Computer Fundamentals Final Exam Study Guide

How much data does a 3.5" floppy disk drive hold?

1.44 MB

Which power supply connector is the main motherboard power connector on most motherboards today?

24-pin

Which type of cable is required by ATA/66 and above?

40 pins, 80 wires

Which of the following describes USB 2.0?

480 Mbps, cable length up to 5 meters

What should you keep in mind when installing hard drives?

A PATA drive has master and slave settings

Which is the most common form factor used today for computer cases, power supplies, and motherboards?

ATX

After you install a processor you should check the what to verify that the system recognized the processor correctly?

BIOS

(_______) device inputs data about a person which might include fingerprints and voice.

Biometrics

If you are adding a hard drive to a system that already has a drive with Windows installed on it, which of the following is true?

Boot Windows and use Disk Management to prepare the new drive

what measures memory access timing?

CAS Latency

Where do today's computers store almost all motherboard configuration data?

CMOS RAM

Which type of fire extinguisher should you have available in the event of an electrical fire?

Class C

Which of the following is a technology that allows for multiple video cards to work together in one system?

CrossFire

Which type of memory can support quad, triple, and dual channels?

DDR3

a type of memory slot found on a motherboard

DIMM

Why is DMA a better transfer mode than PIO for PATA?

DMA data transfer don't involve the CPU

Which type of memory is the main memory installed as DIMMs on a motherboard?

DRAM

DIMMs used in servers can provide additional reliability if they use which of the following technologies?

ECC

Which disk drive standard uses an 80-conductor cable?

EIDE

What is a result of two objects with dissimilar electrical charges touching?

ESD

A DVI port transmits a video signal and is also called a DB-15 port. Answer: True or False

False

Each IDE header on a motherboard can support up to two IDE devices? True or False

False

The official standard for USB interfaces is called IEEE 1394 True or False

False

The two major manufacturers of processors are Intel and NVIDIA. True or False

False

When installing a processor, you must line up the red circle on the processor with the right-angle mark on the motherboard. True or False

False

What is the name of the interface that uses graphics as compared to a command-driven interface?

Graphical User

Which type of port transmits both digital audio and digital video with a single connector?

HDMI

What unit is used to measure the frequency of memory, FSB, and the processor?

Hz

A __________ socket has blunt protruding pins on the socket that connect with land or pads on the bottom of the processor.

Land Grid Array

Which type of processor memory is located on the processor chip (processor die)?

Level 1 cache

Which process writes sector markings to a hard drive?

Low-level Formatting

Which of the following is true about selecting a hard drive?

Magnetic Drives have large capacity for the money than solid state drives

In the Accelerated HUb Architecture, the fast end of the hub is called the _____.

North Bridge

Which of the following is true about disk drive interfaces?

PATA allows for two (2) connectors on a motherboard.

Which slot type would you install a video card in to get the best performance?

PCI-e

Which component probably has a dual-voltage selector switch, and has cables that connect to the motherboard and drives?

PSU

Which of the following is true about hardware RAID?

RAID controllers have their own BIOS

_____________ is temporary storage for data and instructions as they are being processed by the CPU.

RAM

Which memory technology that is no longer used has a 32-bit data bus, 232 pins and requires a placeholder in empty slots?

RIMM

Which hard drive technology is used to predict when a drive is likely to fail?

S.M.A.R.T.

Which of the following is an audio port that connects to an external home theater audio system, providing digital audio output?

S/PDIF

Which standard provides the best performance for hard drives?

SATA

Which of the following is NOT a typical connector found on the front panel header?

SATA controller

Which SATA standard provides a transfer rate of 3 Gb/sec?

SATA2

Which of the following is true about DIMM technologies?

