Computer Systems

Topic 9:
Hardware Maintenance

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Scope and Coverage - 1

This topic will cover:
• Preventative maintenance
• Upgrade vs. replace
• Hardware upgrade
– Priorities
– Internal components
– Peripherals

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Scope and Coverage - 2

This topic will cover (cont.):
• Hardware upgrade exercises (lab session) – some
of:
– Memory update
– Graphics upgrade
– Hard disk upgrade
– Add second NIC

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Learning Outcomes
By the end of this topic, students will be able to:
• Perform routine maintenance tasks on a computer
system
• Upgrade the hardware and software on a computer
system

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What is Hardware Maintenance?

• Hardware maintenance refers to the process of
routine checks, cleaning and updating computer
hardware.
• Repair, the fixing of specific faults that have
already appeared, has already been covered.
• This topic considers planned activities rather than
fault finding and error recovery.

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Preventative Maintenance
• Regular maintenance reduces the possibility of faults
developing.
• Preventative maintenance describes the actions
taken to extend the life of devices.
• Prevention is better than cure.
– Less time consuming, less costly to do repair,
reduces loss of productivity
• Problems avoided with preventative maintenance
include reduced performance, data loss and failure to
operate.

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Types of
Preventative Maintenance
• The three types of preventative maintenance are:
– Active preventative maintenance - including
cleaning of the computer system components and
peripheral devices
– Passive preventative maintenance - protecting
the system from its environment
– Periodic preventative maintenance - including
tasks that are performed at certain times

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Active Preventative Maintenance - 1

• Dust builds up over time
• Dust may cause overheating and poor connections
• System cooling is reduced as dust acts as a heat
insulator
• Dust should be blown from the system

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Active Preventative Maintenance - 2

• Take care with health & safety
– Wear a dust mask
– Do cleaning in a well ventilated area with suitable
dust extraction facilities
• Do not use vacuum cleaner
– Generates static electricity which may damage
components

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Other Equipment - 1
• Monitors need regular cleaning to keep the image
clear.
– Use a proper monitor cleaning fluid to avoid
damaging the screen.
– Use only a soft cloth and minimum pressure.
• Keyboards and mice also need dust cleaning out,
and dirt and grease that builds up needs to be
cleaned off for comfort and hygiene as well as
reliability.

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Other Equipment - 2
• Printers have a routine maintenance plan that
should be performed at least every time the ink or
toner cartridge is changed.
– Otherwise, dust from paper, excess toner and dried
ink builds up.

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Periodic Preventative Maintenance - 1

• Schedules will vary depending on the use and
importance of the system. As a guide
– Daily:
• Update antivirus software
• Back up data
– Weekly:
• Delete temporary files
• Empty recycle bin

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Periodic Preventative Maintenance - 2

– Monthly:
• Create a system restore reference point
• Download and install updates to the operating
system and other key software
• Check for software problems
• Defragment the hard disk

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Passive Maintenance Issues - 1

• Deals with environmental and electrical issues
– Temperature
– Thermal stress
– Air pollution
– Dust
– Shock and vibration disturbance
– Mains fluctuations

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Passive Maintenance Issues - 2

– Power Line Noise (Radio Frequency Choke may be
used)
– Electrostatic Discharge
– Electromagnetic and Radio Frequency Interference
(EMI, RFI)

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Passive Maintenance Solutions

• Keep computer systems in a clean, well ventilated
environment, away from contaminants, such as dust
and liquids.
• Avoid moving computer equipment unnecessarily.
– Do not move equipment at all when it is switched on.
• Have regulated or uninterruptable power supplies
(UPS) on critical equipment.
• Take care running network cables to avoid mains
cables and other sources of EMI/RFI.
– Or use fibre optic cables instead of copper.

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User Tips - 1
• Encourage users to look after their computer
equipment:
– Shutdown properly using the shutdown function of
the operating system.
• Prevents any unsaved work or settings
– Power down at the wall (after shutting down
properly).
• Systems that are shutdown are not always
powered down
• Saves electricity and increases component life

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User Tips - 2
– Do not eat or drink at the PC.
• Risk of liquid spillage and crumbs in the
keyboard and mouse
– Do not touch the screen.
• Fingerprints are difficult to clean off.

