Complete

The Total Solution For A+ Certification

The Total Solution To A+ Certification Reference MaterialClick an item for more information:

Chapter 1 Working With Operating Systems Chapter 2 Exploring Control Settings Chapter 3 Learning Computer Hardware Basics Chapter 4 Working With Floppy Drives Chapter 5 Working With Hard Drives Chapter 6 Using Windows 9x Chapter 7 Examining Troubleshooting Chapter 8 Working With Peripherals Chapter 9 Installing And Managing Memory

Chapter 10 Examining Power Chapter 11 Working With Media Chapter 12 Looking At Communications Chapter 13 Working With Windows NT Chapter 14 Working With Windows 2000 Chapter 15 Networking PCs Chapter 16 Maintaining A System Chapter 17 Building A Computer Chapter 18 Understanding Customer Service Appendix

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Chapter 1 Working With Operating SystemsClick an item for more informationWorking With DOS Working With Windows 9x Working With Windows 2000

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Working With DOSClick an item for more information

1. DOS 2. Advantages And Disadvantages Of DOS 3. Loading And Launching Software In DOS

4. Using DOS Commands 5. The DOS Boot Record 6. Topic Summary

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DOS DOS (Disk Operating System) was developed by IBM and Microsoft and was the first operating system used by IBM microcomputers. For years, DOS remained the unchallenged standard for operating systems used by IBM PCs and IBM-compatible machines. Most seasoned microcomputer users are comfortable and familiar with DOS. DOS uses a command-driven interface, where you are required to key in command lines to tell the operating system to perform operations.

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The Total Solution For A+ Certification Filenames Under DOS

Under DOS, a files name has two parts. The first part, called the filename, contains up to eight characters. The second part, called the file extension, contains up to three characters. When you write the file extension in DOS commands, you separate the extension from the filename with a period. Acceptable file extensions for program files are .com, .bat, and .exe. For example, the WordPerfect program file is named WP.exe. Its filename is WP and its file extension is .exe. With the introduction of Windows 95, long filenames traditionally used only by the Macintosh operating system became available to IBM-compatible PCs. Under Windows 95 and later Windows generations, filenames can be as long as 255 characters and may contain spaces. You must be careful when using long filenames with Windows 9x because Windows 9x still contains a portion of DOS, which can only understand an 8-character filename, 3character extension format. When the DOS part of the system is operating, it will truncate long filenames and assign new 8-character ones.

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The Total Solution For A+ Certification Memory Addressing Under DOS

In DOS, memory is divided into different areas. This division of memory began with DOS and later was used by Windows 3.x and Windows 9x. The first versions of DOS could only access the first megabyte of memory (0 to 1024K) addresses. Later, DOS extenders were included with the operating system so that memory above 1024K could be accessed.

Since DOS was only designed to use 1024K of memory addresses and since DOS assumed that only one application or program would be running at a time, DOS gave the running program direct access to the memory addresses and the data in RAM that they pointed to. Also, since the CPU at the time could only process 16 bits of data at one time, DOS was designed to pass segments of data to the CPU only 16 bits at a time. These standards of operation are collectively referred to as real mode, or MSDOS mode.

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Advantages And Disadvantages Of DOS

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Loading And Launching Software In DOS The major steps that take place in the process of loading and initializing software are: 1. The operating system receives the command to execute the program. 2. The operating system locates the program file for the program. 3. The operating system loads the program file into memory. 4. The operating system gives control to the program. 5. The program requests memory addresses from the operating system for its data. 6. The program initializes itself and possibly requests that data from secondary storage be loaded into memory. 7. The program turns to the user for its first instruction. If DOS is your operating system, the DOS prompt displays basic information and gives you the opportunity to enter some command for the operating system to perform. Most of the time, DOS is loaded from the hard drive, which is designated with the letter C. It is common for computers to provide a DOS prompt that looks like this when the machine is first turned on: C:\> This prompt is called the C prompt. The DOS prompt (C:\>) displayed immediately after booting means that the operating system was copied from drive C (where the operating system is stored) when the machine was first turned on. As part of the startup process, drive C becomes the default drive and default directory, sometimes called the current drive and directory, which DOS automatically uses to save and retrieve files. Sometimes the operating system is copied from a floppy disk rather than the hard drive. In this case, the default drive and directory will be A:\ or B:\, and the command prompt will be A:\> or B:\>. The > symbol is the prompt symbol that DOS uses to say, Enter your command here. When a hard drive is first formatted for use by an operating system, the format procedure creates a single directory on the drive. A directory is a table on a disk that contains a list of files that are stored on the disk. You can think of a directory as a list of files logically grouped together. When a hard drive is first formatted, the root directory is the only directory that is created. This directory is written in DOS command lines as a single backslash (\) with no other directory name following.

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The Total Solution For A+ Certification After the drive is initially formatted, you can create other directories for file lists. These directories are given names and are listed in the root directory. These directories can, in turn, have other directories listed in them. These other directories are sometimes called subdirectories or child directories. A drive with a list of directories pointing to a file is called a path when used in a DOS command.

At the DOS prompt, when you type a single group of letters with no spaces, DOS assumes that you want to execute a program with the filename that you just typed, stored in a program file in the current directory. DOS first attempts to find the program file by that name, then copies the file into RAM, and then it executes the program. A program file executed at the DOS prompt can have one of three file extensions: .com, .exe, or .bat. The first place DOS looks for program files is in the default drive and directory. If DOS doesnt find any of the necessary program files, it stops looking and displays the error message: Bad command or file not found You can give DOS a list of paths in which to look for executable program files beyond the default directory. You give this list of drives and directories to DOS using the PATH command. To see the list of paths that are presently active, type PATH at the DOS prompt, and then press Enter. To enter a new list of paths, type the PATH command followed by each path name, separating one path from the next by a semicolon. 7

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Using DOS CommandsDOS commands are divided into two groups: Internal DOS commands are part of the COMMAND.COM program and dont require COMMAND.COM to find and load another program file. External DOS commands are stored as separate program files in the DOS directory. COMMAND.COM must search for and load these program files before the command can be executed.

For more information about DOS commands, type HELP followed by the command name at a DOS prompt, or type the command name followed by /? (slash and a question mark). See also: ATTRIB Command CHKDSK Command COPY Command DEL Or ERASE Command DELTREE Command DISKCOPY Command FORMAT Command

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The Total Solution For A+ Certification ATTRIB Command Use the ATTRIB command to unhide all files in the root directory, as follows: C:\> ATTRIB -H *.* You should see the two exposed hidden files if they are there. If they are missing or corrupted, you can use the COPY command to copy them from a disk to the hard drive root directory. (Unhide them on the disk first so COPY can find them.) Once they are on the hard drive, hide them again with this command: C:\> ATTRIB +H IO.SYS Substitute another filename as necessary. You can also use this command: A:\> SYS C: The SYS command copies the two hidden files and COMMAND.COM from the disk to the hard drive. COMMAND.COM must be in the root directory. If COMMAND.COM is missing, you should get the following error message or something similar: Command file not found You will probably find a spare copy in the \DOS directory or \WINDOWS\COMMAND, or you can copy it from your bootable disk. CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT sometime give error messages when changes are made to them or they accidentally get erased. Keep a backup of these files so that you do not have to remember all the commands listed in them if you have to rebuild. To prevent a user from accidentally erasing COMMAND.COM, CONFIG.SYS, and AUTOEXEC.BAT, you might want to hide these files using the ATTRIB command in DOS or the Properties sheet in Windows 95. You also can make them read-only files using this version of ATTRIB: ATTRIB +R COMMAND.COM See also: FORMAT Command LABEL Command RECOVER Command SCANDISK Command SYS Command UNDELETE Command XCOPY Command

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The Total Solution For A+ Certification FORMAT Command The external FORMAT command prepares a disk for use. If the drive is not specified, the command uses the default drive. The switches for the FORMAT command are outlined in the following table: FORMAT Command Switches

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The Total Solution For A+ Certification LABEL Command The LABEL command changes the volume label or electronic name on a disk. The volume label is stored at the beginning of the root directory and also in the master boot record. The label is displayed at the top of the directory list that is produced by the DIR command. The label can be up to 11 characters long and can contain spaces.

