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Personal Computer Components and Subsystems

Aug 30, 2002

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A+ Certification and PC Repair Guide, 2nd Edition

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Chapter Review Questions

What disk is used to cold boot a PC?

A. Setup disk

B. System disk

C. Diagnostic disk

D. Program disk

Answer: B. It is the system disk because the other disks may boot a PC, but they also perform added functions beyond booting the PC.
What is not a typical PC system component?

A. Floppy drive

B. Monitor

C. Sound card

D. SCSI disk

E. IDE disk

Answer: D. A SCSI disk is found in servers and high-performance, expensive PCs.
Fixed disk drives rotate at what speed?

A. 300 RPM

B. 1,200 RPM

C. 2,900 RPM

D. 7,200 RPM

E. 5,000 RPM

Answer: D. It is 7,200 RPM because floppy disks rotate at 300 RPM, CD-ROMs sometimes rotate at 1,200 and 2,900 RPM, and other fixed disk drives rotate at 5,400 RPM.
CD-ROM drives connect to a PC using what?

A. Fiber cable

B. IDE interface cable

C. SCSI connector

D. Floppy cable

Answer: B. It is IDE interface cable because it is the most common CD-ROM interface. Some older CD-ROMS used a SCSI interface. Some SCSI interfaces run across fiber cable, but this is not very common.
IDE drives store a maximum of _____ GB.

A. 2

B. 4

C. 25

D. 100

E. 150

Answer: D. 100
What file plays an important role in booting DOS?

A. DOSKEY.EXE

B. MSCDEX.EXE

C. CONFIG.SYS

D. DRIVER.SYS

Answer: C. CONFIG.SYS loads the key memory management program and hardware driver programs. DOSKEY is a TSR program making the DOS command prompt easier to navigate. MSCDEX is the CD-ROM extension needed to operate CD-ROM drives. DRIVER.SYS helps resolve some disk drive incompatibilities with DOS.
Multimedia PCs contain what?

A. Scanner

B. Power supply

C. LAN card

D. Sound card

Answer: D. They contain the sound card because all PCs contain a power supply, and the scanner and LAN card are not absolutely required for multimedia applications.
CD-ROM drives have a top speed of?

A. 72X

B. 2X

C. 4X

D. 32X

Answer: A. 72X
Top monitor resolution is?

A. 1,024 by 768

B. 1,600 by 1,024

C. 1,800 by 1,440

D. 2048 by 1,536

E. None of the above

Answer: D. 2,048 by 1,536 is the highest monitor resolution today, but that will change in time.
Storage devices are?

A. LAN cards

B. Monitors

C. Sound cards

D. RAM

E. Disk drives

Answer: E. Disk drives store data and programs. LAN cards connect to a network and transfer information, but do not store it. Monitors display information, but store nothing. RAM only holds information when it is powered on, but stores nothing when the power is off.
Which device stores the most data?

A. Floppy diskette

B. Fixed disk

C. CD-ROM

D. DVD-ROM drive

Answer: B. Fixed disks store more than any other type of drive—80 GB. CD-ROMs store 650 MB, floppies store 1.44 MB, and DVD-ROMs store a maximum of 17 GB.
The central component of a PC is?

A. Disk drive

B. MLB

C. LAN card

D. CD-ROM

Answer: B. The MLB connects all key PC components. A PC can run, but not do much else, without a disk drive, LAN card, and CD-ROM.
What is the fastest PC component?

A. Disk drive

B. CPU chip

C. Display controller

D. RAM

Answer: B. The CPU chip rocks at speeds of 1.5 GHz and up. Fast RAM runs at 400 MHz, and the other components are slower.
What is the first step in the boot process?

A. Run POST in ROM

B. Test the floppy drive

C. Test the fixed disk

D. Load the OS

Answer: A. Run POST in ROM is always the first boot step. The lowest level of cold boot loader program is in the ROM. It in turn runs other software that may test the disk drives and load the OS.
What does POST stand for?

A. A wooden pole

B. Power-On Standard Test

C. Power-up Original Self-Test

D. Power-On Self-Test

Answer: D. Power-On Self-Test
What does MLB stand for?

A. Major Logic Board

B. Mother Logic Board

C. Main Logic Board

D. Motherboard

Answer: C. Main Logic Board
A Pentium Pro processor has what type of cache built into the CPU chips?

A. L1 Cache

B L1 and L2

C. L1, L2, L3

D. L1, L2, L3, L4

Answer: B. L1 and L2 cache were built into the Pentium Pro CPU chip. Older Pentium chips have only a L1 cache, and newer chips may also have a L3 cache. No chips use L4 cache as yet.
To speed up the use of frequently used programs?

