Learn How to Repair Computers: Get Certified in 7 weeks

Outcomes * Learn how to repair computers * Be able to take a computer apart and put it back together - in working order. * Learn what makes each section work * Learn how each section works * Learn how to repair each section * Learn how to install boards * Learn how to troubleshoot and diagnose problems * Get A+ certified Assessment There will be 15 lessons divided up in 7 weeks, with every week having two lesson, except for week 7 with three. There will be an assignment and quiz after every two lessons, along with samples A+ test questions. The student will interact with the teacher, especially when the student may have questions about the material. Purchase of a computer repair book will be required. The link to the book will be provided at registration. Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 What Makes a Personal Computer Work The PC has become as common as, well, cars for every member of the family of driving age. The influence of the PC stretches beyond comparison. Unlike fax machines, calculators, and television sets, the PC does not do just one thing but does nearly everything you do at work and at home. To use the PC effectively you have to understand what it can do, how it works, how you can use it most effectively. Motherboards Nearly all PCs and compatible computers share one common feature: they are built with a single, large, printed circuit board as their foundation. In many cases, the big board?usually called the motherboard?essentially is the entire computer. As a basic element, the motherboard defines both the PC and its capabilities. The circuitry it contains determines the overall performance of your system. Without the motherboard, you wouldn?t have a PC. For week one, we will discuss the PC in general and end the week discussing motherboards. For your first assignment you will read chapters one and two in my computer repair book Learn How to Repair Computers: Get Certified in 15 Weeks. Do the assignment listed and take the quiz and A+ test questions. Then send your results to the instructor. CPU?S The microprocessor made the PC possible. It is known as the brain in not only personal computers but also nearly all systems up to the latest supercomputers. So vital is the microprocessor that it?s often termed ?a computer on a chip.? Memory A fast microprocessor is meaningless without a place to store programs and data for current and future use. Its internal registers can only hold a handful of bytes, hardly enough for a program that accomplishes anything truly useful. Memory puts hundreds, thousands, even millions of bytes at the microprocessor?s disposal, enough to hold huge lists of program instructions or broad blocks of data. Without memory, your PC?s microprocessor is worthless. Moreover, without enough memory your favorite applications will run slowly, if at all. For week two, we will discuss the CPU and memory. For your second assignment you will read chapters three and four in my book Learn How to Repair computers: Get Certified in 15 Weeks. Do the assignment listed and take the quiz and A+ test questions. Then send your results to the instructor. Storage Devices In order to preserve your work you need a device that will be able to hold your information. This device can come in the form of a hard drive, floppy, CD-ROM, or tape drive. Video and Audio Hardware The display is your computer?s line of communication to you, much as the keyboard enables you to communicate with it. Like even the best of friends, the display doesn?t tell you everything; but it does give you a clear picture, one from which you can draw your own conclusions about what the computer is doing. Audio Hardware To really experience your PC you need sound. In fact, sound distinguishes the ordinary PC from today?s true multimedia machine. Most PCs are mainly limited to visual interaction. A multimedia PC extends the computer?s capabilities of interacting with the world to include sound. For week three, all storage devices will be covered extensively, along with video and audio systems. For your third assignment you will read chapters five and six in my book Learn How to Repair computers: Get Certified in 15 Weeks. Do the assignment listed and take the quiz and A+ test questions. Then send your results to the instructor. Input Devices The input device converts the mechanical into the electronic form that your PC can understand. The basic electro-mechanical interface is the switch. A computer can detect the state of a switch by sensing the electrical flow through it. Thus with a single switch, you could communicate with your PC exactly one bit at a time. You can speed the communications by employing several switches, a whole bank of them. Instead of using old-fashioned toggle switches, today?s computers use pushbuttons. Each button is assigned a code to send to the computer?a letter of the alphabet or other symbol. The entire bank of switches is called a keyboard. Mice One idea aimed at making the computer more accessible is the mouse. The underlying concept is to allow a computer user to indicate what function he wants his computer to carry out by selecting from a list of commands presented as a menu. The user points at the menu selection by physically moving the pointing device, which causes a corresponding onscreen movement of the cursor. One or more buttons atop the device enables the user to indicate that he wants to select a menu item. Scanners When you have an existing drawing or photograph that you want to convert into electronic form, the best way to capture images into your PC is the scanner. Modems Using the telecommunications power of your PC, you can link up with the World Wide Web, download the latest driver software, play games internationally, find the most obscure facts, or simply fax your lunch order to the corner deli. The PC can do all this and more with a single connection to the outside world. The prime target is, of course, the Internet. For week four, all input devices including keyboards, mice, and scanners will be covered. Also modems will be covered. For your fourth assignment you will read chapters seven and eight in my book Learn How to Repair computers: Get Certified in 15 Weeks. Do the assignment listed and take the quiz and A+ test questions. Then send your results to the instructor. Printers In 1982, PCs began to changeover to building the characters and graphics they displayed on screen from bits stored in a memory map. In order to make hard copy from the rough graphics early PCs showed on their screens, printers too made the transition to bit image technology. Power Supplies Your computer needs a source for the electricity that runs it. The power does not arise spontaneously in its circuits but must be derived from an outside source. Conveniently, nearly every home in America is equipped with its own electrical supply that the computer can tap into. For week five, printers and power supplies will be covered. For your fifth assignment you will read chapters nine and ten in my book Learn How to Repair computers: Get Certified in 15 Weeks. Do the assignment listed and take the quiz and A+ test questions. Then send your results to the instructor. SCSI Systems Pronounced ?scuzzy? by much of the computer industry, SCSI is a system-level interface that provides what is essentially a complete expansion bus into which to plug peripherals. SCSI isn?t simply a connection that links a device or two to your PC. Rather, it functions like a sub-bus. SCSI devices can exchange data among themselves without the intervention of the host computer?s microprocessor. In fact, they can act across the SCSI bus even while other transfers are shifting across the host computer?s normal expansion bus. Networking The network provides connectivity that gives the entire web of PCs collective power far beyond that of the mainframe. Anywhere two or more PCs are present, the features and facilities added by a network can make using PCs easier, more accommodating, and more powerful. For week six, SCSI systems and networking will be covered. For your sixth assignment you will read chapters eleven and twelve in my book Learn How to Repair computers: Get Certified in 15 Weeks. Do the assignment listed and take the quiz and A+ test questions. Then send your results to the instructor. DOS, Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000, NT, and XP Just as the title states, every operating system from DOS up will be covered during this week. Troubleshooting In many cases, your first contact with a problem PC will be when the person using it says, ?I don?t know what the problem is. Everything was working just fine yesterday, and now it doesn''''''''t.? Typically, the system will not boot up, or the operating environment will not start. Another common situation is where the PC is an unknown system requiring some sort of identification, repair, or optimization. In instances in which no information at all is attached to the computer, do not worry; as you will see in this chapter, a computer will provide the answer for you just by the way it responds. For week six, operating systems and correct troubleshooting techniques will be covered. For your last assignment you will read chapters thirteen and fourteen. You will not have an assignment from the book to do, just do the quiz and sample A+ test questions, and send your results to the instructor. Then go to chapter fifteen and go over the sample A+ test questions there to see how you do. The answers to those questions will be in the glossary of Learn How to Repair computers: Get Certified in 15 Weeks. At the end of chapter fifteen there will be information as to how to register for the A+ exam. Follow those steps. If you need further assistance, contact your instructor. Contact Hours: 5