What are Motherboards?

By Craig Stephenson

The motherboard is the computer backbone providing electrical connections and allowing communication through all components of the computer. The motherboard houses the central processing unit, or CPU. All electrical devices present on a computer system, including peripheral devices, are routed through the motherboard. The word ?motherboard? usually implies a computer motherboard, but these boards are also present in cell phones, stopwatches, and many other electronic devices. The components of computer motherboards are: 1. a clock generator 2. power connectors 3. input device connectors and expansion slots 4. CPU slots 5. main memory slots 6. Chipset interface 7. non-volatile memory chips

Most computer motherboards manufactured today are for use in IBM compatible computers. IBM compatibles account for 90% of computer sales. But, motherboards are used in more than just computers. These electronic boards are also present in cell phones, stop watches, and many electronics.

Motherboards contain the sockets for the system?s main memory, usually comprised of dual inline memory modules. These are also called DIMM modules. They contain dynamic random access memory chips. These are also known as DRAM chips.

Motherboards contain chipsets, which are a group of integrated circuits creating an interface between the main memory and peripheral buses. The chipset is normally referred to in two parts the Northbridge and the Southbridge. Northbridge links high-speed devices, such as graphics controllers. The Southbridge connects to lower-speed peripheral buses such as printers and other hardware devices. The strength of a motherboard is in the Northbridge and Southbridge chipset it contains.

A chipset comprised of integrated circuits, which service to connect the main memory with the peripheral buses, is located on the motherboard. This chipset is often separated into two sections the Northbridge and the Southbridge. The Northbridge is far better known as it controls high-speed devices. The lesser-known Southbridge controls low-speed devices, such as sound chips.

Motherboards contain a clock generator. This clock generator is a circuit with the basic operation of producing a signal for synchronizing the computer. Some people who are well skilled at computers change the clock generator to control speed of the central processing unit and random access memory.

Motherboards usually contain expansion slots, or sockets. These are areas where computer owners can add expansion cards to increase the functionality of the computer system. These expansion slots can be used for adding things like graphic cards, sound cards or input/output devices.

Power connector flickers on the motherboard retrieve current from the main computer power supply. The connector flickers then send this power to other parts of the computer including the CPU, chipsets, main memory, and expansion cards. Failure of these power connector flickers can keep the computer from operating properly.

Like any electrical device, a motherboard can malfunction. A few signs that your computer motherboard has stopped functioning properly include: 1. a locked up computer 2. a computer that makes one long beep followed by 3 short beeps 3. the system clock displaying the wrong time 4. error messages with reference to DMA, CMOS battery, or RAM failure 5. a computer completely failing to boot up, but the power light is on

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