MOTHERBOARD

A motherboard is the main printed circuit board in general-purpose

computers and other expandable systems. It holds and allows
communication between many of the crucial electronic components
of a system, such as the central processing unit and memory, and
provides connectors for other peripherals.

MOTHERBOARD FORM FACTOR

Form factor is a hardware design aspect that
defines and prescribes the size, shape, and other
physical specifications of components,
particularly in electronics. A form factor may
represent a broad class of similarly sized
components, or it may prescribe a specific
standard.

COMPONENTS OF
MOTHERBOARD
Computer Motherboard Components and The
Functions, Manufactures & Others
1. Mouse & keyboard 9. ISA slot

2. USB 10. CMOS Battery

3. Parallel port 11. AGP slot

4. CPU Chip 12. CPU slot

5. RAM slots 13. Power supply plug in

6. Floppy controller

7. IDE controller
8. PCI slot

CONCEPTS OF CHIPSETS
An electronic chipset manages the flow of data between components on a motherboard. It's the traffic
controller between the CPU, GPU, RAM, storage, and peripherals. Experts have referred to it as the
“glue” of the motherboard.

NORTH BRIDGE: Northbridge

is an Intel chipset that
communicates with the
computer processor and
controls interaction with
memory, the Peripheral
Component Interconnect
(PCI) bus, Level 2 cache, and
all Accelerated Graphics Port
(AGP) activities. Northbridge
communicates with the
processor using the frontside
bus (FSB).

SOUTH BRIDGE: The southbridge is one of the two

chips in the core logic chipset on a personal
computer motherboard, the other being the
northbridge. The southbridge typically implements
the slower capabilities of the motherboard in a
northbridge/southbridge chipset computer
architecture.

GMCH (GRAPHICS & MEMORY

CONTROLLER HUB)
On older Intel based PCs, the northbridge was also named
external memory controller hub (MCH) or graphics and
memory controller hub (GMCH) if equipped with
integrated graphics. Increasingly these functions became integrated into the CPU chip itself, beginning
with memory and graphics controllers.

PCH (PLATFORM CONTROLLER

HUB)
The Platform Controller Hub is a family of Intel's
single-chip chipsets, first introduced in 2009. It is
the successor to the Intel Hub Architecture,
which used two chips - a northbridge and
southbridge, and first appeared in the Intel 5
Series.

TPM (TRUSTED PLATFORM MODULE)

Trusted Platform Module is an international standard for a
secure crypto processor, a dedicated microcontroller designed
to secure hardware through integrated cryptographic keys.
The term can also refer to a chip conforming to the standard.

COMPUTER GRAPHICS & GRAPHICS

CARD
A graphics card is an expansion card which generates a
feed of output images to a display device, such as a
computer monitor. Graphics cards are sometimes called
discrete or dedicated graphics cards to emphasize their
distinction to integrated graphics.
 GPU (GRAPHICS PROCESSING UNIT)
CONCEPT
GPU stands for graphics processing unit. You'll also see GPUs
commonly referred to as graphics cards or video cards. Every
PC uses a GPU to render images, video and 2D or 3D
animations for display. A GPU performs quick math
calculations and frees up the CPU to do other things.

DEDICATED GRAPHICS
A dedicated graphics card is a wholly separate processor
from the CPU and has its own dedicated memory.
Dedicated graphics cards deliver better performance but
use more power, cost more money, and they're found
more commonly in desktops than laptops.

INTEGRATED GRAPHICS
Integrated graphics is a GPU built into the processor. Integrated
graphics hardware doesn't use a separate memory bank for
graphics/video. Instead, the GPU uses system memory that is
shared with the CPU.

3D GRAPHICS API:
3D RENDERING
These libraries are designed
explicitly to abstract 3D
graphics hardware for CAD
and video games, with
possible software fallbacks.
 MULTI-CARD SCALING: CROSSFIRE X
Crossfire (also known as Cross FireX) is a brand name for
the multi-GPU technology by Advanced Micro Devices,
originally developed by ATI Technologies. The
technology allows up to four GPUs to be used in a
single computer to improve graphics performance.

SLI (NV LINK)

NV Link is a more advanced form of SLI. It is used to
connect multiple GPUs so that they can work at once.
However, it's a new technology, so it will have
differences compared to SLI. First of all, NV Link can
connect two cards only for consumer space, and up to
16 enterprise cards for enterprise space.

GRAPHICS CARD SLOT

PCI. Peripheral Component Interconnect
slots replaced ISA slots as an expansion
interface standard in the early 1990s. PCI slots
are engineered to allow a card's graphic
processing unit (GPU) to bypass the
computer's CPU entirely when addressing
memory.
USAGE OF THE VARIOUS GRAPHICS CARD IN SPECIALIZED AREA :

A Graphics Card is a piece of computer hardware that produces the image you see
on a monitor. The Graphics Card is responsible for rendering an image to your
monitor; it does this by converting data into a signal your monitor can
understand .
How can I see which graphics card is being used?

