Computer Maintenance 2015 Fall Final Review
True/False
Indicate whether the statement is true or false.
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1. A motherboard can have more than one bus, each using a different protocol, speed, data path size, and so on.
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2. Some very basic instructions are stored on the motherboard—just enough to start the computer, use some
simple hardware devices such as a monitor and keyboard, and search for an operating system stored on a
storage device such as a hard drive or CD.
____ 3. The electrical requirements for motherboards change over time as new technologies make additional demands
for power.
____ 4. The easiest way to fix a power supply you suspect is faulty is to replace it.
____ 5. Most cases have one or more positions on the case to hold a case fan to help draw air out of the case.
____ 6. An overheated system can cause intermittent problems or cause the system to reboot or refuse to boot.
____ 7. Excessive heat can damage the CPU and the motherboard.
____ 8. A hard disk drive (HDD), most often called a hard drive, comes in two sizes for personal computers: the 1.8"
size is used for laptop computers and the 2.5" size is used for desktops.
____ 9. Almost all hard drives sold today for desktop computers are magnetic hard drives.
Multiple Choice
Identify the choice that best completes the statement or answers the question.
____ 10. In the world of computers, the term ____ refers to the computer’s physical components, such as the monitor,
keyboard, motherboard, and hard drive.
____ 11. The term ____ refers to the set of instructions that directs the hardware to accomplish a task.
____ 12. To perform a computing task, software uses hardware for four basic functions: ____.
____ 13. A 1 or 0 in this system is called a ____.
____ 14. A device that is not installed directly on the motherboard is called a(n) ____ device.
____ 15. The ____ is a group of microchips on the motherboard that control the flow of data and instructions to and
from the processor.
____ 16. Primary storage is provided by devices called memory or ____ located on the motherboard and on some
adapter cards.
____ 17. Everything in a computer is ____.
____ 18. A power ____ is a box inside a computer case that supplies power to the motherboard and other installed
devices.
____ 19. ____ is running a processor, motherboard, or video card at a higher frequency than the manufacturer
recommends and is not considered a best practice.
____ 20. The ____ provides backup power in the event that the AC fails completely.
____ 21. A ____ color or stripe down one side of a cable marks this side of the cable as pin 1.
____ 22. Older hard drives use a(n) ____-conductor IDE ribbon cable.
____ 23. For an older motherboard, instead of screws you’ll see ____ that keep the board from resting directly on the
bottom of the computer case.
____ 24. A(n) ____ might solve the problem of intermittent errors caused by noise in the power line to the PC.
____ 25. ____ connections inside the computer case can cause a system to appear dead or reboot itself.
____ 26. A ____ is the most complicated component in a computer.
____ 27. The ____ and the chipset determine which processors a board can support.
____ 28. The ____ have a lever that is used to lift the processor up and out of the socket.
____ 29. The fast end of hub in the Intel i800 series chipsets, which contains the graphics and memory controller,
connects to the system bus and is called the hub’s ____.
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30.
31.
32.
33.
The slower end of the hub in the Intel i800 chipsets, called the ____, contains the I/O controller hub.
Throughput is sometimes called ____.
A(n) ____ boot involves turning on the power with the on/off switch.
The process of upgrading or refreshing the ROM BIOS chip is called ____ BIOS.
____ 34. Some cases have ____, also called spacers, which are round plastic or metal pegs that separate the
motherboard from the case, so that components on the back of the motherboard do not touch the case.
____ 35. With any installation, remember the importance of using a ground strap (ground bracelet) to ground yourself
when working inside a computer case to protect components against ____.
____ 36. Processor core frequency is measured in ____.
____ 37. Installing more than one processor on a motherboard creates a ____.
____ 38. The cooler sits on top of the processor and consists of a fan and a heat ____, which are fins that draw heat
away from the processor.
____ 39. If a power-on password has been forgotten, you can use the BIOS ____ to reset the password.
____ 40. The CMOS battery failure can be reported by startup BIOS during the ____.
____ 41. Processors can sense their operating temperatures and report that information to ____.
____ 42. Intel and AMD both recommend a ____ air guide as part of the case design.
____ 43. ____ memory temporarily holds data and instructions as the CPU processes them.
____ 44. Laptops use a smaller version of a DIMM called a(n) ____.
____ 45. A(n) ____ gets its name because it has independent pins on opposite sides of the module.
____ 46. If the number of bits is not an odd number for odd parity or an even number for even parity, a ____ error
occurs.
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47.
48.
49.
50.
To upgrade memory means to add more ____ to a computer.
Higher-quality memory modules have ____ installed to reduce heat and help the module last longer.
For ____ modules, small clips latch into place on each side of the slot to hold the module in the slot.
When installing the RIMM, ____ on the edge of the RIMM module will help you orient it correctly in the
socket.
____ 51. A ____ drive has one, two, or more platters, or disks, that stack together and spin in unison inside a sealed
metal housing that contains firmware to control reading and writing data to the drive and to communicate
with the motherboard.
____ 52. The top and bottom of each disk of a magnetic hard drive have a(n) ____ that moves across the disk surface as
all the disks rotate on a spindle.
____ 53. Each side, or surface, of one hard drive platter is called a ____.
____ 54. The total number of ____ on the drive determines the drive capacity.
____ 55. During the ____ formatting process, you specify the size of the partition and what file system it will use.
____ 56. ____ is a system BIOS feature that monitors hard drive performance, disk spin up time, temperature, distance
between the head and the disk, and other mechanical activities of the drive in order to predict when the drive
is likely to fail.
____ 57. The ____-conductor IDE cable has half the number of pins as it has wires.
____ 58. A technology that configures two or more hard drives to work together as an array of drives is called ____.
____ 59. A drive ____ is a duplication of everything written to a hard drive.
____ 60. When using an 80-conductor cable-select cable, the drive nearest the motherboard is the ____.