The Dell Dimension 3000 Disassembly

Here we have the PC: a 2004 Dell Dimension 3000

Here is what we saw taking off the back panel- it's gotten very dusty
after 10 years of use

Since this is an older model desktop, there's a lot of older technology

Here's an example of an older piece of technology- those white
"ribbon" 40-wire connections are for a PATA hard drive- which aren't
used anymore. The modern SATA hard drives have a much smaller,
single cable.

Here are the sticks of RAM we pulled from the PC-
adding up to only a total of half a gigabyte.

Heres a network adapter we pulled from a PCI slot-
which I talked about in my last blog post.

Just to identify some parts- those long white strips
on the top left are PCI ports. The long black strips on
the bottom right are RAM slots. The white square on the
top right is the CPU.

Here is the fan and the main power supply for the PC.

Here is the CPU for this desktop. You can identify
this model of CPU as a Pin Grid Array (PGA) from
all of the tiny pins sticking out the back

The front side of the CPU. the white blob on the
front is the cooling paste.

Another computer- my partners. The difference 10
years can make is astounding. Those blue sticks
are armored DDR3 SDRAM sticks- each with the same
amount of memory as 16 of the Dell's RAM sticks.

Second tutorial sets: Section 1.1-1.5

Over Sunday the 27th and Monday the 28th of April, I gained 5 more hours of content for my Capstone project. I did this by starting another set of tutorials that focused mostly on the hardware of a computer- which I will go over in this blog- and also disassembling and reassembling an older 2004 model Dell Dimension 3000.
Section 1.1 of the new tutorials taught about BIOS- a computer's firmware. This is what the computer uses so it knows what to do when it boots up. The BIOS is responsible for starting up other computer components such as the keyboard, monitor, and hard drive. The tutorial showed how to upgrade the BIOS if necessary, how to configure it, how it is kept powered, and how you can use it to run computer diagnostics. Section 1.2 introduced types of motherboards, the architecture of standard-ATX motherboards (the most common type), the different available ports on a motherboard, motherboard RAM slots, different CPU sockets (and therefore different CPU types), motherboard chipsets, and motherboard jumpers and connectors. The motherboard is the piece of hardware in a computer where all data and connection passes through- all other pieces of hardware must be connected to the motherboard in some way. The common sizes of motherboards are Standard-ATX, Micro-ATX, Mini-ITX, Nano-ITX, and Pico-ITX. Each size smaller has less room for expansion, and the ITX series motherboard require less power- and can therefore be found in some portable devices. Each motherboard usually comes with some version of PCI ports- which are sockets that different adapters or "add-ons" can be plugged into. Video cards, wifi-adapters, and USB-adapters are just some of the different utilities that can be plugged into these PCI ports. Every motherboard also has at least one slot for RAM cards (or Random Access Memory cards- which provide the computer with usable memory). It also needs a socket to hold the Central Processing Unit (the CPU)- which have evolved over time and therefore have multiple types of sockets and sizes. The tutorial also went over the layout of a motherboard, and where certain components are usually placed. The motherboard is divided into the northbridge (which handles high-speed connections from the CPU and memory), and the southbridge (which holds slower components like the BIOS and PCI adapters). Section 1.3 went over the different types of memory (when referring to memory, computer technicians are usually talking about the RAM- not the hard drive). The type of memory we see today in the most modern computers is DDR SDRAM- or Double Data Rate Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory. Simply put, this type of RAM synchronizes with the motherboard and can go up to twice the speed of previous RAM versions. 1.4 briefly went over the process of installing adapters into the PCI ports. Finally, 1.5 dove into the different types of storage devices. The common ones we see today are SSD's (Solid State Drives) and SATA hard drives. The main difference between these is that SSD's do not have any moving parts inside of them- everything is based on electron movement. Hard drives on the other hand rely on spinning record-like disks, which have memory stored on them.
Taking notes on all of this with the additional hour it took me and my partner to disassemble the Dell computer (which I will create a separae post about) gives me a total of 25 hours, therefore completing my Capstone hour requirement. Although I have all of the hours I need, I will continue to watch and take notes on the tutorials, since I usually have fun with them. They also provide a lot of useful information concerning computer technology- which I will hopefully relay effectively to the Capstone project judges.

(My massive amount of notes packets)

Scrapping my Old Toshiba Satellite U405D

I spent a total of 4 hours disassembling my old Toshiba Laptop to separate and catalog different parts. I used a process outlined in the tutorial videos to safely remove every part without damage, and used a general laptop disassembly guide I found online to actually identify each part. I began by flipping the laptop and opening two back panels to take out the hard drive and RAM.

The next step was taking off the keyboard and front panels so I could access the Motherboard and its components.

By exposing the motherboard I was able to see why my computer continued to overheat when It was operable... It was extremely dusty.

