Upgrading and Repairing PCs

by Scott Mueller

Overview

Access to 3 hours of troubleshooting videos as well as PDFs of previous editions are available through product registration—see instructions in back pages of your eBook. 

 

For more than 25 years, Upgrading and Repairing PCs has been the world’s #1 guide to PC hardware: The single source for reliable information on how PCs work, troubleshooting and fixing problems, adding hardware, optimizing performance, and building new PCs. This 22nd edition offers beefed-up coverage of the newest hardware innovations and maintenance techniques, plus more than two hours of new video.

 

Scott Mueller delivers practical answers about PC processors, mother-boards, buses, BIOSes, memory, SSD and HDD storage, video, audio, networks, Internet connectivity, power, and much more. You’ll find the industry’s best coverage of diagnostics, testing, and repair—plus cutting-edge discussions of improving PC performance via overclocking and other techniques.

 

Mueller has taught thousands of professionals in person and millions more through his books and videos—nobody knows more about keeping PCs running perfectly. Whether you’re a professional technician, a small business owner trying to save money, or a home PC enthusiast, this is the only PC hardware book you need!

 

NEW IN THIS EDITION

• The newest processors, including Intel’s latest Core i Haswell processors and AMD’s Kaveri core processors.
• Everything you need to know about the latest GPU technology from NVIDIA and AMD, including developments in OpenGL, DirectX, and Mantle.
• New firmware innovations like the InSyde BIOS, Back to BIOS buttons, and all the updated settings available for the newest processors and chipsets.
• The latest in updated home networking standards, from blazing fast 802.11ac Wi-Fi to HomeGrid and G.hn powerline networking.
• Ever larger storage, thanks to new technologies like helium-filled hard disks, shingled magnetic recording, and Cfast and XQD for flash memory.
• Emerging interfaces such as mSATA, USB 3.1, and M.2
• Updated coverage of building PCs from scratch—from choosing and assembling hardware through BIOS setup and troubleshooting

 

 

 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780134057699
Publisher:	Pearson Education
Publication date:	06/22/2015
Series:	Upgrading and Repairing
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	1176
Sales rank:	554,226
File size:	40 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Scott Mueller is the president of Mueller Technical Research (MTR), an international research and corporate training firm. Since 1982, MTR has produced the industry’s most in-depth, accurate, and effective seminars, books, articles, videos, and FAQs covering PC hardware and data recovery. MTR maintains a client list that includes Fortune 500 companies, U.S. and foreign governments,

major software and hardware corporations, as well as PC enthusiasts and entrepreneurs. Scott’s seminars have been presented to several thousands of PC support professionals throughout the world.

 

Scott personally teaches seminars nationwide covering all aspects of PC hardware (including troubleshooting, maintenance, repair, and upgrade), A+ Certification, and data recovery/forensics. He has a knack for making technical topics not only understandable, but entertaining; his classes are never boring! If you have ten or more people to train, Scott can design and present a custom seminar for your organization.

 

Although he has taught classes virtually nonstop since 1982, Scott is best known as the author of the longest-running, most popular, and most comprehensive PC hardware book in the world, Upgrading and Repairing PCs, which has become the core of an entire series of books, including Upgrading and Repairing PCs, Upgrading and Repairing Laptops, and Upgrading and Repairing Windows.

 

Scott’s premiere work, Upgrading and Repairing PCs, has sold more than two million copies, making it by far the most popular and longest-running PC hardware book on the market today. Scott has been featured in Forbes magazine and has written several articles for PC World magazine, Maximum PC magazine, the Scott Mueller Forum, various computer and automotive newsletters, and the Upgrading and Repairing PCs website.

 

Contact MTR directly if you have a unique book, article, or video project in mind or if you want Scott to conduct a custom PC troubleshooting, repair, maintenance, upgrade, or data-recovery seminar tailored for your organization:

 

Mueller Technical Research:

 

Web: www.muellertech.com

Email: [e-mail]

Forum: www.forum.scottmueller.com

 

Scott has a forum exclusively for his readers at www.forum.scottmueller.com. Anybody can view the forum, but posting is available only to registered members.