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The Total Solution For A+ Certification CHKDSK Command The CHKDSK command creates a status report of a disk, and it can repair lost clusters in the FAT. If you do not specify a drive, DOS uses the default drive. CHKDSK: Examines the directory, looking at the starting cluster number and the size of each file, and compares that information to the FAT. Checks that the FAT contains the correct number of entries for each file and that there is an end-of-file marker at the end of the chain. The /F switch tells CHKDSK to fix lost clusters, converting them to files that are stored in the root directory under the name FILE0000.CHK (or a higher number). The /V switch displays a list of files as it checks the directory and the FAT.

CHKDSK has two switches:

If CHKDSK finds entries in the FAT that dont belong to a chain, or if an entry in the FAT is in more than one chain, CHKDSK reports lost allocation units or cross-linked chains. DO NOT use CHKDSK on a hard drive if files are open. The command will mistake these open files as being lost clusters or lost file allocation units.

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The Total Solution For A+ Certification SCANDISK Command SCANDISK is a utility in later versions of DOS that is an improvement over CHKDSK. SCANDISK checks for lost and cross-linked clusters as well as defragments the drive and does a surface scan for bad sectors. If you dont specify a drive, SCANDISK scans the current drive for errors. Options of the SCANDISK command are as follows: Use the /FRAGMENT option to defragment files on the drive. Use /UNDO to undo the last changes that SCANDISK made. Use /CHECKONLY to list the errors that SCANDISK finds without making any changes. Use /SURFACE to scan the drive for bad sectors.

There is a SCANDISK.INI file in the DOS directory that you can use to customize the SCANDISK utility.

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The Total Solution For A+ Certification DEL Or ERASE Command The DEL or ERASE command erases files or groups of files. For example, if the default directory is A:\DOCS: To erase all the files in the C:\TEST directory, use the following command: ERASE C:\TEST *.* To erase all the files in the current default directory, use the following command: ERASE *.* To erase the file named MYFILE.TXT in the current directory, use the following command: ERASE MYFILE.TXT

See also: DOS Wildcards

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The Total Solution For A+ Certification UNDELETE Command Use the UNDELETE command in later versions of DOS to try to recover deleted files. The following are some variations of the UNDELETE command: To undelete all files in the current directory: UNDELETE *.* To undelete the file TEST.TXT in the current directory: UNDELETE TEST.TXT To list the files that can be undeleted without actually undeleting them, use the following command: A:\UNDELETE /list To recover deleted files without prompting for confirmation on each file, use the following command: A:\UNDELETE /all The first character of the filename in the root directory is overwritten with the character s, which has the hex value E5. All entries in the FAT for this file are replaced with 00s.

When DOS deletes a file from a disk or hard drive, it does so as follows:

When you issue the DOS UNDELETE command, DOS looks for an entry in the root directory matching the filename and replaces the first character of the filename in the root directory. From the root directory, DOS can read the starting cluster of the file and the size of the file. If the file is not too fragmented and the disk is otherwise healthy, DOS can locate the sectors belonging to the file and reconstruct the FAT.

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The Total Solution For A+ Certification RECOVER Command The RECOVER command might mark clusters as bad in the FAT. Data that might have been saved by other methods can sometimes be destroyed by the RECOVER command. Dont use this command without first making a DISKCOPY of the disk. The RECOVER command attempts to recover a file from damaged sectors on a disk. Always specify the drive, path, and filename of the file you want to recover with the RECOVER command. If you have several files that need recovering, use the command on one file at a time. Sometimes the RECOVER command actually destroys data that might have been recovered by some other method. As with CHKDSK, the file created by RECOVER might need to be renamed so that its application recognizes it. To recover the file named MYFILE.TXT, use the following command: RECOVER MYFILE.TXT Whatever portion of the file that the RECOVER command can read is stored in the root directory and named A:FILE0000.REC (or a higher number). Copy this file to another disk before trying to recover the next file. There are applications like Norton Disk Doctor and PC Tools that do a better job than RECOVER of recovering damaged files.

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The Total Solution For A+ Certification DISKCOPY Command The DISKCOPY command makes an exact duplicate (sector by sector) of one disk (called the source disk) to another disk of the same size and type (called the target disk). To duplicate a disk using only a single drive, use the following command: DISKCOPY A: A: DOS prompts you as many times as necessary to insert the source disk and then insert the target disk to make the exact copy. Data is copied from one disk to the other byte by byte, including any hidden files, bad sectors, fragmented files, or other contents. For this reason, the copy can be bad if the source disk has some bad sectors. DISKCOPY ignores sectors marked as bad in the FAT and copies to them anyway. The DISKCOPY command copies formatting information, so the target disk does not need to be formatted before executing the copy.

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The Total Solution For A+ Certification COPY Command The COPY command copies a single file or group of files. The original files are not altered. When using the COPY command, use the following: To copy a file from one drive to another, use the following command: COPY drive:\path\filename.ext drive:\path\filename.ext The drive, path, and filename of the original source file immediately follows the COPY command, and the drive, path, and filename of the destination file follows the source filename. If you do not specify the filename of the destination file, DOS assigns the original name of the file. If you omit the drive or path of the source or the destination, then DOS uses the current default drive and path. DOS will always use the default drive and path if you dont enter another one. To copy the file MYFILE.TXT from the root directory on drive C to the current directory on drive A, use the following command: COPY C:\MYFILE.TXT A: To copy all files in the C:\DOCS directory to the disk in drive A, use the following command: COPY C:\DOCS\*.* A: To make a backup file named SYSTEM.BAK of the SYSTEM.INI file in the \WINDOWS directory of the hard drive, use the following command: COPY SYSTEM.INI SYSTEM.BAK If you use COPY to duplicate multiple files, the files are assigned the names of the original files.

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The Total Solution For A+ Certification XCOPY Command XCOPY is more powerful than the COPY command. It follows the same general command-source-destination format of the COPY command, but it offers several options. To copy all files in the C:\DOCS directory as well as all subdirectories under the directory and their files to the A: drive, use the /S switch with XCOPY. XCOPY C:\DOCS\*.* A: /S To copy all files in the C:\DOCS directory created or modified after 3/14/98 to the A: drive, use the following command: XCOPY C:\DOCS\*.* A: /d:03/14/98

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The Total Solution For A+ Certification DELTREE Command DELTREE deletes the directory you specify and all of its subdirectories and all files in all subdirectories. Use it with caution! DELTREE [drive:]path

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The Total Solution For A+ Certification SYS Command Use the SYS command to add IO.SYS, MSDOS.SYS, and COMMAND.COM to a disk to make it bootable. To make a disk in drive A bootable, use the following command. SYS A:

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The DOS Boot RecordTo make a disk bootable, certain parts of the operating system must be present. For DOS, this is the two hidden files, IO.SYS and MSDOS.SYS, and COMMAND.COM. These files can be loaded on the disk when it is formatted, or they can be loaded with the SYS command. When Windows 95 creates a system disk, it copies these three files to the disk to make the disk bootable. All DOS boot records, however, are the same whether or not the disk is bootable. When the PC is looking for a bootable disk during POST, if a disk is in the drive, the program stored in the DOS boot record is executed. This program loads the startup files of the operating system. The boot record contains the names of the two hidden files. For example, for IBM DOS 3.3, the filenames of the hidden files are IBMBIO.COM and IBMDOS.COM. The program looks for these two files on the disk. If it does not find them, a message appears, such as the following: Non-system disk or disk error...Replace and strike any key when ready...Disk boot failure. POST terminates until the user intervenes. Only the program in the DOS boot record can determine if the disk is bootable.

