ROM-BIOS

ROM-BIOS is short for read-only memory basic input/output system. It is a connector or interface between software that is run on a computer and the hardware. It is called firm ware because it is actually software that is permanently stored in hardware chips.  There are three parts to the ROM-BIOS program. The first part is used when the computer is initially turned on. This portion is called the power-on self-test. This program initializes your computer system and checks to make sure it is in working order.  The second part of the program is the BIOS routines. These routines control the various peripheral computer devices such as the hard drive, diskette drives, serial and parallel ports. The third part is no longer applicable to most computers. Older IBM PCs contained a version of Basic in BIOS. This was called ROM-BASIC, and the computer would actually run Basic from the ROM-BIOS. These PCs were in use prior to the release of diskette drives and hard drives.  The computers had cassette tape systems to load and store programs. New PCs do not include ROM-BASIC.
 
 

Since the BIOS is a fixed part of the computer's equipment, you might wonder how support is added for new options. BIOS extensions accomplish this task. BIOS extensions have a specific area of memory reserved for them. When additions are made to the BIOS and end up in this area of memory, they are integrated into and become a standard part of the BIOS. This process is due to a routine of the standard BIOS that searches the memory area that has been reserved for extensions. When a specific, identifying, 55 AA signature is found in the memory area, it passes control over to the extension to enable it to initialize the new equipment and integrate itself into the BIOS. Newer PCs use what is called ABIOS (advanced BIOS). This type of BIOS contains routines that allow for the use of the protected mode feature of processors beyond the 8086 and aid in the use of large memory facilities and multitasking. The BIOS that came with the PC/XT-s did not support the use of a hard drive. The first hard drives that came with PCs had BIOS chips on the controller cards. These controller cards were specific to a certain type of hard drive. Some of the cards had BIOS drive tables that could support four to eight different types of hard drives. The PC/AT came out with a new BIOS that supported 14 different hard drives. These BIOS hard drive tables were referred to as CMOS drive tables. The number of supported drives grew from 14 to over 60, but the norm became 47. The CMOS drive tables in today's computers generally contain a table entry for user-defined hard drive parameters. This is normally drive type 47. When you enter the information or select one of the listed drive types, it is stored in the CMOS and maintained by the battery on the motherboard. This is why you can unplug the computer without it losing the hard drive parameters or other user-entered information. If you turn on your computer and it fails to load, your motherboard battery may have failed. If you are able to enter the setup routine and the hard drive parameters or other user input information is incorrect or missing, then you probably have a failing battery.

Preliminary
Troubleshooting

The first step in troubleshooting is a proper frame of mind. You must convince yourself that you can solve the problem. Many people who are faced with a problem don't even attempt to fix it. They will quickly make the assumption that the repair is over their head and pay someone else around $80 per hour to fix the problem. Most of these expensive repair jobs simply involve removing the cover and replacing a defective expansion card, a process that generally takes about 15 minutes, for which you're likely to be charged the standard two-hour minimum.

The second step in the troubleshooting process is, as already mentioned, to write everything down. This includes the system BIOS settings if the computer will at least allow you to enter the BIOS setup routine. You should also write down any jumper settings of the expansion cards and the motherboard. Any time you remove something or change something you should document it.

The third step is to do the simplest procedures first. Many times the problems that you face with PCs can be solved by the simplest of procedures such as rebooting the computer. Other things that are relatively simple are things such as swapping parts or components with compatible systems. If you suspect a monitor problem, try it on another system. One of the simplest solutions is to rule out operator error. Most computer malfunctions (93.3%) turn out to be operator error.

Last but not least, make sure everything is plugged in tightly. For example, a network administrator was informed one night that the network was down. The next morning he began to troubleshoot the network. His network contained an Ethernet backbone and was split by a repeater. He determined that only one side of the line was down and began the standard Ethernet troubleshooting task of moving a terminating resistor down the line in an attempt to isolate the problem. He moved the resistor to the first machine down the line from the repeater and it came on line. He then went to the next and it came up as well. The line then went across a hallway and into an office area that contained four workstations. The resistor was moved to the first workstation and it came up just fine. When he went to put the resistor on the next workstation he noticed the computer had been moved. He then immediately noticed the open end of an Ethernet cable lying on the floor. The worker wanted to move the computer, but the cable would not reach to the new location so he disconnected it, which brought down that entire side of the network. When asked why the cable was unplugged, the worker stated, "I thought that only ran my computer."
 

Microsoft' Diagnostics: Microsoft' Diagnostics (MSD. EXE) was an undocumented program that was released with Windows' 3.0. It was primarily used to report hardware configurations of beta sites to Microsoft'. Microsoft' support personnel also used MSD. EXE when users would call in for technical support. The Microsoft' technicians would have the user type MSD at the DOS prompt and then ask the user about the information that was being displayed on the screen. Microsoft' also included this program with later releases of Windows' as well as MS-DOS' 6.0. This utility scans your hardware and memory and reports its findings. These reports can be viewed on the screen or printed. This program should not be executed while Windows is running. If you execute MS D from a DOS prompt from within Windows you will receive a warning that the information being displayed may not be accurate.

MEMMAKER: MEMMAKER is a program that was first included in MS-DOS' 6.0. Microsoft developed this program by using technology licensed from Helix software's Netroom memory manager. It optimizes what is commonly called DOS memory, or the lower 640K of RAM. You can execute the program by typing MEMMAKER at a command prompt in DOS. You should not run this program from within Windows'. The program runs in either Custom or Express mode. When running in the Express mode, it requires very little user input.

DEFRAG: The release of MS-DOS' 6.0 also included DEFRAG. EXE. DEFRAG is a disk utility that defragments your hard drive. This utility has a somewhat graphical interface and it runs from DOS. This program defragments and packs the data on your hard drive, increasing the efficiency of the drive by allowing faster data access. As files are written to the hard drive and others are deleted, the files may become fragmented across the drive. When a file has been fragmented, it takes longer to read the file off the drive and place it in memory. This program can be used with drives that have been compressed by using DoubleSpace or DriveSpacel two compression utilities from Microsoft'.

DOUBLESPACE (or is it DRIVESPACE?): DoubleSpace was released with MS-DOS' 6.0, but due to a legal battle with Stac Electronics', it was written and called DriveSpace. The original DoubleSpace had a major flaw which was corrected with DriveSpace. The problem? When a drive with errors or bad sectors was compressed with DoubleSpace, you would lose a large amount of data. Another problem was the lack of an easy method to uncompress the drive after it had been compressed by DoubleSpace. The only way to uncompress the drive and retain data was to back up the data off the drive and run FDISK on the drive. The problem was corrected by the addition of DoubleGuard, which helped ensure the integrity of the data by running ScanDi sk prior to compressing the drive and allowed the user to uncompress the drive. If you have MS-DOS' 6.0 on your computer, you should not compress your hard drive with DoubleSpace.

ScanDisk: ScanDisk was released with MS-DOS' 6.0. This program may be used to scan hard and diskette drives for errors. This program was a replacement for the CHKDSK program. ScanDisk not only identifies errors but attempts to repair them as well. ScanDisk keeps a log file of the results of the scan.
 

After you have read all of this check with Mr. Hicks for the assignment.