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COMPUTER HARWARE MAINTENANCE

Background

The Computing Process

In modern terms, a computer is an electronic device that can perform

calculations. The most common types use special programming languages
that people, known as computer programmers, have written and compiled to
accomplish specific tasks. When most people hear the word “computer,”
they picture general computing devices, machines that can do all sorts of
things. The typical personal computer (PC) runs the operating system
Microsoft Windows and is used for various tasks. You can use it to manage
your money and play games, for example, without doing anything special
to it, such as adding new hardware. Computers help the modern world
function. Modern computer techs need to know how different types of
computing devices work so they can support the many devices used by
their clients. The secret savior for modern techs is that computing devices
function similarly to each other. Once you know what a device should
enable a user to do, you’ll be able to configure and troubleshoot
successfully. Here’s a list of common specific-purpose computers:

• Pocket calculator

• Digital watch

• Digital clock

• Wi-Fi picture frame

• Basic mobile phone

• Xbox One X

• GPS device (Global Positioning System, the device that helps drivers
figure out how to get where they need to go)
• Digital camera

• Point of sale (POS) system

Computers help the modern world function. Modern computer techs need to know
how different types of computing devices work so they can support the many
devices used by their clients Computer Maintenance.

Why the Process Matters to Techs

Because the computing process applies to every computing device, it

provides the basis for how every tech builds, upgrades, and repairs such
devices. By understanding both the components involved and how they
talk to each other, you can work with any computing device. It might take a
couple minutes to figure out how to communicate with the device via
input, for example, but you’ll quickly master it because you know how all
computing devices work.

The Computing Parts

A modern computer consists of three major components:

• Hardware

• Operating system

• Applications

The hardware is the physical stuff that you can touch or hold in your hand.
With a smartphone, for example, you hold the phone. On a typical personal
computer, you touch the keyboard or view images on the monitor. The
operating system (OS) controls the hardware and enables you to tell the
computer what to do. The operating system often appears as a collection of
windows and little icons you can click or touch collectively these are called
the user interface (UI), which means the software parts with which you can
interact. The UI that offers images or icons to select (as opposed to making
you type commands) is called a Graphical User Interface (GUI). Applications
(or programs) enable you to do specialized tasks on a computer, such as
• Type a letter

• Send a message from your computer in Houston to your friend’s

computer in Paris

• Wander through imaginary worlds with people all over Earth

Stages

At the most basic level, computers work through three stages, what’s called
the computing process:

• Input

• Processing

• Output

You start the action by doing something—clicking the mouse, typing on

the keyboard, or touching the touch screen. This is input. The parts inside
the device or case take over at that point as the operating system tells the
hardware to do what you’ve requested. This is processing. In fact, at the
heart of every computing device is a central processing unit (CPU), usually a
single, thin wafer of silicon and tiny transistors. The CPU handles the
majority of the processing tasks and is, in a way, the “brain” of the
computer.

Once the computer has processed your request, it shows you the result by
changing what you see on the display or playing a sound through the
speakers. This is output. A computer wouldn’t be worth much if it couldn’t
demonstrate that it fulfilled your commands.
 The computing process

Modern computing devices almost always have two other stages:

• Data storage

• Network connection

Data storage means saving a permanent copy of your work so that you can
come back to it later. It works like this. First, you tell the computer to save
something. Second, the CPU processes that command and stores the data.
Third, the computer shows you something, such as a message saying that
the data is stored. Any work that you don’t save is lost when you turn the
computer off or exit the application. Most computing devices connect to
other devices to access other resources.

A network connection often describes how one computer connects to one or

more other computers. And it doesn’t just apply to a couple of office
computers. Every smartphone, for example, can connect to the Internet and
play a video from YouTube (assuming you have a signal from a cell tower
and a data plan).

When it comes to basic maintenance, there are several things you can do to
ensure that your computer is performing at its optimal level.
Breaking It Down

The whole computer process from start to finish has a lot of steps and
pieces that interact. The more you understand about this interaction and
these pieces, the better you can troubleshoot when something goes wrong.

