Book 1: Setting the A+ Groundwork

Establish a Theory of probably cause

1.) don't forget to question the obvious 2.) Research to find potential fixes

Preventative measures from power-related issues

1.) Battery Backup 2.) Surge Suppressor

4 basic computer functions

1.) Data Input 2.) Data Output 3.) Processing 4.) Storage

Preventing ESD

1.) ESD Straps 2.) ESD Mats 3.) Carpet Spray 4.) Self Grounding / and Equipment grounding 5.) Antistatic Bags 6.) Humidifiers

4 Major Technologies that connect hard drives to motherboards

1.) Integrated Drive Electronic(IDE), Advanced Technology Attachment(ATA), or Parallel ATA(PATA) after the arrival of SATA 2.) Serial ATA(SATA) 3.) Small Computer System Interface(SCSI) 4.) Serial Attached SCSI(SAS)

Good Communication Skills

1.) Listen to the customer and don't interrupt 2.) Clarify statements and repeat what you have heard 3.) Use open verse closed questions to gather information 4.) use clear, concise, and direct statements 5.) avoid tech talk

Documentation Resources

1.) Network Topology diagrams 2.) Searchable Knowledge Base 3.) Incident Documentation 4.) Regulatory and Compliance Policy 5.) Acceptable use Policy 6.) Password Policy 7.) Inventory Management 8.) Vendor Manuels 9.) Service Documentation 10.) Training 11.) Other Internet Resources

Professional Behavior Skills

1.) Positive Attitude 2.) Project Confidence 3.) Properly Dressed 4.) Privacy, Confidentiality, and Discretions 5.) Social Media( don't post any HIPPA violation stuff on social media) 6.) Expectations and Timeline 7.) Respect

Change Management Process Benefits

1.) Reducing the time it takes to implement the change 2.) Reducing risk during the change 3.) Increasing rates of success 4.) Enabling the anticipation of challenges and planned responses.

Hardware Tools

1.) Screwdrivers 2.) Tweezers 3.) Chip Extractor 4.) Chip inserter 5.) Canister 6.) Multimeter

High Voltage Equipment

1.) The Power Supply Unit 2.) The Monitor ( specifically the CRT monitor ).

Steps to Discharge a CRT Monitor

1.) Unplug the monitor and open it. 2.) Clip the wire on the shorting probe to the metal chassis of the computer. 3.) Slip the end of the shorting probe under the rubber grommet (looks like a little rubber flap). 4.) When the popping noise has stopped, you may remove the probe.

Software Tools

1.) Windows DVD 2.) Live DVD/Flash Drive

Test the theory to determine the cause

1.) consider corpora te policies, procedures, and impacts 2.) back up any setting or files you need to change 3.) test one configuration change at a time 4.) prioritize potential fixes for the problem 5.) test related components 6.) call in the "big gun" and escalation if you can not determine the issue.

Computer Personal Safety

1.) disconnect the power supply before repairing the PC 2.) Remove any Jewelry 3.) Use the right Lifting Techniques 4.) Know your own weight carrying limitations 5.) Have appropriate electrical fire safety 6.) CRT(cathode Ray Tube) safety and proper Disposal 7.) Safety goggles and an air filter mask 8.) Proper Cable Management

Identify the problem

1.) identify changes to the computer or network. 2.) identify environmental or infrastructure changes 3.) review systems and application logs 4.) break big problems into smaller pieces 5.) prioritize problems and decide in which order they should be tackled

Trouble Shooting Process

1.) identify the problem 2.) establish a theory of probable cause 3.) test the theory to determine cause 4.) establish a plan of action to resolve the problem and implement the solution 5.) verify full system functionality and if applicable implement preventive measures. 6.) document findings, actions, and outcomes.

Power Related Issues

1.) power Surges 2.) Brownouts 3.) Blackouts

Protecting Computer Components

1.) reduce ESD 2.) Temperature and humidity-level awareness(environmental control) 3.) Protection from Airborne particles 4.) Dust and Debris 5.) Component Handling and Protection 6.) Electrical Fire and Safety 7.) CRT safety, and proper disposal 8.) Compliance with government regulations

Basic types of Ports

1.) serial 2.) Video 3.) USB 4.) Keyboard 5.) Mouse

CMOS settings

1.) which hard Drives and floppy drives are present 2.) how much memory is installed 3.) whether booting requires a keyboard 4.) type of mouse installed 5.) the reserved resources ( such as IRQ, I/O addresses, and DMA. 6.) the power-on password 7.) date and time 8.) whether ACPI is enabled and what devices it applies to.

Power Surges

A boost in electrical current for a very short duration. this is also knowns as a "spike", this surge of power can cause damage to your electrical equipment.