1. Click Start and then Control Panel. Select Classic View from the left side of
the window.

2. Double-click NVIDIA Control Panel.

3. Click View and next Display GPU Activity Icon in Notification Area.

4. Click the new icon in the notification area.

HOW GRAPHICS CARD WORKS:

The images we see on our monitor are made of tiny dots called pixels. At most
common resolution settings, a screen displays over a million pixels, and the
computer has to decide what to do with every one in order to create an image. To
do this, it needs a translator -- something to take binary data from
the CPU and turn it into a picture you can see. Unless a computer has graphics
capability built into the motherboard , that translation takes place on
the graphics card.

A graphics card's job is complex, but its principles and components are easy to
understand. In this article, we will look at the basic parts of a video card and
what they do. We'll also examine the factors that work together to make a fast,
efficient graphics card.

The graphics card accomplishes this task using four main components :

 A motherboard connection for data and power

 A processor to decide what to do with each pixel on the screen

 Memory to hold information about each pixel and to temporarily store

completed pictures
  A monitor connection so you can see the final result

1. Mouse & keyboard:

There are two types of keyboard and mouse connectors. First type is called PS/2
and second one is called USB.

2. USB (Universal serial bus):

USB is Universal serial bus. It is used for connection for PC. There
are different devices which is used to connect with USB port such as mouse,
keyboards, scanners, cameras, and even printers’ connector is used to connect
computer motherboard and a peripheral device. You can insert or remove
peripheral device connect by USB connector without restarting your system.

3. Parallel port:
Most of old printers are used to connect by parallel port. Parallel port used more
than one wire for sending or receiving multiple bits of data at once, while serial
port uses only one wire. Parallel ports use a 25-pin female DB connector.

4. CPU Chip:
CPU refers to a processor, the central processing unit; also called the
microprocessor performs all the task that take place inside a computer system. It
is also known as brain of computer.

5. RAM slots:
RAM slots is for attaching RAM on it in general desktop we can see two slot of
RAM but in server motherboard we can see 4+ slot of RAM.RAM comes in different
size(memory).

6. Floppy controller:
In old motherboard the floppy drive connects to the computer via a 34-pin ribbon
cable, one end of ribbon cable is connected to floppy drive and other is connected
to the motherboard.

7. IDE controller:
IDE that is Integrated Drive Electronics , also called as ATA or
Parallel ATA (PATA) . IDE controller is responsible for controlling the hard
drive. Today’s computers no longer come with a IDE controller.

8. PCI slot:
PCI stands for Peripheral Component Interface; PCI slot allows you to insert
expansion cards into your computer. PCI used to connect additional PCI device
like network cards, sound cards, modems, video cards. Some of today’s computers
no longer come with a PCI expansion slot. Its connect audio, video and graphics.

9. ISA slot:
ISA stands for Industry Standard Architecture; It is the standard architecture of
the Expansion bus. Its connect modem and input devices.

10. CMOS Battery:

CMOS is complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor is used to store BIOS setting
in computer motherboard. CMOS Battery also store date and time.

11. AGP slot:

The Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) is a high-speed point-to-
point channel for attaching a video card to a computer system ,
If you have a modern motherboard, you will almost certainly notice a single
connector that looks like a PCI slot. A fast port for a graphics card

12. CPU slot:

The processor socket (also called a CPU socket) is the connector on the
motherboard that connects a CPU.

13. Power supply plug in:

The Power supply provides the necessary electrical power to make the computer
system operate. The power supply takes standard 110-V AC power and converts
into +/-12-Volt, +/-5-Volt, and 3.3-Volt DC power.
The power supply connector has 20-pins, and the connector can go in only one
direction.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

1. PCB stands for_____________ (Printed Circuit Board)
2. In a desktop computer, the board containing micro-processor, RAM and other components
is called________ board(mother).
3. CMOS in motherboard is expanded as________________. (Complementary Metal Oxide
Semiconductor).
4. In motherboard, PATA stands for________________. (Parallel Advanced Technology
Attachment).
5. The Backbone of computer is called_____________. (Motherboard).
6. The main circuit board in the system unit is called____________. (Motherboard).
7. Upgrading the BIOS is also known as ______________. (flashing).
8. Which would you have to update install an IDE drive? (Controller board).
9. The DC voltage on most circuit board is ______. (+5 volts).
10. Where does the motherboard store the keyboard controller support program? (ROM chip).

DESCRIPTIVE QUESTION
1. Described POST beep codes of an IBM system?

