• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 05:06
CEST 11:06
KST 18:06
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
Serral wins HomeStory Cup 2915Serral wins Maestros of the Game 243ByuL, and the Limitations of Standard Play3Team Liquid Map Contest #22: Results and Winners7Code S Season 2 (2026): RO4 and Finals Preview12
Community News
Weekly Cups (Aug 3-9): Protoss get shut out5RSL goes to London! 2026 Offline Finals Nov 21-2212Weekly Cups (July 27-Aug 2): SHIN's big week0SC4ALL II: Brood War - $2500 - Dec 5-69SC4ALL II announced - $10,000 prize pool, Dec 5-64
StarCraft 2
General
SC4ALL: II Talent Announcement! Weekly Cups (Aug 3-9): Protoss get shut out SC4ALL II: StarCraft 2 Player Announcement 5/8 Protoss AoE skill expression August World Ranking: Clem climbs to #2
Tourneys
PIG STY FESTIVAL 8.0! (13 - 23 August) Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament RSL goes to London! 2026 Offline Finals Nov 21-22 RSL Revival: Season 6 - Qualifiers and Main Event Tasteless Time Warp: SC Evo Showmatch (May 25)
Strategy
[G] Having the right mentality to improve
Custom Maps
Nexus Wars 2021 GUIDE [M] (2) Industrial Park
External Content
Mutation # 538 Media Blackout The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 537 Hostile Territory Mutation # 536 Railroad Switch
Brood War
General
ASL22 General Discussion BW General Discussion Michaelbg appreciation thread How FlaSh Nearly Forfeited MSL Finals being late BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues 2v2v2v2 Tournament KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 3 Escore Tournament - Season 3
Strategy
Odyssey Mineral Stack Saturation Fighting Spirit mining rates Any training maps people recommend? Simple Questions, Simple Answers
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Nintendo Switch Thread EVE Corporation General RTS Discussion Thread Diablo 2 thread
Dota 2
Looking for a Dota Mentor Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
[TL LoL EUW IHs] Teemo shall perish TSM pausing esports and CLG Dead
Heroes of the Storm
Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Power Rank TL Mafia Community Thread NeO.D_StephenKing vs This Guy From 1 Million Dance
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread The Letting Off Steam Thread Iain M Banks Says He Has Cancer And Months To Live Russo-Ukrainian War Thread European Politico-economics QA Mega-thread
Fan Clubs
MarineLorD Fan Club The ShoWTimE Fan Club The herO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Movie Discussion! Anime Discussion Thread Series you have seen recently... [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books
Sports
Football (Soccer) Thread NBA General Discussion TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 Formula 1 Discussion MLB/Baseball 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread Simple Questions Simple Answers FPS when play League Of Legend on laptop
TL Community
The Automated Ban List Northern Ireland Global Starcraft
Blogs
Are High-Level Gamers more A…
TrAiDoS
Cathedral Of CS And NY pizza a…
FuDDx
Please support my new stand…
Peanutsc
Hello guys!
LIN1s
ASL S22 English Commentary…
namkraft
Poker (part 2)
Nebuchad
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 8414 users

Electronics

Blogs > mantequilla
Post a Reply
mantequilla
Profile Blog Joined June 2012
Turkey781 Posts
Last Edited: 2016-09-21 13:24:31
September 21 2016 12:33 GMT
#1
I hope there are electronics people here who will see this.

I am a CS graduate. I wish to be able to:

- identify electronic components on a board

+ Show Spoiler +
[image loading]


* what are "c32" and such? I assume c means capacitor, and 32 is just a number to identify it. But there are also J5 and N252 ...


- have a general idea how does it work when I look at a board

- diagnose and replace/repair broken parts on a board

- design my own circuits...

What kind of books should I read, which sources should I study? Can you provide me with a little know-how?



Age of Mythology forever!
Cryoc
Profile Joined July 2011
Germany913 Posts
September 21 2016 13:35 GMT
#2
For identifying components:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reference_designator
It is almost impossible to know how a board works by just looking at it without a schematic, unless it is very simple, has only two layers for wiring and doesn't have microchips on it.
http://www.twitch.tv/cryoc
ChapatiyaqPTSM
Profile Blog Joined March 2011
France1887 Posts
Last Edited: 2016-09-21 16:04:11
September 21 2016 16:03 GMT
#3
C32 is a capacitor as you have guessed.
J5 is a connector, probably unmounted (the white rectangle below represents the space it would have taken), or maybe on the other side of the board.
N252 is probably not linked to a component in particular, but more to the board in general.
U4 is for the CREATIVE chip.
X1 is a quartz

Cryoc's wikipedia link can help you to understand all that.