SDRAM runs synchronized with the system clock

A KVM switch allows you to use one monitor, mouse, and keyboard for multiple computers. True or False

True

A system always needs the 4-pin auxiliary power connector, and sometimes needs the P1 connector as well. True of False

True

An Ethernet port has a connector called an RJ-45 to connect to a network cable? True or False

True

An operating system manages hardware, runs applications, provides an interface for users, and stores, retrieves, and manipulates files. True or False

True

Every installed device requires a device driver to control the device. True or False

True

Functions that used to be provided by expansion cards are more often found as onboard ports today? True or False

True

Multiple processors can be installed in a single processor housing. True or False

True

Sandy Bridge processors house the memory controller and graphics controller. True or False

True

When you build a computer from parts, you usually start by deciding on which processor and motherboard you will use. True or False

True

Which of the following is true about an FRU?

a support technician should know how to replace one

At what point during the motherboard installation should you install the motherboard drivers?

after Windows successfully boots

Which of the following is true about installing a processor on a motherboard?

after placing the processor in the socket, you need to lock down the lever

Which type of electrical current is used to transmit electricity to our homes and workplaces?

alternating

What type of component holds its charge even after the power is turned off and the device is unplugged?

capacitor

Which of the following is a setting you can configure from the BIOS setup program?

change the boot sequence

Which of the following is NOT a feature of a processor?

clock speed

Which of the following is true about DIMM slots?

color coding is used to identify the channel

If your computer is in a dirty, dusty environment, what tool should you use periodically to prevent overheating?

compressed air

Which of the following is NOT a component of a processor?

device driver

A(n) _________________________ is a circuit board that provides more ports than those provided by the motherboard.

expansion card

A ____ is one or more characters following the last period in a filename, such as .exe, .txt, or .avi.

file extension

What is a possible remedy if your system hangs at odd time or during the boot?

flash the BIOS

A motherboard ________ determines the size of the board and its features

form factor

What determines the physical size of a power supply and the placement of screw holes?

form factor

Which of the following is most likely to be installed in a PC, is considered primary storage, and has Windows 7 installed on it?

hard disk drive

Which of the following is NOT true of a motherboard?

has a heat sink on the PCIe slots

What do you call a connector on a motherboard that consists of pins that stick up from the board?

header

A _____________________ uses fins that draw heat away from the processor.

heat sink

With ____, you can connect and disconnect a drive while the system is running.

hot-swapping

Which of the following best describes RAID 5?

it requires 3 or more drives and uses parity checking

What is the purpose of the LightScribe technology?

labels can be burned on the top of a disc

Which of the following memory configurations definitely will not work when populating a motherboard with DIMMs?

mixing unbuffered with registered

What is the ability of a processor to execute 2 instructions at the same time.

multi processing

Which general-purpose tool can measure characteristics of electricity in a variety of devices?

multimeter

What is the general name of the processor feature that AMD calls HyperTransport?

multithreading

If you need to reset the BIOS password on a motherboard and the instructions say to make sure jumper J1 is open, what should you do?

open the case and remove the cover from a set of pins marked J1.

Several applications might be installed on a computer but it really only needs one ____________________ to function.

operating system

What type of software is used to control a computer?

operating system

Examples of ____________ drives include CD, DVD, and Blu-ray.

optical

Which of the following represents a method for accessing the BIOS setup program?

press a key during the BIOS POST

Which motherboard slot has direct access to the North Bridge?

primary PCIe slot

a device that converts AC to DC

rectifier

A DIMM that holds data and amplifies a signal before the data is written to the module uses which technology?

registers

What type of bus does PCI Express use?

serial

A ____________ has no moving parts and is built using nonvolatile memory, which is similar to that used for USB flash drives.

solid state drive

Which of the following is NOT true about hard disk drives?

solid state drives are less expensive than magnetic hard drives.

Which of the following can be described as round plastic or metal pegs that separate the motherboard from the bottom of the case?

standoff

If you touch an ungrounded component, you could damage it with __________ electricity.

static

What should you do if you want to be able locate your laptop in the event of loss or theft and give it a command through the Internet to lock it or delete data?

subscribe to LoJack for laptops

Which of the following is NOT a necessary precaution when installing memory modules?

test the motherboard for residual electrical charges

Which of the following is a consideration when purchasing a power supply with the correct wattage?

the power supply should be rated 30% higher than your needs

The speed at which the processor operates internally is called the processor what?

the processor frequency

What is placed between the bottom of the cooler heat sink and the top of the processor that makes an airtight connection between the fan and processor?

thermal compound

Why might you want to use a RAID 0 disk configuration?

to improve overall disk performance

What icon might you see in Device Manager that indicates a problem with a device?

yellow triangle