Computer Motherboards

Computer Motherboards
computer.

are

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important

part

of

the

Definition of a motherboard: A motherboard is the mother

to all the computer parts. In other words, everything in a
computer connects to the motherboard.

A computer motherboard (also known as the mainboard) is

one of the most crucial components of a computer.
As the name suggests, a motherboard is the mother to all the
other parts. In other words, everything in a computer
connects to the motherboard. A motherboard (mobo) is the
primary circuit board in a computer.
Motherboard (the mother to all the other components)
A typical motherboard has attachment points for all the
common components in a computer. These are the Power
Supply, CPU (Central Processing Unit), hard drive, RAM
(Random Access Memory), graphics card, CD drive and other
peripheral devices such as sound cards, network cards etc.

Different Motherboard Components

CPU Socket
CMOS Slot
BIOS Chip
Memory Slots
Power Connectors
IDE Connectors
SATA Connectors
CMOS Battery
BUS Slots
AGP Graphics Slot
PCI-Express Graphics Slot
PCI Slots
Chipset
North Bridge
South Bridge
FDC Floppy Disk Connectors
Built-in Ports

CPU Socket / CPU Slot

A CPU socket is a connector built into the motherboard where
the CPU (central processing unit) goes. Most motherboards
use the PGA (Pin Grid Array) architecture which means that
there is a grid of holes, in which a particular CPU's pins will fit
into.

CPU Sockets

Socket
Slot 1

Pin
Count
242

CPU Processors

Frequency
Mhz)

Intel Celeron, Pentium II, Pentium III

233-1133
75-570
300-1400

Socket 7

321

AMD K5 / K6 / K6-2 / K6-III

Cyrix 6x86, 6x86L, 6x86MX, MII
Intel Pentium, Pentium MMX

Socket 370

370

Intel Celeron, Pentium III

VIA C3

Socket 462 /
462
Socket A

AMD Duron, Sempron,Athlon, Athlon XP, Athlon MP,

550-3200
Mobile Duron, Mobile Athlon, Athlon 4,Athlon XP-M

Socket 423

423

Intel Pentium 4

1300-2000

Socket 478

478

Intel Celeron, Celeron D,Pentium 4, Mobile Pentium

4-M, Mobile Pentium 4

1400-3466

Socket 775

775

Intel Celeron D, PentiumDual-Core, Pentium 4,

Pentium 4 Extreme Edition, Pentium D, Core 2
Duo,Core 2 Quad, Core 2 Extreme

1600-3800

Socket 939

939

AMD Sempron, Athlon 64,Athlon 64 X2, Athlon 64

FX, Opteron, Dual-Core Opteron

1800-3000

CPU Sockets

Socket

Pin
Count

CPU Processors

Frequency
Mhz)

Socket
AM2

940

AMD Athlon 64 /AMD Athlon 64 X2

200
1000MHz

Socket AM2+

940

AMD Athlon 64 / AMD Athlon X2 /

AMD Phenom / AMD Phenom II

200
2600MHz

Socket
AM3
Socket
AM3+
Socket
1152/
Socket B

940/94 AMD Phenom II / AMD Athlon II

AMD Sempron
1

Socket
G1/G2

200
3200MHz

942

AMD FX / Bulldozer (microarchitecture)

1366

Intel Core i7 (900 series)

Intel Xeon (35xx, 36xx, 55xx, 56xx series)

4.8-6.4 GT/s

988

ntel Core i7 (600, 700, 800, 900 series)

Intel Core i5 (400, 500 series)
Intel Core i3 (300 series)
Intel Pentium (P6000 series)
Intel Celeron (P4000 series)

2.5GT/s,
4.8GT/s

Intel Sandy Bridge B2

4.8-6.4 GT/s

LGA 2011/
2011
Socket R

CMOS
CMOS-(Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor).
It is a little bit of memory that remembers all the BIOS
settings, so that your computer won't have to be configured
each time you turn your pc on.

CMOS battery powers the CMOS Memory so that all this data
won't be lost. So when your computer is off and even when it
is unplugged and moved, all the basic settings are saved
allowing for a safe fast boot.

Master Boot Record (MBR)

The Master Boot Record (MBR) is a small program that starts
when the computer is booting, in order to find the operating
system (eg. Windows XP). This complicated process (called
the Boot Proces) starts with the POST (Power On Self Test)
and ends when the Bios searches for the MBR on the
Hard Drive, which is generally located in the first sector, first
head, first cylinder (cylinder 0, head 0, sector 1).

