Explaining the troubleshooting procedures for the common port types 10. Serial port problems are usually caused by ______ conflicts.
Answers 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
One. Check out "Understanding Serial Devices." Null modem. Take a look at "Cabling the connection." UART or Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter. Peek at "Is that UART?" IEEE 1284 . See "Keeping up to standard." Parallel . Review "Looking at Parallel Devices." IEEE 1394 . Check out "There's fire in the wire: IEEE 1394." USB. Look over "Connecting with USB." 4 . See "Setting up a serial port." 378h. Take a look at "Troubleshooting a parallel port." System resource . Review "Troubleshooting a serial port."
Defining Ports and Connectors In the life of the PC repair technician, the really fun stuff, such as replacing the motherboard, upgrading the processor, or tracking down a transient error in memory, is only a small and diminishing part of the job. The real work involves the more mundane tasks like installing a new printer, connecting an external modem, rigging a nifty new mouse or keyboard, or adding the pizzazz of a digital camera. In spite of my feeble attempts to make these tasks sound exciting, they really boil down to not much more than connecting the device's cable and connector to one of a PC's ports. That's the stuff that fills your hours. That's why the A+ Core Hardware exam places some emphasis on knowing the different types of ports in use, the types of connectors used with them, and the proper way to put the two together. Time Shaver Here is a checklist of what you need to know about ports and connectors for the test: l l l l
The types of devices that use each port type The system resources used to configure serial and parallel ports The standards that define each of the common port types The connectors, meaning their sizes and shapes, and cabling used with each port type
Here are the port types you should know for the test: l l l l
Serial Parallel USB IEEE 1394/FireWire
Understanding Serial Devices