Computer is an digital device which only understands binary language i.e (0 and 1).

Now there is question in your mind that what is digital and analog. These are the types of signals. Another question is here what a signal is? Signal: - signal is just a vibration in a medium which extends time by time. It can either be digital or analog. Digital signal: - a signal which has only two points without any variation is a digital signal. Example DC (direct current) Digital signal

Y axix X-axis Y axix

Analog Signal: -Analog signal is a signal which has different values. Example AC (Alternating current).

X-axis So we only provide some digital signals in a binary form to computer in order to make it working. We will play with these signals throughout this book. We will understand how a computer works till the end of this section. I want to tell you only one thing just paste it in your mind that computer is just a dumb box which can not do any thing without you. You tell this dumb box everywhere how to work. You are familiar with some words personal computer, desktop pc, computer etc. This machine is a combination of some hardware devices. We will cover these hardware devices in detail throughout this book. We will learn how these device works. How and why they create problems and how to find out these problems and how to recover from these problems. First of all lets create a list of different hardware devices of a single computer. 1. Mother Board 2. Processor 3. Memory 4. Hard Disk Drive 5. Floppy Disk Drive 6. CD-Rom/CD-Writer/DVD-Rom/DVD Writer 7. Switch Mode Power Supply 8. Keyboard 9. Mouse 10. Monitor Now well start with motherboard. Motherboard is a PCB (printed circuit board).you can say this, a central point, where all hardware connects and works. Next is picture of a motherboard with all mentioned points.

First of all we will start with BIOS. BIOS (Basic Input/output System) is a Rom (Read Only Memory) chip. It is a type of non volatile RAM. It contains necessary startup programs and drivers for different hardwares. The BIOS is boot firmware, designed to be the first code run by a PC when powered on. The initial function of the BIOS is to identify, test, and initialize system devices such as the video display card, hard disk, and floppy disk and other hardware. This is to prepare the machine into a known state, so that software stored on compatible media can be loaded, executed, and given control of the PC.[3] This process is known as booting, or booting up, which is short for bootstrapping. BIOS programs are stored on a chip and are built to work with various devices that make up the complementary chipset of the system. They provide a small library of basic input/output functions that can be called to operate and control the peripherals such as the keyboard, text display functions and so forth. In the IBM PC and AT, certain peripheral cards such as hard-drive controllers and video display adapters carried their own BIOS extension ROM, which provided additional functionality. Operating systems and executive software, designed to supersede this basic firmware functionality, will provide replacement software interfaces to applications. Main function of bios. 1. POST: - Post stands for Power On Self Test. During post bios detects Processor, Memory, Storage, video adapter and keyboard of a computer. 2. Setup:- The system configuration and setup program is usually a menu driven program activated by pressing a special key during the post. Here you can configure date an time settings, disk drives and chipset features. you can also manage power management settings and boot sequence from the bios setup. Setting up bios functions

Integrated Peripherals This submenu allows you to configure certain IDE hard drive options and Programmed Input/ Output features. Power Management Setup This submenu allows you to configure the power management features.

PnP/PCI Configurations This submenu allows you to configure certain Plug and Play and PCI options. PC Health Status This submenu allows you to monitor the hardware of your system. Frequency Control This submenu allows you to change CPU Vcore Voltage and CPU/PCI clock. (However, this function is strongly recommended not to use. Not properly change the voltage and clock may cause CPU or M/B damage!) Load Optimized Defaults This selection allows you to reload the BIOS when the system is having problems particularly with the boot sequence. These configurations are factory settings optimized for this system. A confirmation message will be displayed before defaults are set. Set Supervisor Password Setting the supervisor password will prohibit everyone except the supervisor from making changes using the CMOS Setup Utility. You will be prompted with to enter a password. 5 Set User Password If the Supervisor Password is not set, then the User Password will function in the same way as the Supervisor Password. If the Supervisor Password is set and the User Password is set, the User will only be able to view configurations but will not be able to change them. Save & Exit Setup Save all configuration changes to CMOS(memory) and exit setup. Confirmation message will be displayed before proceeding. Exit Without Saving Abandon all changes made during the current session and exit setup. Confirmation message will be displayed before proceeding. Upgrade BIOS This submenu allows you to upgrade bios.

System Buses FSB:- In personal computers, the Front Side Bus (FSB) is the bus that carries data between the CPU and the northbridge. Depending on the processor used, some computers may also have a back side bus that connects the CPU to the cache. This bus and the cache connected to it are faster than accessing the system memory via the front side bus. The bandwidth or maximum theoretical throughput of the front side bus is determined by the product of the width of its data path, its clock frequency (cycles per second) and the number of data transfers it performs per

clock cycle. For example, a 32-bit (4-byte) wide FSB operating at a frequency of 100 MHz that performs 4 transfers per cycle has a bandwidth of 1600 megabytes per second (MB/s). The number of transfers per clock cycle is dependent on the technology used. For example, GTL+ performs 1 transfer/cycle, EV6 2 transfers/cycle, and AGTL+ 4 transfers/cycle. Intel calls the technique of four transfers per cycle Quad Pumping. Many manufacturers today publish the speed of the FSB in megatransfers per second (MT/s), not the FSB clock frequency in megahertz (MHz). This is because the actual speed is determined by how many transfers can be performed by each clock cycle as well as by the clock frequency. For example, if a motherboard (or processor) has a FSB clocked at 200 MHz and performs 4 transfers per clock cycle, the FSB is rated at 800 MT/s.