The IBM POST beep codes are as follows:

★ 1 short beep: This indicates that the POST was normal without any exceptions.
★ 2 short beeps: This indicates there was an error and the message is displayed on the screen.
★ No beep: Indicates no power or disconnection.
★ Continuous beep: This is indicative of a power supply, motherboard or a keyboard problem.
★ One long one short beep: this is indicative of a problem with the mother / system board.
★ One long two short beeps indicates that there is a problem with the display adapter

2. Tell me what common modern motherboard contain?

The modern motherboards at a minimum contain at least:

★ Sockets: The sockets are used to install the processor.

★ The memory slots where the user can install the main memory for the system.
★ Chipset: The chipset is used as a the interface for communication between the processor, main
memory and the bus.
★ Flash ROM: These store permanents information such as the BIOS, firmware etc.
★ Power connector: The power connector is connected with the SMPS to deliver power to the
components on the motherboard.
★ Expansion slots: The expansion slots are used for various devices to be connected to the
system.
3. Which process of DOS being controlled by Motherboard?

The DOS control can be explained in the following steps:

★ The first step the boot loader loads the boot record to the memory, which is given the control (
boot program ) inside the boot record.
★ This program now check for the IO.SYS and MSDOS.SYS as the first entries.
★ Now the program loads the IO.SYS and is given control.
★ The IO.SYS simply loads the MSDOS.SYS file and starts looking for the CONFIG.SYS file .
★ Finally the MSDOS.SYS file is given control, this file now initializes interrupt vectors and
loads the COMMAND.COM file.
★ Lastly the autoexec.bat file is loaded, executed.

4. Described the characteristics of micro programmed control?

Characteristics of micro programmed control units:

★ These control units are implemented as micro programs of routines.
★ The control unit implemented in micro program is implemented in the form of a CPU inside
another CPU.
★ These types of circuits are simple but comparatively slower.

5. Described characteristics of hardwired control units?

The characteristics of hardwired control units are as follows:

★ Hardwired control units are based on combinational circuits.
★ In these types of systems the inputs and transforms are set into control signals.
★ Theses units are faster and are known to have a more complex structure.

6. Explain multiple LSI's are used in computers list out some of their special purposes?

Some of the purposes for which the LSI are used are as follows:

★ PIC or the programmable interrupt controller.

★ PIT or the programmable interrupt timer.
★ PPI or programmable peripheral interface.
★ CRTC is used for the controlling of the CRT.
★ The floppy disk, hard disk and DMA controller are used for special purposes.
★ The real time calendar or clock is used to organize and sort out things.

7. Described Characteristics of multiprogramming?

★ Multiple programs can be present in the memory at a given time.
★ The resources are dynamically allocated.
★ The size of the memory is larger comparatively.

8. Described characteristics of nonprogramming?

★ Uni programming allows only one program to be present in memory at a time.

★ The resources are provided to the single program that is present in the memory at that time.
★ Since only one program is loaded the size is small as well.

9. List the features of physical addresses?

★ The physical address as the name suggests is the actual location which can be found in the
memory.
★ They are used by the CPU in order to specify the range of addresses.

10. List the features of logical address?

★ The logical address is used by the CPU and is actually a specification.

★ It is used to represent the size of the CPU address register size.

11. Explain the motherboard supported feature USB?

USB: Usb ports are also present on the motherboard that allows the user to connect various
external devices.

12. Explain the motherboard supported feature Sound card?

Sound card: Most motherboards these days are preinstalled with a 8 channel audio chip.

13. Explain the motherboard supported feature Ethernet network controller?

Ethernet network controller: The motherboards also come preinstalled with a LAN port for
networking purposes.

14. Explain the motherboard supported feature Integrated graphics?

Integrated graphics: Most budget motherboards come with a GPU installed on it that supports
VGA / HDMI and DVI out.

15. Explain the motherboard supported feature Controllers?

Controllers: Disk controllers are present on the motherboards that can be used to manage floppy
drives and SATA / PATA hard disk drives.

16. Which features that are supported by the motherboard?

★ Controllers
★ Integrated graphics
★ Sound card
★ Ethernet network controller
★ USB

17. Explain primary functions of the motherboard?

Some of the prime functions of a computer motherboard are as follows:

★ The motherboard acts as the central backbone of a computer on which other modular parts are
installed such as the CPU, RAM and hard disks.
★ The motherboard also acts as the platform on which various expansion slots are available to
install other devices / interfaces.
★ The motherboard is also responsible to distribute power to the various components of the
computer.
★ They are also used in the coordination of the various devices in the computer and maintain an
interface among them.

18. Which primary checks that are performed by POST?

★ The CPU registers are verified.

