Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Motherboards

By Craig Stephenson

Motherboards are electrical hubs of a computer. Motherboards are sometimes called system boards or mainboards. Because every electrical connection in a computer is facilitated by the motherboard, it is sometimes called the backbone of a computer system. Much like a person's spine supports the cerebrum, motherboards support the central processing unit, or brain of a computer. But, the CPU is only one of many components housed by motherboards. Motherboards typically contain the following components: electrical sockets for the CPU, sockets for the main memory, chipset to interface, non-volatile memory chips including the basic input/output system (BIOS), a clock generator, power connector flickers, input device connectors and expansion slots.

Most computer motherboards manufactured today are for use in IBM compatible computers. IBM compatibles account for 90% of computer sales. But, motherboards are used in more than just computers. These electronic boards are also present in cell phones, stop watches, and many electronics.

The motherboard contains the electrical sockets for the CPU, or brain of the computer. Most motherboards come with the CPU intact. When buying, or replacing a motherboard, it is important to consider the quality of CPU.

The motherboard contains slots for the main memory. Dual inline memory, or DIMM, modules are the most used types of memory modules in computers today. This is where the DRAM, direct access memory, chips are located and the type of DRAM chips you use will depend on what your computer can support.

Motherboards contain non-volatile memory chips, such as the basic input/output system (BIOS). The BIOS is a type of firmware that is run by the computer when it is booted. The BIOS identifies, tests, and initializes system devices to make sure they are present and working properly.

Motherboards contain non-volatile memory chips. The most commonly known type of non-volatile memory is the basic input/output system, or BIOS. The reason the BIOS is so well known, is because it stores settings that control the booting of a computer. When the computer starts up, the BIOS settings routinely initialize, identify and test system devices for functionality.

Motherboards hold clock generators. These generators supply timing signals that coordinate the time of the computer components including the system clock. This generator also controls the speed of the RAM and CPU. Several slots or sockets exist on the motherboard that allows additional boards to be connected to it. These slots allow for expansion of the computer by adding on devices that were not previously connected. Input and output devices, such as scanners or graphics cards can be used in these expansion slots.

Motherboards contain power connector flickers. These flickers receive power from the computer?s main power supply and distribute the power to other components of the motherboard including the CPU, chipsets, main memory, and expansion cards.

Like any electrical device, a motherboard can malfunction. A few signs that your computer motherboard has stopped functioning properly include: 1. a locked up computer 2. a computer that makes one long beep followed by 3 short beeps 3. the system clock displaying the wrong time 4. error messages with reference to DMA, CMOS battery, or RAM failure 5. a computer completely failing to boot up, but the power light is on - 22787

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