Field-replaceable unit: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 13:27, 18 October 2011

Revision as of 13:27, 18 October 2011

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''This article is primarily about FRUs in computers.''

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A '''field replaceable unit''' ('FRU)<ref name="Newton16p364" /> is a [[circuit board]], part or assembly that can be quickly and easily removed from a [[personal computer]] or other piece of [[electronic equipment]], and replaced by the user or a technician without having to send the entire product or system to a repair facility. FRUs allow a technician lacking in-depth product knowledge to [[fault detection and isolation|fault isolate]] and replace faulty components.

==Computer hardware==

A typical [[desktop computer]] is composed almost entirely of FRUs, including:

* [[Power supply unit]]s

* [[Motherboard]]s

* socketed [[CPU|microprocessors]]

* [[Computer data storage#Primary storage|primary storage modules]]

** [[RAM]]

* [[Computer data storage#Secondary storage|secondary storage devices]]

** [[hard drive]]s

** [[optical drive]]s

** [[floppy drive]]s

* [[Computer bus|Bus]] devices

** [[video card]]s

** [[sound card]]s

* Cooling fans

* [[Peripheral]]s

** [[computer keyboard|keyboards]]

** [[mouse (computing)|mice]]

** [[Computer printer|printers]]

** [[cable|connecting cables]]s

Replacing an FRU while the machine is running is known as [[hot swapping]]. Support for hot swapping is mostly limited to [[high availability]] devices, power supplies, and cooling fans in systems having redundant ones.

To aid in fault isolation, a unit called a field replaceable unit identifier (FRU ID) holds the records of the devices that do not originally come with the baseboard or motherboard. Most (though not all) board manufacturers use EEPROM to store FRU IDs, which play a significant role in [[Intelligent Platform Management Interface|IPMI]]. The [[Baseboard management controller|BMC]] contacts the FRU devices whenever there is a problem in the hardware to determine the device to replace. Most often, the BMC communicates with the FRU using the [[I²C]] bus protocol, but can also use other implementation-specific protocols.

==Other equipment==