Here are nine steps that apply to most computers and computing devices
when you want to get something done:

1. Power up. Computers run on electricity.

2. Processing parts prepare for action.

3. You provide input.

4. Processing parts process your command.

5. Processing parts send output information to your output devices.

6. Output devices show or play the results to you.

7. Repeat Steps 3–6 until you’re satisfied with the outcome.

8. Save your work.

9. Power down the computer.

Basic Electronic Components

Electronic components are the basic building blocks of an electronic circuit

or electronic system or electronic device. They control the flow of electrons
in an electronic system or electronic circuit. Electronic components are very
small. Hence, it is easy to carry them from one place to another place. The
cost of electronic components is also low. Electronic components consist of
two or more terminals. When a group of electronic components is
connected together in an electronic board such as printed circuit board
(PCB), a useful electronic circuit is formed. Each electronic component in a
circuit performs a particular task.
Types of electronic components

The electronic components are generally classified into two types:

 Passive components

 Active components

Passive component

The electronic component, which consumes energy in the form of voltage

from the source, but does not produce or supply energy is called passive
electronic component.

i. Passive components cannot control the flow of electrons or electric

current through a circuit, but they limit the flow of electrons or
electric current.
ii. Passive components cannot amplify or increase the power of an
electrical signal.
iii. Passive components temporarily store the electrical energy in the
form of static electric field or magnetic field.
iv. Passive components do not depend on the external source of
energy or voltage to perform a specific operation.

The different types of passive components include resistors, capacitors, and

inductors.

 A Resistor is an electrical device that resists the flow of electrical

current. It is a passive device used to control, or impede the flow of,
electric current in an electric circuit by providing resistance, thereby
developing a drop in voltage across the device. How much electric
current does a resistor reduce or limits is depends on the resistance
value of a resistor. The resistors with more resistance value will
reduce large amount of electric current whereas the resistors with
less resistance value will reduce less amount of electric current. The
electric current reduced or restricted by the resistor is measured in
ohms and it is represented by a symbol Ω. The size of resistors is very
small.
 A capacitor is a passive electrical component that can store energy in
the electric field between a pair of conductors called “plates”. The
process of storing energy in the capacitor is known as “charging“. The
ability of a capacitor to store charge is measured by its capacitance.
Capacitors are used in electronic circuits as energy storage devices.
They are also be used to differentiate between high-frequency and
low-frequency signals. A wide variety of capacitors are available,
including electrolytic capacitors, basic parallel-plate capacitors, and
mechanical variable capacitors.

 An inductor is a passive two terminal electronic component that

temporarily stores the electrical energy in the form of a magnetic
field. It consists of coil of copper wires or electrical conductive wires.
When the electric current is passed through the coil, a magnetic field
is produced and stored in the coil of copper wires.

Active component

The electronic component, which consumes energy in the form of

voltage or current and produces or supplies energy in the form of
electric current or voltage is called active component.
 i. An active component not only controls the flow of electrons or
electric current, but also amplifies or increases the power of
electronic signal.
ii. Active components depend on the external source of energy or
voltage to perform a specific operation.
iii. When the active components consume enough voltage, they
start operating.

 A diode is a one-way valve for electricity. Diodes allow flow of

electricity in one direction. Most diodes have a painted line on one
end showing the direction or flow. The negative side is normally
white. It consists of two terminals or electrodes: cathode and anode.
The p-type material of a diode acts as anode and the n-type material
acts as cathode.

 An integrated circuit is a small semiconductor chip on which millions

of electronic components such as capacitors, resistors, and transistors
are fabricated. The cost of Integrated circuit is low compared to the
discrete components because in integrated circuit all the components
are fabricated on a single chip. It can function as a microprocessor,
amplifier, and counter. The invention of ICs had changed the world
of electronics.
 A transistor is a semiconductor component that amplifies or increases
the electronic signals. Three scientists named Walter Brattain,
William Shockley, and J. Bardeen invented the transistor in 1947 at
the Bell Laboratories. Transistors are made from semiconductor
materials such as silicon and germanium.

PC Maintenance Tools

To troubleshoot and repair PC systems properly, you need a few

basic tools. If you intend to troubleshoot and repair PCs
professionally, there are many more specialized tools you will want
to purchase. These advanced tools enable you to more accurately
diagnose problems and make jobs easier and faster. Here are the
basic tools that should be in every troubleshooter’s toolbox:

 Simple hand tools for basic disassembly and reassembly procedures

 Diagnostics software
 A multimeter
 Chemicals (such as contact cleaners), component freeze sprays, and
compressed air for cleaning the system
 Foam swabs, or lint-free cotton swabs if foam isn’t available
 Small nylon wire ties for “dressing” or organizing wires

Some environments also might have the resources to purchase the

following devices, although they’re not required for most work:

 Memory module tester

 Serial and parallel loopback (or wrap) plugs to test serial and parallel
ports
 A USB testing plug to test USB ports
 A network cable scanner (if you work with networked PCs)
 A POST card
Run operating system updates at least once a week.

Updates to your system software are released on a regular basis to fix bugs,
patch security vulnerabilities and improve system performance. Microsoft,
for example, releases new critical updates on the second Tuesday of each
month. In addition to fixing problems with the software, some software
updates introduce new features to enhance system usability. Installing
these updates on a regular basis ensures that your system software is
current and running at its optimal level.

