A+ Core 2 (220-1102) Cram Notes

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4. Troubleshooting

4.1 Given a scenario, explain the troubleshooting theory.

1. For effective communication, you need to spend roughly 50 percent of time for listening to your customer

2. The customer was obviously concerned when he reported the matter to you. Appropriate action would be to apologize to the customer, and assure him that it would not happen again. You need to report this to the manager, so that necessary action is taken to educate the technician that misused the office time.

3. The customer would be expecting you at the specified time. It is appropriate to call the customer over phone, and inform him that you would be late. Sending an email may not be the best option, since the customer may not see his/her email often. Your colleague may not convey the message to your customer appropriately.

4. When attending to the computer maintenance or repair (other than the monitor), ensure that you work in a static free environment. Always wear wrist strap. You should not wear clothes/shoes that produce static charges.

5. When working on computers, use special ESD wrist strap. Do not directly ground yourself with a piece of wire. An ESD wrist strap has built-in resistor to prevent electric shock. Use specially designed grounded ESD mats. Do not wear synthetic clothing. Place all electronic components into anti static bags. Anti static bags can be reused. Keep your workplace clean.

6. While doing any hardware up gradation on a laptop (such as adding more memory, etc), remember to remove the battery in addition to unplugging of AC mains.

7. You need to take the customer in to confidence, and apologize to him/her for having lost some important files/folders.

8. You should not give away your login information to anybody over email. Usually, such emails are not genuine, and intended for malicious use.

4.2 Given a scenario, troubleshoot common problems related to motherboards, RAM, CPU and power with appropriate tools

1. On a personal computer, the general errors and the corresponding failures are shown below:

General errors

failures

100-199

System board failures

200-299

Memory failures

300-399

Key board failures

400-499

Monochrome video problems

500-599

Color video problems

600-699

Floppy disk errors

1700-1799

Hard disk problems

2. Some of the frequently encountered error codes and their corresponding error messages on a PC are given below:

Error Code

Error Message

161

CMOS battery failure: Replace the CMOS battery

164

Memory size error : If the error occurs after memory upgrade, run SETUP program.

201

Memory test failed : RAM chips failed, one or more may need to be replace.

301

Keyboard error: You may have to check the key board

3. The IRQ numbers and relevant Standard Device Assignment are given below. It is important to memorize these values before going to the exam, as there would be 5-10 questions on IRQs, and conflicts.

IRQ

Standard Device Assignment

0

System timer

1

Keyboard

2

Cascade to IRQ9. Can't be used

3

COM ports 2 and 4

4

COM ports 1 and 3

5

Parallel Port LPT2. Very often used for sound cards.

6

Floppy drive controller

7

Parallel Port, LPT1

8

Real time clock

9

Unassigned (Also redirected from IRQ2)

10

Available

11

Available. SCSI adapter will usually use this IRQ.

12

Mouse or touch pads

13

Math co-processor.

14

Primary hard-disk IDE controller

15

Secondary hard-disk IDE controller.

4. If you are getting a keyboard error, you need to do one of the following things:

  • Check if the keyboard needs to be cleaned

  • Check if the keyboard cable has become loose

  • Check if one or more of the keys are stuck

  • If required, replace the keyboard.

5.Various POST (Power On Self Test) error codes and their description is as below:

Error Code

Description

Code 01

Undetermined problem

Code 02

Power Supply error

Code 1xx

System board errors

Code 2xx

Memory (RAM) errors

Code 3xx

Keyboard errors

Code 6xx

Diskette Drive errors

x is any single digit integer.

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