See also: Bootable Disk For DOS

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The Total Solution For A+ Certification Bootable Disk For DOS For DOS, make a bootable disk using the same version of DOS that is on your hard drive. Use this command: C:\> FORMAT A:/S The /S option tells DOS to copy to the disk the files needed to load DOS from this disk. On the disk will be a small boot record that identifies the layout of the disk and the names of the two DOS hidden files. This command also puts the two hidden files and COMMAND.COM on the disk. Its important that the boot disk has the same version of DOS that is on your hard drive. By being consistent with versions, once youre booted you can use some of DOS loaded from the disk and some DOS program files on the hard drive without DOS displaying error messages about using different versions of DOS. Use the VER command at the DOS prompt to display the current version of DOS. You can also add some DOS utility commands to the disk so that it can serve as a rescue disk if needed. In addition to the boot files, copy these files to the disk: ATTRIB.EXE CHKDSK.EXE EDIT.COM (which may also require QBASIC.EXE if you are using an older version of DOS) FDISK.EXE FORMAT.COM MSCDEX.EXE SCANDISK.EXE SYS.COM DEFRAG.EXE HIMEM.SYS UNDELETE.EXE

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The Total Solution For A+ Certification DOS Wildcards DOS allows you to use wildcard characters to manage several files or directories at one time: Asterisk (*) stands for any character and any number of characters. Question mark (?) stands for one character at a time. To refer to all files with any name or extension, you would use *.* To refer to all files that have a two-character extension, you would use *.?? To refer to all files that have a five-character name and any extension, you would use ?????.*

For example:

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Topic SummaryAfter finishing this topic, you should be able to answer the following questions: 1. What does the DOS message Incorrect DOS version mean? 2. What are the two DOS commands to make a bootable floppy disk? 3. What DOS command checks both disk and RAM? 4. Give the complete DOS command to fix lost clusters. 5. What DOS command can be used to unerase a deleted file? 6. Give the complete COPY command to make a second copy of AUTOEXEC.BAT called AUTOEXEC.JAN. 7. What does the DOS wildcard * refer to? 8. What does the DOS boot record do? 9. How does the XCOPY command differ from the COPY command? 10. What are two advantages of DOS? 11. What are two disadvantages of DOS?

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Defragment

Defragmenting rewrites a file to a disk in one continuous chain, thus speeding up data retrieval.

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External DOS Command

An external DOS command is a separate program usually stored in the DOS directory. FORMAT, BACKUP, and FDISK are examples.

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Internal DOS Command

An internal DOS command is not a separate program and is always available to the user. DIR, COPY, and TYPE are examples.

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Switch

Switches are usually one or more letters or numbers that alter the default mode of a DOS command. Enter them after the command, preceded by a forward slash (/).

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The Total Solution For A+ Certification Filename The filename is the first part of the name assigned to a file. In DOS, the filename can be no more than eight characters long and is followed by the file extension. File Extension The file extension is a three-character portion of the name of a file that is used to identify the file type. The file extension follows the filename under DOS naming conventions. Default Drive The default drive is the drive that DOS automatically uses to save and retrieve files. Default Directory The default directory is the directory that DOS automatically uses to save and retrieve files. Directory A directory is an operating system table that contains file information such as name, size, time and date of last modification, and the cluster number of the files beginning location. Root Directory The root directory is the main directory created when a hard drive or disk is first formatted. Subdirectories In DOS, subdirectories are directories that are contained within another directory. Also called a child directory. Child Directories See Subdirectories. Path A path is the drive and list of directories pointing to a file. Real Mode Real mode is a single-tasking operating mode whereby a program only has 1024K of memory addresses, has direct access to RAM, and uses a 16-bit data path.

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Working With Windows 9xClick an item for more information1. Looking At Operating Systems 2. Comparing Windows 9x, Windows 3.x, And DOS 3. Windows 9x Core Components 4. Customizing The Desktop 5. Microsoft Windows 9x Startup Menu 6. Plug-and-Play And Hardware Installations 7. Topic Summary

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Looking At Operating SystemsOperating systems continue to evolve as hardware and software technologies improve. If you look at several operating systems, you will see the evolution process from DOS to DOS with Windows 3.x, to Windows 9x. To understand these gradual improvements in operating systems, you need to understand the following terms: Multitasking, as it applies to hardware, refers to the ability of a CPU to do more than one thing at a time. The first CPU for microcomputers with this ability was the Pentium by Intel. The older i386 and i486 CPUs could do only one thing at a time (80386 and 80486 CPUs are often abbreviated as i386 and i486 in documentation; the i stands for the chip manufacturer, Intel). Earlier operating systems did not need to support multitasking; newer operating systems now need to support some form of multitasking. Cooperative multitasking, sometimes called task switching, is not true multitasking, in that the CPU is only doing one thing at a time. The CPU is switching back and forth between applications so that more than one application can be loaded at the same time. There is only one active application and one or more inactive applications sitting in the background waiting for the active application to relinquish control. Youve observed cooperative multitasking if youve ever had two applications open, each in its own window. You dont need to close one application before opening another. DOS does not handle cooperative multitasking, but Windows does. Preemptive multitasking is another type of pseudo-multitasking whereby the operating system allots CPU time to an application for a specified period, and then preempts the processing to give the CPU to another application. The end result is that the computer appears to be doing true multitasking. Environment refers to the type of support the operating system provides to the applications software. For example, in order for applications software to offer you a window with mouse movement, buttons to click, and icons to view, a GUI environment, such as Windows, must support it. Such an application is said to need a GUI environment to work. Another example is the DOS environment that offers to its applications software only a single-tasking environment. The software does not expect another applications software package to be running concurrently with it. There is a unique situation with Windows 3.x. Its not really an operating system, but neither does it act like normal applications software. Windows 3.x provides an operating environment, which refers to the overall support that it provides to applications software, including cooperative multitasking and a GUI (which DOS does not offer). Windows 3.x is the middleman that manages this pseudomultitasking environment by passing tasks to DOS one at a time. DOS manages its single-tasking environment and relates to the hardware in single-task fashion. Windows provides the cooperative multitasking environment to the applications.

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Comparing Windows 9x, Windows 3.x, And DOSIn the following figure, you see that Windows 9x is an operating system that bridges two worlds.

DOS/Windows 3.x is a 16-bit world with memory management centered on conventional, upper, and extended memory limitations. Windows 9x still has a DOS-based core, still uses many 16-bit programs, and must manage base, upper, and extended memory in basically the same way as DOS does. However, Windows 95 introduced 32-bit programming, dynamically loaded device drivers, memory paging, networking, and many other features available in Windows NT and Windows 2000. Windows 9x claims to be completely backward compatible with older software and hardware designed to work in a DOS and Windows 3.x environment. Windows 9x uses cooperative multitasking when supporting 16-bit applications and preemptive multitasking when supporting 32-bit applications. Windows NT is the break with the past. It does not claim total backward compatibility because it is a freshly designed operating system with new ways of managing software and hardware resources. Software written for DOS or Windows 3.x might not work in Windows NT because the methods and rules have changed. While Windows 95 and Windows 98 are actual operating systems, Windows 3.x is just a GUI, or graphical user interface, used as a user-friendly intermediate program between DOS and the user.

See also: 16-bit And 32-bit Programming Virtual Machines

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The Total Solution For A+ Certification 16-bit And 32-bit Programming DOS is a 16-bit operating system. All portions of the operating system are written using 16-bit code, and DOS will only support 16-bit drivers and 16-bit application programs. Windows 9x contains some 16-bit code and some 32-bit code. Programs written in 32-bit code require more memory and are generally faster than programs written in 16-bit code. The programming that supports VFAT in Windows 9x is written with 32-bit code. Windows 9x is a hybrid between 16-bit and 32-bit code. Although Windows 9x supports 16-bit device drivers, the preference is to use the 32-bit drivers supplied with Windows 9x, for three main reasons. They are generally much faster, and 32-bit drivers can be stored in extended memory, releasing more of the first megabyte of memory to application programs. Also, 32-bit drivers can be dynamically loaded, meaning that they are loaded into memory when they are needed and then removed when not needed, thus conserving memory. In contrast, 16-bit drivers must be stored in conventional or upper memory. When Windows 9x is installed over DOS, it searches for these 16-bit drivers and replaces them with the 32-bit drivers if it can.

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The Total Solution For A+ Certification Comparing Windows 95 And Windows 98 Windows 95 and Windows 98 (collectively referred to as Windows 9x) take us two steps closer to a new operating system but do not completely eliminate DOS. Windows 95 is the marriage of Windows for Workgroups (Windows 3.11) with an updated version of DOS sometimes known as DOS 7.0, together with some completely new additions and improvements to the operating system. Windows 95 also introduced an improved and more automated method of installing new hardware devices, called Plug-and-Play. Windows 98 made several improvements on Windows 95 but is fundamentally the same operating system. Windows 98 offers additional support for larger hard drives and more hardware devices, includes more software utilities, and is faster than Windows 95. The underlying DOS portion of Windows 98 is named DOS 7.1. Microsoft has announced that Windows 98 will be the last operating system it distributes that has a DOS foundation. Currently, there have been three editions of Windows 98 released. The first two are Windows 98 and Windows 98 SE (Second Edition). The third edition is Windows Me (Millennium Edition). The following table summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of Windows 9x.

