Deck 1

Question 1

Professional Communication is conducive of:

13 here; includes don’ts with the dos, all written as dos

Answer 1

Being on time (Alert customer if you will be tardy)

Active Listening (Can be for literal half hours, only redirect to the initial incident if they branch too far off topic, such as talking about their dog or their neighbor)

Clarify statements by asking open ended questions to narrow down the scope of the problem, maintain a positive attitude and have confidence in your voice / posture

Don’t waste time using industry jargon, this is a normie afterall!

Don’t discuss money until the issue is narrowed down so that you will give an accurate rate

Set expectations by giving them a timeframe and a budget

Be culturally sensitive and use proper titles (Dr, Ms, Miss)

Stay off your phone and avoid distractions

Don’t pass Judgement and don’t be dismissive, even if they ramble and are wrong about the issue (active listening, make them feel heard)

Ignore all private information on the device, if its illegal send it to the feds.

Never Argue, instead offer to follow up in the future after trying it out for a few days, and then follow up.

Gather All Documentation

Offer repair options when applicable such as if the battery can be replaced with a better one and the issue is a power related issue

Question 2

Physical Safety Practices

6 recommendations here

Answer 2

Ground equipment

Use anti static wristbands and mats and such

Wear appropriate safety gear such as goggles

Remove potential hazardous items such as jewelry

If its over 25 LBs OSHA says get help

Always lift with your legs, not your back

Question 3

Fire Extinguisher Types and Use Case Scenarios

Answer 3

A - Standard Fires
B - Grease Fires
C - Electrical Fires

In most cases regarding this test / field just know and trust type C is for computer

Question 4

What Tools Should Be In Your Toolbox

2 on person, 9 in toolbox

Answer 4

You will need your phone for google and a phillips head screwdriver most of the time, but there are other tools you should keep as well.

Hemostat - needle nose pliers with a curved tip, useful in surgery on people or computers

Tweezers - Used to pick up small items and or dropped items

Other Types of screwdrivers - For more complex matters

Spudgers - Tool used to pry things off of things. One end is a point or a hook while the other is a flat head. Think phone screen repair

Pry Bars - Similar to a spudger and used to pry things off things on phones especially. these tend to be made of plastic

Voltage Tester - Plugs into a wall and determines voltage

Volt/Ohm Meter - Multimeter; Tests electrical circuitry and reads the Ohms as well as Voltage and even Resistance or Current.

Thumbdrives - External drive for storing additional files as well as transferring files. Also practical to use as holders for software relevant to the repair such as an anti-virus program

Ifixit Phone Repair kit - Recommended by Mike, will be able to handle most phone repairs

Question 5

Trouble Shooting Theory

(There are 6 steps)

Always Follow Company Protocol Above All Else

Answer 5

1 Identify the Problem - This is just why they called (it isn’t working, my internet is down, why did my wife leave me and the pc wont show on the monitor).
Some tips are to review system and application logs, isolate the incident and gather intel on the matter, consider any environmental or infrastructural changes.

2 Establish Probable Cause - Just come up with a theory (its not plugged in, the airplane mode is on, she took the displayport cable with her)

3 Test theory - This may be the end of the problem, but there is still more to do regarding this process. Even if the theory is right there may still be a next step before the PC is fixed or some mass update needed within the organizations network. If theory is wrong on the other hand simply establish a new theory and try again until you get it or need to pass it up the chain of management or to a coworker

4 Establish a plan of action to resolve the problem and implement the solution.
If it isn’t fixed yet this is when that happens. It is also when you would update the network or whatever needs to be done

5 Verify full system functionality and if applicable, implement preventative measures (this is when you would send out an email that says don’t click phishing emails or implement an OS update or patch throughout the network)

6 Document findings, actions, and outcome (This is very useful for keeping you safe if the customer does something to jeopardize the device after its fixed as well as providing a good source to reference going forward if the problem happens again)

Question 6

Users and SuperUsers

Answer 6

Each computer will contain a superuser and a user as well as an encrypted database for passwords. This is true for routers, phones, PCs, and more

The SuperUser is referred to as the Administrator for windows and Root for MacOS and Linux OS

The SU is the account that can set permissions for other accounts as well as supersede anything needed in order to make changes to the device

Question 7

What Physical Ports Do I Need To Study?

should be 8 here

Answer 7

DVI- 18 pins - Digital Visual Interface - used to output video, precedes HDMI

S/PDIF - For audio output, this is a fiber connection for people who don’t know about audio interfaces but still know enough to want a good sound system

