BUILDING YOUR OWN PERSONAL COMPUTER RESEARCH TECHNOLOGY ASSOCIATES

92 Pages·2013·1.48 MB·English

BUILDING YOUR OWN PERSONAL COMPUTER
RESEARCH TECHNOLOGY ASSOCIATES, INC.

Copyright, William A. Lloyd, 2013.
Reproduction of these materials is prohibited
without the express written consent of the author.
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Topic Page Number

Foreword iii
Course Sylabus 1
Places to get a toolkit 2
Clas Reading Asignment 3

Section 1 - Learning the Basics 4

Facts about electrical power and surge suppressors 5
How do viruses afect your computer 6
Definitions of basic computer components 13
What is POST and what does it do for you 41
Steps in the boot process 46
General guidelines for repairing computers 51
Hard drive testing guidelines 53
Optical drive testing procedures 55
Floppy drive testing procedures [obsolete] 56
Monitor /video card testing guidelines 57
Keyboard testing guidelines 58
Fax/modem testing guidelines 59
Sound card testing guidelines 60
Network card testing guidelines 61
Memory testing guidelines 62
Steps to preparing a hard disk for use 63

Section 2 - Building Your Own PC 67

So what should I buy? 68
New PC Building Checksheet 70
Hard disk instalation checksheet 74
Sound card instalation checksheet 76
Optical drive instalation checksheet 77
Fax/modem instalation checksheet 78
Instaling video card drivers in Windows 79
Differences between the various Windows operating systems 80
Instaling Windows applications 83

What is Research Technology Asociates, Inc. 87

Guidelines for obtaining equipment from Research Technology Associates, Inc. 88
Guidelines for donating equipment from Research Technology Associates, Inc. 89

Building Your Own PC Copyright, William Lloyd, 2013
FOREWORD

These course materials were developed originally for use in the PC Hardware, PC Repair, Repair and
Maintenance of Personal Computers, and the Build-Your-Own PC courses that I taught at Prince George's
Community College, in Largo, Maryland.

I developed these materials myself, with a view towards making complex issues in PC hardware and
maintenance easy to understand. Through several years of teaching these courses and refining these
materials, I believe this manual will be a useful resource for the reader.

I would like to express my deep gratitude and sincere thanks to a number of people who have made the
development and implementation of this course possible over the years:

o My wife, Joyce, and my three children (Christina, Matthew and David), who have shared me with
hundreds of students over the years;
o William Lauffer, the dean of Engineering Technology at Prince George's Community College, who gave
me the opportunity to develop and teach these courses;
o The board of directors and advisors for my non-profit organization, Research Technology Associates,
and my many teaching assistants over the years. They are people to whom I give permission to tell me
what to do, and their advice is invariably always excellent.

Reproduction of these course materials without the express written permission of the author is prohibited. If
you would like to obtain a copy of these materials, if you would like to have me come and teach my courses for
your organization, or if you would like to license this curriculum for use with your school or non-profit
organization, please contact me at the following address:

William A. Lloyd
c/o Research Technology Associates
12221 Van Brady Road
Upper Marlboro, MD 20772-7924

301/782-3585 (home)
E-mail address:
COURSE SYLLABUS: BUILDING YOUR OWN PERSONAL COMPUTER

TEXTBOOK REQUIRED TEXT: Course Reference DVD, which is provided at the first
AND TOOLS: class. Cost of the disk is $10.00. Also, the course diagnostic DVD, which is $10.00.
More information on these disks is provided on page 2.

The purchase of a computer repair toolkit (usually under $20.00) is REQUIRED.
I have included details of how to get such a kit on page 3.

CLASS TIMES: Classes are held as listed in the Semester Course Listing.

