CompTIA A+ Cert Exam Guide Ch. 8

Question 1

What is the Northbridge?

Answer 1

A chip on the motherboard, including the MCC, that controls communication between the CPU and high-speed devices, such as the video card and RAM. The Northbridge is now part of the CPU.

Question 2

What is the Southbridge?

Answer 2

A chip on the motherboard that controls communication between the CPU and low-speed devices, such as the USB controller and HDD controllers. Now called the Input/Output Controller Hub in Intel machines and the Fusion Controller Hub in AMD machines.

Question 3

What is the chip set?

Answer 3

The Northbridge and Southbridge chips installed on a motherboard. They come as a package.

Question 4

What is a scan code?

Answer 4

A pattern of ones and zeros assigned to keys on a keyboard used for communication with the Southbridge. This code is sent from a scanning chip on the keyboard.

Question 5

What is BIOS?

Answer 5

Basic Input/Output Services; a set of programs dedicated to enabling the CPU to communicate with devices. This set of instructions is separate from the OS so it allows the devices to run if no OS is present. Also called System BIOS

Question 6

What is ROM?

Answer 6

Read-only Memory; it is a read-only, non-volatile memory on which the BIOS is written. It holds instructions for necessary hardware, such as the keyboard, mouse, monitor, HDDs, USB ports, and more.

Question 7

What is flash ROM?

Answer 7

A rewritable type of ROM that allows a user to flash the ROM chip with a new set of instructions for hardware.

Question 8

What is firmware?

Answer 8

Any set of programs/instructions stored on a ROM chip

Question 9

What does CMOS stand for?

Answer 9

Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor

Question 10

What does the CMOS chip do?

Answer 10

The CMOS stores parameters for devices that change within the system (RAM, HDDs, etc.) to allow the BIOS to complete the programs needed to talk to these devices.
It also keeps the current time and date.

CMOS was originally a stand-alone chip but is now part of the Southbridge.

Question 11

What is the MB Intelligent Tweaker?

Answer 11

M.I.T.; A part of the CMOS that allows a user to tweak the voltage and multiplier settings on the motherboard for the CPU

Question 12

What is virtualization support?

Answer 12

The ability to run a virtual machine on your computer replicating your hardware and software stats. CPU manufacturers have added hardware-assisted virtualization to support the use of virtual machines.

Question 13

What is chassis intrusion detection?

Answer 13

A motherboard detects when a computer case has been opened. The CMOS logs when a case has been opened and posts a notification when the computer boots next.

Question 14

What are the advanced chipset features?

Answer 14

Low-level chipset functions. It is best to avoid these settings unless directed to change them by the motherboard tech support

Question 15

What are integrated peripherals?

Answer 15

Hardware devices attached to your motherboard, such as the sound card. This section of the CMOS settings allows you to adjust settings for these devices.

Question 16

Power Management Setup

Answer 16

These settings allow you to adjust the power management settings, such as when the computer turns off and back on again for power consumption.

Question 17

What is a CMOS password?

Answer 17

A password required when your computer boots, preventing unwanted individuals from accessing your computer.
Some CMOS utilities allow you to create a second CMOS password to prevent changes to the CMOS settings

Question 18

What is ATA Security Mode or DriveLock?

Answer 18

The ability to set a password on the HDD protecting it from unauthorized access

Question 19

What is Trusted Platform Module (TPM)?

Answer 19

A part of CMOS that supports drive encryption, digital rights management, network access control, application execution control, and password protection

Question 20

In what ways can you add hardware functionality to the BIOS that is not natively supported?

Answer 20

Option ROM, and Device drivers

Question 21

What is Option ROM?

Answer 21

The storage of BIOS information on the hardware device itself.

This has mostly been replaced with software options except for Video Cards. All video cards come with Option ROM.

Question 22

What is a device driver?

Answer 22

A file stored on a PC that provides all the commands necessary to enact with the hardware it supports.

The device drivers are loaded early in the boot process. The PC reads a file that lists the necessary device drivers and then loads these device drivers into RAM.

Question 23

What is the POST?

Answer 23

Power-On Self Test; when the computer boots, the POST sends out a command to all devices telling them to run a diagnostic. The type of diagnostic check is set by the device manufacturer. The device then reports back to the computer as to whether or not there are any problems.

Question 24

How does the PC convey hardware errors during the POST?

Answer 24

Beep codes or text messages on the screen

Question 25

What are the two common beep codes?

Answer 25

* One long and two/three short beeps - Bad or missing video | * short beeps - Bad or missing RAM

Question 26

What is a POST card?

Answer 26

A device installed in your PC that identifies which piece of hardware is bad. A POST card is useful when the POST test is unable to provide you with details concerning the error.

Question 27

How does the system initiate the POST test?

Answer 27

When you first power on the PC, it tests for proper voltage and then sends a signal down the power good wire to wake up the CPU. The CPU then sends a built-in memory address via its address bus which is the first line of the POST program.

Question 28

How does the PC know how to load the OS?

Answer 28

When finished, the POST passes control to the bootstrap loader, which in turn loads the OS.

Question 29

What is the bootstrap loader?

Answer 29

A few lines of code at the end of the POST that locate and load the OS on bootable devices in the order specified by the boot order.

Question 30

What is a boot sector?

Answer 30

A section set aside on any piece of hardware that contains an OS. The boot sector contains special programming to tell the system where to locate the OS.

Question 31

What is a Bootable/System disk?

Answer 31

Any device with a functional OS

Question 32

What is a Preboot Execution Environment?

Answer 32

PXE; A feature of the BIOS that enables you to boot a PC without any local storage by retrieving an OS from a server over a network. (Think Panos)

Question 33

What is a CMOS battery?

Answer 33

A battery installed on the motherboard intended to maintain the contents of CMOS and the date and time when the PC is turned off. If the battery dies, the CMOS will be reset to factory defaults when the computer is turned off. Pre-2003 machines lost CMOS entirely.

Question 34

What are some ways you might lose CMOS data?

Answer 34

* A dead CMOS battery * Pulling and inserting cards * Touching the motherboard * Dropping something on the motherboard * Dirt on the motherboard * Faulty power supplies * Electrical surges

Question 35

What are some possible error codes when the CMOS data is missing/reset?

Answer 35

* CMOS configuration mismatch * CMOS date/time not set * No boot device available * CMOS battery state low

Question 36

What is a flash ROM?

Answer 36

A ROM chip that allows you to update its contents

Question 37

What is flashing the BIOS?

Answer 37

The ability to download and install a new/updated BIOS

Question 38

What are some limitations of BIOS?

Answer 38

* It only supports 16-bit mode | * In the presence of more than one OS, it requires one OS installation to act as the master boot loader

Question 39

What is UEFI?

Answer 39

Unified Extensible Firmware Interface; it is a mini-operating system that runs on top of the firmware to apply additional functionality

Question 40

What are some advantages of UEFI?

Answer 40

* Supports 32-bit and 64-bit booting * Handles all boot-loading duties * Is not dependent on x86 firmware