Study Material

 What Is Booting Sequence?

 What is POST & No Post situation?

When power is turned on, POST (Power-On Self-Test) is the diagnostic testing sequence that a
computer's basic input/output system (or "starting program") runs to determine if the computer
keyboard, random access memory, disk drives, and other hardware are working correctly.
In Post Computer Checks all its important User and Boot Components which are essential for
Booting, User interface and storage purpose.
The main components which causes the No post are listed below, if any of these components fails
the Power on self-test during the Diagnostic process it will cause No post and Computer start
Beeping.
a.i. Memory (which include RAM and ROM)
a.ii. CPU (Which Include Mother Board and BIOS (Include all Peripheral device like
Keyboard mouse USB DVD pen drive and other input and output devices))
a.iii. Video Compatibility/ Video Adaptor
If any of them fails to pass Post, this will create a No POST situation.
 What is BIOS?
A set of computer instructions in firmware (Software and Hardware) which control input and output
operations.
Short for Basic Input/output System, the BIOS is a ROM chip located on all motherboards that
allows you to access and set up your computer system at the most basic level.
 To reach BIOS Press F1 or F2 or Dell/Esc Key as soon as you see a manufacturer window

 What is CMOS Battery and why it is used in BIOS?

A battery that maintains the time, date, hard disk and other configuration settings in the CMOS
memory. CMOS batteries are small and are attached directly to the motherboard.

 What is Advance Boot Option and Safe mode?

The Advanced Boot Options screen lets you start Windows in
advanced troubleshooting modes. You can access the menu by turning on your
computer and pressing the F8 key before Windows starts.

Safe mode is a troubleshooting option for Windows that starts your computer in a limited
state. Only the basic files and drivers necessary to run Windows are started.
Safe Mode with Networking starts Windows using the most basic drivers that are
required to get Windows to run. It will not start any programs automatically, but will start
the networking subsystem so that you can access the Internet.
Safe Mode with Command Prompt. Starts Windows in safe mode with a command
prompt window instead of the usual Windows interface. This option is intended for IT
professionals and administrators.
Last Known Good Configuration, or LKGC for short, is a way in which you can start
Windows 7 if you're having trouble starting it normally.
What is System Restore and Recovery Option?
 What is the difference between "recover" and "restore?"

The terms "recover" and "restore" both refer to retrieving files from a backup device, such as a hard
disk, external hard drive or other storage media. However, recovering files typically refers to
salvaging one or more files, while a restore usually refers replacing a complete system or hard drive
from a full system backup.
Important
Then there are times when an entire hard drive crashes and stops functioning or the system directory
becomes corrupt and the computer cannot boot up. In these desperate times, a full hard disk restore or
system restore may be necessary. A hard disk restore can be done using a backup program, which copies
every file from the backup to the original disk exactly, essentially duplicating the hard disk. Some backup
programs copy a "disk image," or exact binary copy of a hard disk from one the backup drive to the
original hard drive.
A system restore can typically be done using the original operating system installation disc(s). A fresh
operating system can be installed from the CD/DVD that came with the computer, ensuring there are no
problems with the system. While this gives your computer a fresh start, it does not replace the personal
data you had previously saved on your hard drive. These files will have to manually be copied back to the
new hard drive from a backup device.

What should I do If I am facing a No boot Situation ( or When my hard disk is Crashed}

All you have to do is to look for reinstallation of the Operating system with External Image or a
backup device or do a parallel Installation.
 What is Virtual Memory?
Virtual memory is a feature of an operating system (OS) that allows a computer to compensate
for shortages of physical memory by temporarily transferring pages of data from random
access memory (RAM) to disk storage.
In Simple words: Virtual memory in computer is generally referred to the space that is been
created on Hard drive which Act as similar as RAM in performance. Its Stores the Paging file of
ram and help RAM o execute more and perform faster.
Virtual memory is created by the Operating system only, we can increase the Virtual memory by
Disk Clean up or deleting the unwanted files from the computer.
We can Manually Increase the size and allocate a particular Drive for Virtual memory.
  What is NTFS and FAT file system type?
They both are basically the file system, and are technique of storage or portioning the storage device.
Basically through these techniques we decide how we want to store the data on our storage device.

