Module 4. motherboard.

PC Hardware Basic Guide

Module 4 - Motherboard

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Module 4 - MotherboardPC Hardware Basic Guide


Overview

◊ It is a Printed Circuit Board that performs the key functions to enable smooth running of the computer.

Lesson Covered in this Module

◊ Motherboards◊ Standard Expansion Buses

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Lesson 1 - Motherboards

Introduction◊ Motherboard is a Printed Circuit Board which

possesses different components for various purposes. It contains

• CPU

• BIOS,

• Memory

• I/O ports

• External I/O connectors

• I/O controllers

• Expansion slots

• Chipsets.

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Topics Covered in this Lesson

◊ Physical Form Factors

◊ Motherboard Components

◊ System Chipsets and Controllers

◊ CMOS Settings

◊ Power On Self Test (POST)

◊ System Resources

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Topic 1 - Physical Form Factors

Personal Computer – Extended Technology (PC-XT)

◊ Introduced by IBM, 8088 microprocessor was used.

◊ It has socket for the processor and chips

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AT and Baby AT

◊ To overcome the problem created by AT Form factor, the Baby AT form factor was introduced.

◊ Baby AT is designed to hold the peripheral devices like keyboard, video and mouse.

◊ It could not accommodate the combination of processor, heat sink and fan. Cooling

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ATX and Micro ATX form factor

◊ Here expansion slots were placed on separate riser cards.

◊ It provides software controlled shut down and power up.

Micro ATX form factor

◊ More space for I/O connectors was provided at the rear end.

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LPX and Mini-LPX

◊ It has sound and video to be integrated on to the motherboard.

◊ It is not suitable for upgrading and offers poor cooling.

NLX

◊ Small in size◊ Suited for low profile

desktop cases

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Topic 2 - Motherboard Components

The major components of the motherboard

◊ Processor socket or slot

◊ Chipset

◊ Super I/O chip

◊ BIOS

◊ SIMM/DIMM sockets

◊ Bus slots

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Chipset and Functions

◊ Different chips integrated to a single chip called the chipset.

◊ North bridge and South bridge was introduced to the motherboard with PCI slots.

◊ The south bridge controls the slower I/O components like the Serial ports, USB ports and the IDE.

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The new technology, Intel Hub Architecture (IHA) uses two chips called hub controllers.

The hub controllers are ◊ Graphics and Memory Controller Hub (GMCH) ◊ I/O Controller Hub (ICH)

The chipset determine◊ The voltage provided to the processor

◊ Number of processors that can be supported

◊ The speed of the processor

◊ The different memory modules that are supported

◊ Bus speed

◊ The different expansion bus that are supported

◊ Power Management

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Topic 3 - System Chipset and Controllers

◊ The system chipset and controllers are the intelligence of the motherboard.

◊ Chipset has a effect on the quality, feature set and speed of the computer.

◊ Controllers found on motherboards

• The system chip

• The keyboard controller

• The super I/O chip

• Additional built-in controllers

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► Qualities and Functions of Chipset

Chipset Processor Support

◊ Support for Processor Class and Optimization - Supports one generation of processors

◊ Support for Processor Speed - Fast processors need chipset control circuitry that has the capacity to manage them.

◊ Support for Multiple Processor - Chipset support the capability for building motherboards with two or four processors on them.

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◊ Chipset Cache Support - The cache stores recent memory accesses by the processor

• Size of Secondary Cache - Chipsets support cache of

256KB or 512 KB.

• Type of Secondary Cache - three major kinds of cache,

Asynchronous, Synchronous burst, Pipeline burst.

• Write Policy of Secondary Cache - A write-through cache and a write back cache.

• Cacheability of System Memory - The amount of cacheable memory is dependent on the chipset control circuitry and the amount of tag RAM on the board.

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• Chipset Memory Support - The chipset determines several permissible features of the memory

• Support for Maximum Memory-Determines the maximum quantity of RAM a system can have on the motherboard

• DRAM Technology - Regulates whether motherboard can make use of FPM, EDO, BEDO, or SDRAM memory.