DisplayPort - The new HDMI, it is shaped like HDMI but the top right trapazoid part is now a square.
1.4 is about the same as HDMI 2.1, but DisplayPort 2 is slated to be twice as fast as DP 1.4

Mini-Din / PS/2 connector - circle with 6 pins and 1 rectangular square port- This is what old keyboards and mice used to use. They have since been replaced with USB outside of hardcore gamers who think the response time is faster with ps/2 cabling

Serial Port - 9 pins - Connects to external peripherals such as a hard drive or a printer but only communicates one bit at a time

Parallel Port / LTP Port - 25 pins - Like the serial port but can send more than one bit at a time

S-Video Connector - Circle like PS/2, 4 pins and a square hole - For transferring standard definition video, not even 720 P

VGA - 15 Pins - Video Graphics Adapter - this is the cable preceding DVI

Question 8

Why Is Windows Winning

How Do MAC and Linux try to cheat off their success?

Answer 8

Single Sign On and Per Processing Licenses as well as brand strength and time in existence.

Linux uses Samba to access SSO
MACOS needs file sharing and print sharing to use SSO but can still access these benefits nontheless.

It should be noted that Windows owns SSO through copyright and patent laws and such so this dominance will likely be sticking around for a while

In place of a domain for a home network this is done as a work group, allowing the SuperUser on the home PC to control the PC as an Admin (Windows note here IDK about Linux or MAC for this)

Windows has been around forever and it has been winning for a long time, this makes it a giant name to be reckoned with securing its spot in the modern landscape. One way they were able to do this was by creating per processor licensing, this is no longer a common practice especially as multicore processors became more and more common. This type of license meant that you would only get one copy of windows per computer making people need to have multiple accounts to match the amount of computers they use within a network. Think back to middle school how you would use a share drive and have to wait for your computer to be set up as you logged into it. This is because this was before Domains were introduced, thus is the origin of SSO. SSO is owned by windows and in my opinion is a monopoly. Linux and Mac are compatible with SSO because of its absolute dominance in this industry. It allows for a server to host as an active directory controller through a domain. By doing this you can have one account per organization instead of one account per PC. It opens the door to controlling several computers at once from one server.

Question 9

Windows Editions and Differences

list versions relevant to test, don’t worry about describing the differences yet

Answer 9

Home Edition - Meant for home use, it is a fairly stripped back version of windows with subsets of features within it. Home edition comes with media apps to view videos and such where as Pro edition is more business oriented in its functions.

Enterprise Edition - This is for big organizations and is very expensive. It allows for all the computers to be controlled by one server (there will be more to learn about this in the future but for now just know it is the ultimate one hat fits all windows of windows. There are no limitations to the top edition)

Windows 7
Windows 8
Windows 8.1
Windows 10

Question 10

Windows 7

Answer 10

Has media center (separate from media player)

Changed the task bars aesthetic to one much closer to the one we use today

Control panel handles everything here

Question 11

Windows 8

Answer 11

Made for tablets which made it bad for PC integration

Removed the start button

Introduced the charms bar and settings, which could be accessed through the charms bar. Settings would replace control panel for most things that require that level of PC control

Introduced One Drive

Question 12

Windows 8.1

Answer 12

Technically Windows 9, basically just windows 8 but with the start button because it got the people all kinds of uppity

Question 13

Windows 10

Answer 13

The last edition of windows with a number in it. They will copy Mac and Linux and use names in the numbers place going forward

Took away the charms bar

Redesigned the start button to what it is now
can be used to search PC, sign off, store commonly used apps, and more, just press the windows key on your PC to learn more

Question 14

Touring The Mac OS

Describe the features of Mac that make its GUI

Answer 14

The top bar is split into two menus
The Apple Menu is on the left and works as the File, Edit, View menu on whatever app you currently have up
The status menu is the same as the bottom right of a windows task bar but for mac. It tells you the time and stuff about the network

The bar at the bottom is called the Dock and serves as the task bar
If a dot is under the program it is still running, this works like the blue line under the programs on a taskbar in windows

Single click to launch apps for Mac

The command button works like an fn button as well as the windows button

The Red button is to close programs (check that the dot isn’t still under the app on the dock if so press command and q to quit the program)
The yellow button minimizes it
The Green Button maximizes it

The Finder is the file explorer

System Preferences is the substitute for the control panel and for settings

The command prompt is called the terminal here as is on Linux

Seeing as MACOs is based on UNIX it serves as a happy middleground between Linux and Windows

Question 15

Touring Linux

Describe the features of Linux that make its GUI

Answer 15

There are many different distros, or versions, of Linux

GNU - GNUS Not Unix - This is just an application made by a third party that you can use for free through Linux

Collect enough GNUS and pair with a Desktop environment to begin a distro creation of your own

Ubuntu is the most common distro and the one described below, it uses a GNOME desktop environment

The top bar is where you log out / tell time / load network settings and such

The bar on the left side is called DASH and works similar to the task bar on windows

On the left of the top bar is the activities tab which can be used to switch monitors without switching monitors. It works similarly to ALT Tab on windows but with desktop screens in place of apps.

