Tested Skills and Suggested Practices

The skills that you need to successfully master the Configuring and Troubleshooting Hardware Devices and Drivers objective domain on the Supporting Users and Troubleshooting a Microsoft Windows XP Operating System exam include the following:

• Configure and troubleshoot storage devices.

  • Practice 1: Using the Disk Manager utility, create and format a partition on a Windows XP Professional workstation.

  • Practice 2: Using Disk Manager, right-click the CD-ROM or DVD-ROM icon in the display and select Properties. Be sure you understand the function of each of the tabs, especially the Drivers tab. Select the Drivers tab, and note the Update Driver and Roll Back Driver buttons.

  • Practice 3: Using the Computer Management console, select Device Manager and look at the entries listed in the details pane. Expand each of the entries, such as keyboard, monitors, network adapters, and so on. Right-click a device and note the Update and Uninstall options on the popup menu. Select the Properties option for the device, and note the options available on the Drivers tab.

• Configure and troubleshoot display devices.

  • Practice 1: From Control Panel, double-click Appearance And Themes, and then click the Display icon and select the Settings tab. Change the screen resolution by sliding the bar right or left. Click the down arrow in the Color Quality dialog box, and select and note the available options.

  • Practice 2: Using Device Manager, expand the Disk Drives icon in the details pane and then right-click one of your available hard disks and select Properties. Note the “This device is working properly” message located in the Device status section of the dialog box.

• Configure and troubleshoot Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI).

  • Practice 1: From the Control Panel, select Performance And Maintenance, and then select Power Options and choose your power scheme using the drop- down dialog in the Power Schemes section of the Power Schemes tab. If you are using a laptop computer, change the default configuration to turn off the monitor after 15 minutes when running on batteries. If your basic input/output system (BIOS) supports hibernation, configure your laptop or desktop to hibernate after one hour of inactivity.

  • Practice 2: From the Control Panel, select Performance And Maintenance, select Power Options, and then click the Advanced tab. From the Power buttons section, notice the When I Close The Lid Of My Portable Computer option and choose Standby from the drop-down list. Click the Hibernate tab, and notice the Enable Hibernation check box. Also notice that the Disk Space Required To Hibernate value is equal to the total amount of RAM configured on your workstation because the contents of RAM are copied to your hard disk when Hibernate mode is activated.

• Configure and troubleshoot I/O devices.

  • Practice 1: Using Device Manager, expand Mice And Other Pointing Devices in the detail pane. Select your keyboard from the drop-down list box, right- click it, and select Update Driver… from the popup menu. Note that you can insert a CD-ROM or installation diskette at this screen, if you were updating a vendor’s driver.