Sometimes a simple cheap broken capacitor can cause a board to stop functioning, and is cheap (at worst a few bucks) to replace. You can find on Google good ways to visually identify such a broken capacitor.
A multimeter could be even better to find broken components. It will be harder to identify on complex components (like the CREATIVE chip).
It could also be that two tracks which are close to each other are slightly connected, causing a short circuit.

Looking at the references of the complex components (often the biggest) give you an idea of the global function of a board. Here I'm guessing it's a sound board, because of U2, U3 and mainly U4.

Schematics will help you get deeper into things, because it is generally organized by functional blocks, while the printed circuit board is sometimes organized to make things work (you need to have two components close to each other, you need to have all the connectors on one side of the board...)

To design your own circuits, if you're only speaking about schematics, you can draw them by hand. If you want to design the printed circuit board, you'll need a software. I have not used free software in a while so I don't know which one is good nowadays, but after a quick Google search, CircuitMaker seems like it could be good enough for you. The most difficult is to find component libraries, where you can find the components you want to use. But you can always create the entries yourself using data from the component datasheet.

You can learn by doing. There are some cool small projects you could read about in the internet, though sometimes it also includes programming as Arduino and Raspberry Pi have helped make things more accessible. Datasheets of complex components often come with advice about how it should be used, like what resistors and capacitors you should use with it.

If you want, you can also try to get general knowledge, though it's less fun. I learned at school, but there are probably good things in the internet. You can always find a book called "Introduction to electronics" or more advanced stuff if you want, then google the chapter titles if the price is too high.
LiquipediaBoy, these pretzels are makin' me thirsty.
Korakys
Profile Blog Joined November 2014
New Zealand272 Posts
September 21 2016 23:46 GMT
#4
The white numbers on the board refer to matching numbers in the circuit diagram and in other documentation that you probably don't have. The more interesting numbers are those on the actual components themselves. They tell you what the components are so you know what to replace them with if they are broken. For example R36 says 221 on it which means it's a 220ohm resistor.

If you want to have general idea of what the board does I suggest finding the biggest chip on it and putting the number on it in a search engine. That should give some data as to what the board is for. But yeah, you can't glean much just by looking at a board, schematics are critical to conducting any but the most basic of repairs and even then it is not easy.
Swing away sOs, swing away.
wholesaleelectronics
Profile Joined March 2026
1 Post
March 18 2026 13:57 GMT
#5
--- Nuked ---
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Replay Cast
09:00
KungFu Cup 2026 Week 18
CranKy Ducklings16
LiquipediaDiscussion
PiGosaur Cup
00:00
#94
Liquipedia
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft: Brood War
Shuttle 3902
Hyuk 793
Jaedong 700
firebathero 528
Bisu 357
Killer 218
actioN 173
EffOrt 62
Hm[arnc] 36
Soulkey 27
[ Show more ]
sSak 24
Sharp 23
Larva 13
NotJumperer 8
Terrorterran 5
League of Legends
JimRising 431
Counter-Strike
olofmeister1428
shoxiejesuss881
fl0m757
byalli528
Super Smash Bros
Mew2King189
Other Games
ceh9475
Happy287
Sick138
ToD74
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick496
BasetradeTV49
StarCraft: Brood War
lovetv 17
[ Show 13 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• StrangeGG 36
• CranKy Ducklings SOOP4
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• Migwel
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• lizZardDota2285
League of Legends
• Jankos864
Other Games
• WagamamaTV210
Upcoming Events
Kung Fu Cup
1h 54m
Replay Cast
14h 54m
The PondCast
1d
OSC
1d 3h
Replay Cast
1d 14h
Escore
2 days
CranKy Ducklings
3 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
4 days
OSC
4 days
Afreeca Starleague
5 days
Rush vs Hm
Bisu vs Shuttle
[ Show More ]
WardiTV Weekly
5 days
The Patches Monday
5 days
Afreeca Starleague
6 days
Sharp vs Shinee
Action vs Shine
PiGosaur Cup
6 days
Replay Cast
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-08-10
CranK Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League
Eternal Conflict S2 Finale

Ongoing

KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 3
K-JUNGMAN
Acropolis #5
RSL Revival: Season 6
Esports World Cup 2026
Esports World Cup 2026: LCQ
BLAST Bounty Summer 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer Qual
Stake Ranked Episode 3
XSE Pro League 2026
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2

Upcoming

Escore Tournament S3: W7
CSLAN 4
ASL Season 22
Escore Tournament S3: W8
Acropolis #5 - TRS
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
Acropolis #5 - GSA
HSC XXX
SC4ALL II: StarCraft II
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
RSL Offline Finals
PiG Sty Festival 8.0
Big Dog Cup 2026 Div 1
META DYMY #4
PGL Masters Bucharest 2026
Thunderpick World Champ.
ESL Pro League Season 24
Stake Ranked Episode 4
Logitech G Connect 2026
SL StarSeries Fall 2026
FISSURE Playground #5
BLAST Open Fall 2026
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.