Points of Failure

Question 1

Overheating

Answer 1

failure of the fans in the power supply or those attached to the processor, chipset, or video card that cause overheating and can lead to component damage; some fans plug into motherboard, others a lead from power supply

Question 2

Add-on cards

Answer 2

a loose add-on card or card that is not connected to additional power might not be detected by plug-and-play or Windows Device Manager, or might have intermittent failures after installation. An add-on card with a short might prevent the system from booting

Question 3

CPU

Answer 3

a loose or defective CPU can prevent the computer from starting or cause erratic operation

Question 4

Motherboard components

Answer 4

failing capacitors, voltage regulators, and other componentsbuilt into the motherboard can cause a system to not start or to lock up after being in use for some time

Question 5

Memory modules

Answer 5

not installed properly or are damaged, they will work erratically at best and could cause data loss

Question 6

Drives

Answer 6

internal drives are not properly connected to power or data cables or are not properly configured, won’t work right

Question 7

Front panel cables

Answer 7

tiny cable that connect the case power switch, reset switch, and status lights are easy to disconnect accidently if you are working near the edges of the motherboard, preventing the system from being turned on or from displaying properly

Question 8

CMOS battery

Answer 8

battery maintains sys setting configured by the BIOS. The settings are stored in a part of the computer called the CMOS formally known as the nonvolatile RAM/real-time clock (NVRAM/RTC). If battery dies (2-3 year life) settings will be lost. Afteryou replace the battery, you must re-enter the CMOS settings and save the changes to the CMOS before you can use the system.

Question 9

BIOS chip

Answer 9

The sys BIOS chip can be destroyed by ESD or lightning strikes; however, BIOS chips can also become outdated. Although some systems use a rectangular socketed BIOS chip, others use a square BIOS chip, which might be socketed or surface-mounted. In both cases, software BIOS upgrades are usually available to provide additional BIOS features, such as support for newer processors and hardware.

Question 10

PC Card/Express Card

Answer 10

not completely pushed into slot; ejected without being stopped by using the Safely Remove Hardware system tray control, it could be damaged; Some older PC Cards designed as 10/100 Ethernet or 56Kbps modems use dongles. If damaged, the card is useless until a replacement dongle is obtained.