Chapter 1B Hardware: Lets take a look inside

Ever wondered whats inside the computer?: Well lets take a Glimpse

• Motherboard- the biggest component in the computer.
• Hard Drive And Optical Drive- this is wear your permanent storage takes place
• Power supply- The power house of the computer. This is wear all devices get there power
• Adapter cards- Communicate with devices inside and out the case

Here is a briefing on what goes on inside

ADAPTER CARDS (EXPANSION CARDS) ARE INSTALLED IN Long narrow expansion slots on the motherboard. All adapter cards
contain microchips which are most often manufactured using complementary metal oxide semiconductor...(cmos)
There are two types of cables inside the case
data cables- connect devices to one another
power cables- which supply power
flat cable is more than likely a data cable---trace to be sure

MOTHER BOARD

contains a socket to hold the Central Processing Unit (CPU)
Motherboard is complicated equipment. All devices must communicate with the CPU installed on the motherboard.
A device that is not directly installed on the motherboard is a PERIPHERAL DEVICE.
CHIPSET SUPPORTS THE PROCESSOR BY CONTROLLING MOTHERBOARD ACTIVITIES

RAM VS ROM

Ram

         Ram holds its memory even when the computer is turned off. Doing so, it holds its instructions to start right back up.RAM holds the instructions as processed

components that allow processor to communicate with other devices are
wires, expansion slots, system clock, connections for data cables, and ports:

Flash Rom a memory chip used to permanently store instructions that control basic hardware functions.

CMOS RAM holds configuration data.

firmwire port is used for high speed multimedia devices.
serial port transmits data serially.

the processor and the chipset= performs the most actual data processing. the processor could not do its job without the
assistance of the chipset

chipset is A group of microchips on the motherboard that control the flow of data and instructions to and from the processor.
Chipsets responsibility is to carefully time and coordinate activities.

\. Rom is Read only Memory. Read Only memory.
There are two main reasons for Rom

• Permanence: The values stored in ROM are always there, whether the power is on or not. A ROM can be removed from the PC, stored for an indefinite period of time, and then replaced, and the data it contains will still be there. For this reason, it is called non-volatile storage. A hard disk is also non-volatile, for the same reason, but regular RAM is not.
• Security: The fact that ROM cannot easily be modified provides a measure of security against accidental (or malicious) changes to its contents. You are not going to find viruses infecting true ROMs, for example; it's just not possible. (It's technically possible with erasable EPROMs, though in practice never seen.)

Additonal Sources
http://www.pcguide.com
www.computerrepairtrainingplus.com