What Two Different Types of Firmware May Be Used on Motherboards

What Two Different Types of Firmware May Be Used on Motherboards

Main printed circuit board (PCB) for a computing device

A
motherboard
(also called
mainboard, main
excursion lath,
[1]

or
mobo) is the principal
printed circuit board
(PCB) in full general-purpose computers and other expandable systems. It holds and allows communication between many of the crucial electronic components of a system, such as the
central processing unit
(CPU) and
memory, and provides connectors for other
peripherals. Dissimilar a
backplane, a motherboard normally contains significant sub-systems, such as the central processor, the
chipset‘south
input/output
and retention controllers,
interface
connectors, and other components integrated for full general employ.

Motherboard
ways specifically a PCB with expansion capabilities. As the name suggests, this board is oft referred to equally the “mother” of all components attached to it, which often include peripherals, interface cards, and
daughterboards:
sound cards,
video cards,
network cards,
host bus adapters,
TV tuner cards,
IEEE 1394
cards; and a variety of other custom components.



Dell Precision T3600 System Motherboard, used in professional person CAD Workstations. Manufactured in 2012

Similarly, the term
mainboard
describes a device with a unmarried board and no boosted expansions or capability, such as controlling boards in laser printers, television sets, washing machines, mobile phones, and other
embedded systems
with limited expansion abilities.



Motherboard for a personal desktop computer; showing the typical components and interfaces which are found on a motherboard. This model follows the Babe
AT (form gene), used in many desktop PCs.

History

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Prior to the invention of the
microprocessor, the digital figurer consisted of multiple printed excursion boards in a card-cage case with components connected by a
backplane, a set of interconnected sockets. In very one-time designs, copper wires were the discrete connections between card connector pins, but printed excursion boards shortly became the standard exercise. The
central processing unit of measurement
(CPU), retentivity, and
peripherals
were housed on individually printed circuit boards, which were plugged into the backplane. The ubiquitous
Due south-100 bus
of the 1970s is an instance of this blazon of backplane organization.

The most popular computers of the 1980s such every bit the
Apple tree 2
and
IBM PC
had published schematic diagrams and other documentation which permitted rapid
reverse-engineering
and third-party replacement motherboards. Normally intended for building new computers compatible with the exemplars, many motherboards offered additional functioning or other features and were used to upgrade the manufacturer’s original equipment.

During the late 1980s and early on 1990s, it became economical to move an increasing number of peripheral functions onto the motherboard. In the late 1980s, personal computer motherboards began to include single ICs (also called
Super I/O
chips) capable of supporting a set of low-speed peripherals:
PS/two
keyboard
and
mouse,
floppy disk bulldoze,
serial ports, and
parallel ports. By the belatedly 1990s, many personal computer motherboards included consumer-course embedded audio, video, storage, and networking functions without the demand for whatsoever
expansion cards
at all; college-end systems for
3D
gaming and
computer graphics
typically retained only the graphics bill of fare as a separate component. Business PCs, workstations, and servers were more than likely to need expansion cards, either for more robust functions, or for college speeds; those systems often had fewer embedded components.

Laptop and notebook computers that were developed in the 1990s integrated the virtually mutual peripherals. This even included motherboards with no upgradeable components, a trend that would go on as smaller systems were introduced afterwards the plow of the century (like the
tablet computer
and the
netbook). Retentivity, processors, network controllers, ability source, and storage would exist integrated into some systems.

Pattern

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The Octek Jaguar V motherboard from 1993.
[2]

This board has few onboard peripherals, as evidenced by the half dozen slots provided for
ISA
cards and the lack of other congenital-in external interface connectors. Annotation the large
AT keyboard
connector at the back correct is its only peripheral interface.



The motherboard of a
Samsung Milky way SII; near all functions of the device are integrated into a very small board

A motherboard provides the electrical connections by which the other components of the system communicate. Unlike a backplane, it besides contains the central processing unit and hosts other subsystems and devices.

A typical
desktop computer
has its
microprocessor,
master memory, and other essential components connected to the motherboard. Other components such equally
external storage, controllers for
video
display and
sound, and peripheral devices may be attached to the motherboard as plug-in cards or via cables; in modern microcomputers, information technology is increasingly common to integrate some of these peripherals into the motherboard itself.

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An important component of a motherboard is the microprocessor’s supporting
chipset, which provides the supporting interfaces between the CPU and the various
buses
and external components. This chipset determines, to an extent, the features and capabilities of the motherboard.

Modern motherboards include:

Additionally, most all motherboards include logic and connectors to support commonly used input devices, such as
USB
for
mouse devices
and
keyboards. Early
personal computers
such as the
Apple II
or
IBM PC
included only this minimal peripheral support on the motherboard. Occasionally video interface hardware was too integrated into the motherboard; for example, on the Apple tree II and rarely on IBM-uniform computers such equally the
IBM PC Jr. Additional peripherals such as
disk controllers
and
serial ports
were provided equally expansion cards.

Given the high
thermal blueprint power
of high-speed computer CPUs and components, modern motherboards nearly e’er include
rut sinks
and mounting points for
fans
to misemploy excess heat.