• Support for DRAM Packaging and Size - Two main types of memory packages are, single in-line memory module (SIMM) and dual in-line memory module (DIMM).

• Support for Parity and Error Correction - Error

correction logic is offered as part of the memory control circuits of the chipset.

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◊ Chipset Peripheral and I/O Bus Control - Most recent computers use two buses, (ISA) bus and l component (PCI) bus.

• Bus Types - The chipset determines what type of buses the system can support.

• Bus Bridges – Bridge is used for connecting together devices on two different buses.

• IDE/ATA Hard Disk Controller - All motherboards have integrated into them support for four IDE hard disks

• DMA Controller and DMA Mode Support – Process of transferring information directly to and from memory with no interference of the processor.

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◊ Interrupt Controller

◊ USB Support

◊ AGP Support

◊ Plug and Play

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◊ Chipset Power Management Support – Works through a number of BIOS settings that determine when to shut down different parts of the computer

• Energy Star

• Advanced Power Management

• Display Power

• Management Signalling

• System Management Mode • Hard Disk Spindown

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◊ Super I/O Controller Chip super I/O controller handles three ports

• Serial Port Control – controls the serial ports, UART

• Parallel Port Control – manages and controls the parallel port

• Floppy Disk Drive Control – supports the Floppy Disk Drive and floppy based tape drives

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Processor

Two major components ◊ Arithmetic and Logic Unit

(ALU) – performs Arithmetic and Logic Operations

◊ Control Unit (CU) – provides the control signals for performing different operations.

Cache Memory◊ It is high speed storage

memory made of Static RAM (SRAM).

◊ Two types of cache memory are L1 or the internal cache and L2 cache or the external cache.

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I/O Ports

◊ Each device connected to a computer uses I/O port address.

◊ Functions of I/O address• Sending commands to the peripheral device

• Receiving the status of the device whether it is idle or busy

• Send and receive data

• Configure the device for interrupts

Bus Speed

◊ The speed of the bus refers to the amount of the data that can be transferred across the bus.

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Some of the bus types are,

◊ Front side Bus - The bus speed in general refers to the speed of the Front Side Bus (FSB).

◊ AGP Bus – It connects the video card to the memory and the CPU.

◊ Back side Bus – It connects the processor to the L2 Cache

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◊ Memory bus – It connects the north bridge to the memory.

◊ IDE or ATA bus – It connects the south bridge to the disk drives.

◊ PCI Bus – It connects the PCI slots to the south bridge.

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Jumpers

◊ It is a small connector which can be placed between two pins to make electrical connections.

DIP switch

◊ The dual inline package switch is a small block provided with a lever.

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Topic 4 - CMOS Settings

CMOS BIOS ROM

Stores the basic system configuration. The four major components of BIOS are

◊ POST

◊ Bootstrap Loader

◊ CMOS Setup

◊ BIOS ROM

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CMOS Battery◊ Battery is used to power

up the Real time Clock Chip.

◊ This chip maintains the system date and time.

System Configuration◊ The BIOS should find an

operating system on a hard disk or floppy disk drive to start the computer.

Starting the Setup Program◊ The settings made in the

BIOS setup program are stored in the nonvolatile RAM of the CMOS chip.

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Step-by-Step CMOS/BIOS Configuration

◊ From the CMOS setup menu, select the menu point to examine or change setting and choose Standard CMOS setup to begin.

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◊ From the standard CMOS configuration screen you can set Date, Time, Hard drives connected to the IDE interface, Floppy disk drive types for drives

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Advanced CMOS Configuration◊ Here, you can perform the Number Lock setting,

keyboard repeats speed, type of video, settings for cache memory, and other special features.

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Recommended Advanced CMOS Settings◊ Depending on the BIOS version, you have to press the

ESC key, to return to the main menu

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Power Management Configuration◊ After a user defined period of inactivity of devices like

the monitor, the hard drive, or the CPU will go into different low power modes. • Standby mode

• Suspend mode

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Built-In Ports/Peripherals Setup◊ It can enable or disable ports which built in new

systems.