MISSION
STATEMENT: This course will enable you to do the following things:

1) Identify major components and sub-systems of an IBM-class
microcomputer;
2) Have a basic understanding of what takes place with the computer's
hardware when the computer is turned on;
3) Understand how MS-DOS operates and uses memory in an IBM-class
computer;
4) Understand the concept of fault-isolation, and be able to isolate the most
typical kinds of faults found in malfunctioning IBM-class computers;
5) Be able to successfully repair faulty IBM-class computers in at least a
rudimentary fashion;
6) Identify what components are needed to build your own IBM-class
microcomputer, estimate the price of those components, and inform you of
where in the local area to buy this equipment;
7) Develop a basic understanding of what steps are necessary in order to
correctly and safely build your own computer;
8) Observe the building of a PC from scratch, so that you will be better
prepared to do the job yourself;
9) Build your own PC in class, with my assistance and the help of engineering
students who will be available to guide you through the process; and
10) Check and test all systems for proper assembly, setup, operating system /
software installation, and correct operation.

CLASS RULES: Feel free to ask lots of questions;
Food and drink are permitted in lecture class, but NOT in the lab;
Have fun!

Building Your Own PC Copyright, William Lloyd, 2013
Course Reference DVD Disk

This course book is one part of a DVD-ROM course disk made available to my students. The disk also holds a
variety of open-source software packages, utilities and helpful literature that will enable the student to build and
develop the skills needed to become a successful computer repair technician. Installers for the following
applications are provided on this disk:

 AVG antivirus application (32-bit and 64-bit versions)
 MalwareBytes anti-malware application
 CCleaner disk clean-up application
 Recuva file recovery application
 Mozilla Firefox browser
 Norton and McAfee Uninstaller applications
 FileZilla FTP transfer application
 Defraggler disk defragmenter
 Imgburn optical disk creator application
 VLC media player application
 Internet Explorer 8 and 9 installers
 Adobe Flash installers for your browsers
 Windows Service Packs for Windows XP and Windows Vista
 A variety of other repair and configuration utilities
 Copies of videos from our recent service missions to schools in Tanzania and South Africa

The instructor will provide you with a copy of this disk on the first day of class.

We ask for a $10.00 contribution to our non-profit organization, Research Technology Associates, to defray the
cost of duplicating the disks and developing this resource for your use.

Course Diagnostic DVD Disk

As an aid to your learning process, and to assist you in diagnosing and troubleshooting problems with PCs and
laptops, we will provide you with a bootable diagnostic DVD application developed and compiled by my son,
Matthew Lloyd.

The Parted Magic application provides a number of applications that will help you to:

 Test hard drives for proper operation
 Create, delete or resize partitions on a hard disk
 Transfer data safely from a failing or virus-infected hard drive to a USB flash drive or optical disk media
 Check the temperature sensors in a PC or laptop to determine overheating conditions
 Test the memory in a PC or laptop for defects and problems
 Change or remove a password on a Windows-based operating system
 Clone a hard disk using the Clonezilla application
 Get a summary of detected equipment in a PC or laptop

The applications on this disk are open-source, which means that they can be copied and shared freely with
others. The DVD uses Linux as its operating system, so it will work whether the computer’s operating system is in
working order or not. You will boot the computer to the optical (DVD) drive, rather than to the hard disk, to launch
and use this diagnostic program.

Building Your Own PC Copyright, William Lloyd, 2013
This diagnostic disk is one of the best of its kind, and we are happy to provide it to you during the course. We will
make it available to you several weeks into the course, when you are trained sufficiently to understand how to
use it and view the results.

We also ask that you make a $10.00 contribution towards the cost of providing you with this resource.

Windows Driver DVD Disk

We also will provide you with a DVD that contains literally thousands of device drivers on the disk. This will assist
you in the event you need to install a device driver or update a driver that is defective. The disk has drivers for
Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.

We also ask that you make a $10.00 contribution towards the cost of providing you with this resource.

USB Flash Drive

We require you to obtain at least one 16GB USB flash drive for use in the lab sections of the course. We will
provide you with additional open-source utility programs that you can use in the lab portions of the class.

You can purchase a USB flash drive from Staples, Office Depot, MicroCenter, Newegg, or any number of local
retailers. A 16GB flash drive should cost no more than $20.00.

Required Tools for the Course

The toolkit you need for this course should be simple, and cost less than $20.00. It needs to include at least the
following things:

- Phillips and flat blade screwdrivers (small and medium size)
- A 3-claw part grabber
- A chip inserter and chip extractor
- A TORX head screwdriver
- A 1/4" and 3/16" nut driver
- Perhaps a container to hold small parts and screws

Things you do NOT need include:

- A soldering gun
- Magnetic tools
- Drils

If you have a small voltmeter, that's good; it will be useful in some instances, and you need to know how to use
one for the A+ exam. We have voltmeters in the lab, so you do not have to run out and buy one.