The terminal is the command line program

The cinnamon desktop environment is very similar to windows and is used in the mint distro

Question 16

What is a Hertz and how is it determined

Answer 16

1 hertz is equal to 1 clock cycle as determined by the system crystal on the motherboard (usually quartz, it oscillates at a fixed speed and functions as the systems clock to control when a set of instructions is to be done). The speed of the CPU and many other things on PCS are notated by Hertz

Motherboards cannot go above around 400 MHZ, speeds above this in the CPU are reached by clock multiplying

Question 17

What is machine language

Answer 17

This is the “codebook” that the CPU uses to determine what to do and how to do it

AMD and Intel use the same codebook, it was invented by Intel

Question 18

What is a register (CPU)

Answer 18

This is a storage unit for the CPU to store bits when doing a complex set of instructions

Question 19

What is a microarchitecture

Answer 19

This is the circuitry on the CPU and how it is engraved onto the device. This is classified by a family name such as coffee lake or sky lake as intel does.
Within each family of course is the I5/I7 / Ryzen / ETC

Question 20

What are Logic Units

Answer 20

One of many types of units utilized in the CPU pipeline that specialize in certain functions such as integers or adding or yoloing o clock

Question 21

What is Hyperthreading

Answer 21

This allows for 2 pieces of code to be done per pipeline

Question 22

What are the benefits of having multiple cores

Answer 22

this allows for multiple pipelines allowing for logic units and things of that nature as well as hyper threading allowing for each core to emulate more than one core; a 4 core processor can easily simulate an 8 core processor due to hyperthreading which is only possible through having multiple pipelines which is only possible through having multiple cores

Question 23

what is a pipeline

Answer 23

this is a set of instructions for the cpu to operate based off of

Often each core has a pipeline of its own so one core is not one pipeline but each pipeline is a core

Question 24

how many levels of cache are there on the cpu and what are they / what do they do

Answer 24

3
Level 3 - Usually in megabytes - runs at the same speed as the motherboard and usually interacts with all cores

Level 2 - Usually in midrange kilobytes - usually core specific. This is faster than L3 but slower than L1

Level 1 - Smallest size of KB out of all levels - core specific - operates at the same speed as the CPU

Question 25

What is the purpose of Cache?

Answer 25

This serves as a buffer between the Ram and the CPU so that information can be prefetched and ready to go when needed to prevent crashing the device

Question 26

How does the CPU communicate with other parts of the PC?

Not through the MCC, this is with every device

Answer 26

Through the external data bus // RAM (Not looking for RAM tho thats the MCC flashcard)

Question 27

How does the CPU utilize the MCC?

Answer 27

The CPU sends a signal to the memory controller chip through the address bus to tell it what to select from the ram. It then selects that data and returns it through the external data bus to the CPU where it enters L3 Cache

Question 28

What determines 32 bit vs 64 bit OS and what are the main differences to be aware of here

Answer 28

The size of the address bus, one wire = one bit

32 Bit is very outdated and can only run 32 bit programs. The main difference is that a 32 bit program and operating system caps out at 4 gigabytes of ram. It will not use more than that because the address bus is to small to use more than that
If you install a 64 bit program it just wont work, it shouldn't break anything.
Uses the (x86 folder in windows)
32 bit is impractical for most things but works well for devices that don't need a lot of ram such as the rasberry pi (may help with budget concerns)

64 Bit caps out at around 16 exabytes of RAM and we aren’t even to TB there let alone PB there so it’ll be a bit before 128 Bit comes about (assuming they double the address bus)
64 bit CPUs can run a 32 bit program but it will not use more than 4GB of RAM even if available, this is why you should always install the 64 bit version of everything you download.
64 bit is common and what is used for most devices

Question 29

What are the family names for intel microarchitectures?

8 gens baby

Answer 29

Nehalem

Sandy Bridge

Ivy Bridge

Haswell

Broadwell

Sky Lake

Kaby Lake

Coffee Lake

Question 30

What can you learn about a CPU from the family name?

Answer 30

the microarchitecture and the socket type / size

Question 31

what are the CPU sockets you should know for the A+ exam?