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Security/Passwords

◊ Two types of passwords are

◊ One must be entered to allow any use of the system

◊ Another one must be entered to allow access to the

BIOS/ CMOS setup

Saving and Recording BIOS/CMOS Settings

◊ BIOS allows you to save the changes and it will reject

the changes that happen accidentally.

◊ Record the critical BIOS settings

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BIOS Upgrades

◊ Change the physical chip or to change its contents with software

Flash BIOS Upgrade

◊ Install the BIOS upgrade loader and BIOS image to a floppy disk

Incorrect CMOS Configuration

◊ Restart by using the BIOS Setup auto-configure options, double-check drive configurations, save changes, and restart.

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Incorrect Flash BIOS or Failed Update

◊ If the update can't be installed, the motherboard might have jumpers that write-protects the flash BIOS.

Clearing the BIOS Password

◊ It can be cleared by using a CMOS jumper that is present in the motherboard.

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Topic 5 - Power On Self Test (POST) Error codes

Some main functions of BIOS during POST

◊ Helps to start the Operating System. ◊ Check for the integrity of the BIOS code

Some error beeps

◊ No beep - Power supply or system board problem ◊ 1 long, 1 short beep - System board problem ◊ Long beeps - 3270 keyboard card

Some error codes

◊ 100 to 199 - System board ◊ 200 to 299 - Memory ◊ 300 to 399 - Keyboard

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Topic 6 - System Resources

System resources are components that are required to communicate between the hardware components in a PC.

Interrupt Request Channels (IRQ)◊ Hardware devices use IRQ signal to the processor◊ There are 16 IRQ channels .

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The snapshot shows the different IRQ channels associated with different devices.

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Direct Memory Access (DMA) channels

◊ Here the data is transferred between the peripheral device and the memory without the intervention of the CPU.

◊ Devices connected to serial and parallel port do not use DMA channels

I/O Port Address

◊ It is an interface present in a PC to connect devices

◊ The port address ranges from 0000h to FFFFh

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The snapshot displays the I/O address range used by different devices

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►Checking for Resource Availability◊ For Windows 3.x or MS-DOS, the resource settings can

be verified by using the MSD command present in the DOS directory.

◊ For Windows 2000 or Windows XP, follow the step given below to identify the resources used by the different devices

Click Start Programs Accessories System Tools-> System Information

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Lesson 2 - Standard Expansion Buses

Introduction

◊ The expansion slots are used to enhance the features of the PC.

◊ The expansion slots can hold expansion cards like the sound card, VGA card, AGP card, Network card etc

◊ There are different types of expansion slots. Industrial Standard Architecture (ISA) bus

• Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) Bus• Extended ISA (EISA) Bus• Video Electronics Standard Association (VESA) Bus• Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI)Bus• Peripheral Component Interconnect – X• Accelerated Graphics Port • Audio Modem Raiser and Communication Network Raiser

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Lesson 2 - Standard Expansion Buses

Topics Covered in this Lesson

◊ PC Bus

◊ Industrial Standard Architecture (ISA) Bus

◊ Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) Bus

◊ Extended ISA (EISA) Bus

◊ Video Electronics Standard Association (VESA) Bus

◊ Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) Bus

◊ Accelerated Graphics Port

◊ Audio Modem Raiser and Communication Network Raiser

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Topic 1 – PC Bus

PC bus is an 8 bit expansion slot to connect 8 bit expansion cards.

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Topic 2 - Industrial Standard Architecture (ISA) Bus

◊ ISA bus is a 16 bit slot present in 80286, 80386, 80486 and Pentium systems.

◊ The ISA card is configured through jumpers or switches

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Topic 3 - Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) Bus

◊ Bus Mastering - The components that can take control over the bus are called bus masters.

Features of MCA

◊ It is a 16 or 32 bit bus created by IBM

◊ Supports bus mastering

◊ Operates at 10-12 MHZ

◊ Can be configured through software

◊ Has Lower Noise Level

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Topic 4 - Enhanced ISA

◊ It is a 32 bit bus.

