1. Chapter 1 Fundamentals

   1. PCs Defined

   2. PC Components and Technologies

   3. System Resources

   4. Building or Buying a PC

   5. Upgrading a PC

   6. Smart Buying Practices

   7. Things to Do with Old PCs

2. Chapter 2 Working on PCs

   1. Rules to Upgrade By

   2. Tools

   3. General Procedures

3. Chapter 3 Motherboards

   1. Motherboard Characteristics

   2. Choosing a Motherboard

   3. Installing a Motherboard

   4. Upgrading the System BIOS

   5. Our Picks

4. Chapter 4 Processors

   1. Processor Design

   2. Intel Processors

   3. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Processors

   4. Choosing a Processor

   5. Installing a Processor

   6. Our Picks

5. Chapter 5 Memory

   1. Understanding Memory

   2. Memory Access Methods

   3. Memory Packaging

   4. How Much Memory Is Enough?

   5. Memory Selection Guidelines

   6. Installing Memory

   7. Troubleshooting Memory Installation and Operation

   8. Our Picks

6. Chapter 6 Floppy Disk Drives

   1. Diskette Types and Formats

   2. Drive Types

   3. FDD Interface and Cabling

   4. Installing a Floppy Disk Drive

   5. Working with FDDs

   6. Working with Obsolete Diskette Formats

   7. Salvaging Diskette Data

   8. Our Picks

7. Chapter 7 High-Capacity Floppy Disk Drives

   1. High-Capacity FDD Types

   2. Choosing a High-Capacity Floppy Disk Drive

   3. Using an ATAPI Zip or SuperDisk Drive as the Boot Device

   4. Drive Letter Assignment Problems

   5. Our Picks

8. Chapter 8 Removable Hard Disk Drives

   1. Uses for Removable Hard Disk Drives

   2. Cartridge-Based Removable Hard Disk Drives

   3. Frame/Carrier-Based Removable Hard Disk Drives

   4. Our Picks

9. Chapter 9 Tape Drives

   1. Choosing a Tape Drive

   2. Installing and Configuring a Tape Drive

   3. Care and Feeding of a Tape Drive

   4. Troubleshooting Tape Drive Problems

   5. The Dirty Little Secret of Long Filenames

   6. Developing a Backup Strategy

   7. Our Picks

10. Chapter 10 CD-ROM Drives

    1. Compact Disc Fundamentals

    2. CD-ROM Drive Performance

    3. Choosing a CD-ROM Drive

    4. Installing and Configuring a CD-ROM Drive

    5. Cleaning a CD-ROM Drive

    6. Our Picks

11. Chapter 11 CD-R and CD-RW Drives

    1. CD Writers and Media

    2. Writable CD Formats

    3. CD Recording Methods

    4. BURN-Proof Technology

    5. Choosing a CD Writer

    6. CD Writer Software

    7. Installing and Configuring a CD Writer

    8. Updating CD Writer Firmware

    9. Media Issues

    10. Burning CDs

    11. Special Problems and Applications

    12. Writable CD Troubleshooting

    13. Additional CD-R(W) Source Material

    14. Our Picks

12. Chapter 12 DVD Drives

    1. DVD-ROM

    2. DVD Writable and Rewritable

    3. Installing and Configuring a DVD Drive

    4. Our Picks

13. Chapter 13 Hard Disk Interfaces

    1. IDE

    2. SCSI

    3. ATA Versus SCSI

    4. Our Picks

14. Chapter 14 Hard Disk Drives

    1. How Hard Disks Work

    2. Choosing a Hard Disk

    3. Installing an ATA Hard Disk

    4. Installing a SCSI Hard Disk

    5. Preparing a Hard Disk for Use

    6. Our Picks

15. Chapter 15 Video Adapters

    1. Video Adapter Characteristics

    2. Choosing a Video Adapter

    3. Installing a Video Adapter

    4. Configuring Video Under Windows 98/Me/2000/XP

    5. Configuring Video Under Windows NT 4

    6. Troubleshooting Video Adapter Problems

    7. Our Picks

16. Chapter 16 Displays

    1. CRT Monitors

    2. Flat-Panel Displays

    3. Installing and Configuring a Display

    4. Troubleshooting Display Problems

    5. Our Picks

17. Chapter 17 Sound Adapters

    1. PC Audio Types

    2. MIDI Synthesis Methods

    3. Downloadable Sounds

    4. Sound Card Components

    5. Sound Card Characteristics

    6. Choosing a Sound Card

    7. Installing a Sound Card

    8. Troubleshooting Sound Card Problems

    9. MP3

    10. Our Picks

18. Chapter 18 Speakers and Headphones

    1. Speaker and Headphone Characteristics

    2. Choosing Speakers and Headphones

    3. Our Picks

19. Chapter 19 Keyboards

    1. Keyboard Switch Types

    2. Keyboard Styles

    3. Keyboard Interfaces

    4. Choosing a Keyboard

    5. Configuring a Keyboard

    6. Cleaning a Keyboard

    7. Troubleshooting and Repairing Keyboards

    8. Our Picks

20. Chapter 20 Mice and Trackballs

    1. Mice Versus Trackballs

    2. Mouse Characteristics

    3. Choosing a Mouse

