Upgrading a Computer
The task most frequently performed by a computer technician is upgrading old systems to the latest technologies. This ability to expand and upgrade a computer can prolong the life and utility of a computer system. Sometimes the addition of a new software program can lead to hardware conflicts and necessitate an upgrade. Before you begin to upgrade any computer, you must document the system. If the component you are installing is a replacement part, you can simply set the jumpers or DIP switches the same as they were on the component that was removed. However, if you are installing a new type of component, you must first identify available system resources that can be assigned to the new component. The best way to determine the computer system's available resources is by using hardware configuration discovery utilities. These software programs that interface with the system BIOS as well as the various pieces of hardware in the computer and display which IRQ, DMA, and I/O port addresses are being used. Most operating systems include some way of determining this information. MS-DOS, Windows 3.x, and Windows 95 included a tool named msd.exe. Windows 98, Windows 2000 and Windows XP has a graphical utility called the Device Manager while Windows NT includes a program known as NT Diagnostics. All these utilities perform the same function.
msd.exe has an advantage over the other utilities in that it can be included on a bootable floppy disk. Thus, in the event that a resource conflict is preventing your system from booting properly, you can boot to the DOS floppy and troubleshoot your problem. When you run msd.exe, it displays information about the computer's memory, I/O ports, IRQs that are being used, and many other PC resources that you want to see. However, you should not rely completely on the report you get from MSD if you're running it under Windows 3.x or Windows 95 as msd.exe reports the information that it gets from Windows. This may be incorrect and could prove to be problematic. For best results, run MSD should be run MS-DOS mode. In addition to system resources, you must also ensure that there is adequate physical space available for the device. If you are installing an additional disk drive you will require an open drive bay. If you are installing an expansion card, you will require an open slot of the same type as the expansion card you are installing.