About the Book
Take charge of the A+ exams—faster,
smarter, better!
Start building your career as a computer
service technician by earning your CompTIA A+ Certification the faster,
smarter way. This innovative, high-energy guide helps maximize your study
time by teaching exactly what you need for the A+ Core Hardware and the
A+ Operating Systems Technologies exams. You get focused, concise content
that maps to all exam objectives, along with expert test-preparation tips
and guidance—with no fluff, no silly chatter. You can test your knowledge
and refocus your studies using the rigorous cram session inside the book
plus hundreds of practice questions. You also get a quick-search electronic
version of the book (eBook) and a glossary of must-know terms for additional
ways to shore up your skills. With 12 professional certifications and 20
years of experience between them, these authors know how to cut to the
chase in exam preparation!
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
xiii
How to
Become CompTIA Certified xiv
Introduction
xv
PART I A+ CORE HARDWARE
CHAPTER 1 Installing, Configuring,
and Upgrading Hardware 3
Identifying
System Modules 4
System Board/Motherboard 4
Power Supply 4
Processor/CPU 5
Memory 6
Storage Devices 6
Monitor/Display Devices 6
Modem 7
Firmware 8
BIOS/CMOS 8
Ports 8
Identifying
System Resources 9
I/O Addresses 10
Standard IRQ Settings 11
DMA Addresses 13
Peripheral
Ports, Cabling, and Connectors 14
Working with Cables 14
Peripheral Ports 15
Peripheral Connectors 17
Installing
and Configuring ATA/IDE Devices 21
Enhanced IDE 23
Connectors,
Jumpers, Masters, and Slaves 24
Cable Select 26
Installing
and Configuring SCSI Devices 26
SCSI Termination 27
SCSI IDs 28
SCSI Cabling and Connectors 28
SCSI Connectors 29
External SCSI Connectors 29
Internal SCSI Connectors 30
SCSI Types and Standards 31
Jumper Block Settings 31
It's
a RAID! 32
Installing
and Configuring Peripheral Devices 33
Installation Made Easy 33
Monitor/Video Card 34
Modem 36
Installing Floppy Drives 37
USB Peripherals and Hubs 38
IEEE 1284 39
Installing and Configuring Peripheral Devices on Portable Systems 39
PC Cards 40
Infrared Devices 40
Upgrading:
The Neverending Story 42
Upgrading the Processor 42
Memory Upgrades 45
Memory—You Can Bank on It 45
Steps in a RAM Upgrade 45
Upgrading Hard Drives 49
Upgrading SCSI Hard Drives 49
Upgrading IDE Hard Drives 51
Upgrading the BIOS 52
Portable
Systems 53
Battery 53
Hard Drive 53
Memory 54
The Upgrade
Review 55
Key Points
56
Chapter
Review Questions 58
CHAPTER 2 When Good Components
Go Bad 65
Identifying
and Troubleshooting System Component Errors 66
I/O Ports and Cables 66
Motherboards 71
Peripherals 74
Computer Case 75
Power Supplies 76
Slot Covers? 78
Storage Devices and Cables 79
Cooling Systems 85
Processor/CPU 87
Memory 88
Display Device 90
Input Devices 91
Adapters 93
Portable Systems 99
Troubleshooting
Procedures and Best Practices 101
Determine the Severity of the Problem 101
Gather Information Necessary to Isolate the Problem 102
Determine the Potential Cause or Causes 103
Fix the Problem 103
Review and Document 104
Key Points
104
Chapter
Review Questions 106
CHAPTER 3 An Ounce of Prevention...
