Opening up an old PC

Discussion in 'A+' started by flex22, Oct 2, 2004.

  1. flex22

    flex22 Gigabyte Poster

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    I've just opened up an old desktop my sister received off a friend.
    It's quite old, the BIOS says Award software 1995.

    It's been great reading my a+ book and following along looking in the computer.
    Hey it has a big DIN connector for the keyboard and an IEC-320-2-2 connection on the power supply :D
    It's great actually seeing the photos in the Mike Myers book, and then seeing it for real in front of you.This is especially so when it's an older system.
    It's like a history lesson lol:!:

    I've also got my sisters compaq PC which is a few years old, but still newer than the other one.
    I'm going to compare them both and read along with my a+ book as I go.

    I know it's been recommended a zillion times by people on here that it's best to open up a pc for the a+ learning, but I've just not had the desire to until I fully decided to commit myself to the a+ exam.

    It does really help, and I'd recommend that anyone studying the a+ exam gets hold of an old system from somewhere.

    Btw does anybody know what two RJ11 connections next to each other are for.
    One says "Phone" and one says "Line" well why two connections?

    There's a photo of the same thing in the Mike Meyers book, but there's no explanation.

    Thanks:!:
     
  2. Phil
    Honorary Member

    Phil Gigabyte Poster

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    Flex! you should have said you wanted a history lesson earlier :D I just binned a load of 486 DX4 100 and P75 motherboards this afternoon. Now if you want some 30 or 72 pin simms to play with for old times sake then I'm your man, got boatloads of the things for some reason and can't remember where most of them came from.... I think they've been breeding in their anti-static bags :)

    The RJ11 sockets are for a modem, the line socket connects to the phone socket and I've always assumed the phone socket was a through port for a phone though never tested the theory.

    Phil
     
    Certifications: MCSE:M & S MCSA:M CCNA CNA
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  3. quackers

    quackers Nibble Poster

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    i can imagine my bedroom is going to become an old pc graveyard over the next year or so, with all this a+ research :)
     
    Certifications: Degree, A+
    WIP: CCNA, MCDST
  4. SimonV
    Honorary Member

    SimonV Petabyte Poster Gold Member

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    When I first started out in computers I found opening up the inside of an old PC one of the most interesting experiences. I had read all about the components and what they did within the system but had only ever seen photos.

    One of the things that still sticks in my mind is when I put the floppy cable on the wrong way around and the light stayed on, a lot of valuable learning can be done when you get to the practical part of learning.
     
    Certifications: MOS Master 2003, CompTIA A+, MCSA:M, MCSE
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  5. AJ

    AJ 01000001 01100100 01101101 01101001 01101110 Administrator

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    Same here Si, i remember doing that, still do truth be known :oops: .


    I can still remember taking the top off a desktop and someone saying, "that's the mobo, hss fdd, memory, etc." I was gobstruck that so mush stuff went into making a computer.

    Still times change, and lets face it in general day to day computing, it all comes on the mobo.
     
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  6. Phoenix
    Honorary Member

    Phoenix 53656e696f7220 4d6f64

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    i always put floppy cables in the wrong way round
    once put the power on the wrong way, oops ;)

    hence i no longer use floppys, hehe

    I have some of those SIMMs phill
    i use them as keyrings
    although over the years the memory modules have broken off in my pocket, all im left with is the PCB :)

    ive got my brothers P2 here at the moment, still uses some modern tech like USB/PS2 etc, but Slot based processors were always funny looking

    was going to turn an old AT motherboard into a mirror frame, saw a friend of mine do it, looked real snazzy in a geek kind of way :)

    Aj, i know what you mean about the ammount of stuff :)
    I have an XL sheet i use for calculating costs for building systems
    I used to leave off so much stuff i considered bulk standard, but realised i still needed to purchase!!

    there are now 19 (actually more, but some are for multiple hard disks, etc) entries in the list for cost calculations
    19 components!!
    (ok that includes joystick/wheel i think, and CD and DVD have seperate sections) but still, your looking at 15 components

    I have an old VESA VGA card, its about as long as my elbow to finger tip (im 6'4 if that gives you an indication how how long my arm is)
     
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  7. Jakamoko
    Honorary Member

    Jakamoko On the move again ...

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    Congratulations, Flex - you've "blooded" yourself at last 8) And as I mentioned in the past, that is usually quite a literal description of most of our first forays into the PCs' innards.


    And as Phil says, the second RJ11 on the modem is indeed to plug a phone into your modem, to offset the fact that the modem is taking up one phone socket in the house/office/wherever.
     
    Certifications: MCP, A+, Network+
    WIP: Clarity
  8. flex22

    flex22 Gigabyte Poster

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    Well I have installed a hd, RAM, and PCI NIC, so this isn't exactly the first time I've opened up a PC lol.

    Still though, it is really the first time I've really began being interested with all the many components that make a PC.The A+ book looks so much less daunting already.
    Didn't understand that at first reading, but I get what you mean now.
    So they didn't have those filter splitter things back then.
     
  9. Jakamoko
    Honorary Member

    Jakamoko On the move again ...

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    I'd imagine it was just more convenient to have a phone near your desk, if the PC didn't happen to be near a phone socket - who knows ...
     
    Certifications: MCP, A+, Network+
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