Allow your system to shutdown completely.

Let your computer shutdown completely before cutting its power.

Improperly shutting down your computer can potentially corrupt files that
it uses in the background to operate. To ensure that these files are closed
properly, use Shut Down in the Start menu, or hit Alt-F4 to shut down
your PC gracefully. For Mac, select Shut Down from the Apple Menu. On
some Macs, you may be prompted to Shut Down by pressing the power
button.

Run virus and malware scans regularly.

Be sure you have an Anti-Virus program installed and keep it updated.

Install and regularly run spyware detection software in addition to your
Anti-Virus program. Spybot, Ad-Aware, or Windows Security
Essentials are some programs that will detect many malicious programs
that anti-virus might miss.

Keep your computer’s hardware clean.

Dust can clog fans and cause a computer to overheat, so it is important

keep it clean and free of dust and debris. You can minimize dust
accumulation by keeping your computer elevated from the floor, especially
away from pets and cigarette smoke.

More info on cleaning your machine: PC | Mac

Perform regular backups of personal files.

To ensure that you do not lose important data in the case that something
does happen to harm your computer, its important to perform regular
backups of personal files. Burn important data to DVDs or copy to external
hard disk to prevent data loss.

COMPUTER TROUBLESHOOTING TECHNIQUE

System maintenance is an umbrella term that encompasses various forms

of computer maintenance needed to keep a system running. The two main
components of system maintenance are preventive and corrective
maintenance. Preventive maintenance involves taking measures to help
keep the system functioning, whereas corrective maintenance involves the
replacement or repair of a system or its components after they have already
failed.

Predictive Maintenance
It is a type of maintenance that is carried out using diagnostic tools, in
order to anticipate possible failures and to try to avoid them before they
occur. One of the most important ways in which this type of maintenance is
carried out is through the monitoring of computer systems. This way, one
or several operators control the proper functioning of equipment and
systems, using tools such as monitoring software, to control all different
types of variables, such as temperature of the CPU, battery levels or many
others.
Preventive Maintenance
This is a very frequent type of maintenance, which is carried out in order
to prevent possible failures and improve the functioning of a system, but
also to lengthen the useful life of the different components of the system.
Preventive maintenance is useful in many aspects. For example, it
decreases the number of system downtimes or it can reduce the number of
repairs, and it can also detect weak points in the system that might affect its
operation.

 When we talk about preventive maintenance of software, we include

operations such as the creation of backup copies, the freeing-up of
hard disk space, the freeing-up of RAM memory or the scanning and
cleaning of computers through antivirus.

 When we talk about preventive hardware maintenance, we usually

talk about two different types, which are tasks such as periodic
cleaning of equipment and its components, or “active preventive
maintenance”, which aims to ensure its durability by protecting the
systems from possible environmental aggressions, for example, by
separating the computers from areas with a direct impact of sunlight,
this is known as “passive preventive maintenance”.

 Regularly clean and dust. Make sure you take the time to clean your
PC of dust and debris on a regular basis. Most electronics stores carry
cans of compressed air that are perfect for clearing out the dust and
crumbs hiding under the keys of your keyboard. Additionally, dust
that collects in the air vents of your PC could cause overheating.

 Run antivirus. Your computer may have vulnerabilities that you

don’t notice until it’s too late. It’s important to run your antivirus
scan every day to make sure any changes you made or files you
downloaded have not compromised your system. Additionally, some
malicious programs embed into systems without warning and
 require specific actions to trigger. Scanning your system daily will
help prevent this.
 Scan hard disk files. Over time, your computer’s hard drive can slow
down due to cluttered files. When you scan your system for errors
using a disk defragmenter or similar program, you’re essentially
eliminating wasted space and helping your PC run more efficiently.
 Update data backups. You should have at least one method for
backing up your data, whether it is on a cloud storage server or an
external hard drive. Make sure you take the time to update your
backups every day. That way you won’t have to worry about losing a
day’s work in the event your PC unexpectedly crashes.
 Clear your web browser. Every time you go online, the sites you visit
store temporary files such as cookies and a browsing history. Clear
these files out to help keep them from bogging down your system.
 Inspect power supply and devices. You more than likely use surge
protectors or similar devices to power your computer. It’s crucial to
make sure these devices stay in safe working order. You should
regularly check your power supply and power outlets and look for
any signs of dust or moisture accumulation – either could be serious
hazards.