You can buy such a toolkit in places like:

- Sam's Club - Best Buy - Newegg - Radio Shack
- MicroCenter - Ofice Depot - Staples - PC Shows

NOTE: I share NO financial stake in any of the above-mentioned companies. I simply give them as sources
other students and colleagues have used in the past to find decent toolkits for our courses.

Building Your Own PC Copyright, William Lloyd, 2013
SECTION 1: LEARNING THE BASICS

In the first part of the course, we will focus on learning the essentials about personal computer hardware.
You will learn about the following kinds of things:

o Electrical power and surge suppressors
o How do computer viruses affect your PC, and how do you deal with virus problems?
o What are the major components inside your PC, and what do each of these components do?
o What is the Power-On Self Test, or POST, and what does it do for the computer user?
o What are error codes and audio error codes, and how can you decipher these codes?
o How do you open and disassemble a PC, and how can you identify the major components?
o What guidelines should you use when testing or checking a PC?

This course manual covers all of the topics that will be discussed in the lecture portion of the class. Your
instructor will follow the outlines laid out in this manual. The manual has been designed to free you from
needing to take lots of notes during the lecture sessions ... the lecture notes for the instructor contain the same
kinds of information as your course manual.

As the lecture progresses, review the manual and add any explanatory notes into the space provided on each
page.

NOTES

Building Your Own PC Copyright, William Lloyd, 2013
FACTS ABOUT ELECTRICAL POWER AND SURGE SUPPRESSORS

The voltage you get from the wall socket is NOT always what you would expect ...

There are periodic fluctuations in voltage from devices going on and off in your building, problems in the
transmission line, electrical storms, bad or faulty transformers, etc. Sometimes these fluctuations in
voltage may exceed several thousand volts. When this happens, bad things can happen to good
computers (or any other kinds of electrical devices).

Let us begin with an understanding the different types of about electrical power.

What is Alternating Current and Direct Current?

Current is the flow of electrical charges (usually electrons) in an electrical circuit. When you connect a
light bulb to a flashlight battery, the current flows from the positive terminal to the negative terminal,
always in the same direction. This is called DIRECT CURRENT, or DC for short.

Electrical current from a standard 110 volt household outlet changes direction 60 times each second (50
times per second in Europe, where they use 220 volt current). Because the current flows first in one
direction and then the other, this is called ALTERNATING CURRENT, or AC for short. The power
companies use alternating current because it can be transformed to higher and lower voltages (with
transformers) allowing them to transmit and distribute power with lower losses. You can see these
transformers on the tops of utility poles.

On the standard 3-prong plug, the upper-right prong is the "hot" prong, or the prong upon which the AC
voltage is transmitted. The "neutral" prong, which alternates the current between itself and the hot prong,
is the upper-left prong. The bottom prong is a ground wire that leads to an earth ground; it is used to shunt
excess voltage from the hot and/or neutral prongs to ground, especially when a surge suppressor unit is
in use.

When the 110V current from your wall outlet reaches your PC's power supply, the voltage is transformed
into both 12VDC AND 5VDC for use in your computer. The motors in certain components within your PC
(your hard drive and floppy drive motors, for example) require 12VDC, while the motherboard and other
boards within your computer require only 5VDC. You may also note that on some PC power supplies
there is a switch that lets the unit operate on either 110VAC or 220VAC, depending upon where you live.

The problem comes when a lightning strike or a faulty transformer introduces a much higher level of
voltage onto the line than is normal. Your power supply may not be able to handle the excess voltage,
and it may pass on some of this excess voltage to the components in your PC before the unit shorts out or
overloads. When this happens, damage to your PC and it's components usually occurs. Normally the
damage is such that the electrocuted components need to be replaced.

