PC Skills: Configuration and Troubleshooting

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Course Overview

You can repair or reconfigure your own PC. You can install upgrades, expand memory or increase your disk capacity. You can do all this and more...provided you have the basic skills and some personal experience.

In this course, you learn by doing. Among other hands-on exercises on the in-class PCs, you take apart and reassemble the components and use specific techniques for identifying the source of hardware and software problems.

Audience

The course benefits all personnel involved in the daily operation, maintenance and support of PC hardware and software.

Skills Gained

• Safely disassemble and reassemble a complete PC system
• Install and configure the motherboard and adapter cards
• Fix PC hardware and software problems
• Install and configure hard disks and DVD-ROMs
• Use power-on self-test (POST) and advanced diagnostics
• Configure and troubleshoot IRQs, I/O and memory addresses on adapter cards
• Expand and manage PC memory

Course Outline

Taking Apart the PC

Identifying key hardware components

• The motherboard and power supply
• Display adapters and memory cards
• Floppy and hard disk drives
• The keyboard and mouse

Seeing how the PC is designed

• Structuring memory
• Bus types: ISA, EISA, PCI, AGP, USB and FireWire
• Distinguishing among the x86, Pentium I-V and Itanium systems

Basic software components

• BIOS and device drivers
• Comparing operating system versions
• CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT

Troubleshooting Strategy for PCs

Designing a troubleshooting methodology

• Avoiding trouble: preventive maintenance
• Ascertaining where to begin testing
• Pinpointing common failure causes
• Finding the board with the problem

Running the power-on self-test (POST)

• Troubleshooting system faults with POST
• Using POST audio and video error codes
• Determining what POST doesn't test

Employing advanced diagnostic programs

• Testing for motherboard failures
• Isolating keyboard and display problems
• Solving interrupt (IRQ) and I/O conflicts

Working with Basic PC Components

Exploring the motherboard

• CPU types: x86, Pentium I-V, Itanium
• Configuring jumper and CMOS settings
• Upgrading motherboards
• Adding plug-and-play components

Troubleshooting the power supply

• Common power-supply problems
• Uninterruptible power supplies and UPS monitoring software

Configuring I/O Devices and Displays

Making use of input/output devices

• Configuring network interface cards
• Setting I/O device configurations

Monitors and display adapters

• Types of display adapters
• Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) video
• Refresh, interlace and multisync capability

The Memory

Upgrading memory

• Choosing and installing memory
• Packaging memory
• Memory types

Troubleshooting memory problems

• Locating failed memory devices using memory diagnostic tests
• Solving adapter card memory conflicts

Installing Disk Drives

Selecting diskette drives

• Diskette types: 3-1/2", 1.44 MB, ZIP
• Setting drives and cable orientation

Using hard disk drives

• E-IDE, Serial ATA, SCSI and Ultra-SCSI
• Upgrading to larger hard disks
• Optimising hard-disk performance

Mastering advanced-drive technologies

• CD-ROM: multispin, SCSI
• CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-ROM, DVD+R/RW

Solving Software Problems

• Real-mode vs. protected-mode drivers
• Configuring driver software switches
• CONFIG.SYS in the Windows environment

Working with Printers and Ports

Diagnosing printer problems

• Solving common printer problems
• Configuring serial and parallel ports

Installing and testing serial devices

• Setting communication parameters
• Diagnosing serial port problems

PC Skills: Configuration and Troubleshooting / 145