 Shut down properly. At the end of the day, make sure you save your
work before closing all your programs and shutting down your PC.
Leaving your PC on when not in use for extended periods prevents it
from cooling, and can impact the machine’s performance. If shutting
down interferes with your daily routine or business requirements,
put your computer into a low-power or hibernation mode instead.

Corrective Maintenance
This is the solution that must be applied when the predictive and
preventive maintenance have not worked properly or when these have not
been able to avoid the failure. There are times when a computer or system
fails (for example due to a hardware failure) but we want it to be
operational again and in optimal conditions. Then this will include
repairing or replacement operations, depending on the needs of each case.
One of the considerations to be made regarding this type of maintenance is
that not only will it be important to solve the failure, but we must also
determine what was the cause of it, in order to find the possible
repercussions that might have affected other parts of the system and to
prevent it from happening again in the future.

Common corrective measures involve removing viruses and malware,

uninstalling harmful programs, reformatting, and running a system
restore, among others. Many common computer problems are easily fixed
and don't require an IT professional. To perform corrective maintenance, it
is important to first diagnose the problem and figure out the root cause. If
you are unsure of the cause or how to fix your problem, consulting an IT
professional would be the best course of action.

Evolutionary Maintenance
This type of maintenance is not meant to correct or prevent possible
failures, but to develop the computing resources that are available.
As you might already know, dear reader, technology is always evolving,
and that means that the tools available and the needs of users also change
constantly. With evolutionary maintenance, we want to ensure that
computer systems do not become obsolete, but remain updated in order to
offer the users the best technology options, depending on the possibilities
of each company and organization.

This type of maintenance will include everything from software update

tasks to the complete replacement of equipment or systems, depending on
the needs. And so far, we have looked at the main types of IT maintenance
out there. As you can imagine, due to the complexity of this type of
operations, this work is usually in the hands of professionals, such as
system administrators or specialized companies, who offer maintenance
services to companies, professionals or individuals.
Relationship of Preventive Maintenance to Corrective Maintenance

When establishing an effective maintenance program, one must determine

not only which Preventive Maintenance (PM) routines to accomplish, but
how often should they be done. The answer to this question would seem
on the surface to be quite simple and, in fact, one proven theory is that the
PM to Corrective Maintenance (CM) work order ratio should be about 6 to
1. This theory assumes that the PM inspections should reveal some type of
corrective work that should be completed on an asset on average every 6
times it is accomplished. The assumption is that, if the ratio is greater than
6:1 you are performing the PM too often; if the ratio is less then 6:1, you are
not performing it often enough. (The “6 to 1 Rule”, proven by John Day, Jr.,
Manager of Engineering and Maintenance at Alumax of South Carolina,
during the period when Alumax of South Carolina was certified as the first
“World-Class” maintenance organization) You might accept this theory,
put it in place in your maintenance program, and forget about reading the
remainder of this article. Or, come along and we will attempt to prove or
disprove this theory.

Preventive Maintenance is that activity performed in some routine or

regularly scheduled fashion designed to keep equipment in an existing
state, prevent deterioration or failure, and identify work of a corrective
nature to keep equipment from causing non-productive time in any
capacity. This is the detection phase of the PM investment; the condition
we identify and correct prior to failure is the return for this investment.
Each PM that we develop and implement in our maintenance organization
will require some definite period of time for a maintenance or operations
person to accomplish. How many PMs, how often, can we accomplish with
our work force, reserving a certain percentage of every day for
Emergencies, Unplanned work, and planned corrective work? Should we
attempt to implement some sort of control over how often we do PMs? You
may realize as we continue on this path that the frequency assigned to
many PMs has as much to do with effective manpower utilization as it
does with discovery of potential asset problems.

Two true statements that can be found in nearly every maintenance-

related publication on the market are that:
1. You must evaluate the ratio of Preventive Maintenance actions to
Corrective Maintenance actions to determine effectiveness of your PM
program and,
2. In a Proactive Maintenance environment, PM activities should account
for approximately 30% of total maintenance resource time.

Equipment Used in Computer Hardware Maintenance

Computer hardware maintenance tools are usually small handheld tools.

Some of them are available individually or as part of a computer repair
toolkit. Toolkits range widely in size, quality, and price. Some common
hand tools and their uses are:

 Flat-head screwdriver: Used to tighten or loosen slotted screws.

