A+ Certification CompTIA Computer Instruction DivX DVD Start Price USD 21.98 Current Price USD 21.98 Time Left - Bid Count 0 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Friday, November 28, 2008 End Time Sunday, December 07, 2008 Location West Palm Beach, FL See more about 'A+ Certification CompTIA Computer Instruction DivX DVD' Description    A+ CERTIFICATION EXTENDED -- My lessons start where A+ Certification text books leave off -- 31 DivX VIDEO LESSONS     1. kWh COST TO OPERATE COMPUTER: 10 MINUTESThe electric utility charges you for every kWh (kilo-watt-hour). I show you how to calculate the actual dollar cost of operating your computer equipment every hour or every day.2. ATX 20-PIN CONNECTOR: 14 MINUTESI describe the ATX 20-pin Power Supply connector in detail. Why all the colors? How the connector is keyed so it can't be put in backwards. And I talk about the special pins, like the gray Power_GOOD pin, the magenta Standby pin, and the green Power_ON pin.3. TEST YOUR ATX COMPUTER POWER SUPPLY: 5 MINUTESYou need to know how to test your ATX power supply outside the computer case when it's not connected to a motherboard or power-ON button. And I discuss the similarities and differences between the 20-pin and 24-pin ATX power supply connector.4. HARD-DRIVE POWER: 11 MINUTESUsing a digital multimeter, I will measure the actual current and voltage this hard drive is using and compute the drives wattage, and then I'll compare that value with the drive specs listed by the manufacturer. We'll see how much truth is in those specs. But, hold on a minute, something is not quite right, it's a surprising result, and I'll show you what happened in full color.5. AC ADAPTER ENGINEERING: 41 MINUTESSo many of today's computer peripherals like printers, laptops, battery chargers, and cameras, all get their power from ac power adapters. You need to know all about ac power adapters because you're going to run into them every day when repairing computers. The purpose of the ac adapter (wall transformer) is to step-down the 120V ac outlet voltage to a much lower ac or dc voltage, typically between 6 and 24 volts. In order for you to replace or substitute an ac power adapter, you must know how to apply Ohm's Law and the Power Equation to understand the ac adapter's electrical specifications. I explain in detail the 4 types of ac power adapters, the electrical theory, and I take them apart. Believe me, I show you everything.6. ATX SWITCH MODE POWER SUPPLY: 31 MINUTESI'm going to take this computer power supply apart and show you how each component works. I'll relate the schematic diagram to all the different components. The benefits of using a SMPS rather than a Linear Power Supply are numerous; SMPS produce less heat, more wattage in a smaller form factor, and are much lighter weight. Get ready, because I tell and show it all, the fuse, PTC thermistor (positor) for short circuit protection, NTC thermistor as an inrush current limiting, MOV voltage surge protector, RFI (Radio Frequency Interference) filtering, fullwave rectification, filtering capacitors, switching transistors, switching transformer, heat sinks, thermal protection methods (the fan being the most obvious), Switching Modulator, Group Regulator Choke, potential soldering blunders, everything is revealed7. DMM (DIGITAL MULTI-METER): 12 MINUTESYou're going to come across computer equipment that's just not working. And you're going to have to figure out why it's not working. It's often helpful to know how to use a DMM to diagnose and repair electrical related problems. I'll explain how to measure voltage, current, and calculate watts. I use an AC Outlet Checker to make sure the AC wall outlet is wired properly, and various test jigs to make DMM measurements easier.8. COMPUTER MATH: 25 MINUTESBinary, Hexadecimal, and Decimal are number systems that you must know if you want to work on computers. You must know how to count and convert from one number system to the other; knowing these number systems is a practical and useful way to solve computer repair problems. The key to all three number systems is the "number line."9. CALCULATE WIRELESS dBs IN YOUR HEAD: 5 MINUTESI'm going to show you how to do all dB calculations in your head. Stay tuned, because I'm going to take the mystery out of the decibel. If you could put it into one sentence, "What is a decibel?" The wireless decibel is an