Lab Exercises - Quiz #1 (Third Trinal)

1.

Q: What is the reason for technicians to wear special wrist grounding straps?

A: A wrist grounding strap is used to prevent electrostatic discharge when handling computer components. Just like a shock when walking on carpet can carry several thousand volts, it destroys computer components. In more detail, it is a wire leading from a technician's body (a wrist band with metal contact to the skin) to earth ground, with a high (1 megohm) resistance in it. This slowly discharges any static electricity that is built up on the body, to avoid discharging it into an electronic component. An electrostatic discharge (ESD) mat with similar connection to ground is also used to keep the electronic components at earth ground potential.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_a_wrist_grounding_strap

2.

Q: After installing a new computer component why is it important to obtain the most current driver for it?

A device driver is a program that controls a particular type of device that is attached to your computer. There are device drivers for printers, displays, CD-ROM readers, diskette drives, and so on. When you buy an operating system, many device drivers are built into the product. However, if you later buy a new type of device that the operating system didn't anticipate, you'll have to install the new device driver. A device driver essentially converts the more general input/output instructions of the operating system to messages that the device type can understand. You need to have a newer version of your device driver because a newer version of a device driver has new features on it.
http://searchenterprisedesktop.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid192_gci211938,00.html

A:

3.
Q: What are the steps required to install a peripheral device?

A: Adding a new peripheral device that is not-pluggable usually involves the following:

• Shutting down the system


• Connecting the device to the system


• Rebooting the system
  

Use How to Add a Peripheral Device to add the following devices that are not hot-pluggable to a system:

• CD-ROM


• Secondary disk drive


• Tape drive


• SBUS card
  

How to Add a Peripheral Device:

1. Become superuser.


2. (Optional) If you need to add a device driver to support the device, complete the procedure How to Add a Device Driver.


3. Create the /reconfigure file.
   # touch /reconfigure
   The /reconfigure file causes the Solaris software to check for the presence of any newly installed devices the next time you turn on or boot your system.


4. Shut down the system.
   # shutdown -i0 -g30 -y
   
   -i0
   Brings the system to the 0 init state, which is the appropriate state for turning the system power off for adding and removing devices.
   -g30
   Shuts the system down in 30 seconds. The default is 60 seconds.
   -y
   Continues the system shutdown without user intervention. Otherwise, you are prompted to continue the shutdown process.


5. Select one of the following to turn off power to the system after it is shut down:
   For SPARC platforms, it is safe to turn off power if the ok prompt is displayed.
   For x86 platforms, it is safe to turn off power if the type any key to continue prompt is displayed.


6. Turn off power to all peripheral devices.
   For the location of power switches on any peripheral devices, refer to the hardware installation guides that accompany your peripheral devices.


7. Install the peripheral device, making sure that the device you are adding has a different target number than the other devices on the system.
   Often, a small switch is located at the back of the disk for selecting the target number.
   Refer to the hardware installation guide that accompanies the peripheral device for information on installing and connecting the device.


8. Turn on the power to the system.
   The system boots to multiuser mode, and the login prompt is displayed.
   Verify that the peripheral device has been added by attempting to access the device.
   For information on accessing the device, see Accessing Devices.

http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/doc/817-5093/devconfig-6?a=view

4.
Q: If a newly installed peripheral device does not function properly what steps can be taken to correct the problem?

A: 1) Shut down the PC.2) Remove the newly installed card.3) Remove ALL audio drivers from the PC.4) Reboot the PC.5) Disable the audio in the bios.6) read instructions for the audio card and follow it usually its either A) install the card and then run in the setup for the drivers OR its B) run the setup for the drivers then install the card.

http://forums.techguy.org/hardware/496324-sound-card-newly-installed-not.html

5.
Q: Explain the technique used to help protect data on a hard drive when doing a clean install?

A: Make a list of: 1) all the programs you had installed, that you will want to install again.2) all the files you wish to keep (perhaps arrange them in a single folder)3) make a note of ALL harware deviced you had drivers for.Doing these 3 things will save you time and effort during and after the format/installation.If you have multiple hard drives you may wish to skip ahead, as you can transfer files from your windows drive to another. IF you do not then you require a partition.A parition seperates your drive so windows will treat it like 2 seperate drives, allowing you to destroy one, and leave the other completely intact!

http://www.dreamincode.net/forums/showtopic21138.htmm

6.
Q: Explain what a software patch is.

A: A patch is a software update (usually a download) issued by the author that fixes bugs, adds security, or adds new features. A patch is meant to update your current software version, but isn't a large enough change to warrant a rerelease of the entire program. If a patch is released it is important to install it, as it may improve security or fix a compromising bug that previously slipped through. Be sure you download the patch from a reliable source, such as the software's website.

http://php.about.com/od/programingglossary/g/patch.htm