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Motherboards

The motherboard is the main circuit board in a computer that houses the CPU and connects all other devices. The most popular motherboard types are AT and ATX, with ATX being more advanced with more features. Selection of the motherboard determines the capabilities of the system. Components on the motherboard include the CPU, chipset, RAM, expansion slots, and connections for power and other devices. Troubleshooting motherboard issues involves identifying symptoms like failures to boot or intermittent problems to determine if the issue is catastrophic, a component failure, or more difficult to diagnose ethereal symptoms.

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233 views29 pages

Motherboards

The motherboard is the main circuit board in a computer that houses the CPU and connects all other devices. The most popular motherboard types are AT and ATX, with ATX being more advanced with more features. Selection of the motherboard determines the capabilities of the system. Components on the motherboard include the CPU, chipset, RAM, expansion slots, and connections for power and other devices. Troubleshooting motherboard issues involves identifying symptoms like failures to boot or intermittent problems to determine if the issue is catastrophic, a component failure, or more difficult to diagnose ethereal symptoms.

Uploaded by

lynnlahloh
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Motherboard

Motherboards

House the CPU


Allow devices to communicate with it
and each other
Most popular: AT and ATX
ATX
More power-management features
Support faster systems
Easier to install

Selection of motherboard determines


capabilities and limitations of the system

Motherboard
Components

Processing

CPU (most
important)
Chip set

Traces
Expansion slots
System clock

Temporary storage
RAM
Cache memory

Electrical system
Power supply
connections

Communication
with other devices

Programming/setu
p data
Flash ROM
CMOS setup chip

The Motherboard

The Motherboard
(continued)

The Motherboard
(continued)

The CPU

About CPU

The Chip Set

Controls most activities on the


motherboard

Includes several device controllers


USB controller
Memory controller
IDE controller

The Chip Set (continued)

Typical ATX
Motherboard

Form Factors

Form factors are industry


standardized shapes and layouts
that enable motherboards to work
with cases and power supplies

Type Of Motherboards
AT Form Factor

Invented by IBM in the early


1980s, was the predominant
Form factor for motherboards
through the mid-1990s. AT is now
obsolete
The AT type of motherboard had a
large keyboard plug in the same
relative spot on the motherboard

Type Of Motherboards
AT Form Factor

Type Of Motherboards
AT Form Factor

Typical AT
Motherboard

Type Of Motherboards
ATX Form Factor

ATX form factor includes many improvements


over AT
The position of the power supply enables better air
movement
The CPU and RAM are placed to enable easier access
Placement of RAM closer to the CPU than on AT
boards offer users enhanced performance as well
The shorter the wires, the easier to shield them and
make them capable of handling double or quadruple
the clock speed of the motherboard
ATX motherboards use a feature called soft power.
This means that they can use software to turn the PC
on and off

Type Of MotherBoards
micro ATX Form Factor

About 30 percent smaller than standard ATX, yet still


uses the standard ATX connections
A micro ATX motherboard fits into a standard ATX case
or in the much smaller micro ATX cases

Type Of MotherBoards
BTX Form Factor

Balanced Technology eXtended


BTX form factor
defines three subtypes:

standard BTX, microBTX, and picoBTX,


replace ATX, microATX, and FlexATX

Created to provide better ventilation

BTX standard is designed to improve cooling


BTX cases vent in cool air from the front and warm air out the back
CPUs are moved to the front of the motherboard so they get cool
air coming in from the front of the case
BTX defines a special heat sink and fan assembly called the
thermal unit
The thermal units fan blows the hot CPU air directly out the back
of the case, as opposed to the ATX method of just blowing the air
into the case

Chipset

Every motherboard has a chipset


Controls most activities on the
motherboard
Chipset determines
The type of processor the motherboard
accepts
The type and capacity of RAM
What sort of internal and external devices
the motherboard supports

Chipset

Chipset

Choosing the
Motherboard and Case

Firstly ,
What motherboard you need
What CPU are you using?
Will the motherboard work with that CPU

Choose a motherboard that works with much


higher speeds than the CPU you can afford; that
way you can upgrade later

How much RAM do you intend to install?

