to see if they can
correctly remember data. Parity checking requires an additional circuit and
login in order to work. When a computer heats up it can change the SIMMs
and cause parity errors. The POST routine can't uncover heat-related problems
since everything on the board is cool. Heat problems usually cause software
problems and are uncovered using software utilities.
Pentium chips generally run from 66 to 200 MHz. Pentium Pro chips are
usually sold in two speeds: 180 MHz and 200 MHz.
PERIPHERALS:
Port connectors from the back panel of a chassis include: 9-pin male serial, 25-
pin female parallel, 15-pin female video.
Parallel cables are usually a DB25-pin male (plugs into the female end on the
chassis) connector with a 36-pin male Centronics connector at the other end.
SCSI cables are usually 50-pin ribbon cables. SCSI chains can have up to 7
devices and must be terminated at both ends. IDE chains can have 2 devices.
SCSI is usually used for external devices like CD-ROM drives and scanners.
COM1 and COM3 are logically joined, while COM2 and COM4 are logically
joined. COM1 and COM3 use IRQ4 while COM2 and COM4 use IRQ3.