Form gene

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Motherboards are produced in a variety of sizes and shapes called
class factors, some of which are specific to individual computer manufacturers. Still, the motherboards used in IBM-compatible systems are designed to fit various
case
sizes. As of 2005
[update]
, most
desktop computer
motherboards apply the
ATX
standard form factor — even those plant in
Macintosh
and
Sun
computers, which have non been congenital from article components. A instance’southward motherboard and
power supply unit
(PSU) grade cistron must all match, though some smaller class factor motherboards of the aforementioned family will fit larger cases. For instance, an ATX case will usually accommodate a
microATX
motherboard. Laptop computers more often than not use highly integrated, miniaturized, and customized motherboards. This is 1 of the reasons that laptop computers are difficult to upgrade and expensive to repair. Oft the failure of one laptop component requires the replacement of the unabridged motherboard, which is ordinarily more than expensive than a desktop motherboard

CPU sockets

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A
CPU socket
(central processing unit) or slot is an electrical component that attaches to a Printed Circuit Board (PCB) and is designed to house a CPU (also chosen a microprocessor). It is a special type of integrated circuit socket designed for very loftier pivot counts. A CPU socket provides many functions, including a physical structure to support the CPU, back up for a heat sink, facilitating replacement (as well as reducing cost), and most chiefly, forming an electrical interface both with the CPU and the PCB. CPU sockets on the motherboard can most often be found in most desktop and
server computers
(laptops typically apply surface mountain CPUs), particularly those based on the
Intel x86
compages. A CPU socket type and motherboard chipset must back up the CPU serial and speed.

Integrated peripherals

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Block diagram of an early 2000s motherboard, which supports many on-board peripheral functions likewise as several expansion slots

With the steadily failing costs and size of
integrated circuits, it is now possible to include support for many
peripherals
on the motherboard. By combining many functions on one
PCB, the physical size and total cost of the system may be reduced; highly integrated motherboards are thus peculiarly popular in
small class gene
and budget computers.

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Peripheral menu slots

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A typical motherboard will have a different number of connections depending on its standard and
course cistron.

A standard, modern ATX motherboard will typically have two or three
PCI-Express
x16 connection for a graphics card, one or two legacy PCI slots for various expansion cards, and ane or ii PCI-E x1 (which has superseded
PCI). A standard
EATX
motherboard will have two to 4 PCI-East x16 connection for graphics cards, and a varying number of PCI and PCI-E x1 slots. It can sometimes besides have a PCI-Eastward x4 slot (will vary between brands and models).

Some motherboards accept ii or more than PCI-E x16 slots, to let more than than two monitors without special hardware, or use a special graphics engineering science called
SLI
(for
Nvidia) and
Crossfire
(for
AMD). These allow 2 to 4 graphics cards to exist linked together, to allow better performance in intensive graphical computing tasks, such as gaming, video editing, etc.

In newer motherboards, the
1000.2
slots are for
SSD
and/or
Wireless network interface controller.

Temperature and reliability

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A motherboard of a Vaio E series laptop (right)



A microATX motherboard with some faulty capacitors

Motherboards are generally
air cooled
with
heat sinks
often mounted on larger fries in mod motherboards.
[5]

Insufficient or improper cooling can crusade impairment to the internal components of the computer, or cause it to
crash.
Passive cooling, or a single fan mounted on the
ability supply, was sufficient for many desktop calculator CPU’s until the late 1990s; since then, most accept required
CPU fans
mounted on
heat sinks, due to rising clock speeds and power consumption. Most motherboards accept connectors for additional
calculator fans
and integrated temperature sensors to detect motherboard and CPU temperatures and controllable fan connectors which the
BIOS
or
operating system
tin can use to regulate fan speed.
[vi]

Alternatively computers can apply a
water cooling
system instead of many fans.

Some
minor form factor
computers and
home theater PCs
designed for placidity and free energy-efficient operation boast fan-less designs. This typically requires the use of a low-power CPU, as well as a conscientious layout of the motherboard and other
components
to permit for estrus sink placement.

A 2003 study institute that some spurious computer crashes and general reliability bug, ranging from screen image distortions to
I/O
read/write errors, can exist attributed non to
software
or peripheral
hardware
simply to aging
capacitors
on PC motherboards.
[seven]

Ultimately this was shown to be the issue of a faulty electrolyte formulation,
[8]

an upshot termed
capacitor plague.

Modern motherboards use
electrolytic capacitors
to filter the
DC
power distributed effectually the board. These capacitors age at a temperature-dependent rate, as their water based
electrolytes
slowly evaporate. This can pb to loss of capacitance and subsequent motherboard malfunctions due to
voltage
instabilities. While most capacitors are rated for 2000 hours of operation at 105 °C (221 °F),
[9]

their expected design life roughly doubles for every 10 °C (xviii °F) beneath this. At 65 °C (149 °F) a lifetime of 3 to four years tin be expected. However, many manufacturers deliver substandard capacitors,
[10]

which significantly reduce life expectancy. Inadequate case cooling and elevated temperatures effectually the CPU socket exacerbate this problem. With top blowers, the motherboard components can be kept under 95 °C (203 °F), effectively doubling the motherboard lifetime.