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Upgrade vs. Replace

• When a system is getting older, it may no longer be
able to do the required job satisfactorily.
• Upgrade means putting in extra components (e.g.
more RAM) or replacing a component with a better
one (e.g. faster graphics card or larger hard disk)
• Extends the overall life of the system
• Reduces overall cost of ownership
• Better for the environment

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Hardware Upgrade Overview

• For an upgrade, it is necessary to identify the
issues you hope to solve and determine the
appropriate components to upgrade. Common
issues are:
– Overall performance (the system is too slow)
– Performance in a specific area (e.g. screen drawing
or network communication is too slow)
– Lack of storage space (hard disk full)

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Priorities - 1
• You must prioritise upgrades to solve the problem.
– For general performance, more RAM is likely to
give a better result than a faster processor.
– Adding an extra hard disk or replacing with a larger
disk will increase performance as well as storage.
• Newer and larger hard disks are generally faster.

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Priorities - 2
– For high-end gaming or other specialist
requirements, a new graphics card may be the best
solution.
– In most cases, a faster CPU will be the least
effective solution.
• Most CPUs spend most of their time waiting for
other devices.

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Internal Components
Component Benefit of Upgrade
RAM Reduced use of (very slow) virtual memory
Helps all programs and the operating system
Graphics card Faster screen drawing
Higher resolution/more colours
May take some load off the CPU
May take some load of systems memory
DISK Increased storage space
Faster disk access
Quicker file loading and saving
Increased virtual memory performance
CPU Code executed faster
May only result in waiting idle for longer
NIC Increased data transfer rate
It is unlikely that the bottleneck is your network connection

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Upgrade Restrictions - 1
• Your system may not be able to benefit from an
upgrade.
– Limits on RAM and CPU that motherboard supports
• You can replace motherboards, but the benefits
over replacing the system are likely to be fewer.
– Limits on graphics card interface to system
– Limits on screen performance

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Upgrade Restrictions - 2
– Space in the case
• Particularly for laptops
– Also remember power supply capacity
• Big hard disks and powerful graphics cards need
a large amount of power.

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Peripherals
• There is considerably less scope for upgrading
peripherals.
– Some printers may be able to take more memory or
advanced paper handling equipment.
• Double sided printing, collating, binding etc.
– Some scanners may take different media handling
facilities.
• Books, photographic transparencies or negatives,
document feeders
– There is not much you can do to upgrade a keyboard or
mouse.

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Replacement - 1
• In some cases, you will have to replace a system to
get the required performance or facilities.
– Do you need to replace the whole system?
• The current monitor, keyboard, mouse will
probably be fine
• If not, keep the old components that still work for
spares.

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Replacement - 2
– You can also pass down systems.
• Make sure that the most powerful systems go to
the users that need them.
• Replace at the top of the performance range and
move older systems to users who need less
power.
• Increases overall systems life, reduces costs,
better for environment

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Maintenance Precautions - 1
• This is largely a repeat of the same slide in the
previous topic, because the points are the same.

• Back up all user data.

• Back up or record all system settings.
• Establish an application checkpoint (System
Restore point in Windows).
• Do the upgrade on one system and test before
rolling out.

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Maintenance Precautions - 2
• Keep a copy of the update files in case you have to
do a full re-installation and then roll forward.

• If it still works, keep the component you have

removed as a spare.

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Sources - 1
• Check manufacturers’ websites to see which
hardware upgrades will fit your system.
• Updates to drivers can usually be obtained from
the manufacturer’s website and may improve
performance.
• Hardware upgrades can be obtained from your
usual supplier or from Internet suppliers.
– Often great choice and better prices are available
online.

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Sources - 2
• There are many websites on upgrading hardware
(do a search). Here are three examples:
– http://tinyurl.com/6jebr5f
– http://tinyurl.com/aqq53s
– http://tinyurl.com/6cbng6n

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Topic 9 – Hardware Maintenance

Any Questions?

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