Upgrade Your PC to the Ultimate Machine in a Weekend

✍ Scribed by Faithe Wempen

• Publisher: Cengage Learning
• Year: 2002
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 369
• Series: In a weekend
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Frustrated by the limitations of your old computer but just can't bring yourself to get rid of it? Now you don't need to! Upgrade Your PC to the Ultimate Machine In a Weekend is your guide to revving up that old machine. Prepare for your upgrade by identifying your goals on Friday afternoon. Increase your hard disk space, speed up your Internet connection, or add a new component such as a scanner - pick and choose the upgrades that you want to make.

✦ Table of Contents

CONTENTS......Page 11
Introduction......Page 24
FRIDAY AFTERNOON: Preparing for an Upgrade......Page 28
Video Card......Page 29
CD-ROM and Removable Drives......Page 30
Outlining Your Priorities......Page 31
Business Applications......Page 32
Graphics Editing......Page 33
Watching DVD Movies......Page 34
Upgrade Planning Worksheet......Page 35
Do You Want a Brand New Computer?......Page 36
Should You Upgrade Your Existing PC?......Page 37
Brand Name or Generic Parts?......Page 38
Take a Break......Page 39
Safety Precautions......Page 40
Removing the PC Cover......Page 42
Identifying the Internal Components......Page 43
Accessing the BIOS Setup......Page 49
Working with Files and Folders......Page 51
Working with the Control Panel......Page 52
Adding and Removing Programs......Page 54
Working with the Device Manager......Page 55
Moving On......Page 57
FRIDAY EVENING: Improving Video Performance......Page 58
What Activities Will Improve with This Upgrade?......Page 59
Finding Out What You Already Have......Page 60
Updating the Video Card Driver......Page 61
Installing a Monitor Driver......Page 63
Adjusting the Windows Display Settings......Page 64
Adjusting the Monitor......Page 66
Looking at Motherboards with Video in Mind......Page 67
Understanding Built-In Video......Page 68
Choosing a Bus Type......Page 69
Selecting Video RAM......Page 70
Deciding on a Video Chipset......Page 73
Evaluating Your 3D Acceleration Support Needs......Page 74
Deciding on Extra Features......Page 78
Types of Monitors......Page 79
Measurements of Monitor Quality......Page 83
Brands......Page 85
Removing the Old Video Card and Installing the New One......Page 86
Installing a Windows Driver......Page 88
Installing and Testing a Monitor......Page 89
Troubleshooting Windows and Application-Specific Video Problems......Page 91
Scanners......Page 93
Still Digital Cameras......Page 99
Webcams and Digital Camcorders......Page 100
Moving On......Page 102
NIGHT OWL 1: Upgrading to a Better Printer......Page 104
What Makes One Printer Better Than Another?......Page 105
Inkjet......Page 106
Hybrids......Page 108
Color......Page 109
Printer Language......Page 110
Printer Memory......Page 111
Inkjet Color Quality Problems......Page 112
Inaccurate Color Output......Page 113
Moving On......Page 114
SATURDAY MORNING: Improving Sound Performance......Page 116
What Activities Will Improve with This Upgrade?......Page 117
Is Your Existing Hardware Enough?......Page 118
Identifying Your Current Sound Card......Page 119
Understanding the Capabilities of Your Current Sound Card......Page 121
Getting Updated Sound Card Drivers......Page 123
Troubleshooting a No-Sound Situation......Page 124
Troubleshooting a Non-Working or Crackling Microphone......Page 125
Looking at Motherboards with Sound in Mind......Page 126
General Features......Page 127
MIDI Features......Page 128
Digital Audio Features......Page 130
I/O Ports......Page 131
3D Sound......Page 134
Amplification......Page 135
Number of Speakers......Page 136
Other Speaker Considerations......Page 137
Installing a Sound Card......Page 138
Installing Windows Sound Drivers......Page 140
Installing Speakers......Page 142
Adjusting Speaker Configuration in Windows......Page 144
Moving On......Page 145
SATURDAY AFTERNOON: Adding More Hard Disk Space......Page 146
Is Your Existing Hardware Enough?......Page 147
Checking for Unused Drives......Page 149
Cleaning Up Your Old Hard Drive......Page 150
Converting to FAT32......Page 151
Using DriveSpace......Page 152
Some Techie Details about Hard Disks......Page 153
Understanding How Disks Store Data......Page 154
Understanding How Disk Space Is Organized......Page 155
How the Motherboard BIOS Deal with the Hard Drive......Page 157
Capacity......Page 161
Maximum Data Transfer Rate......Page 162
Planning Your Data Transfer Strategy......Page 163
Manual File Copying......Page 164
Ghosting......Page 165
Preparing an IDE Drive for Installation......Page 166
Setting IDE Slave/Master Status......Page 167
Planning Drive Positioning for Best Performance......Page 169
Mounting the Drive in the Bay......Page 170
Connecting the Drive to the Motherboard or the Expansion Board......Page 171
Connecting the Power Cable......Page 172
Configuring the Drive in the BIOS......Page 173
Logical Drives and Partitions......Page 174
Clusters......Page 176
High-Level Formatting......Page 178
Partitioning and Formatting in MS-DOS or Windows 9x......Page 180
Partitioning and Formatting from Windows 2000/XP Disk Management......Page 190
Testing the New Drive......Page 193