A. Upgrade CMOS

B. Phlash BIOS

C. Increase RAM

D. Install more L1 Cache

Answer: C. Increasing RAM reduces the need for the PC to swap files from RAM to slower fixed disk virtual RAM. There are no CMOS upgrades. Phlashing the BIOS cures hardware problems, but doesn't impact performance. Added L1 cache cannot be installed because it is built into the CPU chip.
Software installed on a PC hardware component is known as:

A. BIOS

B. RAM

C. Firmware

D. CMOS

Answer: C. Firmware is software encoded in ROM or NVRAM and installed on a hardware component. BIOS is a very specific type of firmware used to boot the PC. RAM is volatile memory and looses its contents when the PC is powered off. CMOS is a technology used to store the PC boot-up parameters.
To manage expanded memory, a PC uses?

A. EMM386.EXE

B. HIMEM.SYS

C. LOADHIGH.EXE

D. HIGHLOAD

Answer: A. The Expanded Memory Manager program is EMM386.EXE. HIMEM.SYS implements Extended Memory Specification (XMS), LOADHIGH.EXE loads programs into the upper memory blocks, and HIGHLOAD is not a program.
Which OS first implemented plug-and-play installation features?

A. Windows 3.x

B. Windows 3.11

C. Windows 95

D. Windows 98

E. Windows Me

F. Windows 2000

Answer: C. Windows 95 was the first OS to have significant plug-and-play hardware installation capabilities. Windows 3.x and 3.11 were not plug and play. They depended upon real mode DOS drivers to interface with PC hardware components. Windows 98, Windows Me, and Windows 2000 all followed Windows 95.
All memory above the 1,024 KB boundary is called?

A. Reserved memory

B. Extended memory

C. Conventional memory

D. Expanded memory

Answer: B. Extended memory is all memory above the 1,024 KB boundary. Any unused memory is labeled reserved memory. Conventional memory is below 1,204 KB. Expanded memory residing above the 1,024 KB boundary is created from extended memory, but extended memory is needed first or there is no expanded memory.
Powering the PC off and then on constitutes a?

A. Hard boot

B. Soft boot

C. Warm boot

D. Medium boot

Answer: A. Recycling power (off and then on) is called a hard boot because it kills all RAM contents. A warm boot is when CTRL + ALT + DELETE are pressed while the PC power remains on. This may be called a soft boot as well. There is no medium boot.
The maximum MHz speed for a Pentium CPU chip is:

A. 66 MHz

B. 366 MHz

C. 800 MHz

D. 1.5 GHz

E. 2.0 GHz

F. 10 GHz

Answer: D. This answer is good for 2001. However, in 2002, the answer may change to E. It is certain that, in time, answer F will become correct as well.
The bus speed is the speed data on the system board is moving?

A. True

B. False

Answer: B. The bus speed is measured as the clock speed of the bus. A bus may be 8 bits, 16 bits, 32 bits or 64 bits wide, so the data speed would be a 1X, 2X, 4X, or 8X multiplier of the bus speed.
The common voltages found on system boards are?

A. +/- 5 volts

B. +/- 10 volts

C. +/- 12 volts

D. +/- 110 volts

E. +/- 120 volts

Answer: A and C. These are the voltages found on MLBs. The 10 volt and 110 volt amounts are not used in computers and are odd voltage levels. The AC line that powers a PC is 120 volts, but the power supply in the PC changes the 120 volts into 5 volts and 12 volts.
VGA standard resolution is?

A. 1,600 by 1,200

B. 1,280 by 1,024

C. 800 by 600

D. 640 by 480

Answer: D. Standard VGA resolution is 640 by 480. SVGA resolution is 800 by 600. The 17-inch, 18-inch, and 19-inch plasma panels have a resolution of 1,280 by 1,024. Most laptops and smaller flat panel displays support the XGA resolution of 1,204 by 768.
How many devices can be connected to a single SCSI bus?

A. 2

B. 4

C. 5

D. 7

Answer: D. Seven devices are most commonly connected to PC SCSI buses. The eighth connection is the SCSI controller board. Server SCSI buses can connect 15 devices.
A serial mouse connector has how many pins?

A. 6

B. 9

C. 15

D. 25

Answer: B. Serial mice connect into the 9-pin serial port on the rear of the PC. The PS/2 mouse connects into a 6-pin connector. The 15-pin connector is used to attach joystick controllers or monitors. Finally, the 25-pin connector is commonly the serial port on the rear of the PC.
The PC parallel port D connector has how many pins?

A. 15

B. 25

C. 34

D. 50

Answer: B. Parallel ports on the rear of a PC are 25-pin ports. Game controllers use 15-pin connectors, floppy disk drives use 34-wire cables, and SCSI connectors are 50-pin connectors.

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