Computer Hardware - Physical Identification, Hardware Inter-Connectivity

Physical Identification
- C. P. U.
- Monitor
- Mouse
- Key Board
Hardware Inter-Connectivity

Physical Identification

C. P. U.

Let us go through the physical identification of each part of a computer system.

MOTHER BOARD is one important part of computer system, which executes the whole task of the operator.

As you can easily understand that Mother board consist of CPU, RAM, ROM, FDD, HDD, CD-ROM, installed in a metallic box or mainframe called chassis, which can be in the form of Tower.

Front view.

As you can clearly observe that in a standard CPU box there are:

Storage bays to insert the Hard Disk Drive, Floppy Disk Drive, CDROM, which are external memory of the computer to store the information.

Power on/off switch provides power supply to the computer.

Power on indicator to indicate the power status of the computer.

HDD indicator light: When it blinks that mean system is approaching (accessing) HDD to execute task like read, write, save etc.

LAN LED indicator: If system has internal Modem.

Let us go to the rear view of mother board.

It is clear that CPU box is a master to execute all tasks either give display or print information or enjoy music or see movie.

To execute the entire task it obviously requires accessories attached to the Motherboard at the rear (back) side of Motherboard i.e.

Monitor to see the edit information.

Speakers like Sound blaster to hear music.

Printer to print information.

Joystick to play games in computer.

Keyboard to feed information.

Amplifier to amplify the music signal.

CD player to give music.

Facilitation the connection of devices with motherboard, chassis of motherboard equipped with various PORTS just like socket of electricity to get power.

So, to understand interconnectivity of Motherboard with accessories, we should understand the application of each port & connector.

Ports are designed "D" shaped, so term D-port often use to name them.

If the message is given through one wire they called serial port, if message given using more than one wire the port called parallel port.

Parallel ports are faster than serial port. Serial ports are significant, where the speed of transfer of message does not play an important roll for example mouse & keyboard port.

PS/2 or D-Port for mouse & Keyboard.

These are D-type 9 or 25 pin ports called COM ports and round ports called PS/2 ports.

9 pin ports are specified for connecting mouse & keyboard. While 25 pin connectors are for connecting MODEM.

Some chassis are equipped with PS/2 port, which is circular port & work in the same principle. To get connection we have to bus PS/2 keyboard & mouse.

D-Port for printer (LPT1).

There are two row 25 pin ( 13 +12) female ports specified for printer cable.

D-Port for display.

There is 3-row 15 (5+5+5) pin female port for connecting signal cable of display monitor Other then above there are two D- sub three pin connector to give power supply to CPU box as well as monitor.

If your computer is equipped with MULTIMEDIA i.e. if your computer works as a music CD-player to enjoy music or VCD player to see movie, then four additional ports attached to motherboard.

Line in port to get sound signal from cassette player, CD-player etc.

Line out port to get sound signal to be amplified connected to amplifier. Sound port to connect two speakers.

2- row of 15 pins (8+7) D-type joystick port to connect joystick for playing.

Monitor

Monitor is just like a TV set, where you can see the information. Like a TV set monitors are available with black and white (monochrome) as well as color display.

Front view of the Monitor.

As you can see the size of screen of monitor are standard 15, 19, 21 inches monitor.

Basically it is length of diagonal of monitor. Each dot in the monitor called the pixel. Bigger the monitor - more quantity of pixel better the quality of display.

In the bottom of the display there are some button to set the display.

Some standard buttons are "Power on/off" to switch on the power of the monitor, power indicator light indicate the operating status of the display.

There are other buttons to adjust the quality of the display are "Contrast of display" to increase /decrease the display contrast. Brightness to adjust brightness of the screen.

There are buttons to adjust the size of the display are:

Horizontal size to adjust image width. Horizontal position to adjust picture image left & right.

Vertical size button to adjust image height. Vertical position button to adjust picture image up & down.

Picture pincushion button to correct bowing in and out of the image. Geometric distortion setting button.

Rear view of monitor.

There are two points called AC power connector point to get the monitor power of 220 V & signal cable point to get digital video signal from CPU BOX.

Mouse

Mouse is an important device used as a graphical pointer (cursor) for graphical selection without using keyboard.

Mouse usually has two or three buttons. Which activates by pressing with the help of fingers.

In 2 buttons mouse left button is used for selection with the help of index finger & right button used for deselecting functions.

Pressing of mouse is confirmed by click sound. Click the mouse means press the left button with index finger.

In 3-button mouse the extreme left and extreme right button are used in the same manner as in the two-button mouse.

The middle button is used rarely and for special task.

Mouse connects to the CPU box through D-type female connector or PS/2 port as per CPU requirement.

Nowadays scroll mouse are more popular, which has a rotatory disc at the top of mouse to move the cursor without changing the position of mouse.

Key Board

It is a device to enter the information into computer.

Information is entered by pressing its key, when required just like a typewriter but with negligible sound.

104/105 keys keyboard have become popular as standard witch can be categorised as under:

Numeric pad (0-9, +, -, /, Del, Enter)

Function keys (F1...F12)

Alphanumeric pad: ( A - Z, 0-9, mathematical symbols)

Special key (Esc, Ctrl, Alt)

Micro Scroll keys ( Left, Right, Up, Down arrow keys.)

