Blog 6 – IT Essentials – Motherboards

Blog 6 Week 6

Assignment: -- Thinking Critically -- page 267 -- problems 1-4:

1) Why does a motherboard sometimes support more than one system bus speed?

A. A manufacturer could save a lot of money by making a motherboard with more than one bus speed. Also if the owner wants to upgrade their processor, the bus speed would be available. And a choice of bus speeds allows for backward compatibility if needed.

2) Why don't all buses on a motherboard operate at the same speed?

A. The book says that there are four or five buses on modern motherboards, all running at different speeds. Buses carry four things, electricity, control signals, memory addresses, and data. Not everything needs to travel at the same speed. For instance, the video card needs to run fast, so it is connected to the fast side of the system bus, where as the expansion card are connected to the back, or slower part, of the bus.

3) When you turn off a compute at night, it loses the date, and you must reenter it each morning. What is the problem and how do you solve it?

A. The reason a computer loses the date and time is because the system battery on the motherboard is weak or dead. The solution is to replace the system battery.

4) Why do you think the trend is to store configuration information on a motherboard in CMOS setup rather than using jumpers or switches?

A. According to the book, it is easier to change the CMOS settings than it is to open the computer case to change a jumper or a dip switch. I think that there are also more configuration options when using CMOS settings.