IT VET 2006 Cohort

Maintain Equipment& Consumables

Tutorial and Activities

What do you need to know?

• maintain equipment and consumables is intended to develop the knowledge and skills required to maintain the operation of basic hardware and the replacement of consumables.

• This includes:• hardware maintenance (routine and non routine) • maintenance scheduling • maintenance logs • hardware specifications

Specific Knowledge of

• Consumables • System Maintenance • Maintenance Schedules (log) • Keyboards • Monitor • Mouse • Floppy Drives • CD/DVD Drive • Printers • System Unit • Hard Drive Maintenance

Consumables

• Consumables are any product which needs to be replaced on a regular basis. Examples of consumables are:

• printer cartridges • CD/ DVDs • pens • paper for printers • cleaning kits (floppy drives, CD/ DVD drives) • floppys

Ordering Consumables

• in a work place someone will have the responsibility for ordering consumable items. Each business or workplace will have their own set procedures which employees need to familiarise themselves with. Many items can be ordered online while other companies may still require a paper order form. Most workplaces will expect the following to occur:

• a projected cost of consumables over a financial year is made

Ordering Consumables

• when consumables are required a number of quotes will be expected. Normally at least 3 with the cheapest quote being used

• An order will be placed. The order may have to go through a separate section for approval. Once the order is approved then it will be entered online or faxed.

Ordering Consumables

• Once the goods arrive the goods will be checked against the invoice the ensure all goods that the invoice lists are there. The invoice must then be checked against the actual order. If there is a discrepancy then the company needs to be contacted and a request is made for the remainder of the goods.

• A copy of the invoice will be stored for auditing purposes.

Evidence Task

• Using Word, design a form that could be used to order consumables. It must use a company logo and be very professional in appearance.

System Maintenance

• These are SIMPLE statements that you can use in your exam!

• System maintenance is required to ensure the reliable operation of any mechanical system in a workplace. 

• If a computer system is not maintained properly it is more likely to fail. 

• System failures prevent workplaces from operating and cost money.

System Maintenance

• An adequate system maintenance schedule will help to prevent many of the problems from occuring.

• Routine maintenance is preventative and designed to avoid unnecessary problems.

• Remedial, non-routine, maintenance will try to fix things that are already broken.

Evidence Task

• 1. Why is it important to keep manuals and leaflets about installed hardware? How can they help with maintenance? (think of both routine as well as remedial)

• 2. What type of information do manuals give the technician? Examine a few and make a list.

• 3. Create a database to keep a list of manuals. The database should contain a professional looking form to make accessing and entry of data easy. The form should contain a logo.

Maintenance Schedules (Logs)

• A maintenance log is used to document components which need maintenance, frequency, times, methods etc...

• A schedule plans for when the maintenance will take place where a log will describes what has been done.

• On the schedule there should be allowance to note when the last maintenance was carried out.

Maintenance Schedules (Logs)

• A maintenance schedule/ log is a table which can be manual, Word, Excel.

• The advantage of electronic format is that it is easily updateable and clients can also look to see when the next maintenance is due.

Evidence Activity• Below are some online examples. Look at each example and note

any advantages and disadvantages of each style:• Preventive Maintenance Schedule and Summary Something that

can help is to create a preventive maintenance schedule. ... For this reason, I recommend that you set up a preventive maintenance schedule. ...www.pcguide.com/care/pmSchedule-c.html

• Information Technology - Monthly Maintenance Schedule - The ... The Official University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center web site.www.ouhsc.edu/it/enterprise/maintenanceinfo/

• Business Portal maintenance schedule A calendar of expected unavailability of the Business Portal due to scheduled maintenance.www.ato.gov.au/content/50846.htm

Keyboards

•  A grotty look is just one reason to clean your computer keyboard.

• If dust gets stuck underneath the keys, they might not work properly. 

• While a drink which has been spilled may be your keyboard's death knell if not taken care of.

• There is another reason to clean a keyboard and that is germs. They say that keyboards and public phones have more germs than a toilet bowl.

The process for cleaning

• STEP 1: Ensure that you have the supplies that you need: compressed air (in an aerosol can); a soft rag, any nonabrasive household cleaning fluid suitable for cleaning plastic; and a dust mask if you're allergic to dust.

• STEP 2: Check the manual. If the manufacturer has provided specific instructions, follow them. Generally speaking cleaning keyboards is reasonably straight forwards so this should not be an issue.

• STEP 3: Shut down the computer. • STEP 4: Disconnect the keyboard. • STEP 5: Use compressed air to clean between the keys.

Spray at an angle to dislodge dust and grime.

The process for cleaning• STEP 6: Shake loose dust gently out of the keyboard. • STEP 7: If using aerosol cleaning fluid, follow the manufacturer's

instructions. Otherwise, spray a small amount of fluid onto a rag. • OPTIONAL: If they keyboard is not working right the keys can be

gently prised off and excessive amounts of dust or dried sticky liquid has probably dried and formed a residue which is preventing the keyboard from working properly. Clean the keyboard with a damp cloth and detergent and let it dry before reconnecting. (may take up to 72 hours)

• STEP 8: Wipe the keys and chassis. The keys can be cleaned with a damp cloth and detergent. A small brush can be used to dust between the keys.

