Architecture of the PC

PC Troubleshooting
And
Networking
The basic components of a
Microcomputer
Central Processing Unit (CPU)
Memory unit
Input device
Output device
Secondary Storage device


CPU
Input Device
Output Device
Control Unit
Arithmetic Logic
Unit
ROM RAM
Secondary Storage
Device
Architecture of the PC
Basic components of a computer:

Monitor A device with a screen to display instructions and present information.
There are many types of computer monitors, including LCD (liquid crystal display)
and CRT (cathode ray tube).
System Unit/Console - The Central Processing Unit, or CPU resides inside a
box known as the system unit, along with various support devices and tools for
storing information. The system unit case the metal box can be a desktop or a
mini-tower case (see picture).
Keyboard A device with a set of typewriter-like keys that enable you to enter
data into a computer. Computer keyboards are similar to electric-typewriter
keyboards but contain additional keys.
Mouse - A device that controls the movement of the cursor or pointer on the
screen. A mouse is a small object you can roll along a hard, flat surface. As you
move the mouse, the pointer on the screen moves in the same direction. Mice
contain at least one button and sometimes as many as three, which have
different functions depending on what program is running. Some newer mice also
include a scroll wheel for scrolling through long documents.
Printer A device that produces paper copies of your data.
Identifying the front and back parts of
your computer
Front of your computer:
Back of your computer:
Identifying the front and back parts of
your computer
Overview of the System
and Components
Overview of the System & Components
System Case
case is the metal and plastic box
that houses the main components
of the computer.
Power
Two aspects of power in the PC:
External Power
Power Supply
External Power
External power refers to the power
that is delivered to the back of the
system case.
Power Supply
Also called a power supply unit or
PSU, the component that supplies
power to a computer.
Motherboard & System Devices
Motherboard
The motherboard is the main circuit board of a
microcomputer.
The motherboard contains the connectors for
attaching additional boards. Typically, the
motherboard contains the CPU, BIOS, memory,
mass storage interfaces, serial and parallel ports,
expansion slots, and all the controllers required to
control standard peripheral devices, such as the
display screen, keyboard, and disk drive.
Collectively, all these chips that reside on the
motherboard are known as the motherboard's
chipset.
The main parts of the motherboard
and its related devices:
Motherboard: The motherboard is the main circuit
board in the computer where everything comes
together.
System Chipset and Controllers: The chipset
and other motherboard circuitry are the "smarts" of
the motherboard.
System Buses: The system buses are the
electrical channels through which various parts of
the computer communicate.
BIOS: The system BIOS (which stands for Basic
Input/Output System and is pronounced "bye-oss"
or "bye-ose") is a computer program that is built
into the PC's hardware.
The main parts of the motherboard
and its related devices:

System Resources: System resources are not
actual physical devices; they are nothing you
can reach into the machine and touch.
Interrupts (IRQs): As described on how the
PC works, a device requests time from the
processor using these interrupt requests.
Direct Memory Access (DMA) Channels:
devices that have the ability to read and write
directly from the system memory, instead of
asking the processor to do it for them.
Processor / Microprocessor
is the central component of the PC
and It is the brain that runs the show
inside the PC.
System Memory or Mass Storage
is the place where the computer
holds current programs and data that
are in use.
Video Cards
is the component responsible for
producing the visual output from your
computer.
Monitors
is the component that displays the
visual output from your computer as
generated by the video card.
Types of Monitor
MONOCROME MONITORS shows in
images in one color, be in green,
amber, white, puce, or crimson.
COLOR MONITOR - have a different
color display are generally available
for connecting to PCs.
Drives
Kinds of Drive in your computer
system:
Hard Disk Drive (HDD)
Floppy Disk Drive (FDD)
Compact Disk Read Only Memory
Drive (CD-ROM)
Hard Disk Drives
The hard disk drive in your system is
the "data center" of the PC.
Parts of the Hard Disk

Floppy Disk Drives
Is a portable, inexpensive storage
medium that consists of a thin,
circular, flexible plastic disk.
CD-ROM Drives
the Compact Disk - Read Only Memory
(CD-ROM) Stores items such as data,
instructions, and information Using
microscopic pits (indentations) and land
(flat areas) in the middle layer of the disc
Peripheral I/O
Peripherals are external devices that
you connect to your PC.
Three main ways that you can
connect peripherals to your machine:
Serial connection
Parallel connection
USB connection
Serial Communications
A serial connection sends information
over the line one bit at a time.

Parallel Communications
A parallel connection is faster than a
serial one because it sends many bits
in parallel.
USB Connection
Stands for "Universal Serial Bus."
USB can be used to connect a mouse,
keyboard, game controllers, printers,
scanners, digital cameras, and
removable media drives, just to name a
few.
Keyboards
is the main input device for most
computers.
It is used to input textual information
to the PC.
Mouse
are used in graphical environments
to let users provide simple "point and
click" instructions to the computer.