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Windows 9x Core Components The three core portions of the Windows 9x operating system are: KERNEL USER GDI

In the following figure, you can see that the basic Windows 9x core component, the KERNEL, uses mostly 32-bit code. The 16-bit code is only retained as entry points into the KERNEL from 16-bit application programs. The USER portion uses mostly 16-bit code, primarily because it uses less memory than the 32-bit equivalent and does not have a need for significant speed. The GDI uses a mix of 16-bit and 32-bit code in order to maintain compatibility with 16-bit application programs.

See also: Windows 9x Core Files And Functions

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The Total Solution For A+ Certification Windows 9x Core Files And Functions The locations and purposes of each of the three Windows 9x components are listed in the following table.

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The Total Solution For A+ Certification Virtual Machines Windows 9x uses virtual machines. Think of virtual machines (VM) as several logical machines within one physical machine, similar in concept to several logical drives within one physical hard drive. DOS programs dont share resources. A DOS program expects to control the hardware and memory of the entire PC. If a DOS program begins to use memory addresses not assigned to it, errors occur in a multitasking environment. Windows 9x provides the DOS program with its own logical machine. In effect, the application program says, I want all of memory and all of this and all of that. Windows 9x says, OK, here they are, and gives the program its own PC, including all the virtual memory addresses it wants from 0 to 4 GB, as well as its own virtual hardware. As far as the DOS program is concerned, it can go anywhere and do anything within its own PC. Thats why it can be called a virtual machine. The DOS application program does not try to communicate with another application program or access the data of another program because it thinks there are no other programs. One important result of running DOS programs in their individual virtual machines is that, when a program makes an error, the virtual machine it is using locks up, but the rest of the actual PC is isolated from the problem. As shown in the following figure, the System Virtual Machine can support 32-bit and 16-bit Windows application programs, but DOS programs are put aside into their own virtual machines.

Windows 16-bit applications make some of the same mistakes that DOS programs do and can cause the system to lock up. However, they also sometimes expect to be able to access other programs and their data. The 16-bit Windows programs dont expect to control the hardware directly, and are content to route their requests to Windows. Windows 9x places these programs within the system VM because they communicate with hardware through the operating system, but Windows 9x puts these programs together in their own memory space so they can share memory addresses.

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The Total Solution For A+ Certification The result of this arrangement is that, when a 16-bit Windows program causes an error, it can disturb other 16-bit programs, causing them to fail, but it does not disturb DOS programs in their own VM or 32-bit programs that dont share their virtual memory addresses.

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Customizing The Desktop A shortcut on the Desktop is an icon that points to a program that can be executed. The user double-clicks on the icon to load the software. To create a shortcut, use the Properties option on the Taskbar. Right-click on the Taskbar and select Properties from the menu that appears. The Taskbar Properties sheet appears.

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Microsoft Windows 9x Startup Menu You can get this menu at any time by pressing F8 when the message Starting Windows 9x displays during the boot process. The Microsoft Windows 9x Startup Menu options are: 1. Normal 2. Logged (\BOOTLOG.TXT) 3. Safe mode 4. Safe mode with network support 5. Step-by-step confirmation 6. Command prompt only 7. Safe mode command prompt only 8. Previous version of MS-DOS What to expect when you select each option on the menu is described in the links below. See also: Normal Logged (\BOOTLOG.TXT) Safe Mode Safe Mode With Network Support Step-by-step Confirmation Command Prompt Only Safe Mode Command Prompt Only Previous Version Of MS-DOS

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The Total Solution For A+ Certification Normal If BootGUI=1, then this option starts Windows 9x. If BootGUI=0, then this option will boot to the DOS 7.0 or DOS 7.1 prompt. Either way, the commands in AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS are executed.

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The Total Solution For A+ Certification Logged (\BOOTLOG.TXT) This option is the same as choosing Normal, except that Windows 9x tracks the load and startup activities and logs them to this file. This file can be a helpful tool when troubleshooting.

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The Total Solution For A+ Certification Safe Mode On the Startup Menu, Safe mode is an option. Safe mode starts Windows 9x with a minimum and default configuration to give you an opportunity to correct an error in the configuration. Windows 98 includes support for networks, but Windows 95 does not. For example, if you selected a video driver that is incompatible with your system, when Windows 9x starts, it detects the problem and enters Safe mode with a standard VGA driver selected. You can then go to Device Manager, select the correct driver, and restart Windows.

From the Startup Menu, you can choose to enter Safe mode yourself if you know of a problem that you want to correct. For example, if you had previously selected a group of background and foreground colors that makes it impossible to read the screens, you can reboot and choose Safe mode. Safe mode gives you the standard color scheme along with the VGA mode. Go to Display Properties, make the necessary corrections, and reboot.

In Safe mode, the commands in AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS are not executed. You can also go to Safe mode by pressing F5 when the message Starting Windows 9x displays.

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The Total Solution For A+ Certification Safe Mode With Network Support This option allows access to the network when booting into Safe mode. It is useful if Windows 95 is stored on a network server and you need to download changes to your PC in Safe mode. This option is not available in Windows 98.

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The Total Solution For A+ Certification Step-by-step Confirmation The option asks for confirmation before executing each command in IO.SYS, CONFIG.SYS, and AUTOEXEC.BAT. You can accomplish the same thing by pressing Shift-F8 when the message Starting Windows 9x displays.

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The Total Solution For A+ Certification Command Prompt Only This option executes the contents of AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS, but doesnt start Windows 9x. You will be given a DOS prompt. Type WIN to load Windows 9x.

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The Total Solution For A+ Certification Safe Mode Command Prompt Only This option does not execute the commands in AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS. You will be given a DOS prompt.

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The Total Solution For A+ Certification Previous Version Of MS-DOS This option loads a previous version of DOS if one is present. You can get the same results by pressing F4 when the message Starting Windows 9x displays. This option is not available in Windows 98 SE.

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Plug-and-Play And Hardware Installations Plug-and-Play (PnP) is a set of design specifications for both hardware and software that work toward effortless hardware installations. For a system to be truly Plug-andPlay, it must meet three criteria: The System BIOS must be PnP. All hardware devices and expansion cards must be PnP-compliant. The operating system must be Windows 9x or another operating system that supports PnP. A 32-bit device driver (VxD) must be available (provided by the device manufacturer or Windows).

If all these things are true and you have the latest 32-bit drivers, hardware installation should be very easy and is only a matter of installing the new hardware device, turning on the PC, and perhaps providing the 32-bit driver, if it is not included with Windows 9x. During the boot process, Windows 9x surveys the devices and their needs for resources and allocates resources to each device. Windows 9x is free to assign these resources to the devices and avoids assigning the same resource to two devices. For PnP to work, each device in the system must be able to use whatever resources the operating system assigns to it.

See Also: How Plug-And-Play Works

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The Total Solution For A+ Certification How Plug-And-Play Works A Plug-and-Play operating system like Windows 9x provides two main services: resource management and runtime configuration. Resource management occurs at startup as system resources are allocated to devices. Runtime configuration is an ongoing process that monitors any changes in system devices, such as the removal of a PC Card on a notebook or docking and undocking a notebook to and from a docking station. The BIOS must be able to recognize these changes during operating system runtime (any time the operating system is running) and communicate them to the operating system. Windows 9x uses four components in implementing PnP architecture: The configuration manager controls the configuration process of all devices and communicates these configurations to the devices. The hardware tree is a database built each time Windows 9x starts up that contains a list of installed components and the resources they use. The bus enumerator locates all devices on a particular bus and inventories the resource requirements for these devices. The resource arbitrator decides which resources get assigned to which devices.

When Windows 9x is started, if the systemboard BIOS is PnP, the configuration manager starts the PnP process by receiving the list of devices from the BIOS. If the BIOS is not PnP, the bus enumerator for each bus on the system provides the information to the configuration manager. The configuration manager oversees the process of assigning resources by loading one device driver after another for each installed device, and instructing the driver to wait until resources have been assigned to it. The configuration manager performs a process of examining and reexamining required resources until it determines an acceptable configuration of all resources and devices. For example, for ISA devices, according to the PnP standards, each device has a unique 72-bit ID derived from the manufacturer ID, a product ID, and a serial number. Each ISA device competes for resources, and the device with the largestvalue ID is assigned resources first. The bus enumerator manages this process and receives the resource assignments from the configuration manager. The configuration manager interacts with the resource arbitrator, allowing the arbitrator to determine what resources are assigned, and then receives that information from the arbitrator, passing it on to the bus enumerator. The bus enumerators collectively build the hardware tree, which is stored in memory. Information to build the hardware tree comes from the configuration at the current moment as well as from information kept in the registry about devices that have been installed, including what device drivers are used to operate the device and userdefined settings for the device. The hardware tree is built each time Windows 9x is started, and is dynamically changed as hardware is plugged and unplugged while the system is running.

