Datasheet

Chapter 1

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Hardware

Sound-Card Problems

Sound cards are traditionally one of the most problem-ridden components in a PC. They

demand a lot of PC resources and are notorious for being inﬂexible in their conﬁguration.

The most common problems related to sound cards involve resource conﬂicts (IRQ, DMA,

or I/O address). The problem is much less pronounced on PCI than on ISA cards.

Luckily, most sound-card vendors are aware of the problems and ship very good diagnostic

utilities to help resolve them. Use your PC troubleshooting skills to determine the conﬂict, and

then reconﬁgure until you ﬁnd an acceptable set of resources that aren’t in use.

Some legacy sound cards aren’t completely Plug and Play–compatible. Windows may

detect that new hardware has been installed but be unable to identify the new hardware

as a working sound card. To ﬁx this problem, run the Setup software that came with the

sound card.

Network Interface Card Problems

In general, network interface cards (NICs) are added to a PC via an expansion slot, but

may also be added through a USB or PCMCIA slot. The most common issue that prevents

network connectivity is a bad or unplugged patch cable.

Cleaning crews and the rollers on the bottoms of chairs are the most common threats to

a patch cable. In most cases, wall jacks are placed 4 to 10 feet away from the desktop. The

patch cables are normally lying exposed under the user’s desk, and from time to time dam-

age is done to the cable, or it’s inadvertently snagged and unplugged. When you trouble-

shoot a network adapter, start with the most rudimentary explanations ﬁrst. Make sure

the patch cable is tightly plugged in, and then look at the card and see if any lights are on.

If there are lights on, use the NIC’s documentation to help troubleshoot. More often than

not, shutting down the machine, unplugging the patch and power cables for a moment, and

then reattaching them and rebooting the PC will ﬁx an unresponsive NIC.

Although this isn’t on the test, it’s useful information: Wake on LAN cards

have more problems than standard network cards. In my opinion, this is

because they’re always on. In some cases, you’ll be unable to get the card

working again unless you unplug the PC’s power supply and reset the card.

Ports and Cables

A computer’s peripheral ports are the physical connectors found outside the computer. Cables

of various types are designed to plug into these ports and create a connection between the PC

and the external devices that may be attached to it. A successful IT technician should have an

in-depth knowledge of ports and cables.

Because the peripheral components need to be upgraded frequently, either to keep pace

with technological change or to replace broken devices, the test requires a well-rounded

familiarity with the ports and their associated cabling.

Unless a peripheral device connects directly to the motherboard, it must use a port. Ports

can be distinguished from one another by three factors:

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