Flash Drives

A drive using nonvolatile memory chips and comes in many different form factors.

request for change (RFC)

A formal proposal for a change to be made. It includes: 1.) Purpose of Change 2.) Scope of the Change 3.) Risk Analysis 4.) Plan for Change 5.) Backout Plan 6.) End-User Acceptance 7.) Change Board Results 8.) Document Changes

Bus

A mechanism used to move data between devices of the computer.

CRT Monitor

A monitor that uses a Cathode Ray Tube as a power supply. As a general rule do not open the monitor unless you're a qualified professional.

Daughter Board

A secondary board that contains motherboard functions, such as disk or I/O control. It contains some chips that could have been put on the motherboard but were not due to space limitations, most commonly used in laptops and other mobile devices.

Backout Plan

A tested plan that can be used to reverse the changes if there is a problem. This may involve removing a piece of hardware and putting the old unit back in place.

Adapter Cards

Allow you to adapt your computer to another role(such as controlling assembly line robots) or to add specific functionality to your computer (such as printing). Most are integrated into the motherboards, these component include display, network, keyboard controller, mouse controller, serial ports, parallel ports, FireWire ports, and USB ports.

Magnetic Drives

Also called Hard Disk Drives (HDDs). It is a storage device that uses a magnetization process to write, rewrite and access data.This drive has moving parts that help store the data; the most common Form Factors are : 3.5 inches and 2.5 inches.

RSI (repetitive strain injury)

An injury to the muscles and tendons in the body due to poor posture and frequent repetitive movements that accompany long hour in front of a computer.

Solid-State Drives (SSDs)

Are internal drives that store data. There are no moving parts in this drive, but rather uses flash memory to store data. This drive provides an substantial performance benefit.

Heat Sinks

Are made of heat-conductive metals (usually aluminum or copper), with a solid side in contact with the chip that they are protecting and thin fins on the other side.

Storage Devices

Are responsible for storing data on a computer. There are 5 basic type of devices that store data: 1.) Magnetic Drives 2.) Solid-state Drives (SSDs) 3.) Hybrid Drives 4.) Optical Drives 5.) Flash Drives

Hybrid Drives

Are standard hard drives with a small integrated SSD (4 - 16GB) that are used to cache data from the larger 1 - 4TB drive. Offers better performance than HDDs, and are great for accessing a small number of files such as a typical office file; but is not very good at media production and hosting virtual machines.

BIOS

Basic Input/Output System. Is actually software that is stored on a ROM chip on the motherboard. Most systems use a flash EPROM to store BIOs so the user can update the programming code in BIOS.

Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS)

Contains information about hazardous chemicals present in different materials. Includes the ingredients and the composition of these chemicals that make up a particular material.

CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor)

CMOS is stored inside RAM and stores that hardware configuration settings that are saved between reboots.

Keyboard Port

Connects a keyboard to the computer

Video Port

Connects a monitor to your computer

Mouse Port

Connects a mouse to the keyboard

Serial Port

Connects serial devices, such as modems to your computer

USB Port

Connects various types of devices to your computer.

Carpet Spray

Insufficient way to reduce or prevent ESD in a work enviroemtn that has carpet.

Difference between ESD and EMI

ESD: is electrostatic discharge from a human to computer part, one touch can destroy/kill the computer. EMI: Electrical interference from outside electrical sources, causes temporary damages, can cause long term dame if computer was exposed to EMI for a long durations.

Risk Analysis

Evaluates the risk of making the change and the risk of not making the change

Temperature

Having your work environment too hot could cause the computers to overheat. Be sure to control the temperature of the environment to around 70 degrees Fahrenheit.

Surge Suppressor

Helps prevent damage from spikes in power or power surges.

ROM and EPROM

Holds the operating code for your computer, which includes the power-on Self Test(POST) routine and motherboard level process.

End-user acceptance

IF a change is going to affect an application used by a group then that group should be aware of the change, the impact of the change and the potential risks involved. Since it is the end-user being affected some changes may require that the end-users accept the change.

Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI)

Introduced in 1993, the most common expansion bus architecture in PCs in the mid 1990s. It transfers data in parallel over a data bus that is either 32- or 64-bits wide. (1)

RAM

Is a form of storage albeit typically temporary storage that loses its memory when power is loss; requiring memory to retain information. The access time is measured in Nanoseconds. Usually when memory is discussed we refer to _____; which is the computer primary working memory.

Firmware

Is a programming code(software) that is contained in or stored on the IC(integrated Circuit) chips(hardware) on your computer. Fills in the middle ground between software and hardware.

Software

Is programming code that is stored on your disk or on some other form of media.

Power Supply Unit(PSU)

Is responsible for taking Alternating Current(AC) from the outlet in the wall and converting it to a Direct Current(DC) that is usable by computer components.

Electromagnetic Interference(EMI)

Is the electrical interference from an outside source to the computer. This for the most part causes temporary damage to the computer although it can cause permanent damage if exposed for a long period of time.

Blackouts

Is the loss of power for longer periods of time. When power is lost, it could cause damage to components or corrupt files that are open.