• STEP 9: Wait until the keyboard is dry before reconnecting it to the computer.

• STEP 10: Reconnect the keyboard and restart the computer.

Keyboards at Risk

• In high-dust environments, use a plastic keyboard cover to protect the keyboard.

• If liquid is spilled on the keyboard, turn it upside down after you disconnect it to let the liquid drain out.

• If there's a lot of liquid, or if the liquid is sticky, wash out the spill with running water.

• (Do not immerse the keyboard.) • Let the keyboard drain for 72 hours.

Monitor

• It is difficult trying to use a monitor which is covered by dust, fingerprints and accumulated grime.

• The good news is that this is all easily fixed. Monitors are easy to clean!

Monitor• STEP 1: Ensure that you have the supplies that you need: non

streaking window cleaner, soft clot, duster and a dust mask if you're allergic to dust.

• STEP 2: Check the manual. If the manufacturer has provided specific instructions, follow them.

• STEP 3: Shut down the computer and ensure the power is off at the wall. 

• STEP 4: Use the duster to dust around the outside of the monitor at the back and the sides. 

• STEP 5: Spray the window cleaner onto the cloth and wipe over the monitor. This is alright to do with LCD screens too. 

• STEP 6: make sure the screen is wiped dry afterwards. • STEP 7: turn power back on.

Monitor• STEP 1: Ensure that you have the supplies that you need: non

streaking window cleaner, soft clot, duster and a dust mask if you're allergic to dust.

• STEP 2: Check the manual. If the manufacturer has provided specific instructions, follow them.

• STEP 3: Shut down the computer and ensure the power is off at the wall. 

• STEP 4: Use the duster to dust around the outside of the monitor at the back and the sides. 

• STEP 5: Spray the window cleaner onto the cloth and wipe over the monitor. This is alright to do with LCD screens too. 

• STEP 6: make sure the screen is wiped dry afterwards. • STEP 7: turn power back on.

Mouse

• It is very frustrating when a mouse doesn't work properly.

• On the old ball style mouse the most common cause for this is dirt on the rollers.

• With the new laser mouse it might be a rough surface where you will need to use a mouse pad or just give the bottom of the mouse a clean with a glass cleaner.

Mouse Cleaning (Ball type)• STEP 1: Shut down the computer.  • STEP 2: Check the manual. If the manufacturer has provided specific instructions,

follow them. • STEP 3: Disconnect the mouse. • STEP 4: Turn the mouse upside down and remove ball-cover ring by turning it in the

direction shown which is generally counterclockwise. If it does not have a cover you can generally remove a screw and open the mouse up.

• STEP 6: Remove the ball. • STEP 7: Rinse the ball with warm water. • STEP 8: Use a cotton bud covered with isopropyl alcohol to remove dust. • STEP 9: Carefully scrape the three rollers with a a small hard object such as a small

jewellers screw driver, tweezer or even a paper clip to remove gunk. Some say to use a toothpick but the trouble is they break and can leave debris which may interfere with the operation of the mouse. 

• STEP 10: Clean rollers with a swab dipped in alcohol. • STEP 11: Reassemble mouse when all the parts are dry. • STEP 12: Reconnect the mouse to your computer.

Floppy Drives

• Floppy drives are cleaned using a special disk soaked with a solvent.

• The disk is placed into the drive. • The drive will try to access the cleaning disk and

will eventually give an error message. • You will need to do this 3 times. • Allow the drive to stand a while for any solvent to

dry before using it. • This will require probably another 10 minutes or

so. make sure you read and follow the instructions that will come with the cleaning disk.

CD/DVD Drive

• Same as per floppy but using a CD.

• To clean a CD or DVD you will require a lint free cloth and solution. You will need to gently wipe from the centre out.

System Box (or Unit)

• Dust interferes with the safe and efficient running of a computer.

• Many fires have been caused by a build up of dust in a computer.

• The dust can be cleaned off the case with a lint free cloth and from the inside with compressed gas.

System Box (or Unit)

• A small specially designed PC vacuum cleaner may also be used.

• A household vacuum cleaner should not be used because they build up static and can cause problems. Static discarge may damage components of the system box.

Hard Drive Maintenance

• hard drives slow down enormously over time as the drive heads look for contiguous areas of free memory for files.

• When large enough areas are not found files can become fragmented (split) over several sectors of a disk and this will slow down access time for those files.

• The more files that are fragmented the slower the access time.

Hard Drive Maintenance

• To help make your hard drive more efficient the drive must be maintained by:

• defragmenting the drive on a regular basis

• run disk cleanup to remove any unnecessary temporary files.

Evidence Activity

• Answer the following

• What is disk fragmentation and how does it happen?

• Perform a screen dump and crop it to show the Disk Defragmenter window. Insert the image into your Word document. Using the “Draw” toolbar label the parts of the disk cleanup window .

Evidence Activity

– The Disk Defragmenter has a key with 4 colours. Describe the information these colours give and explain how they are used.

– What is the main colour to watch that indicates the degree of fragmentation?

– Click on the “Analyze” button. The program will now work out the degree of fragmentation of the hard drive.

– What information is given in the analysis report and how do you view this report? Do a screen dump and explain it.