What Does Jumper Mean?
A jumper is a tiny metal connector that is used to close or open part of an electrical circuit. It may be used as an alternative to a dual in-line package (DIP) switch. A jumper has two or more connecting points, which regulate an electrical circuit board.
Techopedia Explains Jumper
A jumper is made of material that conducts electricity, and is sheathed in a nonconductive plastic block to prevent accidental circuit shorts. A jumper positioned over two or more pins creates a connection that activates certain setting instructions.
Older PCs used jumpers to set voltage and central processing unit (CPU) speed. Moreover, jumpers and jumper blocks were used to reset basic input/output system (BIOS) configuration and clear complimentary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) information.
Older PCs contained at least one jumper and, in many cases, a bank of DIP switches. It was common to find 30 to 40 jumper pairs on a motherboard. Because of poor documentation, some systems were difficult to set correctly, and motherboards eventually had fewer labeled and numbered jumper blocks.
Jumpers are found on modern hard drives but are rarely seen on motherboards. In most cases, settings are configured automatically or via software. Configuration settings are often stored in non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM).