The bios will search for the MBR in a few places such as the
hard drive, floppy drive, cd/dvd and USB and the order of
what is searched can be changed in the CMOS.
Once the bios has found the Master Boot Record then the
computer transfers control over to the MBR, which then
proceeds to load the operating system. You can create the
MBR with Windows/Dos with the command FDISK/MBR.
The Master Boot Record was specifically targeted by viruses
early on. A virus in your MBR was fatal to the computer and
involved a lot of work for the user to fix the MBR.

Computer Bios
(Basic Input/Output System) is to identify and make sure
that the major computer components such as the CPU,
Hard Drive and Optical Drives. This prepares the computer for
major functions operated by software, such as the booting of
an Operating System from a hard drive, cd/dvd, floppy or
USB.
The Bios contains code needed to run the keyboard, screen,
disk drives and other functions. It is typically stored on the
ROM (Read Only Memory) Bios, which means that if the
computer suffers a major catastrophe (such as a broken CPU,
or dead hard drive) then the Bios information remains
unharmed and the computer will still be able to function after
these components are replaced.

Boot Process
The boot process is something that happens every time you
turn your computer on. You don't really see it, because it
happens so fast. You press the power button come back a few
minutes later and Windows XP, or Windows Vista, or whatever
Operating System you use is all loaded.
The first step your computer does when you press the power
button, is to turn the Computer Power Supply on. Once a
'Power Good' signal is sent to the motherboard, the CPU then
(understanding that the power supply is stable) looks for the
ROM bios.

The CPU looks to the ROM bios for the first instruction, and
the first instruction is to run the POST (Power-On-Self-Test).
The POST first checks the bios and then tests the CMOS
RAM. If there is no problems with this then POST continues to
check the CPU, hardware devices such as the Video Card, the
secondary storage devices such as the Hard Drive, Floppy
Drives, Zip Drive or CD/DVD Drives.
If there are any errors found then an error message is
displayed on screen or a number of beeps are heard. These
beeps are known as POST beep codes. The reason the
computer sometimes uses beep codes instead of displaying an
error message is because the video card has not yet been
initiated or there may be an error with the card.
Next the bios finds the video card and runs the video card's
bios. This usually is the first thing that modern machines
display on the screen. After that the computer looks at the
other devices and runs their bios' if they have one.

The bios then displays the system configuration.

During the display more tests are conducted including the
test that shows your computer testing the memory. If there
are any problems found from now on they will be displayed in
a text message on the screen.
After that the bios searches for something that it can boot
from. This can be set in the CMOS under boot sequence. It
can be set to the A: Drive (Floppy) C: (Hard Drive, Primary
Partition) D: (CD/DVD Drive) or others such as the USB drive
or network card (depending on the bios).
Once the target boot device has been selected the bios will
search for the Master Boot Record (MBR). If it is searching for
a hard drive it looks at cylinder 0, head 0, sector 1.
Once a valid volume boot sector is found the bios has done
its job and hands over control to the Operating System that
completes the booting process. It will also conduct a few
hardware tests.

If no valid boot record is found the computer will display an

error such as the following:
Non-System Disk or disk error
Replace and press any key when ready
If a valid boot record is found but it cannot read the Master
Boot Record then the computer will display a message such
as:
Disk boot failure, insert system disk and press enter

Power On Self Test (POST)

The Power On Self Test happens each time you turn your computer
on. It sounds complicated and that's because it kind of is. Your
computer does so much when its turned on and this is just part of
that.
The POST is an automated test that is controlled by the Bios. It
happens during the boot process. The first step of the POST, which is
operated by the Bios, is to verify the Bios code.
After it has completed that, the POST then continues to check all the
computer hardware. If there are no errors the POST will proceed very
quickly. However if any errors are found, these will be displayed via
an error message, or if the video hasn't been turned on, or if there is
some error in it, then the computer will make a number of beeps.
These are known as the POST beep codes.
The computer may make one or two beeps on start-up anyway,
however these are normal. It is only when the beep continues and
your computer does not start up correctly. Then you may have
problems.

BIOS Setup Utility

The computer BIOS setup utility (also known as the CMOS
setup) is the place where you can change a few basic
computer hardware settings. The BIOS and CMOS often get
confused but there is quite a difference.
The BIOS contains all the settings and the CMOS memory is a
piece of RAM that remembers all the info.
In the case of many computers pressing delete or F10 in the
booting process will bring you to the BIOS setup utility. If
these don't work, then your computer will specify on start-up
such as (press ******* to enter setup) or it will be mentioned
in your manual. There is no harm in looking at the setup, so
find your key and have a look (just make sure you don't save
on exit).

When your in the setup, you can change many options. You
can change the order of booting, which device do you want
the computer to boot to etc. You can decide whether to
disable particular devices (such as onboard sound or network
cards). You can change the date or time and you can also
reset the CMOS back to factory settings. This will return the
BIOS back to default, which isn't the greatest idea in the
world unless you know what your doing.
The settings in the BIOS depend on each manufacturer.