 

If you have suggestions or comments about the book or new book or article topics you would like to see covered, send them to [e-mail].

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Chapter 1 Development of the PC
• Chapter 2 PC Components, Features, and System Design 
• Chapter 3 Processor Types and Specifications 
• Chapter 4 Motherboards and Buses
• Chapter 5 BIOS 
• Chapter 6 Memory
• Chapter 7 The ATA/IDE Interface
• Chapter 8 Magnetic Storage
• Chapter 9 Flash and Removable Storage 
• Chapter 10 Optical Storage 
• Chapter 11 Video Hardware 
• Chapter 12 Audio Hardware 
• Chapter 13 External I/O Interfaces 
• Chapter 14 Input Devices 
• Chapter 15 Internet Connectivity
• Chapter 16 Local Area Networking
• Chapter 17 Power Supplies
• Chapter 18 Building or Upgrading Systems 
• Chapter 19  PC Diagnostics, Testing, and Maintenance 

Editorial Reviews

The Barnes & Noble Review
In 2003, there has been a bumper crop of new PC technology. And to help you assess it, implement it, fix it, Scott Mueller produced the indispensable 15th edition of his legendary Upgrading & Repairing PCs.

For example, this edition includes detailed coverage of AMD's Opteron, the revolutionary 64-bit processor that delivers remarkable performance without sacrificing compatibility. Intel's latest innovations are here, too -- notably the new Hyper Threading Technology, which gives you two "virtual processors" inside the same Pentium 4.

These processors have immense performance potential, but you'll need new motherboards, memories, and chipsets to deliver on it. Mueller covers the latest, hottest stuff -- from higher bus speeds to dual-channel memory architecture. Along the way, he addresses everything from processor slots to form factors, cases, and power connectors -- the details wherein the devil often hides.

He's equally strong on the "almost new" technologies now coming into widespread use. For example, as part of a detailed chapter on optical storage, he demystifies the bewildering menagerie of DVD standards (DVD+RW, DVD-RAM, DVD-R, DVD-RW). Which ones are likely to last? How do you minimize your risks? What do you need to know about copyright protection and other, umm, realities?

As the value of computers increasingly moves to the network, Mueller has increased the book's coverage of networking, from LANs to broadband Internet connectivity. This edition covers all of today's Wi-Fi wireless standards, slow to fast, cheap to expensive -- with a focus on interoperability issues.

Most computers that need repair or upgrading aren't brand new, so Mueller presents systematic coverage of mainstream technologies, including every significant PC component. You'll find entire chapters dedicated to your PC's BIOS; to hard drives; to audio hardware; to I/O devices ranging from ancient RS-232 to contemporary USB 2.0, Serial ATA, and IEEE-1394b. Where you can upgrade existing devices to get the performance offered by newer interfaces, he tells you.

He covers myriad removable storage media from today's external USB 2.0 and FireWire drives to those failed media formats that doubtless hold your Great American Novel. His detailed coverage of backup/restore issues includes exceptional guidance on trying to recover data that seems irretrievably lost (even data on formatted, repartitioned, or erased hard drives and formatted flash memory devices).

In recent editions, Mueller added a detailed troubleshooting index that identifies hundreds of common PC hardware problems and points you directly to the solutions. That's still here, but the 15th edition adds new coverage on resurrecting dead systems and tracking down the flakiness in flaky systems.

Last but definitely not least, there's a DVD-ROM with two full hours of thoroughly updated digital video, in which Mueller walks you through a laundry list of current PC maintenance and repair tasks. Thankfully, the DVD will run on your home DVD player -- so if you've taken your computer apart and you've got no idea what to do next, you can still have Mueller show you. Bill Camarda

Bill Camarda is a consultant, writer, and web/multimedia content developer. His 15 books include Special Edition Using Word 2000 and Upgrading & Fixing Networks for Dummies, Second Edition.