 Phillips-head screwdriver: Used to tighten or loosen cross-headed
screws.
 Torx screwdriver: Used to tighten or loosen screws that have a star-
like depression on the top, a feature that is mainly found on
laptops.
 Hex driver: Used to tighten or loosen nuts in the same way that a
screwdriver tightens or loosens screws (sometimes called a nut
driver).
 Needle-nose pliers: Used to hold small parts.
 Wire cutters: Used to strip and cut wires.
 Tweezers: Used to manipulate small parts.
 Part retriever: Used to retrieve parts from locations that are too
small for your hand to fit.
 Flashlight: Used to light up areas that you cannot see well.
 Wire stripper: A wire stripper is used to remove the insulation from
wire so that it can be twisted to other wires or crimped to
connectors to make a cable.
 Crimper: Used to attach connectors to wires.
 Punch-down tool: Used to terminate wire into termination blocks.
Some cable connectors must be connected to cables using a punch
down tool.
 Soft cloth: Used to clean different computer components without
scratching or leaving debris
 Compressed air: Used to blow away dust and debris from different
computer parts without touching the components
 A digital multimeter: Is a device that can take many types of
measurements. It tests the integrity of circuits and the quality of
electricity in computer components. A digital multimeter displays
the information on an LCD or LED.

CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT (CPU)

The central processing unit (CPU), also called the microprocessor, is a single
silicon-based electronic chip that makes your computer…well, a computer.
Desktop computers, laptops, smartphones, even tiny computers in a smart
watch or a washing machine have a CPU. A CPU invariably hides on the
motherboard below a heat sink and often a fan assembly as well. CPU
makers name their microprocessors in a fashion similar to the automobile
industry: CPUs get a make and a model, such as Intel Core i9, Qualcomm
Snapdragon 835, or AMD Ryzen.

Troubleshooting CPUs

Troubleshooting CPU issues falls into two categories: overheating and

catastrophic failures, with overheating being far more common than the
latter. Once a CPU is installed properly and functioning, it rarely causes
problems. The only exception is when you ask a CPU to do too much too
quickly. Then you’ll get a sluggish PC. The Intel Atom processor in my
vintage netbook, for example, does a great job at surfing the Web, working
on e-mail, and writing stellar chapters in your favorite textbook. But if you
try to play a game more advanced than Half-Life (the original, circa 1998),
the machine stutters and complains and refuses to play nice.

The vast majority of problems with CPUs come from faulty installation or
environmental issues that cause overheating. Very rarely will you get a
catastrophic failure, but we’ll look at the signs of that, too.
Symptoms of Overheating

Failure to install a CPU properly results in either nothing—that is, you

push the power button and nothing at all happens—or a system lock-up in
a short period of time. Because of the nature of ZIF sockets, you’re almost
guaranteed that the issue isn’t the CPU itself, but rather the installation of
the heat-sink and fan assembly. Here’s a checklist of possible problems that
you need to address when faced with a CPU installation problem:

1. Too much thermal paste can impede the flow of heat from the CPU to the
heat sink and cause the CPU to heat up rapidly. All modern CPUs have
built-in fail-safes that tell them to shut down before getting damaged by
heat.

2. Not enough thermal paste or thermal paste spread unevenly can cause
the CPU to heat up and consequently shut itself down.

3. Failure to connect the fan power to the motherboard can cause the CPU
to heat up and shut itself down. The fan and heat-sink installation failures
can be tricky the first few times you encounter them. You might see the text
from the system setup. You might even get into an installation of Windows
before the crash happens. The key is that as soon as you put the CPU under
load—that is, make it work for a living—it heats up beyond where the
faulty heat-sink connection can dissipate the heat and then shuts down.

BIOS

The CPU doesn’t magically or otherwise automatically know how to talk

with any device; it needs some sort of support programming loaded into
memory that teaches it about a particular device. This programming is
called basic input/output services (BIOS). The programs dedicated to
enabling the CPU to communicate with devices are called services (or
device drivers). In fact, every device on the computer needs BIOS.

System BIOS Support

Every system BIOS has two types of hardware to support. First, the system
BIOS supports all of the hardware that never changes, such as the
keyboard. Another example of hardware that never changes is the PC
speaker (the tiny one that beeps at you, not the ones that play music). The
system ROM chip stores the BIOS for these and other devices that never
change.

Second, the system BIOS supports all of the hardware that might change
from time to time. This includes RAM (you can add RAM) and hard drives
(you can replace your hard disk drive [HDD] with a larger drive or a solid
state drive [SSD] or add a second drive of either type). The system ROM
chip stores the BIOS for these devices, but the system needs another place
to store information about the specific details of a piece of hardware. This
enables the system to differentiate between a Western Digital Blue 4-TB
HDD and a Samsung 860 EVO 2-TB SSD, and yet still support both drives
right out of the box.

UEFI

Modern systems use firmware programming called the Unified Extensible

Firmware Interface (UEFI). Here are a few advantages of UEFI over the
original BIOS in PCs:

• UEFI supports booting to partitions larger than 2.2 TB.

