View Full Version : Explaining a Mobo...
Gandalf
12-15-01, 07:40 PM
I am very interested in just learning the basics of the mobo, so any help here would be appreciated.
Here is what I THINK I know so far, if something os wrong, please tell me.
Blue - Memory Slots
Green - AGP (?) slot? This is for the graphics card
Red - These are the PCI slots
Light Blue - South Bridge (?)
Brown - North Bridge (?)
Yellow - Socket for CPU
Black - I dont know any of these...
And where is the BIOS? Is it an actual chip? Same with the CMOS? Is it a chip?
Any help would be appreciated.
The black is your IDE controllers where your hard drive is connected to the mobo.
Your bios should be one of those two chips around the southbridge read the chip and it should say "Award" or something close to that :)
iggybaseball
12-15-01, 07:47 PM
everything so far looks good. Hrad to say what the black is unless u can name the name of the mobo u r using, but it looks like a serial port, parallel port, usb, an connectors for the mouse n keyboard.
Gandalf
12-15-01, 07:49 PM
What are those things that look like batteries?
MrOOBiLL
12-15-01, 08:46 PM
Originally posted by GaDaLf
What are those things that look like batteries?
Transistors i guess. The backwards PCI slot (far left) is a CNR slot. (i think)
Gandalf
12-15-01, 08:54 PM
Wahts that for?
minoukat
12-15-01, 08:58 PM
If I remember well, it's for some kind of OEM sound card or somehting ...
MrOOBiLL
12-15-01, 09:00 PM
Originally posted by GaDaLf
Wahts that for?
Nothing important :)
Gandalf
12-15-01, 09:00 PM
At the bottom right hand side of the board, there are a bunch of "plugs with pins"...what are they for?
minoukat
12-15-01, 09:02 PM
Some are jumpers or connectors for the power button, HD leds, frontal components, ...
EDIT : oops !!!:eek: I looked at the wrong side, as I told what was in the left side ! in the right side, there are a couple of connectors, maybe RAID, that are maybe on anohter model similar in some points to this one, but that aren't supposed to be on this model, so they are taken off and the holes are soldered together afterwards
minoukat
12-15-01, 09:04 PM
Originally posted by iggybaseball
(...)Hrad to say what the black is unless u can name the name of the mobo u r using(...)
Look between the PCI slots, and you have the name of the mobo ! :D It's an ASUS A7V266
Gandalf
12-15-01, 09:10 PM
Originally posted by minoukat
Some are jumpers or connectors for the power button, HD leds, frontal components, ...
EDIT : oops !!!:eek: I looked at the wrong side, as I told what was in the left side ! in the right side, there are a couple of connectors, maybe RAID, that are maybe on anohter model similar in some points to this one, but that aren't supposed to be on this model, so they are taken off and the holes are soldered together afterwards
MY FAULT
I meant to say the bottom LEFT hand side.........you answered my question though!
The battery is indeed that, a battery it is what retains the CMOS settings should power to the board fail.
J
minoukat
12-15-01, 10:48 PM
Originally posted by SpeeDj
The battery is indeed that, a battery it is what retains the CMOS settings should power to the board fail.
J
which basically means when the comp is turned off !:D
No because if you have an atx power supply it still supplies power to the rail while it is "off" hence that is why your mobos with LEDs still have a light on.
J
minoukat
12-15-01, 11:02 PM
Originally posted by SpeeDj
No because if you have an atx power supply it still supplies power to the rail while it is "off" hence that is why your mobos with LEDs still have a light on.
J
Cool !!! didn't know that ! Thanks for the info !!! :D
I actually based what I said on my old comp (AT, not ATX, 486 !), which wouldn't boot up anymore becuase the battery was dead, and the CMOS wasn't alimented anymore. Didn't happen on my ATX systems yet, so I didn't know !
Ridenow
12-15-01, 11:36 PM
The best way to learn a mobo is to get the manual. Almost all motherboard makers have them on their website.
If you are refering to all the cylinder things, they are capacitors (caps), they mostly help regulate the power.
I do not know what the backwards PCI slot is, an ACR slot is not like that, they are shorter. Even me, an experianced hardware tech, has to check the manual sometimes.
Summary of this post :READ THE MANUAL!!!!
Malpine Walis
12-16-01, 12:36 AM
Youn have two areas marked in black. The two connectors on the bottom are for IDE hard drives. Each one can have two drives attached for a total of four.
Floppy drives go on a conector between PCI 4 and five (counting from the right). You can have two of those.
On the top, you have the connectors which will be on the back of the case when you are done building.
Left to right I see: Yellow - serial port, Purple - serial port, Steel with two tabs - USB, Steel with vertical lines - keyboard.
Behind those youn will find the other ones you need to know about. When you actually buy the mobo, you will get a manual that will tell you everything you need to know.
minoukat
12-16-01, 12:40 AM
I belive the purple is a printer port, not a second serial. might be wrong, but ...
Originally posted by minoukat
I belive the purple is a printer port, not a second serial. might be wrong, but ...
Yup purple is the printer.
Crash893
12-16-01, 01:41 PM
white=fan ports
dark blue=wake on lan (not sure witch one)
grey=on board soundcards cd in
dark green=probably a usb extention and a irport extention
dark red =looks like some sort of on board buzzer ( bios beeps)
Gandalf
12-16-01, 02:52 PM
Thanx crash893, this is great!
So those little white ones are where you plug fans into? How come there are only 2 of them?
MrOOBiLL
12-17-01, 12:22 AM
Originally posted by GaDaLf
Thanx crash893, this is great!
So those little white ones are where you plug fans into? How come there are only 2 of them?
One for the CPU fan, and one for a case fan, why would you need anymore than that? :D
all right, first of all there are 3 three pin connectors and most case fans use 4 pin connectors which you can plug directly into the psu. And I know pretty much about most boards out there and I have never seen that kind of backwards PCI. I know it is definitely not a CNR because I have one on my board and it is really short and is brown. It stands for Communications and Network Riser. Used for modems and network cards. You probably have a LAN WAKE connector if that is indeed a CNR slot. You can turn on other computer is they are connected to your comp and have the same kind of network card! Also those connectors (highlighted in dark green) are probably IR connectors (credit to crash) but is definitely not a USB header extension because I also have one of these and am using it for my 2 front USB ports.
sorry just realized that crash painted over the USB header with the dark green but I have no idea what the 3rd set of pins are for
hope this helps
Gandalf
12-17-01, 05:13 PM
SO what if I have like.......8 fans in total?
minoukat
12-17-01, 05:16 PM
Originally posted by GaDaLf
SO what if I have like.......8 fans in total?
You'd attach them to a normal 4-pin connector on the PSU, not on the mobo
Originally posted by GaDaLf
SO what if I have like.......8 fans in total?
You can connect as much fan as you want as long as connecting to the PSU since it contains alot of watts.
8 fans including the cpu fan?
It really doesn' t matter because most psu' s have enough power output to supply all those fans.
8x12 is....yeah its only 96v...I dont know how many watts that is but I' ve never seen a psu that cant supply that # of fans.
By the way, what kinf of psu will you be using with that mobo?
And also, I just looked on my mobo and the IR connector is one row of 5 pins, so I dont know what those other connectors are.
Gandalf
12-17-01, 09:34 PM
I will be using a 400W Eneremax PSU....
I just figured it out last night and its just a little less than 100 watts so you will be okay.
On another note, does anyone know how many watts does a mobo use?
How about a HDD and a burner?
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