Dallas Computer Repair | Computer Repair Terms "C"

Computer Repair Terms "C"

Dallas Computer Repair Terms A | B | C | C Page 2 | D | D Page 2 | E | F | G | I |

C: Drive- Commonly understood to designate the system or first hard drive disk in DOS and OS/2 microcomputer operating systems. In the computer repair field the drive is most often to replaced rather than repaired.

Cache- An area reserved for high-speed memory to improve system performance. The disk cache memory holds data from the disk drive in RAM where the system can quickly access speeding up performance.

Cache Controller- It is the controller with the specific task of controlling highly sophisticated cache memory systems.

Carriage- The part that handles paper feeding in printers and typewriters.

Cartridge- A data-storage module that contains disks, magnetic tape or memory chips that is removable and can be inserted into the slots of disk drives, printers and computers.

Cathode Ray Tube (CRT)- The vacuum tube used in computer and television displays.

Central Processing Unit (CPU)- It is the part mounted on the motherboard that does the thinking as the control unit and arithmetic logic unit. The CPU is contained on a single chip in personal computers and occupies one or more printed circuit boards on minicomputers and on a mainframe it is contained on several printed circuit boards. The unit can process millions of instructions in a fraction of a second. The unit can get extremely hot and in the pc repair field it is replaced on the motherboard with a matching CPU.

Centronics Interface- A standard 36-pin interface with defined plug, socket and signals to connet printers and devices to a computer.

Certificate- A security service that verifies a public key to a user with a matching private key.

Character Printer- A printer that prints single characters, one at a time, such as dot-matrix printers or daisy wheels.

Chip- Known as an integrated circuit (IC) it can have several dozen to several million electronic components such as resistors, diodes, transistors, etc. It is mounted on a square of silicon approximately 1/16 to 1/2 inch wide and about 1/30th of an inch thick and comes in many styles for specific uses.

Chipset- A set of specific ICs designed to perform interactively.

CHKDSK- When an application terminates unexpectedly, lost units occur on the hard drive and CHKDSK, a DOS maintenance utility, can recover the lost allocation units. Over time these lost units can multiply and take up large amounts of space; a useful tool in the computer repair field.

Clear To Send (CTS)- A signal sent from the receiver to the transmitter indicating it is ready to accept data; known as an RS-232 handshaking signal.

Client- A workstation that operates with a master server computer controlling the network operation.

Client/Server Network- Workstations that work with a master server computer controlling the operation of the network.

Clock- An internal timing device in computer systems such as a CPU clock, the real-time clock, a communication clock and a timesharing clock.

Cluster- An organization unit used on disk drives to represent one or more sectors of data and is the smallest unit of storage space on the disk.

CMOS Setup- A software setup program stored in special CMOS registers, read each time a machine boots, that communicates to the system what options are installed. The CMOS battery helps hold the information when the power is turned off. The battery is a computer repair field replacable.

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