• UEFI firmware is native 32- or 64-bit; this lets the manufacturers include
lots of features for setup and diagnoses.

• UEFI handles all boot-loading duties; no more jumping from boot sector
to boot sector.

• UEFI is portable to other chip types, not just 16-bit x86.

All current systems use UEFI. Many also provide legacy support for BIOS
services in case you feel some retro gaming is in order. But a zillion older
systems use the older BIOS. Most techs continue to call the support
software BIOS, even though technically the terms differ. There’s no
standardization on how to pronounce UEFI.

CMOS and RTC

Because the BIOS firmware is stored in ROM, and ROM is read only, it
needs a place to store all its settings so they don’t have to be re-entered
every time you boot your computer. That place is a tiny bit of RAM hooked
up to a small battery to keep it working with the PC off. We call this
memory the complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) chip. In
addition to storing all the various BIOS settings, the CMOS also handles
the system’s real-time clock (RTC) so you don’t have to keep setting the time
on every boot.

The Boot Process

All PCs need a process to begin their operations. Once you feed power to
the PC, the tight interrelation of hardware, firmware, and software enables
the PC to start itself, to“pull itself up by the bootstraps” or boot itself.
When you first power on the PC, the power supply circuitry tests for
proper voltage and then sends a signal down a special wire called the
powergood wire to awaken the CPU. The moment the power good wire
wakes it up, every Intel and clone CPU immediately sends a built-in
memory address via its address bus. This special address is the same on
every Intel and clone CPU, from the oldest 8086 to the most recent
microprocessor. This address is the first line of the POST program on the
system ROM! That’s how the system starts the POST. After the POST has
finished, there must be a way for the computer to find the programs on the
hard drive to start the operating system. What happens next differs
between the old BIOS way and the UEFI way. In the older BIOS
environment, the POST passes control to the last BIOS function: the
bootstrap loader.
The bootstrap loader is little more than a few dozen lines of BIOS code
tacked to the end of the POST program. Its job is to find the operating
system. The bootstrap loader reads CMOS information to tell it where to
look first for an operating system. Your PC’s CMOS setup utility has an
option that you configure to tell the bootstrap loader which devices to
check for an operating system and in which order as shown in the boot
sequence in the diagram below.

CMOS boot sequence

Motherboards

The motherboard provides the foundation for the personal computer. Every
piece of hardware, from the CPU to the lowliest expansion card, directly or
indirectly plugs into the motherboard. The motherboard contains the wires
called traces that make up the buses of the system. It holds the vast majority
of the ports used by the peripherals, and it distributes the power from the
power supply as shown in the figure below. Without the motherboard, you
literally have no PC.
How Motherboards Work

Three variable and interrelated characteristics define modern

motherboards: form factor, chipset, and components. The form factor
determines the physical size of the motherboard as well as the general
location of components and ports. The chipset defines the type of processor
and RAM the motherboard requires and determines to a degree the built-in
devices the motherboard supports, including the expansion slots. Finally,
the built-in components determine the core functionality of the system.
Almost all chipsets used in desktops and laptops are made by either Intel
or AMD. It’s fitting that the two biggest CPU manufacturers for Windows,
macOS-, and Linux-based computers would also produce the essential
supporting chipsets.

Troubleshooting Motherboards

Motherboards fail. Not often, but motherboards and motherboard

components can die from many causes: time, dust, cat hair, or simply slight
manufacturing defects made worse by the millions of amps of current
sluicing through the motherboard traces. Installing cards, electrostatic
discharge, flexing the motherboard one time too many when swapping out
RAM or drives—any of these factors can cause a motherboard to fail. The
motherboard is a hardworking, often abused component of the PC.
Unfortunately for the common tech, troubleshooting a motherboard
problem can be difficult and time consuming.

Symptoms

Motherboard failures commonly fall into three types: catastrophic,

component, and ethereal. With a catastrophic failure, the computer just
won’t boot. It might have been working just fine; you hear a pop a loud
noise followed by the acrid smell of ozone; and then a dead computer. Use
your nose to lead you to a popped capacitor or other motherboard
component. Check the power and hard drive activity indicator lights on the
front of the PC. Assuming they worked before, having them completely flat
points to power supply failure or motherboard failure.

Note:

This sort of problem happens to brand-new systems because of

manufacturing defects often called a burn-in failure and to any system that
gets a shock of ESD. Burn-in failure is uncommon and usually happens in
the first 30 days of use. Swap out the motherboard for a replacement and
you should be fine. If you accidentally zap your motherboard when
inserting a card or moving wires around, be chagrined. Change your
daring ways and wear an anti-static wrist strap.