Mid-range and loftier-cease motherboards, on the other hand, use solid capacitors exclusively. For every ten °C less, their average lifespan is multiplied approximately by three, resulting in a 6-times higher lifetime expectancy at 65 °C (149 °F).
[11]

These capacitors may be rated for 5000, 10000 or 12000 hours of operation at 105 °C (221 °F), extending the projected lifetime in comparison with standard solid capacitors.

In Desktop PCs and notebook computers, the motherboard cooling and monitoring solutions are usually based on
Super I/O
or
Embedded Controller.


Bootstrapping using the Basic Input/Output Organisation

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Motherboards comprise a
ROM
(and later
EPROM,
EEPROM,
NOR flash) to initialize hardware devices, and loads an
operating arrangement
from the
peripheral device. Microcomputers such as the Apple II and IBM PC used
ROM
chips mounted in sockets on the motherboard. At ability-up, the
central processor unit
would load its
program counter
with the address of the Kick ROM and get-go executing instructions from the Boot ROM. These instructions initialized and tested the system hardware, displays arrangement information on the screen, performed
RAM
checks, and and then loaded an operating organization from a peripheral device. If none was bachelor, and then the computer would perform tasks from other ROM stores or brandish an error message, depending on the model and design of the computer. For example, both the Apple tree 2 and the original IBM PC had
Cassette Bones
(ROM BASIC) and would start that if no operating system could be loaded from the floppy disk or hard disk.

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Most modernistic motherboard designs apply a
BIOS, stored in an
EEPROM
or
NOR flash
bit soldered to or socketed on the motherboard, to
boot
an
operating system. When the computer is powered on, the BIOS firmware tests and configures memory, circuitry, and peripherals. This
Power-On Self Test
(POST) may include testing some of the following things:

Many motherboards now use a successor to BIOS called
UEFI. It became popular after Microsoft began requiring it for a organisation to be certified to run
Windows 8.
[12]


[xiii]

See also

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References

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  1. ^



    Miller, Paul (July 8, 2006).
    “Apple tree sneaks new logic board into whining MacBook Pros”. Engadget.
    Archived
    from the original on October iv, 2013. Retrieved
    October 2,
    2013
    .




  2. ^




    “Golden Oldies: 1993 mainboards”.
    Archived
    from the original on May 13, 2007. Retrieved
    June 27,
    2007
    .




  3. ^




    “CPU Socket Types Explained: From Socket 5 To BGA [MakeUseOf Explains]”. January 25, 2013.
    Archived
    from the original on April 7, 2015. Retrieved
    April 12,
    2015
    .




  4. ^



    W1zzard (April 6, 2005).
    “Pinout of the PCI-Express Power Connector”. techPowerUp.
    Archived
    from the original on Oct 4, 2013. Retrieved
    October 2,
    2013
    .




  5. ^



    Karbo, Michael.
    “The CPU and the motherboard”. Karbos Guide.
    Archived
    from the original on April 27, 2015. Retrieved
    June 21,
    2015
    .




  6. ^




    “Temperatures”.
    Intel® Visual BIOS Wiki.
    Archived
    from the original on June 21, 2015. Retrieved
    June 21,
    2015
    .




  7. ^




    c’t Magazine
    , vol. 21, pp. 216-221. 2003.


  8. ^



    Chiu, Yu-Tzu; Moore, Samuel K. (January 31, 2003).
    “Faults & Failures: Leaking Capacitors Muck upwardly Motherboards”. IEEE Spectrum. Archived from
    the original
    on February 19, 2003. Retrieved
    October 2,
    2013
    .




  9. ^




    “Capacitor lifetime formula”. Low-esr.com. Archived from
    the original
    on September fifteen, 2013. Retrieved
    October 2,
    2013
    .




  10. ^


    Carey Holzman
    The salubrious PC: preventive care and home remedies for your computer
    McGraw-Colina Professional, 2003
    ISBN0-07-222923-3
    folio 174


  11. ^




    “– GIGABYTE, –Geeks Column of the Week – All Solid Capacitor”.
    www.gigabyte.com.
    Archived
    from the original on March 27, 2017. Retrieved
    May 6,
    2017
    .




  12. ^




    “Windows Hardware Certification Requirements for Client and Server Systems”. Microsoft. January 2013.
    System.Fundamentals.Firmware.CS.UEFISecureBoot.ConnectedStandby … Platforms shall be UEFI Class 3 (encounter UEFI Industry Grouping, Evaluating UEFI using Commercially Available Platforms and Solutions, version 0.iii, for a definition) with no Compatibility Support Module installed or installable. BIOS emulation and legacy PC/AT kicking must be disabled.




  13. ^




    “Microsoft: All Y’all Demand to Know About Windows 8 on ARM”.
    PC Magazine
    . Retrieved
    September 30,
    2013
    .


External links

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What Two Different Types of Firmware May Be Used on Motherboards

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