Macro scroll keys ( Home, End, Page up, Page down.)

Apart from key as mentioned above, keyboard also has 3 status LEDs captioned Num Lock, Caps lock & Scroll lock.

Keys Function F1 - F12

Use to perform special function depending upon software being used.

Enter

Used to communicate the end of data being keyed in through the keyboard Caps Locl Used to capitalized alphabets.

Shift Caps Lock off

It captalised alphabets.

Caps-lock on

It reverse the above effect.

Also used to input upper symbols for keys with two symbols on them.

Ctrl, Alt

Pressed with other keys to input special message to the computer.

Backspace

Used to erase character to the left of cursor position.

Numlock

Used to activate the numeric keys on the numeric keypad.

Cursor keys

Used to move cursor in the direction indicated.

Home, end, pg up, pg down

Used to move cursor at the beginning of line, at the end of line. Pg up & pg down key used to see the text printed page- wise scrolling them up & down on the screen.

Insert

Used to insert characters at the current cursor position.

Del

Used to delete the characters at the current cursor position.

Esc

Generally used to return to previous menu or to cancel the command.

Scroll lock

Used to activate/deactivate the scrolling of text on the screen.

Print Screen

Used to print whatever is displayed on the screen.

Pause

Used to give pause to application running on the screen.

Hardware Inter-Connectivity

Installation of Compuetr System

Installation of Monitor.

a. Position the monitor and the computer so that you can easily get to the back panel of each.

b. Connect one end of the supplied signal cable with D-sub connector to the VGA port on your CPU Box.

c. Tighten the screws on the video cable connector to keep it from becoming loose.

d. Connect the power cord to the AC receptacle on the back of the monitor to the power inlet socket on your CPU Box.

Installation of keyboard.

a. Position the keyboard horizontally, so that you can easily press the buttons of the keyboard.

b. Connect one end of the supplied signal cable with PS/2 connector to the PS/2 port on rear side of Motherboard.

Installation of mouse.

a. Position the mouse near your keyboard so that you can access it easily.

b. Connect one end of the supplied signal cable with PS/2 connector to the PS/2 port on rear side of Motherboard.

Installation of printer.

a. Position the printer and computer so that you can easily get to the back panel of each.

b. Connect the one end of signal male-cable with D-sub connector to the female socket of your printer. Connect the other end of printer cable to the parallel port on the panel of CPU Box.

c. Tighten the screws on the connector.

d. Connect the power cord into a properly grounded electrical outlet.

e. The socket-outlet should be installed near the equipment and should be easily accessible.

Precautions after installation of computer accesories.

1. Video adaptor, adaptor of soundcard, adaptor of lancard should be installed properly. It is recommended to call hardware engineer to install these cards.

2. Driver of printer/mouse/ should be installed properly.

Device Driver

Drivers.

In our daily life, to listen music just turn the power on, put a cassette & listen music.

But in Computer System, it is not easy, since computer is multi-task machine and each hardware device is designed to execute special task & give the desired result i.e. printer to print & give hardcopy of result, CD-Drive, Hard-Disk Drive and Floppy Disk Drive to store data, Modem to communicate etc.

But each hardware device talks in different language.

To facilitate their communication with motherboard, software program called Driver loaded as a translator between motherboard & hardware device to communicate with each other.

Each hardware device has its own driver. To add new hardware to the motherboard, it is important to load its driver.

Sometimes OS contains driver of new hardware, but sometimes it has to load from CD-ROM, Floppy Disk Drive etc. This process called the installation of Device Driver.

General Trouble Shooting

Troubleshooting area: System unit.

Problem Possible	Cause	Action
The computer does not get powered on.	1. Bad power supply. 2. System Problem.	1. Use another power socket and check whether it works. 2. Call hardware engineer.
"Non-system disk or disk error".	1. Non-bootable floppy in A drive. 2.Corrupted system files 3. Virus infection.	1. Remove disk and boot again. 2. Boot from new floppy. 3. Call hardware engineer.

Troubleshooting area: Keyboard.

Problem possible	Cause	Action
Keyboard not responding or printing wrong characters.	Bad or loose cable.	Re-connect cable.
One or more key do not work.	Bad key.	Call engineer to get key replaced.
Keyboard is printing either upper or lower character only.	The Shift or Caps Key may be stuck.	Loosen key or get key replaced.

Troubleshooting area: Mouse.

Problem Possible	Cause	Action
Moving mouse does not produce movement of cursor.	Ball is coated with dust.	Wash ball with warm water.
The movement of cursor on screen is erratic.	The mouse cable is either twisted or knotted.	Straighten the cable.
The mouse is not responding to any movement.	1. The ball is stuck. 2. The mouse cable is broken.	1. Clean the ball. 2. Replace the cable.

Troubleshooting area: Printer.

Problem Possible	Cause	Action
Printer power is not on.	1. Power supply is not connected. 2. Bad cable or loose connection.	1. Connect or switch power on. 2. Check connection or change cable. 3. Check power point.
Carriage does not move after power on.	Loose connection.	Check connection & if OK then call Hardware Engineer.
Does not print during self test.	Loose connection.	Check connection & if OK then call Hardware Engineer.

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Computer Hardware - Physical Identification, Hardware Inter-Connectivity

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