Answer 31

PGA and LGA

Pin Grid Array is used for AMD chips (The socket has holes for pins)
AM4
TR4

Land Grid Array is used for Intel Chips (The socket has pins)
LGA 1151
LGA 2066
The number actually denotes the QTY of pins on the socket

Question 32

What is the most important thing before installing Ram or a new CPU?

Answer 32

making sure that it is compatible with the motherboard and don’t get your slimy hands all over the pins or any part of the technology for that matter

Question 33

how do you install a CPU

Technically cooling is its own thing but we’ll include it here

Answer 33

Verify that the CPU is compatible with the mother board

Make sure you have anti-static gear on

locate and align the orientation notch

drop into place

Push down the zero pressure insertion bar

Each install will have some variance but as a whole this is the move, up next is cooling

Most CPUs come with an OEM fan (original equipment manufacturer) which just means “we made the CPU and we made this fan to go with it!” the process should be the same whether you use an OEM fan or a third party fan, but basically

You put the thermal paste on the fan, if it isn’t on already, and then place that on top of the CPU so that the heat transfers through the paste into the heat sink where it will then be cooled off by the fan itself

You will have to bolt the fan down for lack of a better term to the point that it feels like it will snap

If you can grab the fan and pick up the board with no wiggling you have done this correctly, simply plug the fan in and you are good to go

Question 34

Why would someone want to deviate from the OEM fan when looking for cooling options for their CPU?

Answer 34

If you get the CPU without the fan and already have a fan that would work for that CPU you can save money

Additionally these fans tend to be quieter by a substantial amount and they tend to be more efficient as well

Alternatively one may choose liquid cooling for the same reasons, they tend to be even more efficient and quieter than most third party fans as a matter of fact

Question 35

How does liquid cooling work

Answer 35

The cold liquid goes through the cold tube and cools the top of the CPU where it becomes hot and then goes through the hot tube to be passed through a radiator where fans at a quiet low speed will cool it off turning it into cold liquid where it gets cycled through to the cold tube to do this again and again and again

Question 36

What are the types of RAM you need to know for the A+? and tell me, the air before you, a little bit about each and what makes them different

Yes laptop RAM counts here

Answer 36

Random Access Memory - volatile

S/DRAM - The oldest ram with 168 pins on it. This is called synchronous ram because it runs at the same speed as the system crystal - Will have two notches
DDR Ram - 184 Pins - Double Data Rate, 2X system speed - will have one notch unique to DDR
DDR2 Ram - 240 Pins, one notch unique to DDR2 - 4X system speed
DDR3 Ram - 240 Pins, one notch unique to DDR3 - 8X system speed
DDR4 Ram - 288 Pins, one notch unique to DDR4 - The speed is determined by the amount of MT(megatransfers) are done each second, but is twice as fast as DDR3.
SODIMM - Small Outline Dual Inline Memory Module - This is for laptops and functions as two sticks of ram despite only being one physical stick. Think dual channelling. It can be DDR, DDR2, etc, DDR3 and DDR4 are the most reliable ones in terms of what they do and how to figure out what they do

DDR4 is the best, but older editions may still be useable on devices such as printers seeing as they don’t need the flashiest stuff all the time.

Question 37

what is the system crystal

Answer 37

this is the crystal on the motherboard that functions as the clock for the entire system. It oscillates at a fixed rate and each oscillation is one cycle or hertz

Question 38

What is the Speed Rating System for RAM

Answer 38

This is compared to the PC speed and the speed of the mother board itself. It will say DDR(whichever number it is) then the speed it runs at in bits
to the right of this is PC(whichever number the DDR type is) then the speed it runs at

To get the PC speed simply multiply the DDR(#)Speed by 8
This is because the PC speed is in bytes whereas the DDR speed is in bits and 1 bit = 8 bytes

On DDR4 Ram megatransfers per second are added in as well and this is the amount of actual data being transferred

Question 39

How is capacity of RAM determined per stick as well as the system itself and does the DDR level affect this?

Answer 39

Each block on the stick is the memory storage for that stick. If they increase they increase 4X at a time. This means only 1, 4, 16, 64 gb sticks are possible however; this is only true for single sided sticks of ram. On double sided sticks this is actually still true, but it is applied to both sides of the stick, so you can get results such as 2, 8, 32, and 128 GB off a single stick, assuming the slot on your motherboard fits this RAM (the chips can make this a potential issue, all motherboards can use double sided ram so long as the chips don’t prevent insertion)

The system compiles all the available RAM and uses it all together as if it was coming from one stick, 2 8 gb sticks is 16 gb ram baby

The DDR level only affects the speed of the ram, not the size that can be held on it, so no.

