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Audio: What is Integrated Digital
Audio?
Your PC comes with a new type of audio system, which is integrally part of your PC's processor, BIOS, and operating system.Audio processing is performed digitally on your microprocessor as part of your Windows® software drivers. A companion audio CODEC (coder/decoder) from Analog Devices provides analog I/O and mixing functions.
Rather than connecting through a 8-133 MB/second ISA or PCI
peripheral bus, bus, your audio system uses the PC's new internal 266 MB/second hub link,
bypassing the peripheral buses that are already busy handling graphics data or LAN packet
transfers. The speaker and microphone signals are piped directly to/from the microprocessor
through their own dedicated interface, the Audio Codec (AC) link.
Audio: Does the
digital audio processing impact my PC's performance?
No, not for the large majority of applications. In most cases, the microprocessor performs audio tasks in the background while it's waiting for storage devices
or other peripherals to finish their own operations. We've also included one of the more processor
intensive tasks, CTO sample rate conversion, into the CODEC's hardware.
Optical Drive: Why is the Optical Drive not recognized?
These are four common causes for this problem:
- Incorrect jumper position on Optical driveIncorrect jumper
settings on Master Drive If the Optical Drive is attached to another IDE device as a
slave, then the Master drive must have its' jumpers positioned properly to function in
a Master / Slave configuration.Loose or disconnected IDE cable; check cable connection.
- Loose or disconnected power cable; check cable connection.
Optical
Drive: How do I position the jumper on the back of the Optical Drive?
On the rear of the Optical drive is a set of 6 pins labeled
CSEL, SL, and MA. If the Optical Drive is attached as a slave to a hard drive, place
the jumper across the pins labeled SL. If the Optical Drive
is attached to a separate controller, place the jumper across MA. If the drive is not recognized,
try jumping CSEL in addition to the MA / SL jumper.
Optical
Drive: Why do I hear no sound from my Optical Drive?
Use the 3-conductor end of the audio cable that came with
the Optical drive, and attach it to the 4-conductor audio input Data that goes into a computer
device. on the sound card. You will need to look at the pin-configuration diagrams in the
Optical Drive Manual and the Sound Card's Manual to determine which of the 4 pins must contact
the 3-pin plug. NOTE: On many sound boards, the plastic socket around the 4-pin audio connector
can be gently pulled off and provide access to the 4-pins that may be prevented by the presence
of the plastic socket.
CPU:
What is Dual Core?
An Intel dual-core processor consists of two complete execution
cores in one physical processor, each running at the same frequency. Both cores share the
same packaging and the same interface with the chipset/memory. Overall, an Intel dual-core
processor offers a way of delivering more capabilities while balancing power requirements,
and is the first step in the multi-core processor future.
Hard
Drive: Why does my computer hang or receive error messages on startup?
Make sure that the drive’s power and SATA cables are properly connected.
Hard
Drive: Why does my drive not power up?
Verify that only one power cable (either SATA or legacy)
is connected to the drive. Check to see that the power connector and SATA interface cable
are securely attached.
Hard
Drive: Why are jumper settings not required for my Serial ATA drive?
The Serial ATA interface connects each drive in a point-to-point
configuration with the built-in SATA port on the motherboard. Each drive utilizes its own
cable for data transfer rates.
Hard
Drive: How do I verify if my Serial ATA drive is recognized by my system?
Right-click on the My Computer icon, select Properties, left-click
on the Hardware tab, and click on Device Manager in the window.
Double-click on Disk Drives. Your Serial ATA drive should be listed as a "SCSI Disk Device" or "Serial ATA Disk Device." If
not, make sure that all cables are securely attached and
that your system BIOS has been properly configured.
Monitors
and video cards: Why does my monitor click and blink when I change screens?
A low to moderate clicking and a very brief pause between
screens is usually normal, and occurs when the video adapter card changes the video signal's
resolution or refresh rate. When this happens, the monitor (which was synchronized with the
old signal), must automatically synchronize to the new signal. This is what you are seeing
and hearing.
Monitors
and video cards: Why is the screen image so small?
A screen image that is too small may be caused by one of
the following:
- A resolution that is set too high. Solution: Try setting
the resolution to 640 x 480
- Horizontal and /or vertical size not adjusted properly.
Solution: Use monitor's controls to adjust horizontal and vertical size.
Monitors
and video cards: What is Refresh Rate? What does it have to do with Resolution?
Vertical Scanning Frequency describes how often the monitor
paints a complete monitor screen or how many times the entire screen is redrawn per second.
A refresh rate of 60Hz, for example, means the screen is drawn 60 times per second. Higher
refresh rates mean less image flicker.
Monitors
and video cards: What are the advantages of a High Refresh Rate?
The vertical refresh rate, sometimes called the vertical
scanning frequency, describes how often the monitor paints a complete screen (or refreshes
the screen). Vertical frequencies are measured in Hz. Higher vertical frequencies are associated
with less flicker.
Monitors and video cards: What does Native Resolution mean?
LCD’s are made up of tiny cells in a matrix (called the native resolution). For instance, if the native resolution is listed as 1280×1024, then there are 1280 cells across and 1024 cells down the screen. If you only display at 1024×768, then a large number of the pixels are being ’stretched’ over multiple cells, which is what causes the image quality to degrade.
Monitors and video cards: What is the difference between
VGA and DVI?
Video Graphics Array (VGA) is based on an analog signal. With
VGA systems the signal is converted to analog as it leaves the graphics card for the purposes
of sending it through the cable, then converted back to digital format at the other end, over
in the monitor. Digital Video Interface (DVI) signal is mapped to the physical frequency of
the monitor’s pixels. DVI provides a cleaner, faster, more precise display with hardware
that supports it properly.
Memory: What is Dual Channel Memory?
Dual Channel Memory describes a technology that doubles data
throughput from RAM to the memory controller. In order to achieve this, two or more DDR/DDR2
SDRAM memory modules must be installed into matching banks, which are usually color coded
on the motherboard. It is best practice to use memory with the same front side bus. If the
speed is not the same, the lower speed of the two modules will be used (e.g. PC4200, PC5300).
Expansion Ports: Which connection is best? USB, FireWire,
or ESATA?
The three different connections serve similar but different purposes.
USB and FireWire are typically used to connect cameras, scanners and printers. Both can be
used for external HDD’s and CD drives. USB 2.0 offers transfer speeds of 480 MB/s and
Firewire 400 devices have a transfer speed of 400 MB/s. ESATA is typically used for high capacity
external HDD’s with a throughput speed of 1.5GB/s to 3 GB/s.
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