Surge Suppressor

A surge suppressor provides a way to deal with voltage spikes. The surge suppressor has a
metal-oxide varistor (MOV) that will shunt excess voltages above a certain limit to the ground wire of your
three-prong AC power cord, where the voltage will be transmitted harmlessly to ground, thereby saving
your PC. Surge suppressors can deal with excess voltage problems, but they do not help with loss of
voltage problems. A surge suppressor should be used on ALL electronic devices, including computers
and their peripherals, at ALL times, without exception.

Electrical surges are one of the primary causes of computer hardware failures.

Building Your Own PC Copyright, William Lloyd, 2013
When buying a surge suppressor, the most important thing to check for is the clamping voltage
of the unit. The clamping voltage is that point when excess voltage will be diverted to ground.

A good suppressor will have a clamping voltage of approximately 330 volts, and will have a Underwriter's
Laboratory (UL) listing of UL 1449. This is sufficient to protect your PC from harmful excess voltage. 330
volts is 50 percent above the highest nominal input line voltage of 220VAC.

Reliable surge suppressor are made by the following companies:

APC TrippLite Curtis

As long as the suppressor has the UL 1449 rating and a 330 volt clamping voltage, it will serve you well.
These should cost you between $15 and $40 in the local stores.

When purchasing a surge suppressor, buy one that also has suppression capabilities for your telephone
line and/or FiOS / DSL / cable modem line. A lightning strike can pass through your telephone / DSL /
cable modem line just as easily as it can pass through your electric utility line. When that bolt of electricity
hits your PC through your modem or NIC, it has the same or greater potential to damage components in
your computer as does a surge through your electric utility line.

A surge suppressor that has telephone / DSL / cable line suppression should only cost $5 - 10 more than
a regular surge suppressor, and it will greatly enhance the protection factor for your PC.

Uninterruptible Power Supplies

An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) has the same kind of technology built into it as does a surge
suppressor, but it also contains a large battery in it as well. The battery in the UPS will allow your PC to
continue to operate if power has been cut off to your building. The battery in the UPS and the transformer
built into it provides 110VAC to your computer (and any other components attached to it).

HOWEVER, the voltage will last only for a few minutes (5 - 30 minutes), depending on the capacity of the
battery. The more expensive the UPS, the better the battery will be in the unit, and the longer it will
provide 110VAC to your computer.

A UPS allows you to shut off your PC in a normal fashion in the event of a power failure. Higher-end units
will automatically shut off your PC for you if you are unable to get to the computer in time, before the
battery runs out.

A UPS will cost at least $100 for a low-end model, and high-performance versions can cost hundreds or
thousands of dollars.

Your purchase of an UPS should be based upon how many devices you need to keep powered up during
an electric utility failure, how long you want backup power to sustain your devices, and how much your
budget can afford. UPS units are measured in how many watts they can deliver to your devices.

To determine the level of UPS that you need, add up the wattage requirements of the devices plugged
into your UPS. You can find the wattage requirements of your devices on the manufacturer's label on the
back of the PC, monitor, printer, or other device. Then, buy an UPS that delivers an equal or greater
amount of wattage than your devices require. The greater the wattage, the longer the UPS will last and
the more devices it will support.

Building Your Own PC Copyright, William Lloyd, 2013
If you have intermittent voltage failures in your area (i.e., the power frequently cuts off for only a second),
consider buying an UPS. It will save you immense amounts of grief when using your PC, since all the
information stored in RAM is wiped out when power is cut off.

Intermittent power problems like these occur in rural areas, or in areas where new construction is taking place
and power is temporarily disconnected in order to attach new service.

An UPS is an absolute necessity when running any kind of network-based or web-based server equipment. If
power is cut off to such a server so that it abends (that is, it shuts down abnormally), the potential for data loss
is significant.

Any kind of computer that provides shared drive or data access to customers on a network or via the Internet
MUST be connected to an UPS, so that the server can be shut down in a proper fashion in the event of a
power failure.

If you do purchase an UPS, be sure to connect it to a surge suppressor, and do not plug it directly to a raw,
unprotected AC wall jack. You want the UPS to have the same protection as any other electrical device.
Further, if you do encounter a nasty electrical surge, you would much rather spend $20.00 to replace a surge
suppressor than $100.00 or more to replace a damaged UPS.

NOTES

Building Your Own PC Copyright, William Lloyd, 2013