113
Preventative
Maintenance Products 113
Liquid Cleaning Compounds 114
Cleaning Contacts and Connectors 118
Non-Static Vacuums 119
Compressed Air 119
Working
with Power 119
Uninterruptible Power Supplies 120
Surge Suppressors 123
Storing Components for the Future 124
Handling High-Voltage Equipment.Or Not 125
Disposing
of the Junk 126
Monitors (CRTs) 126
Batteries 127
Toner Kits/Cartridges 127
Chemical Solvents and Cans 127
Electrostatic
Discharge—Enemy Number 1 128
What Is ESD? 128
Hidden ESD 128
ESD Protection Devices 129
Key Points
130
Chapter
Review Questions 131
CHAPTER 4 Motherboards, Processors,
and Memory 137
Processors
137
Processor Characteristics 138
Processor Types 142
Memory
151
Single Inline Memory Modules 152
Dual Inline Memory Modules 152
Types of Memory 153
Additional Memory Considerations 156
Motherboards
158
Motherboard Form Factors 158
Full and Baby AT Motherboards 159
ATX Motherboard 160
Power Connectors 160
Motherboard Features 162
IDE and SCSI Connectors 169
Taking a Closer Look 170
Inside
the CMOS 171
Key Points
175
Chapter
Review Questions 176
CHAPTER 5 Printing and Printer
Basics 183
Types
of Printers 183
Laser Printers 184
Dot-Matrix Printers 189
Ink-Jet Printers 191
Connecting
Printers 193
Parallel 193
Network Connected Printers 194
USB 195
Serial 195
Infrared 196
Troubleshooting
Printers and Print Quality 196
Troubleshooting Dot-Matrix Printers 197
Troubleshooting Ink-Jet Printers 198
Troubleshooting Laser Printers 199
General Printing Considerations 199
Key Points
203
Chapter
Review Questions 204
CHAPTER 6 Introduction to Networking
213
Networking
Hardware 214
Network Interface Cards 214
Legacy Cards and Jumper Settings 216
Installing the Network Card 218
Network
Cable Characteristics 221
Coaxial Media (We Mean Cable) 222
Twisted-Pair Cable 223
Network
Cabling and Data Threats 226
Bandwidth 226
Attenuation 226
Interference 227
RS-232 227
Infrared 228
Fiber-Optic Cable 229
Media Characteristics Summary 230
Hardware
Protocols 231
Ethernet 231
Token Ring 234
Network
Topologies 235
Star Topology 235
Bus Topology 236
Ring Topology 237
Mapping Ethernet Standards to Topologies 238
Networking
Devices 239
Repeaters 239
Hubs and Switches 239
Multistation Access Units 240
Key Points
241
Chapter
Review Questions 242
Check
Yourself A+ Core Hardware 247
PART II A+ OPERATING SYSTEMS
CHAPTER 7 Introducing the Operating
System 303
What
Has an OS Done for You Lately! 303
Contrasts
Between Windows 9x/Me, Windows NT, Windows 2000, and Windows XP 305
Windows NT 305
Windows 2000 Basics 309
Windows XP Basics 312
Getting to Know Windows 9x (Briefly) 314
System Management and Configuration 315
Major Operating System Components 315
Major Operating System Interfaces 319
Identifying
Major System Files 327
Windows 9x—Specific Files 328
Windows NT/2000/XP Key Files 331
Using
Command-Line Functions and Utilities 332
Dir 333
Attrib 334
Ver 334
Mem 334
ScanDisk 334
Defrag 335
Edit 335
Xcopy 336
Copy 336
Format 337
Fdisk 337
Setver 337
Scanreg 337
MD/CD/RD 337
Delete/Rename 338
Deltree 338
Type 339
Echo 339
Set 339
Ping 340
Managing
Disks, Directories, and Files 340
Disks 340
Partitions 340
File Systems 340
FAT (FAT16) 340
FAT32 341
NTFS 341
NTFS5 342
Directory Structures 342
Creating Folders 343
Navigating the Directory Structure 344
Files 344
File Attributes 345
File Compression 347
File Encryption 347
File Permissions 348
Major
Operating System Utilities 349
Disk Management Tools 349
System Management Tools 354
File Management Tools 356