    4. Configuring a Mouse or Trackball

    5. Cleaning a Mouse

    6. Troubleshooting a Mouse

    7. Our Picks

21. Chapter 21 Game Controllers

    1. Game Controller Characteristics

    2. Gameport Interface

    3. Choosing a Game Controller

    4. Installing a Game Controller

    5. Troubleshooting Game Controllers

    6. Our Picks

22. Chapter 22 Serial Communications

    1. Serial Communications Overview

    2. Serial Ports

    3. Serial Cables

    4. Installing and Configuring Serial Port Hardware

    5. Troubleshooting Serial Port Problems

    6. Our Picks

23. Chapter 23 Parallel Communications

    1. Mapping Parallel Ports to LPTs

    2. Parallel Port Types

    3. Configuring Parallel Port Hardware

    4. Parallel Connectors and Cables

    5. Our Picks

24. Chapter 24 USB Communications

    1. USB Characteristics

    2. USB Host Controller Interfaces

    3. Configuring USB

    4. Troubleshooting USB

    5. Our Picks

25. Chapter 25 Cases

    1. Case Characteristics

    2. Choosing a Case

    3. Our Picks

26. Chapter 26 Power Supplies

    1. Power Supply Characteristics

    2. Volts, Amps, Watts, and Regulation

    3. Power Connectors

    4. Choosing a Power Supply

    5. Installing a Power Supply

    6. Troubleshooting Power Supplies

    7. Our Picks

27. Chapter 27 Backup Power Supplies

    1. What BPSes Protect Against

    2. BPS Types

    3. BPS Characteristics

    4. Choosing a BPS

    5. Our Picks

28. Chapter 28 Building a PC

    1. Step 1: Prepare the Case

    2. Step 2: Configure the Motherboard

    3. Step 3: Install the Processor

    4. Step 4: Install the Memory

    5. Step 5: Prepare Drives for Installation

    6. Step 6: Install the Floppy Disk Drive

    7. Step 7: Install Other Drives

    8. Step 8: Install the Motherboard

    9. Step 9: Connect Cables to the Motherboard

    10. Step 10: Install Expansion Cards

    11. Step 11: Perform the "Smoke Test"

    12. Step 12: Install Software

    13. Step 13: Finishing Touches

1. Colophon

Our look is the result of reader comments, our own experimentation, and feedback from distribution channels. Distinctive covers complement our distinctive approach to technical topics, breathing personality and life into potentially dry subjects. The animal on the cover of PC Hardware in a Nutshell, Second Edition, is a scallop. The scallop is part of the pecten family, which includes other bivalve mollusks such as clams and oysters. Also called the fan shell or comb shell, scallops can be found on the sandy bottoms of most oceans, in both deep and shallow water. Scallops do not usually stay attached to rocks. Instead, they either rest on the ocean bottom or swim by rapidly opening and closing their shells. The water ejected by the movement pushes them forward and allows them a freedom of movement unusual in bivalves.

The scallop's shell is made up of calcium carbonate and other minerals embedded in an organic matrix secreted from a layer of tissue called the mantle. The upper and lower halves of the shell connect at a straight hinge line that can measure from one to six inches. The shell's paired valves have sharp edges and undulating ridges that radiate out in the shape of a fan and range in color from red to purple, orange, yellow, or white. Emily Quill was the production editor and proofreader for PC Hardware in a Nutshell, Second Edition. Jeff Holcomb and Jane Ellin provided quality control. Mary Brady, Tatiana Diaz, Matt Hutchinson, Sue Willing, Julie Flanagan, David Chu, Phil Dangler, and Sheryl Avruch provided production assistance. Brenda Miller wrote the index.

Hanna Dyer designed the cover of this book, based on a series design by Edie Freedman. The cover image is an 18th-century engraving from the Dover Treasury of Animal Illustrations. Emma Colby produced the cover layout with QuarkXPress 4.1 using Adobe's ITC Garamond font.

David Futato designed the interior layout. This book was converted into FrameMaker 5.5.6 with a format conversion tool created by Erik Ray, Jason McIntosh, Neil Walls, and Mike Sierra that uses Perl and XML technologies. The text font is Linotype Birka; the heading font is Adobe Myriad Condensed; and the code font is LucasFont's TheSans Mono Condensed. The illustrations that appear in the book were produced by Robert Romano and Jessamyn Read using Macromedia FreeHand 9 and Adobe Photoshop 6. The tip and warning icons were drawn by Christopher Bing. This colophon was written by Colleen Gorman.