How to Reset the BIOS Password?

So how do you reset the BIOS password? This page will show
you how. In theBIOS setup is where your BIOS password
would of been created. You have either forgotten the
password, or someone gave you the computer and now you
can't open yourBIOSto edit some options.

So what do you do?

Reset the BIOS Password! Resetting the BIOS password is

actually easier then it sounds. Basically you have two options.
You can take out theCMOS battery(which remembers the
BIOS information) or in more modern machines you can move
a little jumper on the motherboard which is mostly called
Clear CMOS, or reset BIOS to defaults or something.

1. Take the CMOS Battery Out

Firstly we will look at the CMOS battery way, which is the way
all the oldies had to do it. First, shut down your computer and
remove the power cable. Then open up the computer and
then locate the CMOS battery on yourmotherboard.

Next you will need to press in the little metal side in and flick the
battery out. Leave the battery out for 20 - 30 minutes. Then re-insert
your battery, plug in the power cable, and turn your computer on.

Press the key to enter your BIOS setup and then proceed to setup
your BIOS accordingly.
Now for the second option in resetting the BIOS password. This
option is a lot quicker then the first.
2. Use the Clear CMOS Jumper
First you will need to shut down your computer, take out the power
cable and open up your pc. Then you need to look on your
motherboard, for a few pins with a jumper on them. Don't just take
out random jumpers make sure you find the right one.

Remember not every motherboard will have the pins. Hopefully you
can find some clear CMOS pins that look something like the picture
below. This picture below is a really zoomed in picture of the one
above (you can see the CMOS battery on the right there).

Can you see the small text on the motherboard explaining the
clear CMOS jumper. It says: 1-2 Normal, 2-3 CLEAR CMOS.
That means if you leave the jumper on pins 1-2 then the BIOS
information will still be remembered. But if you change the pin
to 2-3 then all the BIOS information is cleared and forgotten.

So if you want to reset the BIOS password just place the

jumper on pins 2-3 for about 1 minute then place it back on
pins 1-2 and the process of resetting your bios is complete.

BUS SLOT - This is where we insert additional peripheral devices.

Such as: LAN, WIFI, SOUND, TV TUNER, BLUETOOTH,
VIDEO CARD

AGP Graphics Slot

So What is the AGP Graphics Slot?

So just what exactly is an AGP graphics slot? The initials AGP are an
abbreviation of the term Accelerated Graphics Port, which is the
commonly used term for describing a specific point to point video card
interface that is used to connect the card to your computers
processor and memory.

TheAGP Graphics Slotis most commonly used for video

games that require their graphics to be sent with a data
stream and calculated, as opposed to simply passing through
your computer like a TV signal does. Many serious video game
players prefer playing with the advanced graphics offered by
specialized graphic cards, which are connected to the
computers motherboard.

These graphics cards have their own, separate processors

which are used just for decoding and generating videos, and
so they are capable of creating graphic images of a much
higher resolution than standard graphic chips that rely on the
CPU for processing graphics output.

Memory Slots
Memory slots also call memory banks are for Random Access
Memory modules (RAM). Each memory bank can receives a
RAM module designed for a specific pc mother board. Ranging
from 2 to 4 banks, you will encounter single and dual-channel
technologies.

With single-channel, you can use 1, 2 or 3 Ram modules, and

it should work perfectly. On the other hand, with dual-channel
technology, if you fill only 1 bank, you will lose some strength
from your module.

COMPUTER MEMORY - In computing, memory refers to the

physical devices used to store programs (sequences of instructions)
or data (e.g. program state information) on a
temporary or
permanent basis for use in a computer or other digital electronic
device. The term primary memory is used for
the information in
physical systems which are fast (i.e. RAM),
as a distinction from
secondary memory,
which
are
physical
devices
for
program and data storage which are slow to access
but offer
higher memory capacity. Primary memory stored on
secondary
memory is called "virtual memory".
Computer Memory Types

VOLATILE
Volatile memory, also known as volatile storage, is
computer memory that requires power to maintain the stored
information, in other words it needs power to reach the computer
memory. Volatile memory retains the information as long as power
supply is on, but when power supply is off or interrupted the stored
memory is lost.