(Solution: If you have a catastrophic failure, you must replace the

motherboard. Even if it works somewhat, don’t mess around. The
motherboard should provide bedrock stability for the system. If it’s even
remotely buggy or problematic, get rid of it you would most likely be
better off replacing the motherboard.

Component failure happens rarely and appears as flaky connections between

a device and motherboard, or as intermittent problems. A hard drive
plugged into a faulty controller on the motherboard, for example, might
show up in CMOS auto detect but be inaccessible in Windows. Another
example is a USB port that worked fine for months until a big storm took
out the external modem hooked to it, and now it doesn’t work, even with a
replacement modem.

(Solution: If you have a component failure, you can often replace the
component with an add-on card that will be as good as or better than the
failed device. Adaptec, for example, makes fine cards that can replace the
built-in SATA ports on the motherboard. If your component failure is more
a technology issue than physical damage, you can try upgrading the BIOS
on the motherboard.)

The most difficult of the three types of symptoms to diagnose are that I Call
ethereal symptoms. Stuff just doesn’t work all of the time. The PC reboots
itself. You get a Blue Screen of Death (BSoD) in the midst of heavy
computing, such as right before you smack the villain and rescue the
damsel.

(Solution: if you have an ethereal, ghost-in-the-machine type of problem

that you have finally determined to be motherboard related, you have only
a couple of options for fixing the problem. You can flash the BIOS in a
desperate attempt to correct whatever it is, which sometimes does work
and is less expensive than the other option, which is replacing the
motherboard.)

Power Supplies

Computers need electricity to run. Where this electricity comes from

depends on the device. Mobile devices use. Desktop computers need a
special box—the power supply unit (PSU)—that takes electricity from the
wall socket and transforms it into electricity your computer can use. Figure
below shows a typical power supply.

Power supply about to be mounted inside a system unit

Desktop PSU
As simple as this appears on the surface, power supply issues are of critical
importance for techs. Problems with power can create system instability,
crashes, and data loss—all things most computer users would rather avoid!
Good techs therefore know an awful lot about powering the PC, from
understanding the basic principles of electricity to knowing the many
variations of PC power supplies. Plus, you need to know how to recognize
power problems and implement the proper solutions.

Powering the PC

Your PC uses DC voltage, so some conversion process must take place

before the PC can use AC power from the power company. The power
supply in a computer converts high-voltage AC power from the wall socket
to low voltage DC. The first step in powering the PC, therefore, is to get
and maintain a good supply of AC power. Second, you need a power
supply to convert AC to the proper voltage and amperage of DC power for
the motherboard and peripherals. Finally, you need to control the
byproduct of electricity use—namely, heat.

Supplying AC

Every PC power supply must have standard AC power from the power
company, supplied steadily rather than in fits and spurts, and protection
against accidental blurps in the supply. The power supply connects to the
power cord (and thus to an electrical outlet) via a standard IEC-320
connector. In the United States, standard AC comes in somewhere between
110 and 120 V, often written as ~115 VAC (volts of alternating current).

Most of the rest of the world uses 220–240 VAC, so power supplies are
available with dual-voltage options, making them compatible with either
standard. Power supplies with voltage-selection switches are referred to as
fixed-input. Power supplies that you do not have to manually switch for
different voltages are known as auto-switching. Figure 7-5 shows the back
of a power supply.

Power to the Motherboard

Modern motherboards use a 20- or 24-pin P1 power connector. Some

motherboards may require special 4-, 6-, or 8-pin connectors to supply
extra power as shown below.

Motherboard power connectors

Power to Peripherals: Molex, Mini, and SATA

Many devices inside the PC require power. These include hard drives,
solid state drives, optical drives, and fans. The typical PC power supply
has at least three types of connectors that plug into peripherals: Molex,
mini, and SATA.

Molex Connectors The Molex connector supplies 5-V and 12-V current for
fans and older drives as shown below. The Molex connector has notches,
called chamfers, that guide its installation. The tricky part is that Molex
connectors require a firm push to plug in properly, and a strong person can
defeat the chamfers, plugging a Molex in upside down.
 Molex connector

Mini Connectors A few power supplies still support the mini connector or
Berg connector. The mini supplies 5 V and 12 V to peripherals. Originally
adopted as the standard connector on 3.5-inch floppy disk drives, you’ll
still see the occasional device needing this connector.