Some Random Facts

  Fat 16 was developed in 1981 for dos

 Fat 16 was designed to handle floppies

 Fat 32 is an extension of Fat 16

 Fat 32 introduced in service pack 2 of Windows 95

 Operating systems may recognise Fat16, but not Fat 32 (Win NT)

 You can go from FAT to NTFS but not the other way around

 FAT = File Allocation Table

 NTFS = New Technology File System

Comparison between NTFS and FAT

NTFS FAT 16/32

 Default File system In Windows XP, 2k and NT  Fat 16 not compatible with XP, FAT is more

 Support For Drives over 40gb, Files over GB compatible with other operating

Systems( Windows 95, etc)

 Allows extended file names, foreign characters
 FAT 16 has 8.3 character limitation
 Has a severely crippled maintenance system in
 Has better, more and interactive recovery utilities
chkdsk
(scandisk)
 Chkdsk is notoriously slow
 Scandisk is very quick
 Increased security with file encryption
 Just a space for the OS to read files
 Smaller file clusters, 4kb
 Faster on drives less than 10gb
 Compression to reduce disk space
 FAT 16 Partition size is 32kb
 User permissions for files and folders
 Cluster chains containing data from interrupted
 File copies are “undone” if interrupted, Partition copies are marked as damaged

chains is cleaned  Master File Table are separate from files

 Small files are kept in Master File Table at the

beginning of the drive

 Not compatible with different operating systems

on the same computer

 What are Plug and Play Devices?

Any device which is ready for Use immediately after connecting and does not require any installation
process is called Plug and Play device.

 What is 32 Bit and 64 Bit Process? Can 32 Bit process support more than 4 GB of RAM?
32 Bit and 42 Bit processor are the Different Types of processor which are using Basis their
Technology and speed factor. In simple words 64 Bit Process has more Input and Output Ports and
can share/ Transfer/Store more Memory as compared to 32 Bit Process.
No 32 Bit process has limitation and can only support 4 GB of RAM, and if we use more than 8 GB
of RAM with 32 GB it will show and use 4 GB only and remaining would be of no use.
 What is GUI?
In computer science, a graphical user interface or GUI, is a type of interface that allows users to
interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and visual indicators such as secondary
notation, as opposed to text-based interfaces, typed command labels or text navigation.
The graphical representation which we can see on screen for various instruction is called as graphical
user Inter face.

 What Is BSOD is?

A blue screen of death is the worst type of error a computer can experience, unlike an application
crash, which doesn't bring down the whole system. A BSOD is the result of low-level software
crashing — or faulty hardware.
  What is A Device manager is?

The Device Manager is a Control Panel applet in Microsoft Windows operating systems. It allows users
to view and control the hardware attached to the computer. When a piece of hardware is not working, the
offending hardware is highlighted for the user to deal with.
  When we just Turn ON our system and we get some running application. What are these
application and how we can Stop then?
These are generally the Startup Files

The more software you install on your computer, the longer it may seem to take to start up Windows.
Many programs add themselves to the list of programs started when you boot your computer, and that list
can get long.

How to Disable Startup Programs in Windows

Disabling Startup Programs in Windows 7, Vista, or XP

For some programs, it’s smart to have them start with Windows, such as anti-virus and firewall software.
However, for most programs, starting them at boot-up just wastes resources and extends startup time.
There is a tool installed with Windows, called MSConfig that allows you to quickly and easily see what’s
running at startup and disable the programs you prefer to run on our own after startup as needed. This tool
is available and can be used to disable startup programs in Windows 7, Vista, and XP.

NOTE: MSConfig can be used to configure several things other than just startup programs, so be careful
what you do with it. If you’re not sure about using it, just follow the steps in this article and you should be
fine.

To run MSConfig, open the Start menu and type “msconfig.exe” (without the quotes) in the Search box.
As you type, results display. When you see “msconfig.exe,” click on it or press Enter, if it is highlighted.

NOTE: If you are using Windows XP, open the Run dialog box from the Start menu, type “msconfig.exe”
in the Open edit box, and click OK
  Slow PC problem and its causes?

 RAM

Generally Slow PC is because of the Less RAM and Running Application which continuously occupy and

Use more RAM, all you have to check the Virtual Memory by following below commands.

Look for the available virtual Go to Run Command, type systeminfo, and try increasing you virtual

memory by Disk clean up or manual increase the virtual memory. For Virtual Memory Read Above or

follow the below steps.

Go to Advance option in system properties and click on setting to increase the Virtual memory manually.

 Too many programs running

By far the number one reason machines slowdown is that there’s simply too much software running.

Go to Task manager and close all unwanted programs.

Note that. Installed software just takes up space on your hard disk. Running software, on the other hand,

uses RAM, uses your CPU, and at times can use disk and network resources as well.

Many programs that you do want install components that start automatically when you start Windows,

whether you need or want those components or not. Unfortunately that means that they’re typically

always running, stealing resources like CPU and RAM away from the programs that you do want to run.

 Review what’s getting started automatically in MSConfig’s Startup tab (Start -> Run ->

MSConfig), or in Windows 8’s Task Manger’s Startup tab. Review each entry to confirm that you

really need it.