Computer Memory Types (

VOLATILE )

1.RAM -Random access memory is a form of

computer data storage. Today, it takes the form of
integrated circuits that allow stored data to be accessed in
any order with a worst case performance of constant time.
a.) DRAM - Dynamic random-access memory is
a type of random-access memory that stores each bit of
data in a separate capacitor within an integrated circuit.
The capacitor can be either charged or discharged; these
two states are taken to represent the two values of a bit,
conventionally called 0 and 1. Since capacitors leak
charge, the information eventually fades unless the
capacitor charge is refreshed periodically. Because of this
refresh requirement, it is a dynamic memory as opposed to
SRAM and other static memory.

Computer Memory Types

NON-VOLATILE
Non-volatile memory is computer memory that can retain
the stored information even when not powered. Examples
of non-volatile memory include read-only memory,
flash memory, ferroelectric RAM (F-RAM), most types of
magnetic computer storage devices (e.g. hard disks,
floppy disks, and magnetic tape), optical discs, and early
computer storage methods such as paper tape and
punched cards.

Types of Memory Modules

1. SIPP - A SIPP or single in-line pin package was a type of
random access memory.
It consisted of a small printed circuit board upon which were mounted a
number of memory chips. It had 30 pins along one edge which mated
with matching holes in the motherboard of the computer.
This type of memory was used in 80286 and some 80386 systems. It
was later replaced by SIMMs, which proved to be easier to install.
30-pin SIPP modules were pin compatible with 30-pin SIMM modules
explaining why some SIPP modules were in fact SIMM modules with
pins soldered onto the connectors.

2. SIMM A SIMM, or single in-line memory module, is a type of

memory module containing random access memory used in
computers from the early 1980s to the late 1990s.
The first variant of SIMMs has 30 pins and provides 8 bits of data
(plus a 9th error-detection bit in parity SIMMs). They were used in
AT (286), 386, 486, Macintosh Plus, Macintosh II, Quadra,
Atari STE and Wang VS systems.

Types of Memory Modules

3. DIMM - A DIMM or dual in-line memory module, comprises a
series of dynamic random-access memory integrated circuits. These
modules are mounted on a printed circuit board and designed for use
in personal computers, workstations and servers. DIMMs began to
replace SIMMs (single in-line memory modules) as the predominant
type of memory module as Intel P5-based Pentium processors began
to gain market share.

Types of Memory Modules

4. RIMM - 184-pin RIMM (Rambus in-line memory module) form
factor, similar to a DIMM (dual in-line memory module). Data is
transferred on both the rising and falling edges of the clock signal, a
technique known as DDR.

Types of Memory Modules

5. SDRAM Synchronous dynamic random access memory
(SDRAM) is dynamic random access memory (DRAM) that is
synchronized with the system bus. SDRAM has a synchronous
interface, meaning that it waits for a clock signal before responding to
control inputs and is therefore synchronized with the computer's
system bus.

To get the most of it, you need to fill 2 banks with the same module
types, from the same manufacturer with exactly the same memory
amounts.
If you want 1GB of memory, you need to use 2 512MB modules from
the same manufacturer with the same technology type. This way,
motherboards use the modules strength to its full capacity. Otherwise
it may not work at all.

Main Power Connector And the 4 Pins Connector

The main power connector is uses to get the electric energy
from the power supply which the motherboard requires to
function properly.

24 Pins Main Power Connector

There are 2 main power connector types for those

motherboard parts. The 20 pins + 4 pins (2 separate
connectors on the same motherboard), and the 24 pins.
Not all power supplies have the 2 types, but it is possible to
work around the problem if you run into an incompatibility
situation.
IDE, ATA and S-ATA Interface Connectors
Many interface standards have been created throughout the
years, maybe too many for discussing about all of them. I will
then talk about the ATA and the S-ATA only as the IDE is the
same thing as the ATA, only the name has changed. Also I will
be brief because it is more a hard drive topic than anything
else.

IDE/ATA and SATA Interface

Floppy Drive Connector

Plug your "3.5" floppy drive there. Not really used now, they
are going to disappear completely very soon.

Floppy Drive Connector

32 bit PCI Slots, AGP and PCIe

32 bit slots Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) are
used to install sound cards, graphic cards, Ethernet cards and
modems.

PCI, AGP or PCIe Ports

The motherboard parts Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) and
PCI Express (PCIe) focus on graphic cards only. AGP
standards use x2, x4 or x8 technologies. AGP 8 being the
best, it is highly boosting your graphics and video
performances. In Comparison with his old brother PCI, it is
day and night.
PCIe standard is even better than AGP standard, and mostly
the only one used right now. Some like to say, PCIe is a AGP
standard at x16 and it is the #1 choice for gaming machines
right now.
More motherboard content will be written on it, especially for
graphic cards.

Back Panel Connectors

When the computer is mounted, those motherboard parts

show up at the computer case back panel. They are used to
plug the mouse, keyboard, monitor, printer, sound system and
any other peripherals you may have.