◊ Capable of using multiple bus mastering devices.

◊ Compatible 8 bit PC bus, 16 bit ISA bus.

◊ Software setup capability for boards

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Topic 5 - Video Electronics Standard Architecture (VESA) bus

◊ It is a 32 bus. ◊ It is used to connect video cards, I/O cards and

multimedia expansion cards

Disadvantages of the VESA

◊ 80486 dependence ◊ Limited number of slots ◊ No bus mastering◊ Boards are configured through jumpers

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Topic 6 - Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus

PCI◊ Operates at a speed of 33

MHz or 66 MHz◊ It is a 64 bit bus ◊ Communicates with

processor using a bridge circuit.

PCI-X

◊ Operates at 133 MHz bus speed

◊ Offers 64 bit Band width◊ Supports 1 GB/Sec data

transfer rate◊ Supports efficient bus

operation◊ Provides backward

Compatibility

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Topic 7 - AGP Bus

◊ It is designed for connecting video cards. ◊ PCI bus with 2.1 version at 66MHZ is the basis for AGP

slot. ◊ It supports a new technique called texture cache.

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Topic 8 - Audio Modem Raiser and Communication Network Raiser◊ This specification developed by Intel. ◊ The function of the modem and the analog I/O audio

circuitry are combined together on a small circuit board

◊ The small circuit board is called raiser card ◊ The AMR card enhances the performance by providing

better quality audio solutions.

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Topic 8 - Audio Modem Raiser and Communication Network Raiser

Communication Network Raiser Card

◊ This is a standard developed by Intel

◊ It contains chips for the functioning of modems and audio devices.

PCMCIA or PC Card

◊ It is an expansion board used for laptop and notebook computers.

◊ It is used for interfacing components like the Memory, fax/modems, SCSI adapters

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Topic 8 - Audio Modem Raiser and Communication Network Raiser◊ The following figure shows different Bus interfaces and

the devices that can be connected to each of them

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Lesson 3 - Choosing, Installing and Troubleshooting a Motherboard

Introduction

◊ Motherboard is the most important component of the computer.

◊ This is the central component to which every other component is attached,

Topics covered in this module

◊ Choosing a Motherboard

◊ Installing a Motherboard

◊ Troubleshooting a Motherboard

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Topic 1-Choosing a Motherboard

Choosing a Motherboard

◊ Choosing an appropriate motherboard can be quite a challenging task. A lot of factors affect the choice of the motherboard.

◊ Future upgradeability of the system is the most important one

◊ It should support a higher hard drive capacity, a higher Memory slot on the motherboard, whether it has an AGP slot.

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Topic 1-Choosing a Motherboard

IT should support the following

◊ Mother form factor

◊ CPU compatibility

◊ Functionality

◊ Connectors

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Topic 2-Installing a Motherboard

Installing a Motherboard

◊ Installing a motherboard should be done with a lot of care.

◊ Connect the motherboard to the mounting holes and tighten the screws.

◊ Set the jumpers and switches to the appropriate positions.

◊ Once the motherboard is secure, then start connecting the different wires to their appropriate sockets.

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Topic 3 – Troubleshooting a Motherboard

Troubleshooting a Motherboard

◊ Troubleshooting the motherboard is the trickiest part for a technician.

◊ This requires a lot of time, patience and documentation. Since the troubleshooting has to be done at the chip-level, troubleshooting a motherboard can cost more time and money than buying a new one.

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Conclusion

◊ PC bus is an 8 bit expansion slot to connect 8 bit expansion cards

◊ The major components of the motherboard are• Processor socket or slot • Chipset • Super I/O chip • BIOS • SIMM/DIMM sockets • Bus slots

◊ ISA bus is a 16 bit slot present in 80286, 80386, 80486 and Pentium systems

◊ Future upgradeability of the system is the most important one

Module 4. motherboard.

Technology

pc hardware basic guidemodule

motherboard components

pc hardware basic guide

multiple processor chipset

motherboard processor

chipset controlcircuitry

motherboard overview

motherboard topics