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Topic Summary Windows 9x, Windows 2000, and Windows NT are the most popular operating systems for new single-user PCs, although DOS and Windows 3.x are still used and supported. Files with an *.INI extension are organized into sections, key names, and values and can be edited using a text editor. Lines in *.INI files that begin with a semicolon are comments and ignored by the operating system. Application software conflicts can occur if more than one application program uses the same *.DLL file stored in the Windows/system directory. Utility software can track changes to the Windows/system directory, as well as changes to Windows *.INI files and the registry during software installation. Windows 3.x is mostly a 16-bit application, whereas Windows 9x is a mixture of 16bit and 32-bit code. The core components of Windows 9x are the kernel, the user, and the GDI processes. Windows 9x, as well as Windows NT and Windows 2000, uses the virtual machine concept to protect against program faults from other software currently running. Press F8 when Windows 9x is loading to view and use the Windows 9x Startup Menu, which can be helpful in troubleshooting Windows problems. The Windows 9x registry keeps information that was previously kept in Windows 3.x *.INI files. The Windows 9x registry uses six major branches or keys.

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16-Bit Operating System

A 16-bit operating system allows information to be transferred at a rate of 16 bits at a time.

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32-Bit FAT

A 32-bit FAT (file allocation table) enables the operating system to accommodate filenames of up to 256 characters.

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Shortcut

A shortcut is an icon that points to a program or document existing elsewhere on the system. Double-clicking the icon will launch the program or open the appropriate folder or window.

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Resource Management

Resource management is the Plug-andPlay process of allocating resources to devices at startup.

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Runtime Configuration

Runtime configuration is a Plug-and-Play ongoing process that monitors changes in system devices, such as the removal of a PC Card on a notebook computer or the docking of a notebook computer to a docking station.

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Configuration Manager

The configuration manager is a Windows 9x Plug-and-Play component that controls the configuration process of all devices and communicates these configurations to the devices.

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Hardware Tree

A hardware tree is a database that contains a list of installed components and the resources they use. It is built each time Windows 9x starts up

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Bus Enumerator

A bus enumerator is a component of Windows 9x Plug-and-Play that locates all devices on a particular bus and inventories the resource requirements for these devices.

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Resource Arbitrator

A resource arbitrator is a Plug-and-Play component that decides which resources are assigned to which devices.

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Working With Windows 2000Click an item for more information1. The Windows 2000 Suite Of Operating Systems 2. Advantages And Disadvantages Of Windows 2000 3. Comparing Windows 2000 To Windows 98 4. Comparing Windows 2000 And Windows NT 5. Windows 2000 For Notebook Computers 6. Topic Summary

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The Windows 2000 Suite Of Operating Systems Windows 2000 is actually a suite of operating systems, each designed for a different sized computer system. Windows 2000 is built on the Windows NT architecture and is designed to ultimately replace both Windows 9x for low-end systems and Windows NT for midrange and high-end systems. Windows 2000 includes four operating systems: o Windows 2000 Professional: This operating system is designed to ultimately replace both Windows 9x and Windows NT Workstation as a personal computer desktop or notebook operating system. It is an improved version of Windows NT Workstation, using the same new technology approach to hardware and software, and includes all the popular features of Windows 9x, including Plug-and-Play. o Windows 2000 Server: This operating system is the improved version of Windows NT Server and is designed as a network operating system for low-end servers. o Windows 2000 Advanced Server: This network operating system has the same features as Windows 2000 Server, but is designed to run on more powerful servers. It supports up to eight processors on one machine, and up to 8 GB (gigabytes) of memory. o Windows 2000 Datacenter Server: This network operating system is another step up from Windows 2000 Advanced Server and is designed to support up to 32 processors and up to 64 GB of memory. It is intended to be used in large enterprise operations centers. The following table shows the maximum number of CPUs supported in a single system and the maximum amount of memory supported by the four operating systems. Hardware and software must qualify for all the Windows 2000 products just as they must qualify for Windows NT.

Windows 2000 also has built-in disk duplication support so that you can copy the operating system from one hard drive to another with a minimum of interaction.

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Advantages And Disadvantages Of Windows 2000The following table summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of Windows 2000.

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Comparing Windows 2000 To Windows 98 Unlike Windows 98, which is a combination of 16-bit and 32-bit operating systems, Windows 2000 is a true 32-bit operating system. Windows 2000 supports true multithreading and isolates 32-bit applications in different processes so that one bad application cannot hang the entire system. Drivers and Windows system files under Windows 2000 are protected from being altered by applications and users, which prevents corruption and improves system reliability. By contrast, Windows 98 does not always ask for your permission before allowing an application to alter or overwrite a critical system file. Windows 2000 has some new tools to help application developers build installation disks for their products and troubleshoot application problems. Windows 2000 and Windows 98 use Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI), which enables a computer to power down unused devices to conserve power, and gives the user much more control over power to the system. The Windows 2000 features for ACPI are improved over those of Windows 98. Both require the cooperation of ACPI-compliant system BIOS. For example, on a PC with ACPI BIOS, to set the Power Options of Windows 2000, open the Control Panel. Double-click the Power Options icon. The Power Options Properties dialog box opens. Click the Advanced tab. From the list of power options, select what will happen when you press the power button on your computer case. For example, you can set the computer to change to Standby mode when you press the power button. On the Hibernate tab, you can also control when and how the system goes into hibernation. On the UPS tab, you can control and monitor an intelligent UPS device, if one is attached. ACPI specifications were developed by Compaq, Intel, Microsoft, Phoenix, and Toshiba to allow for reliable power management through hardware and software cooperation. Notice in the following figure that the Network and Dial-Up Connections and Scheduled Tasks icons are in the Windows 2000 Control Panel rather than in the My Computer window of Windows 98. This is a much more logical place to put them because they control system resources.

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Also, in Windows 2000, Network Neighborhood is replaced by My Network Places.

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Comparing Windows 2000 And Windows NT The Windows 2000 registry is organized and edited the same way as the Windows NT registry. Windows 2000 Help and Troubleshooter utilities are much more comprehensive than the Windows NT or Windows 98 utilities. Windows 2000 supports multiple monitors, IEEE 1394 (FireWire), USB, and ACPI. Network Neighborhood is replaced by My Network Places, which intelligently shows recently visited network resources and lets you assign user-friendly names to these resources. Windows NT does not support Plug-and-Play, but Windows 2000 uses an advanced version of Plug-and-Play that does all the work for configuring a system and does not use the Plug-and-Play programs in system BIOS. Also new to Windows 2000 is Active Directory, a service that allows for a single point of administration for all shared resources on a network. It can track the location of files; peripheral devices, including printers; scanners, and other hardware; databases; Web sites; users; services; and so forth. It uses a locating method similar to that used by the Internet. A Windows NT client/server network has one primary domain controller and may have one or more backup domain controllers. A Windows NT network can have no more than one primary domain controller, which maintains the only copy of the directory database that can be edited. With Windows 2000, a network can have any number of domain controllers, each keeping a copy of the directory that can be edited, as shown in the following figure. An administrator can update the directory on any one of these domain controllers, which will then communicate the change to the other domain controllers on the network.

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When both Windows NT and Windows 2000 domain controllers are on the same network, conflicts can result because of the differences in the way the domain controllers work. For this reason, Windows 2000 runs in two modes, mixed mode and native mode. Native mode is used when no Windows NT domain controllers are present, and mixed mode is used when there is at least one Windows NT domain controller on the network. Mixed mode is necessary in a situation where a large network is being upgraded from Windows NT to Windows 2000, and some servers have received the upgrade but others have not. Windows 2000 includes several new diagnostic and recovery tools, including Recovery Console, Safe Mode, and File Protection. For backups, Windows NT provides a backup utility to tape only, but Windows 2000 allows backups to tape, Zip drives, recordable CD-ROMs, and external hard drives. Windows 2000 uses the Internet Printing Protocol (IPP), so users can print directly to a printers URL anywhere on the Internet. Another feature new to Windows 2000 is Encrypting File System (EFS). EFS can only be used with the NTFS file system, and uses a public key encryption method to encrypt files and folders. Public key encryption requires a public key installed on the computer doing the encryption and a private key on the computer decrypting the files. If the files are encrypted and then decrypted on the same computer, the computer must have both the public and private key. A public or private key is binary data stored in the Windows Registry that belongs to a single user; its the users responsibility to protect a key.

