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Field Replaceable Units (FRUs)

Always carry several field replaceable units (FRUs)—a fancy way to say spare parts—when going to a job site or workstation. Having several known good components on hand enables you to swap out a potentially bad piece of hardware to see if that’s the problem. Different technicians will have different FRUs. A printer specialist might carry a number of fusers, for example. Your employer will also have a big effect on what is an FRU and what is not. I generally carry a couple of RAM sticks (DDR, DDR2, and DDR3), a PCI video card, a NIC, and a spare power supply.

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EXAM TIP The CompTIA A+ exams expect you to know that FRUs are computer components such as cards, memory, hard drives, processors, or power supplies that can be easily replaced in the field.

I keep a PCI video card in my kit, by the way, because every computer made in the past ten years has PCI slots. If you run into a system with video problems, you can almost always simply slap in the PCI video card and discover quickly whether the AGP or PCIe video card or card slot is a problem. If the computer boots up with the PCI video card but fails on the PCIe card, for example, you know that either the PCIe card or the slot is causing the problem.

Chapter Review

Questions

1. Once you have assessed the problem with a user’s machine, it is important to do what before making changes?

A. Attach your grounding strap

B. Nothing; start fixing the problem immediately

C. Back up critical files

D. Get a signed release from the user

2. While working at the help desk, you get a call from a distraught user who says she has a blank screen. What would be useful follow-up questions? (Select two.)

A. Is the computer turned on?

B. Is the monitor turned on?

C. Did you reboot?

D. What did you do?

3. Computers are complex machines, but many times the answer to a problem is:

A. Obscure

B. Complex

C. Obvious

D. Very hard

4. What tool should be in every technician’s toolkit?

A. Pliers

B. Hammer

C. Flat-head screwdriver

D. Phillips-head screwdriver

5. According to troubleshooting theory, the first thing you should do when you arrive to work on a computer is:

A. Identify the problem.

B. Ask how the user broke the machine.

C. Start working on the problem immediately.

D. Backup critical data.

6. Once you have ascertained the computer’s problem and backed up the critical data, what should you do?

A. Establish a theory of probable cause

B. Start fixing the machine

C. Question users more to find out how they caused the problem

D. Document

7. Once you have developed a theory of what has caused the problem, then what should you do?

A. Prepare the machine to be taken back to the workbench.

B. Accuse the user of being an idiot for causing the problem.

C. Test the theory to determine cause.

D. Escalate the problem.

8. After successfully repairing a machine, it is vitally important to:

A. Do nothing; your job is done.

B. Admonish the user for causing so much work for the IT department.

C. Document your findings.

D. Lock it down so the user can’t cause the same problem again.

9. You’ve just installed new printer drivers into Roland’s computer for the big networked laser printer. What should you do to complete the assignment?

A. Document that you installed new printer drivers.

B. Tell Roland to print a test page.

C. Print a test page and go to the printer to verify the results.

D. Print a test page and go to the printer to verify the results. Document that you installed new printer drivers successfully.

10. What’s a FRU?

A. Foreign replacement unit—a cheaper part to replace an expensive American-made part

B. Field replacement unit—a known good computer part to swap with a suspect part as part of the troubleshooting process

C. Free repair unit—a gimmick used by some companies to provide free tech support for the first-time customer

D. Short for FRU Linux,