Computer Maintenance Engineer (CompTIA A+)

To provide students who have little prior experience of maintaining the Desktop PC with the skills and basic knowledge required to start a career as an IT Technician or Support Engineer. It is an opportunity for those changing career and to be immersed in the computer desktop technology.

Hardware for all projects is supplied throughout, with appropriate emphasis on hands-on.

Students will build a range of systems, desktops and laptops, and install a variety of different desktop operating systems including Windows 7, XP Professional, and also Linux. Students install, configure and secure a network for workgroup/residential access to the Internet, including wireless technology.

• Basic Concepts
  Understanding basic binary, PC architecture, the address and data busses, hardware interrupts.
  Storage devices including flash drives, hard drives, CD/DVDROM rewritables, including the function of partitions and file systems, RAID, disk imaging.
• Hardware Installation
  System chassis fitting and external-internal case connections. Install CPU, heat sink and fan, memory, motherboard, adapter cards. Add/remove procedure. Communication interfaces, cabling, hard drive fitment. USB, Component upgrade, laptops.
• Concepts: PC Motherboard/Processor/Memory
  ATX BTX NLX ITX form factor, Intel AMD CPUs, processor sockets, types of memory, motherboard, chipsets, PCI- Express PCI AGP ISA expansion bus, adapter cards, CMOS settings. Different kinds of memory, DDR, DDR2, DDR3, Dual Channel, DRAM, SRAM, ROM.
• Preventative Maintenance
  Hard drive maintenance. ESD precautions and procedures. Recognise potential hazards and safety procedures. Backup and restore.
• Diagnosing, Troubleshooting
  Recognise common problems and understand symptoms. Elicit symptoms from non-technical customer description. Common error messages and codes. System boot and recovery procedures. Common operational problems. Virus removal.
• Printers
  Laser, Inkjet, Dot matrix, Dye-sublimation, Network interface printers, troubleshooting, printer spooler control.
• Tablets
  Use and configuration of Android devices.
• Networking
  IP addressing, NICs, Gigabit, cabling, UTP, Coax, Ethernet. Concepts of client/server and peer-to-peer. File sharing. TCP/IP. Configuring for sharing Internet connection. Firewalls. Wireless routers, Wireless encryption.
• Software: Install, Configure, Upgrade
  Windows 7 Ultimate, Windows XP Professional, Linux, command-line, Device drivers, Windows components, Operation and optimisation.
• Operating System Software
  NTFS and FAT32 File systems, Security, Users and Groups, Virtual memory, Registry. System files, boot sequence. Multi-boot systems, Virtual computing, Dual-boot, Security hardening.
• Command-line functions and tools
  Managing files, directories, permissions. Tools for Disk management, System management.
  

CompTIA A+ In Depth 220-801, 220-802 by Jean Andrews available at the RTC for purchase (subject to stock), Amazon On-line and all good retailers.

The book is referred to throughout the course and it is recommended before, or at the beginning, of the training.