Computer Hardware and Software Questions and Answers

Answer: C

Correct answer: All of the above

The strap protects the components from the technician's static charge, and its built-in resistor protects the technician by limiting any current that could pass to earth through the body.

Answer: B

Correct answer: To connect and allow communication between all the components of a computer

The motherboard is the main circuit board of a computer. It holds the processor socket, memory slots, expansion slots and the chipset, and it carries the buses along which all the components communicate. Its chipset determines much of what a board can do - which processors it accepts, how much memory and of what type, and how many devices can be attached. It was traditionally divided into a northbridge handling fast connections to memory and graphics, and a southbridge handling slower peripherals, though most of the northbridge function has since moved onto the processor itself. The board also carries the BIOS or UEFI firmware chip and the CMOS battery that preserves its settings. The other options describe different components: storage is the hard disk or SSD, calculation is the CPU, and converting mains alternating current to the low-voltage direct current the components need is the job of the power supply unit.

Answer: C

Correct answer: Hard disk drive

A hard disk drive holds far more than any of the others - terabytes, where the optical and magnetic media listed hold gigabytes or megabytes. The capacities are worth knowing in order, since the comparison is a standard question. A floppy disk held 1.44 MB. A CD holds about 700 MB. A DVD holds 4.7 GB single-layer and 8.5 GB dual-layer. A Blu-ray disc holds 25 GB per layer. A hard disk today holds several terabytes. The optical discs differ chiefly in the wavelength of the laser used: a shorter wavelength focuses to a smaller spot, so more pits fit on the same surface. CD uses infrared at 780 nm, DVD red at 650 nm, and Blu-ray blue-violet at 405 nm - which is where its name comes from. Solid-state drives now rival hard disks in capacity while being far faster, and cloud storage is effectively unlimited but depends on a connection.

Answer: B

Correct answer: To draw heat away from a component and dissipate it into the air

A heat sink is a block of metal, usually aluminium or copper, cut into fins and clamped to a component. It conducts heat away from the component and presents a large surface area to the air, so the heat is carried off - usually with a fan blowing across the fins. It is needed because a modern processor dissipates tens or hundreds of watts in a few square centimetres, and silicon fails rapidly above about 100°C. Processors protect themselves by thermal throttling, reducing their clock speed as they approach the limit, and shutting down entirely if it is exceeded - so inadequate cooling shows up first as unexplained slowness rather than as failure. Thermal paste is applied between the component and the sink to fill the microscopic gaps that would otherwise trap insulating air. Larger systems use liquid cooling, circulating fluid to a radiator, where air cooling cannot remove the heat fast enough.

Answer: A

Correct answer: Their protective sleeves

A 5¼ inch diskette has an open media window, so the sleeve is what keeps dust and fingerprints off the recording surface.

Answer: B

Correct answer: 278H

LPT1 uses 378H, LPT2 278H and the monochrome adapter's port 3BCH.

Answer: B

Correct answer: 16 Ohms

A small computer speaker is a coil of wire and reads its nominal impedance - typically 16 ohms - on a resistance range. A reading of zero would mean a short and an infinite reading an open coil.

Answer: B

Correct answer: 4MB

Twenty-four bits is three bytes per pixel:

\[ 1024\times 768\times 3 = 2{,}359{,}296\ \text{bytes} \approx 2.25\ \text{MB} \]

More than 2 MB is needed, and cards are supplied in powers of two, so 4 MB is the size required.

Answer: B

Correct answer: BIOS

The BIOS counts and tests the memory during the power-on self test and records the total, which the operating system then reads rather than working it out again.

Answer: C

Correct answer: 16 bit & 32 bit

IBM's Micro Channel was offered in 16-bit and 32-bit widths, with automatic configuration and no jumpers - advanced for its day, but proprietary, which is why EISA was created in answer to it.