Mini Connector

SATA Power Connectors Serial ATA (SATA) drives need a 15-pin SATA
power connector. The larger pin count supports the SATA hot-swappable
feature and 3.3-, 5-, and 12-V devices. The 3.3-V pins are not used in any
current iteration of SATA drives and are reserved for possible future use.
All three generations of SATA use the same power connectors. SATA
power connectors are L shaped, making it almost impossible to insert one
incorrectly into a SATA drive. No other device on a computer uses the
SATA power connector.
 SATA power connector

Splitters and Adapters You may occasionally find yourself without

enough connectors to power all of the devices inside your PC. In this case,
you can purchase splitters to create more connections (see Figure 7-19).
You might also run into the phenomenon of needing a SATA connector but
having only a spare Molex. Because the voltages on the wires are the same,
a simple adapter will take care of the problem nicely.

Molex splitter
NB

The introduction of these two extra power connectors caused the industry
some teething problems. In particular, motherboards using AMD CPUs
tended to need the AUX connector, while motherboards using Intel CPUs
needed only the P4. As a result, many power supplies came with only a P4
or only an AUX connector to save money. The biggest problem with the
ATX12V standard was the lack of enforcement—it made a lot of
recommendations but few requirements, giving PSU makers too much
choice (such as choosing or not choosing to add AUX and P4 connectors)
that weren’t fixed until later versions.

Troubleshooting Power Supplies

Power supplies fail in two ways: sudden death and slowly over time.
When they die suddenly, the computer will not start and the fan in the
power supply will not turn. In this case, verify that electricity is getting to
the power supply before you do anything. Avoid the embarrassment of
trying to repair a power supply when the only problem is a bad outlet or
an extension cord that is not plugged in. Assuming that the system has
electricity, the best way to verify that a power supply is working or not
working is to use a multi-meter to check the voltages coming out of the
power supply.

Mass Storage Technologies

Of all the hardware on a PC, none gets more attention—or gives more
anguish—than mass storage drives. There’s a good reason for this: if a
drive breaks, you lose data. As you probably know, when data goes, you
have to redo work, restore from a backup, or worse, just kiss the data
goodbye. It’s good to worry about data, because that data runs the office,
maintains the payrolls, and stores the e-mail. Hard drives come in two
major types: the traditional type with moving parts; and a newer, more
expensive technology with no moving parts. Let’s look at both.
Magnetic Hard Drives

A traditional hard disk drive (HDD) is composed of individual disks, or

platters, with read/write heads on actuator arms controlled by a servo
motor —all contained in a sealed case that prevents contamination by
outside air as shown below.

The aluminum platters are coated with a magnetic medium. Two tiny
read/write heads service each platter, one to read the top of the platter and
the other to read the bottom of the platter. Each head has a bit sized
transducer to read or write to each spot on the drive. Many folks refer to
traditional HDDs as magnetic hard drives, rotational drives, or sometimes
platter-based hard drives.

Form Factors

Magnetic hard drives are manufactured in two standardized form factors,

2.5-inch and 3.5. A desktop system can use either form factor size; most
laptops use the 2.5-inch form factor. The form factor only defines size. The
connections and the storage technology inside these drives can vary.
 2.5-inch drive stacked on top of a 3.5-inch drive

Solid-State Drives

Booting up a computer takes time in part because a traditional hard drive

needs to spin up before the read/write heads can retrieve data off the drive
and load it into RAM. All of the moving metal parts of a platter-based hard
drive use a lot of power, create a lot of heat, take up space, wear down over
time, and take a lot of nanoseconds to get things done. A solid-state drive
(SSD) addresses all of these issues nicely.

In technical terms, solid-state technology and devices are based on the

combination of semiconductors and transistors used to create electrical
components with no moving parts. That’s a mouthful! In simple terms,
SSDs use flash memory chips to store data instead of all those pesky metal
spinning parts used in platter-based hard drives as depicted in the picture
below. Solid-state technology is commonly used in desktop and laptop
hard drives, memory cards, cameras, USB thumb drives, and other
handheld devices. SSDs for personal computers come in one of three form
factors: the 2.5- inch form factor previously mentioned and two flat form
factors called mSATA. mSATA and M.2 drives connect to specific mSATA
or M.2 slots on motherboards. Many current motherboards offer two or
more M.2 slots.
 A solid-state drive

Hybrid Hard Drives

Windows supports hybrid hard drives (HHDs), drives that combine flash
memory and spinning platters to provide fast and reliable storage. (HHDs
are also known as SSHDs.) The small SSD in these drives enables them to
store the most accessed data in the flash memory to, for example, slash
boot times and, because the platters don’t have to spin as much, extend
the battery life for portable computers.

Apple computers can use a Fusion Drive, which offers the same concept as a
hybrid hard drive. The Fusion Drive separates the hard drive and SSD;
macOS does all the work about deciding what should go in the SSD.