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The Total Solution For A+ Certification To encrypt a folder or file, using Windows Explorer, right-click the file or folder name and select Properties from the shortcut menu. Select the General tab and click the Advanced button. Select Encrypt contents to secure data.

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Windows 2000 For Notebook Computers The following features are available for notebook computers using Windows 2000, but are not a part of Windows 98: o A feature called Offline Files and Folders allows you to download files and folders from a network to the PC so you can work on them offline. When the PC is later connected to the network, the files and folders can be uploaded to the network so that any changes are kept current on the network. o The technology is included in Windows 2000 to allow a notebook to connect to a Virtual Private Network (VPN) so that a user can work from home and connect to the corporate network over the Internet in a secure connection. To do this, Windows 2000 encrypts data before it is transmitted over the Internet using Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP), Layer Two Tunneling Protocol (L2TP), and Internet Protocol security (IPSec). o The power management features of Windows 2000 are enhanced and improved over those of Windows 98. Windows 2000 Professional is designed as a Desktop computer operating system for a large network in a corporate or educational environment. Windows 98 is best used on a PC in a home or on a small network. Finally, for a notebook computer, Windows 2000 is the best choice.

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Topic Summary Windows 2000 is the next evolution of Windows NT with the added user-friendly features of Windows 98. Windows 2000 is a suite of four operating systems, each designed for a different size computer system. The suite includes Windows 2000 Professional, Windows 2000 Server, Windows 2000 Advanced Server, and Windows 2000 Datacenter Server. Windows 2000 Professional is designed for the corporate desktop computer and provides more security and reliability than Windows 98 and has added support for large hard drives. The minimum requirements for Windows 2000 Professional are 133 MHz Pentium-compatible CPU, 64 MB RAM, and 1 GB of hard drive storage. Recommended requirements are 300 MHz Pentium-compatible CPU, 128 MB of RAM, and 2 GB of hard drive storage. Windows 98 is recommended for home computers over Windows 2000 because it supports legacy devices and software and manages games and similar multimedia applications better than Windows 2000. Because of the improvements in power management over Windows 98, Windows 2000 is the recommended operating system for notebook computers. Windows 2000 offers several ways to deploy the OS in a corporate setting, including unattended installations and disk duplication support. Windows 2000 makes use of ACPI-compliant system BIOS in order to fully enable power management features. If a system does not have ACPI BIOS, upgrade the BIOS before you do the installation, if the BIOS manufacturer offers the upgrade. Network Identification, Device Manager, Dial-Up Networking, and Scheduled Tasks are some utilities that are not located on the desktop in the same places in Windows 2000 as they are in Windows 98. Windows 2000 supports virtual private networks so that a worker can access a corporate network from across the Internet using a secure connection. Windows 2000 Active Directory is a new feature of Windows 2000 that provides a centralized point of administration for all shared resources on a network. Windows 2000 can have more than one domain controller, whereas Windows NT can have only a single primary domain controller. Windows 2000 allows for printing to a URL so that you can send a print job to anywhere on the Internet.

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The Total Solution For A+ Certification Active Directory Active Directory is a Windows 2000 service that allows for a single point of administration for all shared resources on a network, including files, peripheral devices, databases, Web sites, users, and services. Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) Internet Printing Protocol is a protocol used to send print jobs across the Internet. A printer is addressed by its URL. Mixed Mode Mixed mode is a Windows 2000 mode for domain controllers used when there is at least one Windows NT domain controller on the network. Native Mode Native mode is a Windows 2000 mode used by domain controllers when there are no Windows NT domain controllers present on the network.

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Chapter 2 Exploring Control SettingsClick an item for more informationUtilizing CMOS Managing IRQ And DMA Settings Understanding The Boot Process

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Utilizing CMOSClick an item for more information1. Configuration Data And How It Is Stored 2. Passwords Stored On CMOS 3. Saving CMOS Setup Information 4. ROM BIOS 5. Configuring And Initializing The Computer 6. On-Board Port Failures 7. Hardware Configuration In The Boot Process 8. Configuring The CMOS Settings 9. CMOS Settings Table 10. CMOS Setup Utility 11. Setting CMOS And Installing Windows 9x 12. Plug-and-Play BIOS 13. Upgrade BIOS 14. Upgrade Flash ROM 15. Error Messages And Their Meanings 16. Topic Summary

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Configuration Data And How It Is Stored During the boot process, the Startup BIOS and operating system must determine what hardware is present. This information is called configuration data, setup data, or simply setup, and the settings are stored in the computer in one of the following devices: DIP switches, CMOS setup chips, or jumpers.

See also: Setup Data Stored By DIP Switches Setup Data Stored On A CMOS Chip Setup Data Stored By Jumpers

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The Total Solution For A+ Certification Setup Data Stored By DIP Switches A DIP switch is similar to a light switch and is on or off based on the direction the small switch is set. Most systemboards have at least one, often several, jumpers and perhaps a single bank of DIP switches, although the trend is to include most setup information in CMOS rather than to have a jumper or switch on the board that has to be mechanically set. A DIP switch (dual in-line package) is a switch that has an ON and an OFF position. ON represents binary 1 and OFF represents binary 0. If you add or remove equipment, you can communicate that to the computer by changing a DIP switch setting. When you change a DIP switch setting, use a sharp instrument, such as a ball-point pen, to push the switch, as shown in the figure below. DO NOT use a graphite pencil because graphite conducts electricity and broken pieces can drop into the switch and damage it.

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The Total Solution For A+ Certification Setup Data Stored On A CMOS Chip Most configuration settings in newer computers are stored in a battery-powered CMOS chip. CMOS chips require very little electricity to retain data. Electricity from a battery enables the CMOS chip to hold the data even while the computer is off.

The battery that powers the CMOS chip may be on the systemboard or attached nearby. You can access the CMOS setup by pressing a specified key during the boot process. A message, similar to the following usually, appears on the screen. Press DEL to change Setup

or Press F8 for Setup The setup screen appears and usually has menus and help features to help you configure the system. When exiting the program, you are prompted to exit or to save your changes and exit.

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The Total Solution For A+ Certification Setup Data Stored By Jumpers A jumper is a sleeve that connects a pair of vertical pins on a circuit board. The jumper serves as an electrical connection on the systemboard. If the pins are not connected with a cover, the setting is considered OFF. If the cover is present, the setting is ON. Jumpers are used to communicate a variety of information to the computer. For example, on a PC, jumpers are used to select I/O addresses and IRQs. On an IDE drive, a jumper selects between master and slave. A jumper can be used in place of a more costly DIP switch. You change the jumper setting by removing the computer case, finding the correct jumper, and then either placing a metal cover over the jumper or removing the cover already there.

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Passwords Stored On CMOS Access to a computer can be controlled using startup passwords, sometimes called power-on passwords. During booting or startup, the computer asks for a password. If the correct password is not entered, the booting process is terminated. This startup password is stored on the CMOS chip and can be changed by accessing the setup screen. However, you must know the password to access the setup screen. Many computers also provide a jumper near the CMOS chip that, when set to ON, causes the computer to revert to factory or default CMOS settings. Placing a jumper on these pins can disable a password because the computer no longer remembers the changes that were made to the settings.

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Saving CMOS Setup InformationThere are several utility software programs, including Norton Utilities, that you can use to back up setup information to a disk that can be used to recover lost setup information. Setup information on a PC can be lost if the battery dies or is replaced. Possible errors and events that might indicate that setup information is lost are: An early indication of a weak battery is that the PC loses the correct date and time when turned off.

A message at startup says, Hardware information is lost. A dead or poorly connected battery can cause this type of error. For both of these situations, the remedy is to replace the battery and restore the CMOS settings.

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ROM BIOSROM BIOS is a group of programs permanently stored on a ROM chip or chips on the systemboard that manages the most fundamental communications between software and hardware. The two functions of ROM BIOS are to: Gather configuration information and initialize the computer when it is first turned on Provide software to communicate with various hardware components when the operating system is functioning

ROM BIOS chips can also be present on other hardware devices, such as the video card shown below. In general, ROM BIOS chips hold programs or software that tell the CPU how to perform many fundamental input/output tasks that manage the computer.