Key Points
357
Chapter
Review Questions 360
CHAPTER 8 Installing the Operating
System 367
Pre-Installation
Procedures 368
Hardware Requirements 368
Verifying Hardware Compatibility 368
Installation Type 369
Choosing a File System 369
Network Configuration 370
Starting
the Installation 370
Partitioning
the Hard Disk 371
A Little Something about Primary and Extended Partitions 371
Partitioning with Fdisk 372
Formatting
the Hard Drive 374
Installation
Commands 374
Installation
Methods 375
Installations over the Network 375
If It
Just Won't Install. 376
Upgrading
the Operating System 377
General Upgrade Considerations 377
Upgrading Windows 95 to Windows 98 378
Upgrading from Windows NT Workstation 4 to Windows 2000 379
Replacing Windows 9x with Windows 2000/XP 379
Upgrading to Windows Me 379
Upgrading to Windows XP 380
Windows XP Upgrade Rules 381
Dual-Booting Windows 382
Giving
the OS the Boot 382
Windows 9x 383
Windows 9x Boot Modes 384
MS-DOS Mode 385
Windows NT and Windows 2000/XP 386
Windows NT 4 and Windows 2000/XP Boot Options 387
Installing Device Drivers 392
Installing
and Running Programs 393
Installing Additional Windows Components 393
Installing Third-Party Programs 394
Uninstalling Programs 395
Installing and Configuring Printing 396
Network Printing 399
Key Points
401
Chapter
Review Questions 403
CHAPTER 9 Diagnosing and Troubleshooting
411
A Problem
with Your Boots 411
Invalid Boot Disk and Inaccessible Boot Device 411
Missing Ntldr Error Message 412
Bad or Missing Command.com Error Message 413
Error in Config.sys Line XX 413
Himem.sys Not Loaded Error Message 414
Errors in System.ini, Win.ini, or the Registry 414
Event Viewer—Event Log Is Full 416
Failure to Start GUI 417
Windows Protection Errors 418
Searching
for Answers 419
Working with the Startup Disk 419
Asd.exe (Automatic Skip Driver) 421
Installation/User Manuals 421
Internet/Web Resources 421
Windows Task Manager 422
Dr. Watson 423
Device Manager 424
MSD and WinMSD 425
Eliciting Problem Symptoms from Customers 426
Common
Windows Operational Errors 427
Troubleshooting Windows-Specific Printing Problems 427
The Print Spooler Is Stalled 427
Incorrect or Incompatible Driver for the Printer 429
Out of Memory Errors While Printing 430
General Protection Faults 430
The Blue Screen of Death 430
Illegal Operation 431
Invalid Working Directory 432
System Lockups 432
Identifying Device Errors with Device Manager 433
Troubleshooting
Programs 436
Programs Won't Install 436
A Program Will Not Start or Load 437
A Program Loads but Performs Poorly 438
You Cannot Log on to a Network 438
Viruses
and Virus Types 439
Boot Sector Virus 439
Trojan Horse Program 440
Executable Virus 440
Macro Virus 440
Is It a Virus? 441
Where Do Viruses Come From? 442
Removing Viruses 443
Key Points
443
Chapter
Review Questions 446
CHAPTER 10 Networking the Operating
System 453
Introducing
the Network 453
Configuring Protocols 454
Configuring Client Options 458
The Last Piece of the Puzzle 460
Tools for Verifying the Configuration 460
Sharing 461
Setting
Permissions to Shared Resources 466
Configuring the Network Card 467
Accessing
the Internet 467
Internet Service Providers 467
TCP/IP 468
Internet
Connectivity Technologies 471
Dial-up Networking 471
DSL Networking 472
ISDN Networking 473
Cable 474
Satellite 474
Wireless 475
LAN 476
Installing and Configuring Browsers 476
Firewalling
Under Windows XP 480
Key Points
480
Chapter
Review Questions 482
Check Yourself A+ Operating
System Technologies 489
INDEX 531 |