Question 40

What is a channel and what is dual channel?

Answer 40

A channel is simply the connection slot(s) used. This can be one slot per channel or two, in the case of two slots equaling one channel, we call this dual channel memory functionality and not all motherboards do this, but most do, especially these days.

To figure out which slots are connected as a channel, consult the book that came with the motherboard. If installed into only one of the channels the system wont boot and if it does it’ll be in single channel mode

Question 41

What is ECC and what is Parity

Answer 41

Error Correction Code RAM has an extra chip to allow it to catch errors preventing crashes and errors from being made.

For all intensive purposes these are the same thing. ECC is newer and replaced Parity, it functions just a little different by comparing bits over bytes (I think, shouldn’t be on the A+ tho) the main takeaway though is that ECC is modern and can have 2 bad chips, whereas Parity can only have 1 bad chip

ECC will only work if the motherboard is compatible with the technology and is very expensive, for this reason you will likely only see it on servers and in enterprises

Question 42

What is the SPD Chip

Answer 42

Serial Presence Detection chip

This chip is a small chip on a stick of RAM that holds information about it; it can be as in depth as the day it was made to the speed of the ram and the capacity of the RAM.

If your RAM has this you can use software such as CPU-Z to learn about your RAM. It is not on every stick, but it is on most sticks

Question 43

How do you install RAM?

Laptops too!

Answer 43

wear antistatic gear

Check the motherboard manual to make sure it is compatible with the RAM you want to install. If this is dual channel, make sure you are using the correct slots to ensure dual channel functionality

Align the notch first
drop it straight down
it should click
if it does not click restart the process
once the click is secured, start the computer and use software to verify that the RAM is installed and is recognized by the PC as installed
In the event you do not see the RAM there, it is most likely a PEBKAC and you will need to restart the installation. It could be something different, but just retry at least once anyways, because it usually just needs to be reseated

The process is the same for laptops but its horizontal, you drop in at an angle and push down, but it still goes straight in, the angle is because it is horizontal and without you would scrape the motherboard and the RAM

Question 44

Why would you get an out of memory error?

Answer 44

You are out of RAM

Question 45

What is the swap/page file?

Answer 45

the portion of your mass storage drive that is set aside for virtual memory, this is also known as the page file and is set up automatically on most operating systems

It is also set up to work dynamically; it doesn’t start at full capacity and rises as it is needed to fulfill your needs

Question 46

Explain Virtual Memory and why you would or wouldn’t want to use it

Answer 46

This is a portion of your SSD or HDD that functions as RAM in the event you run out of RAM. This should be mapped automatically through your operating system.

While it sounds like a good idea in theory, this will slow down your computer immensely as RAM is instant and the Drive is not

Due to the fact that this will slow down your computer it is never recommended and if you find yourself utilizing this function by accident it is best to add more RAM as this will fix the issue and prevent it from happening again

Question 47

How do you find the swap file on windows?

Answer 47

Run CMD

Type >dir /ah

Locate the Swapfile.sys file and this is the file

Question 48

What is BIOS and where is it stored, and what is stored on it

Answer 48

Basic Input / Output Services

It is the booting operating system for lack of a better term. This is used when the Motherboard needs to communicate with peripherals before the operating system is operational. One common use is to to test the functionality of devices such as the monitor or the HDD before loading the operating system. Another use for this is to overclock your device and make changes to any of your internal hardware (if/when applicable)

BIOS is built into the motherboard itself on the BIOS chip, where the code is permanently burnt onto. Most motherboards tend to have two identical BIOS chips in case one fails to ensure having a backup

BIOS is Firmware and the key points on it that you need to know for COMPTIA are that POST and CMOS are ran through BIOS

BIOS is made per motherboard, however the code is written by third parties and used on multiple motherboards, kinda like LINUX and the GNU to a distro. This is assembled by using the assumed uses of the mother board, which is determined by the connectors (USB, SATA, DVI, etc…)

Question 49

What is the difference between firmware and software? provide examples of each

Answer 49

Firmware is software that is stored on nonvolatile memory device such as a chip in the example of BIOS. This just means it will retain stored information even after power is removed. Examples include: BIOS, POST, & CMOS

Software can be inclusive of firmware but it is not the same because software is meant to describe the programs you interact with on the regular, not the programs that run the device itself. The key difference to take away here is that software is a rectangle and firmware is a Non-Volatile Square. Examples include: Opera Web Browser, FL Studio, & CPU-Z