Dead Drive......Page 194
Windows Sees the Drive but Can’t Read It......Page 195
Data Errors Reading or Writing to the Disk......Page 196
Loss of Partition Information or Accidental Formatting......Page 197
Non-Healthy Disks in Disk Management......Page 198
Moving On......Page 199
SATURDAY EVENING: CD and Other Removable Disk Drives......Page 200
What Activities Will Improve with This Upgrade?......Page 201
Drive Types......Page 202
Is Your Existing Hardware Enough?......Page 203
Speed......Page 204
CLV versus CAV......Page 205
Access Time......Page 206
Other CD-ROM Performance Factors......Page 207
What’s the Difference between CD-R and CD-RW?......Page 208
Understanding the CD-R Recording Process......Page 209
BURN-Proof Technology......Page 210
Selecting a DVD Drive......Page 211
Speed......Page 212
Selecting an MPEG-2 Decoder Card......Page 213
Selecting a Writeable DVD......Page 214
Selecting Other Removable Storage Devices......Page 215
Safety Precautions......Page 217
Preparing the Drive......Page 218
Planning Drive Positioning for Best Performance......Page 219
Installing a Drive in the System Case......Page 220
Connecting the Drive to the Motherboard or Expansion Board......Page 222
Securing the Drive......Page 223
Installing an External Disk Drive......Page 224
The BIOS Doesn’t See the Drive......Page 225
The Drive Can’t Read from a Blank Disk......Page 226
Moving On......Page 227
NIGHT OWL 2: Upgrading the Power Supply......Page 228
A Crash Course in Electrical Measurement......Page 229
Power Supply Basics......Page 230
Understanding Power Supply Form Factors......Page 231
Evaluating Power Supply Wattage Needs......Page 233
Testing a Power Supply......Page 235
Shopping for a New Power Supply......Page 237
Replacing a Power Supply......Page 238
Moving On......Page 239
SUNDAY MORNING: Improving Internet Speed......Page 240
What Activities Will Improve with This Upgrade?......Page 241
How Internet Service Works......Page 242
Modem......Page 244
Cable......Page 245
Two-Way Satellite......Page 246
ISDN......Page 247
Summarizing the Options......Page 248
How Broadband is Sold......Page 249
Speed......Page 250
Selecting a Modem......Page 251
Installing DSL Service......Page 253
Installing Cable Internet Service......Page 254
Installing Satellite Internet Service......Page 257
Installing a Modem......Page 258
Installing an Internal Modem......Page 259
Setting Up a Modem in Windows......Page 260
Testing a Modem......Page 262
Enabling and Disabling COM Ports in the BIOS......Page 263
Running a Wizard to Create a Dial-Up Networking Connection......Page 264
Setting Up Internet Connection Sharing......Page 267
Installing ICS in Windows 98 Second Edition......Page 268
Installing ICS in Windows Me......Page 269
Setting Up an E-Mail Account......Page 270
Web Service but No E-Mail......Page 272
Dial-Up Won’t Connect or Won’t Stay Connected......Page 273
Moving On......Page 274
SUNDAY AFTERNOON: Memory and CPU......Page 276
Is Your Existing Hardware Enough?......Page 277
Do You Really Want to Do This Upgrade?......Page 278
Barriers to Upgrading RAM......Page 279
Barriers to Upgrading the CPU......Page 280
Understanding RAM......Page 281
How RAM Stores Data......Page 282
How RAM Is Packaged......Page 283
RAM Speeds......Page 286
What the Specs Mean......Page 287
Selecting RAM for Your Motherboard......Page 289
How CPUs Communicate......Page 290
CPU and External Data Bus Speeds......Page 291
Looking at CPU Packaging......Page 293
CPU Caches......Page 295
CPU Classes......Page 296
CPU Cooling......Page 301
Adding Memory......Page 303
Removing Old Memory......Page 304
Installing New Memory......Page 305
Testing the New Memory......Page 306
Replacing a CPU......Page 307
Replacing a PGA CPU......Page 308
Replacing an SEC CPU......Page 310
Troubleshooting CPU Installation Problems......Page 312
Moving On......Page 313
SUNDAY EVENING: A New Motherboard......Page 314
What Activities Will Improve with This Upgrade?......Page 315
How a Motherboard Works......Page 316
Understanding Chipsets......Page 317
AT or ATX......Page 318
Expansion Slots......Page 320
Memory Slots......Page 321
Built-In Components......Page 322
What’s in the Box?......Page 323
Preparing the Work Area......Page 324
Setting Up the New Motherboard......Page 325
Preparing the Case for the New Motherboard......Page 326
Connecting the Power Supply......Page 328
Connecting Wires for Case Buttons/Switches......Page 329
No Fan, No Video......Page 330
Connecting the I/O Ports......Page 331
Connecting the Drives......Page 332
Moving On......Page 333
NIGHT OWL 3: Replacing a Motherboard Battery......Page 334
Symptoms of a Failing Motherboard Battery......Page 335
Locating the Battery......Page 336
Buying Batteries......Page 337
Moving On......Page 338
Appendix A: Buying Parts Online......Page 340
Appendix B: Getting Hardware Information Online......Page 342
Hardware Manufacturer Directories......Page 343
Individual Manufacturers......Page 344
Consumer Reviews and Opinions......Page 346
A......Page 348
B......Page 349
C......Page 350
D......Page 352
F......Page 354
H......Page 355
I......Page 356
M......Page 358
P......Page 361
R......Page 362
S......Page 363
T......Page 365
U......Page 366
V......Page 367
W......Page 368
Z......Page 369