industry standard specification that represents power; power gain, power loss, power input and power output. When you see the decibel specification in wireless literature, think power.10. WIRELESS dB LOG MATH: 29 MINUTESI show you the math. That's right, logs, dBs, and the law of exponents. I talk about how all this dB stuff got started. I do a Wireless Link Budget. That's where I add up all the dB's from the laptop transmitter output through the RF cable to the antenna, through the air to the receiving antenna, and down the RF cable to the laptop NIC card.11. DIGITAL PULSES: 25 MINUTESElectronic digital pulses are the clock signals and data signals, which are the digital bits that get stored in memory or displayed as information on your monitor. I'm going to examine the inner workings of the electronic digital pulse: The time domain and the frequency domain. I explain how a motherboard causes good digital pulses to go bad, which corrupt data and crash computers.12. LED ENGINEERING: 12 MINUTESYou need to know about Light Emitting Diodes. LED's are visible in every type of computer and consumer electronics. You need to know how they work, and what to do when they don't. But don't worry; I'm going to turn you into a LED expert. I'll explain LED operating principles, like why LED's need a series resistor for current limiting, why LED's need to be forward biased, and what is biasing? I explain LED Max forward current, LED reverse breakdown voltage, and LED voltage drop. I do the math. I use ohm's law to calculate the series resistor and LED current, so you can design your own LED circuits with confidence.13. LED SEMICONDUCTOR PHYSICS MADE EASY: 12 MINUTESI explain semiconductor physics, the atom, pn junction, doping, and energy bandgap. I explain why rectifier diodes just get hot while LED diodes emit yellow, red, blue, green, or infrared light. I show everything except I leave out the complicated math.14. OHM'S LAW, E=IR: 19 MINUTESVoltage equals Current times Resistance, that's Ohm' Law. For electronics technician's, Volts, Amps, and Ohms are what's measured on their multimeter. Ohm's Law gets confusing when you start talking about milliamps, millivolts, kilohm's, and kilowatts, instead of volts, amps, ohms, and watts. It's all about the decimal point. Putting the decimal point in the right spot is the toughest part of solving Ohm's law equations. I'll show you how to move the decimal point around, so it's always in the right spot. When you use your multimeter to measure current, voltage, and resistance, you need to get the decimal point in the right place before you take a measurement, so I show you how to do that, too. And Lastly, I also explain how to solve Ohm's Law equations using the Law of Exponents, proportionality equation, and your calculator.15. CIRCUIT CONTINUITY: 10 MINUTESIf you learn anything, learn about circuit continuity. Set your multimeter for continuity, it's the best troubleshooting skill you can learn. Find out why techs say, "Ohm it out", or "buzz it out". By testing for continuity, you can find short circuits, open circuits, test fuses, wiggle the wire test, test cables, switches and push buttons, and trace out where wires go on a pc board. You need to know this. I use my multimeter to demonstrate continuity testing, so you can see how it's done.16. AC POWER DISTURBANCE: 4 MINUTESIt would be nice if the ac outlet voltage was perfect and dependable, but it’s not. The voltage is too high, it goes too low, it blinks on and off, it has awful spikes, or goes completely out. I show you actual voltage spikes, voltage sags, noise, and harmonics displayed on my oscilloscope. Power disturbances are here to stay, and you need to keep computers up and running even when the ac voltage is unpredictable.17. ISOLATION TRANSFORMER: 15 MINUTESIf you have computer lock-up problems that defy solution, and audio and video problems that confound everyone, then maybe it’s time to look at your ac wiring; specifically, common mode voltage. Depending on the ac power quality in your neighborhood and the branch circuit wiring in your home, you may need a Computer Isolation Transformer, which is a kind of super-duper ac power-line noise filter.18. ELECTRICAL CROSSTALK: 9 MINUTESCrosstalk and noise can run amuck on any motherboard. Digital pulses create noise spikes and interference that couple to adjacent copper traces. Crosstalk occurs on the