During fabrication, a ROM chip has software instructions permanently etched into it which can never be erased. However, there are now ROM chips on the market that actually can be reprogrammed. Called Flash ROM, the software stored on these chips can be overwritten by new software that will remain on the chip until it is overwritten also.

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Configuring And Initializing The ComputerWhen you turn on the power to a PC, the CPU begins the process of initialization by turning to the ROM BIOS for instructions. The BIOS runs a series of complex programs called the power-on self test (POST), which performs several tasks, including: When the power is first turned on, the system clock begins to generate clock pulses. The CPU begins working and initializes itself (resetting its internal values). The CPU turns to memory address FFFF0h, which is the memory address always assigned to the first instruction in the ROM BIOS startup program. This instruction directs the CPU to run the POST tests. POST first checks the BIOS program operating it and then tests CMOS RAM. A test determines that there has not been a battery failure. Hardware interrupts are disabled. This means that pressing a key on the keyboard or using another input device at this point will not affect anything. Tests are run on the CPU, and it is further initialized. A check determines if this is a cold boot. If so, the first 16 KB of RAM is tested. Hardware devices installed on the computer are inventoried and compared to configuration information. Video, memory, keyboard, floppy disk drives, hard drives, ports, and other hardware devices are tested and configured, and IRQ, I/O addresses, and DMA assignments made. The OS will later complete this process. Some devices are set up to go into sleep mode to conserve electricity. The DMA controller is checked. Interrupt vectors are moved into the interrupt vector table. The interrupt controller is checked. CMOS setup (a BIOS program to change CMOS configuration data) is run if requested. BIOS begins its search for an OS.

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On-Board Port Failures Many systems contain on-board ports such as a keyboard port and a mouse port. In addition, a parallel printer port and one or two serial ports might be located directly on the systemboard. Few older systems contain more ports than these. Some systems also have a video or network port, and newer systemboards contain one or two USB ports. If one port fails, replacing the entire systemboard is not necessary. Most systemboards contain jumpers or DIP switches that can instruct the CPU to disable a port and look to an expansion card for the port instead. These ports can also be disabled through CMOS setup. When buying a new computer or systemboard, look for the ability to disable ports, floppy drive connectors, or hard drive connectors coming directly from the systemboard by changing the hardware configuration. You can easily tell if ports on the outside of the case are directly connected to the systemboard without opening the case; the ports are lined up along the bottom of the computer case, as shown in the figure below.

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Hardware Configuration In The Boot Process Hardware configuration information communicates to the CPU during the boot process what hardware components are present in the system and how they are set up to interface with the CPU. Hardware configuration includes information such as how much memory is available, what power management features are present, and whether disk drives, hard drives, modems, and serial ports are connected. During POST, BIOS looks to the system configuration information to determine what equipment it should expect to find and how that equipment interfaces with the CPU. The CPU uses this information later to process data and instructions. Configuration information is provided on the systemboard in three different ways: DIP switches, jumpers, and CMOS.

Before connecting or disconnecting any hardware, make sure the computer is turned off. If the computer is running while adding or removing hardware, the hardware and the computer can be severely damaged.

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Configuring The CMOS Settings Computers today store most configuration information on one CMOS chip that retains the data even when the computer is turned off. (There are actually many CMOS chips on a systemboard used for various purposes). A battery near the CMOS chip provides enough electricity to enable the chip to maintain its data. If the battery is disconnected or fails, setup information is lost. Password information is also a part of the computers setup that is stored in CMOS. The program to change the setup information is now stored in ROM but once was on a disk that came with the computer. Systemboard manuals should contain a list of all CMOS settings, an explanation of their meanings, and their recommended values. When you purchase a systemboard or a computer, be sure the manual is included for this purpose. If you dont have the manual, you can sometimes go to the systemboard manufacturers Web site and download the information you need to understand the specific CMOS settings of your computer. Some CMOS settings are listed in the following table.

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CMOS Settings TableCMOS Settings And Their PurposeCategory Standard CMOS Setup Setting Date and time Primary display Keyboard Description Use to set system date and time. Use to tell POST and DOS (but not Windows) the type of video being used. Use to tell the system if a keyboard is installed or not installed. This setting is useful if the computer is used as a print or file server and you dont want someone changing settings. Use to record the size and mapping of the drive. Choices are usually 3-inch and 5-inch. Use to disable POST check of this memory to speed up booting. The operating system will check this memory anyway. If you have a parity systemboard, use to enable parity checking to ensure that memory is correct. Enabled unless you have an old 386 or 486SX computer. Use to establish the drive the system turns to first to locate an operating system, normally Drive C, then A. Use to enable if you have L2 cache. A frequent error in setup is to have cache but not use it because its disabled here. Normally enabled; disable this setting only for old 386 computers. Use to establish a startup password. Use this only if you really have a problem with someone who cant be trusted using your PC. For DOS and Windows 9x, shadowing video ROM is recommended because ROM runs slower than RAM.

Hard disk type Floppy disk type Advanced CMOS Setup Above 1 MB memory test Memory parity error check Numeric processor test System boot sequence External cache memory Internal cache memory Password checking option Video ROM shadow C000, 16K

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The Total Solution For A+ CertificationCategory Advanced CMOS Setup (continued) Setting System ROM shadow F000, 64K IDE Multi-block mode Boot sector virus protection Advanced Chip Set Setup AT bus clock selection ISA bus speed Bus mode Description Enabling shadow system ROM is recommended. Enables a hard drive to read or write several sectors at a time. This setting is dependent on the kind of hard drive you have. Gives a warning when something is being written to the boot sector of the hard drive. This setting can be a nuisance if your software is designed to write to the boot sector regularly. Gives the number by which the CPU speed is divided to get the ISA or EISA bus speed. Gives the number by which the PCI bus speed is divided to get the ISA bus speed. Can be set to synchronous or asynchronous modes. In synchronous mode, the bus uses the CPU clock. In asynchronous mode its own AT bus clock is used. The number of wait states the CPU must endure while it interfaces with a device on the ISA or EISA bus. Increase this setting if an old and slow ISA card is not working well. Number of wait states the CPU must endure while reading from RAM. Number of wait states the CPU must endure while writing to RAM. Sometimes called cache read hit burst, it is the number of clock beats needed to load four 32-bit words into the CPUs internal cache. 4-1-1-1 is the usual choice. Refers to external cache. Enable it if you have two banks of cache, 64K or 256K. Refers to external cache. This is the number of wait states the CPU must use while accessing cache. Disable or enable all power management features. These features are designed to conserve electricity. Disable or enable the feature to shut down the hard drive after a period of inactivity. Wake on LAN allows your PC to be booted from another computer on the same network. It requires an ATX power supply that supports the feature. Allows you to power up your PC by pressing a certain key combination.

AT cycle wait state

Memory read wait state Memory write wait state Cache read option

Fast cache read/write Cache wait state Power Menu Power Management HDD Power Down Wake on LAN Wake on keyboard

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CMOS Setup UtilityThe CMOS Setup Utility is used to make system adjustments before the boot process. An example of the Main Program screen of CMOS setup is shown below.

The Main Program Screen Of CMOS Setup

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Setting CMOS And Installing Windows 9x The hard drive type can be configured by either entering the values that are printed on the top of the hard drive or by using the IDE HDD Auto Detection option, allowing the BIOS to make the determination. To configure the hard drive in the CMOS Setup, perform the following steps. 1. Turn on the PC and access Setup. 2. Select the Hard Drive mode, then choose to allow the BIOS to autodetect the drive. If the drive has more than 1,024 cylinders, the choice is Large mode. 3. From the main program menu, select BIOS Features Setup. 4. Change the Boot Sequence from C, A to A, C so that we can easily boot from a floppy disk to better control the PC while installing the OS and software. 5. Save the settings and exit Setup. 6. Reboot the PC with the bootable floppy disk that comes with Windows 9x. If your copy of Windows 9x is an upgrade, then you will need to boot from a DOS bootable disk and load the CD-ROM drivers. 7. Follow the directions on the Windows 9x installation floppy disk to partition and format the hard drive and install Windows 9x from the CD-ROM drive. Be sure to make a rescue disk when given the opportunity during the installation.