I finished by removing the Motherboard and removing the LCD display and webcam from their casing

I bagged all of the different parts afterwards. Here are all of the parts and the tools I used to disassemble the laptop:

I decided to see if my current laptop had any available RAM slots so I could give it another 2GB of memory, but all of its slots were taken up. I then took off the back panel of my family's computer to see if I could install it there, and I then learned that Laptops and Desktops have different sized, incompatible, types of RAM cards. I was able to see the layout of our desktop, which may be useful later.

Section 4.2 - 4.9

Yesterday I spent an additional 3 and a half hours going over section 4.2 to section 4.9 for the tutorial videos. Chapter 4 focused on repairing and troubleshooting hardware, firmware, and software for a computer. 4.2 started off with tools you would need to effectively troubleshoot a computer's hardware. One example the tutorial gave was a loopback plug, which is used to troubleshoot networking issues. The plug is inserted into an Ethernet port, and any signal that the computer directs outward will be sent back to the computer. Using specified software, the computer can then diagnose any problems with it's outgoing signals. 4.3 introduced tools needed to troubleshoot the hard drive specifically. For example, file recovery software can be used to recover deleted or lost files by rereading disk space that hasn't been rewritten (so you could essentially bring back a file that you deleted and emptied out of the recycling bin). 4.5 went over tools used for professional networking- such as crimpers and punch-down tools. Since the tutorial only described these physical processes, I looked over different youtube tutorials to fully understand these tools. 4.5 mostly reviewed commands that could be used to troubleshoot your network such as ipconfig, netstat, or nbtstat. 4.6 was one of the most useful sections for me personally. This section went over troubleshooting and recovering an operating system, and discussed tools like system repair disks, REGedit, the event viewer, system recovery, and safe-mode. I had been noticing that over the past week that my laptop's audio had severely dropped in quality, and I was ready to take it to an electronics store to service it, but after watching 4.6 I decided to use system recovery to restore my computer to a saved restore point in March. After using system recovery my audio was back to normal (and I therefore serviced my first computer). 4.7 discussed malware removal and quarantining, and what should be done to a PC when a virus infects it. 4.8 was about disassembling laptops for parts, cleaning, or upgrading. I will discuss this in another blog post, since I decided to scrap my old laptop for parts to complement this section. Lastly, 4.9 went over maintaining laser printers, and what to do if a printer is not responding (most of the time the "printer spooler" service in the computer just failed). After watching the tutorial and taking notes for these sections, I finished with a total of 16 out of 25 hours for my Capstone project.

Section 2.2 to 3.7

I've spent another two and a half hours watching and taking notes on the IT tutorials. Chapter 2.2 discussed different security threats to a computer. Common threats include malware, viruses, rootkits, phishing sites, and worms. Malware can perform many malicious functions, like tracing your keystrokes to look for passwords and pin numbers, or force your computer to participate in Distributed Denial of Service attacks. Viruses are a form of malware that can self-replicate; like a real virus. All of chapter 3 was content on mobile devices and laptops. Section 3.2 focused on mobile device networking, and how Android and Apple phones can be configured to network with your other devices. Chapter 3.4 discussed the differences between tablets and laptops- both in their available services and their hardware. Section 3.7 fully distinguished the differences between the Google Android operating system and Apple's iOS. It also talked about the technology behind device displays, touch screens, accelerometers, and gyroscopes. Including the content today, I now have 12 and a half hours of my Capstone project finished.

Section 1.4- Section 1.9 and Section 2.1

In the last two days I've completed 3 hours of the tutorial video. Section 1.4 went over Windows Services-programs that run in the background of your computer- not needing user intervention. These programs include tunneling services (to make network connections) and security software to give some examples. Section 1.6 focused on configuring the Network Adapter for your computer and establishing network connections. I learned how to regulate network traffic through the adapter settings on your computer. For example, you can regulate the amount of data a program uses in the network by using the "Quality of Service" tool in the policies tab of the network adapter properties. 1.6 also went over the different types of network connections and their abilities. Section 1.7 was about caring for the digital integrity of your computer. To keep a computer running smoothly without crashes or viruses, one should always schedule backups, disk checks, defragmentation of the hard drive, download patches and updates, download driver updates, and keep their anti-virus up to date. If a computer does begin show signs of quick deterioration, tools such as the chkdsk (check-disk) command, system restore, or windows backup are available. Section 1.9 was about client-side virtualization, or setting up multiple operating systems on one user interface. It talked about hypervisors, which make these setups possible, and how the security of a hypervisor is extremely important. Section 2.1 was about computer security- both physically and digitally. Many people ignore their computer's security until it gets infected with viruses or spyware- so it is essential to take basic precautions when it comes to system security. After getting through 1.1, I've become a little bit more comfortable with computer functions and commands, giving me a sense of personal advancement. Now that that I've watched these tutorials and took notes on them, I now have 10 hours out of 25 done for my Capstone project.