★ The BIOS code integrity is checked.
★ The basic components such as the DMA, timer etc are checked.
★ The system memory is verified and checked.
★ All the system buses are discovered, cataloged and executed, activated.
★ BIOS is initialized after it.
★ Ready the environment that is required by the OS to function.

19. Explain POST?

POST or the power on self test is a routine that is executed immediately once the system is
powered on. It is only after POST that a system allows the bootstrap loader to be initialized. The
POST is performed to ensure that the system peripherals are connected and functioning and there
are no compatibility issues.

20. Can you list out areas where there has been improvements in the PC design area?

PC design has greatly improved in the last decade primarily in these areas:
★ Microprocessor:
Today a normal desktop PC can have processors which have exceeded 3gHz limits and can have
more than one physical core.
★ Peripherals:
The list of devices that can be connected to the computer via various ports have increased.
★ Hardware components:
The level of components that are being used have also increased in complexity.
★ OS:
The operating systems being used today have also greatly improved supporting more higher
hardware specifications.
★ Layouts:
The layouts and modules being used for computers have also greatly improved.

21. Explain the difference between primary and secondary storage device?

In primary storage device the storage capacity is limited. It has a volatile memory. In secondary
storage device the storage capacity is larger. It is a nonvolatile memory. Primary devices are:
RAM / ROM. Secondary devices are: Floppy disc / Hard disk.

Primary storage device is Ram where the instructions are stored for temporary and secondry
storage is hard disk floppy cds etc.

22. What is Computer motherboard?

If you open your computers case, the motherboard is the flat, rectangular piece of circuit board to
which everything seems to connect to for one reason or another.

Its the circuit board which contain processor,north bridge&south bridge and slots.

23. Explain a Microprocessor?

Microprocessor is a program-controlled device, which fetches the instructions from memory,

decodes and executes the instructions. Most Micro Processor are single- chip devices.

A single chip CPU is called as Microprocessor.The CPU is made of two units namely the
Arithmetic and Logic Unit and the Control Unit.It performs functions like executing the
instructions given by the user program, controlling the I/O operations and the functions of
peripheral devices

24. Design a 2-bit magnitude comparator and write its RTL description also?
8-bit Processor - 8085 / Z80 / 6800; 16-bit Processor - 8086 / 68000 / Z8000; 32-bit Processor -
80386 / 80486.

25. Explain the difference between RAM and ROM?

RAM: Read / Write memory, High Speed, Volatile Memory. ROM: Read only memory, Low
Speed, Non Voliate Memory.

RAM- Random Access memory it is a Volatile Memory

volatile mean= when power is off data is loss ok
ROM- read only memory it is a non-volatile memory
it is read only memory we don't write this memory only read

26. What is cache memory on Motherboard?

Cache memory is a small high-speed memory. It is used for temporary storage of data &
information between the main memory and the CPU (center processing unit). The cache memory
is only in RAM.

27. Explain Examples for 8 / 16 / 32 bit Microprocessor?

8-bit Processor - 8085 / Z80 / 6800; 16-bit Processor - 8086 / 68000 / Z8000; 32-bit Processor -
80386 / 80486.

28. why we know that this motherboard is correct on this condition that computer is no
display?

if ram is not working then we can change it and check that display if display not comes then we
can say that it has problem with motherboard
first check in smps he will work right then check ram, ram is out in side slot then ruff the earesar
ram is work in ok then check is cmos battery then last check is power cable and vga cable he will
work ok then replace the motherboard.

29. Explain What are Motherboard Components?

It contains the following key components:<br>1.A microprocessor "socket" which defines what
kind of central processing unit the motherboard uses.<br>2.A chipset which forms the
computer's logic system. It is usually composed of two parts called bridges (a "north" bridge and
its opposite, "south" bridge), which connects the CPU to the rest of the system;<br>3.A Basic
Input/Output System (BIOS) chip which controls the most basic function of a computer, and how
to repair it; and<br>4.A real-time clock which is a battery-operated chip which maintains the
system's time, and other basic functions. <br><br>The motherboard also has slots or ports for the
attachment of various peripherals or support system/hardware. There is an Accelerated Graphics
Port, which is used exclusively for video cards; Integrated Drive Electronics, which provides the
interfaces for the hard disk drives; Memory or RAM cards; and Peripheral Component
Interconnect (PCI), which provides electronic connections for video capture cards and network
cards, among others.

motherboard components are hdd,memory,processor,graphic card,net card,BIOS chip.

30. Explain How to clear Computer Motherboard CMOS password?

To clear Computer Motherboard CMOS password we will do these steps. Since CMOS is a
special chip with its own battery, the best way to clear out a CMOS chip is to disconnect it from
its power supply.

To clear the CMOS password you just remove the CMOS Battery or else you can also use a
jumper settings