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Plug-and-Play BIOS Plug-and-Play (PnP) is a term that applies to both the Windows 9x operating system and to some ROM BIOS. It means that rather than having you reset DIP switches and jumpers, the operating system and/or the BIOS automatically configures hardware devices to reduce or eliminate conflicting requests for such system resources as I/O addresses, IRQs, DMA channels, or upper memory addresses. Windows 9x Plug-and-Play assigns these resources to a device only if the device allows it. For example, if a legacy sound card requires a certain group of upper memory addresses that are hard coded into its on-board BIOS, theres nothing that Windows 9x Plug-and-Play can do about that. (Hard coded is jargon for something being coded so that it cannot be changed.) Plug-and-Play simply tries to work around the problem as best it can. If two non-Plug-and-Play hardware devices require the same resource and their BIOS does not provide for accepting a substitute, these two devices cannot coexist on the same PC. Newer devices that are Plug-and-Play-compliant are more cooperative. At startup, they simply request to work and then wait for the operating system to assign the resources they need. Windows 9x and Windows 2000 try to do that whether or not the system BIOS is Plug-and-Play BIOS. At startup, its the Startup BIOS that examines the hardware devices present, takes inventory, and then loads the operating system. Part of the job of Plug-and-Play BIOS is to collect information about the devices and the resources they require and later work with Windows 9x or Windows 2000 to assign the resources. ESCD (extended system configuration data) Plug-and-Play BIOS goes even further, creating a list of all the things you have done manually to the configuration that Plugand-Play does not do on its own. This ESCD list is written to the BIOS chip so that the next time you boot, the Startup BIOS can faithfully relate that information to Windows. The BIOS chip for ESCD BIOS is a special RAM chip called Permanent RAM or PRAM that can hold data written to it without the benefit of a battery that the CMOS setup chip requires. Most ROM BIOS made after the end of 1994 is Plug-and-Play. Windows 9x and Windows 2000 can use most but not all of its Plug-and-Play abilities without Plug-and-Play BIOS.

See also: When BIOS Is Incompatible With Hardware Or Software

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The Total Solution For A+ Certification When BIOS Is Incompatible With Hardware Or Software BIOS is a hybrid of two worlds. Its technically both hardware and software and it must communicate with both well (see the figure below). When hardware and software change, BIOS might need to change too. In the past, most users upgraded BIOS because new hardware was incompatible with it. Sometimes, however, you need to upgrade BIOS to accommodate new software, such as Plug-and-Play. In the past, when a new device became available, such as the 3 -inch floppy disk drive, your PC sometimes could not use the new device until you upgraded the BIOS. You did that by replacing the old BIOS chip with a new chip that supported the new device. Now, however, its much easier. First, remember that most of todays new devices are not supported by the System BIOS at all, but by device drivers that are software programs installed on the hard drive as an add-on part of the operating system. If some new feature does require an upgrade to BIOS, you can do that with Flash ROM. Installing a larger hard drive is an example of a hardware upgrade that might require a BIOS upgrade because it is incompatible with the existing BIOS. Older BIOS supports only those hard drives with a 504 MB capacity. If you have this problem (large drive, old BIOS) you can solve it in one of two ways. Either upgrade BIOS or use special software designed to get around the problem. Often the device manufacturer supplies the software.

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Upgrade BIOS Be careful that you upgrade the BIOS with the correct upgrade. Upgrading with the wrong file could make your system BIOS totally useless. If youre not sure that youre using the correct upgrade, dont guess. Check with the technical support for your BIOS before moving forward. Before you call technical support, have the information that is written on the BIOS chip label available.

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Upgrade Flash ROM Technically speaking, Flash ROM is called EEPROM (Electronically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory), which means you can change the programming on the chip through software on your PC. The updated programming will be retainedeven when you turn off your PC for long periods of timeuntil you change it again. Flash ROM allows you to upgrade system BIOS without having to replace the ROM chip. As more devices become Plug-and-Play compliant, Plug-and-Play BIOS will become more sophisticated. Additionally, makers of BIOS code are likely to change BIOS frequently because it is so easy for them to provide the upgrade on the Internet. You can get upgraded BIOS code from manufacturers Web sites or disks or from third-party BIOS resellers Web sites or disks. To upgrade Flash ROM, follow the directions that came with your systemboard and the upgrade software itself. Generally, you perform these tasks: 1. Set a jumper on the systemboard telling the BIOS to expect an upgrade. 2. Copy the upgrade BIOS software to a bootable disk. 3. Boot from the disk and follow the menu options to upgrade the BIOS. 4. Set the jumper back to its original setting, reboot the system, and verify that everything is working.

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Error Messages And Their MeaningsError MessageBad sector writing or reading to drive Bad command or file not found

Meaning of the Error Message and What to DoSector markings on the disk may be fading. Try ScanDisk or reformat the disk. The DOS command just executed cannot be interpreted, or DOS cannot find the program file specified in the command line. Check the spelling of the filename and check that the path to the program file has not been given to DOS. Before the video is checked, during POST, the ROM BIOS communicates error messages with a series of beeps. Each BIOS manufacturer has its own beep codes but the following are typical of may BIOS codes. Systemboard problems, possibly with SMA, CMOS setup chip, timer, or system bus. The POST numeric code is displayed on the monitor.

Beeps during POST

Our single beep followed by 3,4, or 5 beeps Two beeps Two beeps followed by 3,4, or 5 beeps Three beeps followed by 3,4, or 5 beeps Four beeps followed by 2, 3, or 4 beeps Continuous beeps Configuration/SMOS error Insufficient memory

First 64K of RAM has errors. Keyboard controller failed or vi deo controller failed. Serial or parallel ports, system time, or time of day Power Supply

Setup information does not agree with the actual hardware the computer found during boot. Check setup for errors. This error happens under Windows when too many applications are open. Close some applications. A reboot may help. The operating system cannot locate the hard drive, or the controller card is not responding. Computer cannot find the hard drive that setup told it to expect. Check cables, connections, and power supply. You are attempting to use a DOS command such as FORMAT. When DOS looks at the FORMAT.COM program file, it finds that the file belongs to a different version of DOS than the one that is now running. Use the DOS software from the same version that you are running. The computer is unable to find a hard drive or a floppy drive that setup tells it to expect. The hard drive may have a corrupted partition table. This may be caused by a nonbooting disk in drive A. Remove the disk and boot from drive C. COMMAND.COM on drive C may have been erased.

Fixed disk error Hard drive not found Incorrect DOS version

Invalid drive specification

Invalid or missing COMMAND.COM

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The Total Solution For A+ CertificationNo boot device available The hard drive is not formatted, or the format is corrupted, and there is no disk in drive A. Boot from a floppy and examine your hard drive for corruption. COMMAND.COM or one of two DOS hidden files is missing from the disk in drive A or the hard drive. Remove the disk in drive A and boot from the hard drive. The disk in drive A is missing, is not formatted, or is corrupted. Try another disk. Sometimes numeric codes are used to communicate errors at POST. Some examples include: Systemboard errors RAM errors Keyboard errors Video controller errors Floppy drive errors Coprocessor errors Parallel port errors Systemboard errors Game controller or joystick errors Hard drive errors SCSI device or network card errors Floppy drive errors This usually occurs when you attempt to format a floppy disk using the wrong format type. Check the disk type and compare to the format command type specified. Let the computer write to the disk by setting the switch on a 3.5-inch disk or removing the tape on a 5.25-inch disk. The MBR is unable to locate or read the OS boot sector on the active partition, or there is a translation problem on large drives. Boot from a floppy and examine the hard drive file system for corruption See the Web site of the system BIOS manufacturer: Error in CONFIG.SYS line xx AMI BIOS: www.ami.com Award BIOS and Phoenix BIOS: www.phoenix.com Compaq: www.compaq.com Dell: www.dell.com IBM: www.ibm.com

Non-system disk or disk error

Not ready reading drive A: Abort, Retry, Fail? Numeric codes during POST Code in the 100 range Code in the 200 range Code in the 300 range Code in the 500 range Code in the 600 range Code in the 700 range Code in the 900 range Code in the 1100-1200 range Code in the 1300 range Code in the 1700 range Code in the 6000 range Code in the 7300 range Track 0 bad, disk not usable

Write-protect error writing drive A: Missing operating system, error loading operating system

Unknown error at POST

There is a problem loading a device driver or with the syntax of a command line. Check the command line for errors. Verify the driver files are in the right directory. Reinstall the driver files HIMEM.SYS is corrupted, not in the right directory, or not the right version for the currently loaded OS. Verify HIMEM.SYS.

HIMEM.SYS not loaded, missing or corrupt HIMEM.SYS

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Topic Summary A ROM BIOS microchip is a hybrid of hardware and software containing programming embedded into the chip. These chips are called firmware. ROM chips contain

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