many cables that connect to the motherboard edge connectors like the network cables, audio cables, video display cables, and USB cables. Inside the computer case, crosstalk can affect the interconnecting power cables and the drive cables; actually, crosstalk can affect any two signal carrying wires that run parallel to each other. I’m doing to demonstrate exactly how crosstalk occurs, and what solutions you can implement that will stop crosstalk from ruining your audio and video entertainment, causing computer crashes, and corrupting the data that runs your business.19. AC POWER FACTOR MEASUREMENT: 12 MINUTESI take VA measurements using a DMM (Digital Multimeter) and Clamp-On Current meter. I take Watt measurements, VA measurements, and Power Factor using a Power Factor meter. It’s all here. I determine the power factor of my computer power supply, my table lamp, triac light dimmers, my hair blower, and I explain UPS (Uninterruptable Power Supply) load sizing by comparing watts and VA and Power Factor.20. POWER FACTOR AND YOUR ELECTRIC BILL: 32 MINUTESI take the mystery out of power factor and explain how it all works. I even show whether Power Factor affects your residential electric bill or industrial electric bill of large corporations. Power factor is caused by non-linear loads like a computer switch mode power supply because the input capacitor causes harmonic currents that lower the power factor. Power factor is also caused by linear inductive loads like large industrial motors by causing a phase shift between the current and voltage. Get the facts right here.21. COMPUTER WATTS: 12 MINUTESWhat is the power requirements of each component hooked up to the computer motherboard? I explain how to read the electrical specification label, and I use my Digital Multimeter to measure the actual voltage and current and calculate the watts used by different computer components like the CD drive, monitor, audio, etc.22. MOTHERBOARD INSTABILITY: 9 MINUTESWhat are the factors that affect the ability of a motherboard to transmit and receive digital signals? What are the symptoms of corrupted digital signals? I explain the 5 root causes of motherboard instability. And I show you how to use your gut feelings, intuition, and judgment to fix the unfixable. It's a Zen thing. Maybe it's Voodoo. But I show you how to be a "Good Luck Generator."23. PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARDS: 16 MINUTESEngineers have but a lot of work into designing Printed Circuit Boards that don't have crosstalk, don't radiate electromagnetic interference, and can handle high speed digital signals without corrupting the data. I explain single sided, double sided, and multi-layered pc boards and how the motherboard does its job. I explain capacitive decoupling, impedance discontinuity, capacitive loading, noise thresholds, and why you don't want to see bulging leaking capacitors.24. PC COPPER TRACE: 23 MINUTESWhat is the difference between the ac copper household wiring and the pc copper trace on the motherboard? It turns out that electrically they both behave completely different. One is just a connecting wire while the other is a transmission line. I go into clock frequency, wavelength, harmonics, pulse speed, characteristic impedance, and transmission line theory.25. POWER-ON BUTTON: 6 MINUTESWhen you push the button to turn the computer on, how does that work? I explain the electronics, momentary push button, digital flip flop, standby voltage, and power_On pin at the ATX connector.26. SURGE PROTECTION SCHEMATIC: 2 MINUTESWhat goes on inside a power strip surge protector? I take a surge protection device apart and show you individual components like MOVs, thermal circuit breaker, and schematic that includes the ac Hot, Neutral, and Ground..27. TV REMOTE CONTROL TEST: 2 MINUTESHere's a fool proof method to test your TV IR Remote Control. Is the button Bad? Is the battery dead? Have you dropped it just once to often and now it's completely broke. You'll know for sure using this simple test technique.28. TRUE RMS (DMM) DIGITAL MULTIMETER: 13 MINUTESWhen you shop around for a (DMM) Digital Multimeter, be sure to get one that says "True RMS" on the front of the meter.  I'm going to take the mystery out of "true RMS". For example, the U.S. residential outlet voltage is 120Vac if measured using a DMM, but it's 340V peak-to-peak on an oscilloscope. How does a DMM come up with 120Vac? When you're buying computer speakers, what's the difference between Watts-Peak and Watts-RMS?  