Brownouts

Is the opposite of a power surge; Is a shortage of electrical power for a very short duration. May occur because the power grid is overloaded. This inconsistency in power can cause damage to your electrical equipment.

Power Supply

It supplies power to the rest of the component of the computers. it takes 120V or 240V of AC and converts it to 3.3V,5V, and 12V of DC.

CPU speed measurement

Measured in several different ways: 1.) Megahertz (MHz) 2.) Gigahertz (GHz) 3.) Millions of instructions per second (MIPS)

ESD Straps

Most popular solutions for preventing ESD damage. Involves wearing a grounding strap that goes around your wrist and contains a resistor that absorbs any static electricity. The strap then clamps to the metal chassis - a casting to the computer - this gives you the grounding while servicing the computer.

Plan for change

One of the best options to reduce risk. The more planning you do for a change the less likely there will be an interruption in service or functionality when the change is implemented.

PXE

Preboot Execution Environment

identify changes to the computer or network

Question the user whether he made any changes to the computer by installing software, changing the hardware, or changing the computers location.

Hardware

Refers to the physical components - boards, peripherals, and other equipment that make up the computer.

UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface)

Represents the next generation of low-level ROM-based code that controls motherboards processes, but with a great deal of enhancements. Capable of supporting advanced diagnostic tools, even without having an OS installed. IT supports network booting, secure boot and even limited shell for running commands.

BIOS responsibility

Responsible for controlling or managing low-level but extremely important processes like the POST(Power-on self-test), the boot process, and the interaction of components on the motherboard.

Purpose of The Change

Starts the change management process; Is the purpose or the reason for the change. This reasoning is used by the Change Advisory Board(CAB) to determine if the change should be allowed.

BIOS/UEFI

Stores programming code

Change Board

The Change Advisory Board(CAB); which is represented from most major departments in the organization; will review the RFC and determine if there is a need to proceed, and validate that there is a proper implementation and blackout plan in place.

Replacing a Power Supply

The PSU contains a charge even after it is unplugged fro the outlet. So servicing a broken PSU is not recommended unless you have proper certifications. If not then one should just replace the broken PSU.

Processor (CPU)

The brains of the computer. Performs a limited set of calculations based on requests from the operating system and controls access to system memory.

Motherboard

The main road in the computer that contains the BIOS chips, RAM, I/O Ports, and CPU. The board maintains the electrical pathways that enable all other components to communicate with each other.

ESD Mats

The mat connects to the grounding plug in the power outlet of the wall and then has a place to connect the workstation to the mat to get the ground.

electrostatic discharge (ESD)

The rapid transference of static charge to another object. This is responsible for damaging or killing computer components.

Scope of the Change

The scope of the change represents the items that will be changed and who or what will be affected by the change. If it is in the Active Directory Group Policy Object(GPO) change, would affect all desktops and servers on the network.

identify environmental or infrastructure changes

Were there any changes in the Active Directory Policy Objects, Networking, Servers, or even the building's power?

Network Topology Diagrams

When troubleshooting network issues, the best source for information is the networking documentation. Which will include _________. These ______ should include information such as network segments, IP addresses, Link speeds and device locations.

Antistatic Bags

When you need to carry any computer parts from one place to another, its a good idea to carry the components in an __________ to protect the components from ESD.

Battery Backup

Will provide a back up power source for a short period of time. thus allowing the computer to shut down properly preventing damage to components or corruption of data.

PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect)

a bus common to desktop computers that runs at 33 Mhz and uses a 32-bit wide or a 64-bit data path. which is 132 MBps or 264 MBps.

PCIe (peripheral component interconnect express)

also knowns as PCI Express. is a high-speed serial bus, so its speed is measured differently than the others which are parallel buses.

ISA and PCI

are half duplex. meaning that data can only flow in one direction at a time

120 volts AC

converts to roughly 3.3V, 5V, or 12V of DC

System Board

describes any number of circuit boards that make up the internals of the computer, but is mostly described as the MotherBoard.

Memory

is a solid-state storage medium. It takes many different form factors, such as RAM (Random Access Memory), flash RAM, ROM (Read Only Memory), or EPROM ( Erasable Programmable ROM).

PCIe

is full duplex. Meaning data can flow in both directions simultaneously.

Ergonomics

is the study of designing equipment that reduces discomfort for the user and reduces or prevents Repetitive Strain Injury(RSI).

Humidity

overly dry work environments can help create static electricity that can cause ESD and destroy computers. overly humid environments create unwanted moisture and mold. Keep humidity levels around 45 - 50%

CMOS

stores seating for the BIOS/UEFI

Optical Drive

used to store computer or media data. Common formats include, CD-ROM, DVD, HD-DVD and Blu-ray.

Multimeter

used to verify that the wall outlet is supplying the correct voltage and that your power connectors to the hard drive and CD-ROM drives are supplying the correct voltages as well