Are extra RAM sockets available for future


upgrades?

Choosing the
Motherboard and Case

Secondly,

Make sure youre getting a form factor that works


with your case

Dont try to put a regular ATX motherboard into a


micro ATX case!

Third ,

All motherboards come with a technical manual,


better known as the motherboard book

You must have this book!


only source for all of the critical information about the
motherboard
If you set up CPU or RAM timings incorrectly in
CMOS, for example, and you have a dead PC, where
would you find the CMOS clear jumper? Where do you
plug in the speaker?
Even if you let someone else install the motherboard,
insist on the motherboard book; you will need it

Choosing the
Motherboard and Case

Fourth, pick your case carefully.


Cases come in six basic sizes:

Slimline
Desktop
Mini-tower
Mid-tower
Tower
Cube

Slimline and desktop models

Generally sit on the desk, beneath the monitor


The various tower cases usually occupy a bit of floor space next
to the desk

The mini-tower and mid-tower cases are the most popular


choices
Make sure you get a case that will fit your motherboard
many microATX and all FlexATX cases are too small for a
regular ATX motherboard
Cube cases generally require a specific motherboard, so be
prepared to buy both pieces at once

Installing the
EXAM TIP The CompTIA A+ Essentials exam will test you
Motherboard
on the basics of installing a motherboard, so you need to
know this section!

Replacing a motherboard
First remove the old motherboard
Begin by removing all the cards
Also remove anything else that might impede
removal or installation of the motherboard, such as
hard or floppy drives
Keep track of your screwsthe best idea is to return
the screws to their mounting holes temporarily, at
least until you can reinstall the parts
Sometimes even the power supply has to be
removed temporarily to enable access to the
motherboard
Document the position of the little wires for the
speaker, power switch, and reset button in case you
need to reinstall them

Installing the
Motherboard

Wires, Wires, Wires

The last, and often the most frustrating, part of


motherboard installation is connecting the LEDs,
buttons, and front-mounted ports on the front of the
box. These usually include the following:

Soft power
Reset button
Speaker
Hard drive activity LED
Power LED
USB
FireWire
Sound

These wires have specific pin connections to the


motherboard. Although you can refer to the
motherboard book for their location, usually a quick
inspection of the motherboard will suffice for an
experienced tech

Troubleshooting
Motherboards

Motherboards and motherboard


components can fail from many
causes:
Time, dust, cat hair, or simply slight
manufacturing defects

Symptoms

Motherboard failures commonly fall into three types:


Catastrophic, Component, and Ethereal

With a catastrophic failure, the PC just wont boot. This sort of


problem happens with brand-new systems due to manufacturing
defectsoften called a burn-in failure and to any system that
gets a shock of electrostatic discharge. Burn-in failure is
uncommon, but usually happens in the first 30 days of use

Swap out the motherboard for a replacement and you should be fine.

If you accidentally zap your motherboard when inserting a card


or moving wires around, be chagrined
Change your daring ways and wear an anti-static wrist strap!

Component failure happens rarely, but appears as flaky


connections between a device and motherboard, or as
intermittent problems

A hard drive plugged into a faulty controller on the motherboard, for


example, might show up in CMOS auto detect, but be inaccessible in
Windows
A serial controller that worked fine for months until a big storm took
out the external modem hooked to it, but doesnt work anymore,
even with a replacement modem, is another example

Symptoms

Most difficult of the three types of symptoms


to diagnose are those I call ethereal
symptoms
Stuff just doesnt work all the time

The PC reboots itself


You get blue screens of death in the midst of heavy
computing

What can cause such symptoms?

Faulty component
Buggy device driver
Buggy application software
Slight corruption of the operating system
Power supply problems

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