When a UPS is on battery backup, why does a True RMS Digital Multimeter read 120Vac but a Calibrated RMS Digital Multimeter read only 87Vac?29. MECHANICAL RELAYS AND COMPUTERS: 21 MINUTESIf computers are going to control the world, then it will be through mechanical relays. What's that clicking sound? Mechanical relays are found in computer (UPS) Uninterruptible Power Supplies to switch between battery backup and ac line voltage; relays are also found in security systems that control lights, sirens, and electrical door locks; and relays are found in programmable logic controllers to monitor and control remote industrial loads like motors and manufacturing processes. You need to understand how relays work. It's all here.30. RESIDENTIAL AC ELECTRICITY: 35 MINUTESI explain how AC electricity gets from the power generating plant to your residence. I cover the power plant, step-up transformer, transmission lines, neighborhood substation, step-down transformer, distribution lines to the pole transformer, then the service entrance (I show phase A and B using an oscilloscope), onto the breaker box, the branch circuit, and finally the AC outlet. At the AC outlet I use an Outlet Checker and explain common wiring problems such as a missing ground conductor (and how that affects the computer power supply's noise, RFI, and surge suppression) , and reversed hot and neutral conductors. I take AC voltage measurements using a DMM and oscilloscope, and I measure the common mode voltage. I even explain why we use 60 Hz in the U.S.31. ETHERNET AND BASEBAND SIGNALING: 43 MINUTESAre you curious about what Ethernet frames and Ethernet data pulses look like on UTP cable? I show you what’s really going on! I captured Ethernet data frames using my oscilloscope, and I show the preamble pulses, Manchester encoding, frame check sequence, and more.  I explain baseband signaling for 10Base-T and 100Base-T Ethernet; including differential signaling, data encoding, cable frequency response and attenuation, spectrum analysis of Ethernet pulses.  It's all here.OVER 8 HOURS OF VIDEO==================================================================  SCREEN SHOTS Click Photo to Enlarge                                                                                                                                                             ==================================================================FREE VIDEOTEST YOUR ATX COMPUTER POWER SUPPLY: 5 MINUTES ==================================================================  INFORMATION TO PLAY MY DivX VIDEO TUTORIALSYou will need the FREE DivX codec to play my A+ Certification DivX DVD on your home computer. Windows Media Player will happily play DivX files if you install the FREE DivX codec. My video lessons are 640x480 Full-Screen, AVI Video, and MP3 Audio.DivX INSTRUCTIONS & DOWNLOADS CLICK HERESHIPPING METHODI mail First Class FREE to U.S. and Canada in a Postal Stay-Flat mailer. I package each DVD in a Jewel Plastic Case with cover artwork. For shipping to worldwide locations, please contact me for exact shipping costs. I apply an international shipping discount. HOW TO GET YOUR A+ CERTIFICATION To pass the A+ exam, you will need one or more A+ study guide books and practice test questions. It’s helpful if you can find an A+ study course at school. My DivX videos are extra information that you need to know if you really want to repair computers and be a knowledgeable and informed technician. To pass the A+ test is one thing, but actually fixing computers and helping customers solve computer issues takes a lot more know-how. Customers need to feel that you’re trustworthy, knowledgeable, and competent. I AM THE INSTRUCTOR IN THIS VIDEO I wrote, recorded my video lessons, edited, and authored these DivX videos myself. These video tutorials contain information that you need to know if you want to repair computer equipment. I stand by my video tutorials, and I know they will help you study for the A+ Computer Certification. ABOUT Me CLICK HEREI’m an experienced electronics and computer technician, and I produced these DivX videos with hands-on information that you won't find in A+ text books. This know-how will hopefully stimulate your imagination to study hard and learn as much as you can.  Place a Bid!