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Systems Builder

quadsunmes™ GROUP224, Ibekwe Road, Ikot Abasi

Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria.

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[email protected], [email protected]

1st Edition

© Akravertex™ Tutor & quadsunmes™ GROUP, 2010

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form

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Akravertex™ Tutor & quadsunmes™ GROUP

© Akravertex Tutor and quadsunmes GROUP 2010 i



Systems Builder Disclaimer

DISCLAIMER Akravertex™ Tutor & quadsunmes™ GROUP cannot be held responsible forany damage that you may cause to yourself or any computer hardware that maycome about by your attempts to build a computer using the information providedin this manual.

© Akravertex Tutor and quadsunmes GROUP 2010 ii



Systems Builder Contents Menu

Contents MenuContents Menu ..........................................................................................................................iii

Build Your Own PC...............................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................1Component Selection.............................................................................................................1

Price........................................................................................................................................1

Support...................................................................................................................................2

Warranty.................................................................................................................................2

Software.................................................................................................................................2

STEP 1: Materials Required .......................................................................................................3

Tools Required.......................................................................................................................3

Hardware Required................................................................................................................4

Software Required..................................................................................................................8

Cables and Miscellaneous......................................................................................................9

STEP 2: Remove Case Cover ...................................................................................................11STEP 3: Case Preparation ........................................................................................................12

STEP 4: Install Power Supply ..................................................................................................14

STEP 5: Install the CPU ...........................................................................................................15

STEP 6: Install Heat Sink/Fan ................................................................................................. 17

STEP 7: Install Memory ...........................................................................................................20

STEP 8: Configure the Motherboard ....................................................................................... 22

STEP 9: Install the Motherboard ..............................................................................................25

STEP 10: Connect Motherboard to Case .................................................................................27

STEP 11: Install Floppy Drive .................................................................................................28

STEP 12: Configure the Hard Drive & CD-ROM ...................................................................30STEP 13: Install Drive .............................................................................................................31

STEP 14: Install the CD-ROM(s) ............................................................................................33

STEP 15: Install the Video Card ..............................................................................................35

STEP 16: Post-Assembly .........................................................................................................37

STEP 17: Initial Boot-Up .........................................................................................................38

STEP 18: Configure the BIOS .................................................................................................40

Advanced BIOS Features.....................................................................................................41

Advanced Chipset Features..................................................................................................42

Power Management..............................................................................................................43

Integrated Peripherals ..........................................................................................................43

PnP/PCI Configuration.........................................................................................................44PC Health.............................................................................................................................45

Defaults................................................................................................................................45

Passwords.............................................................................................................................45

STEP 19: Test the System ........................................................................................................46

STEP 20: Prepare the Hard Drive(s) ........................................................................................47

HARD DRIVE PREP – THE OLD FASHION WAY.........................................................47

STEP 21: Install the CD-ROM Driver .....................................................................................50

STEP 22: Install the Operating System ....................................................................................52

STEP 23: Tidy Up ....................................................................................................................53

Index .........................................................................................................................................55

© Akravertex Tutor and quadsunmes GROUP 2010 iii



Systems Builder Introduction

Build Your Own PC

It is increasingly popular to build your own computer. In most cases, it saves money,

and it guarantees you get what you want. It also assures you avoid proprietary designsmany companies use to keep you coming to them for new parts. Best of all, having builtthe system yourself, you become very familiar with that system and with computers in

general.

People from all walks of life today build their own PCs. Executives, engineers, students,

housewives, they all do it today. But, at the same time, pre-built PCs have come down inprice quite a bit. Today, one is left to wonder whether it is best to build a PC yourself orto simply buy one off the shelf. I’ll address that here.

If you are a real PC enthusiast, this question may be a non-issue. The answer may be asobvious as the color of the sky. This is predictable, of course. When one builds their own

PC, they are able to not only understand their PC better because they built it, but theyare able to choose each component that goes into their PC. There is really something tobe said for choosing your own components, and I’ll go into that further below. There is

also a certain sense of satisfaction with having built a PC. One spends a few hours (orless for those more familiar with the process) to put the thing together. Then comes themoment of truth when one hits the power switch for the first time. If it works on the firsttry, its beer time!

But, besides the joy of it, is it worth it? Is it a practical use of your time? Will it reallysave you money? The answer to that question today has become a bit gray. A few years

ago, the answer was obvious. Pre-built PCs were typically built from OEM, cheapcomponents. The performance was average to simply awful. The choice was obvious: If

you wanted a decent PC, you better build it. Today, the line has blurred. Where manyoff-the-shelf PCs today still use cheaper components in an effort to save money, there

are more pre-built PCs today which do use quality hardware and whose performanceranks up there with the best of them.

Let us look at some of the key areas of interest in this:

Component Selection

Most commercial PC buyers (except for the ones who build higher end models) do notmake a big deal of which components they use. They will, of course, tell you the specs of

the system, but often do not elaborate on the brands of the equipment they use. Most

lower to average priced pre-built PCs use more or less generic hardware. It gets the jobdone, but what you get is what you get. Upgrading can be a problem for this reason. Incontrast, building your own PC means you can handpick all components in your system.You can ensure you get good, name brand hardware which will have propermanufacturer support and driver support. Most importantly, you can ensure you gethardware that will perform. One aspect of pre-built is that compatibility issues are takencare of by the manufacturer, but there is a tradeoff made in that guarantee.

Price

In general, you can get more bangs for your buck building your own PC. In many cases,you will find equally priced and comparable PCs, where one is pre-built and one would behomebuilt. You can buy PCs cheaper than you can build them, but when you considerthe hardware choices within, the price is offset in favor of homebuilt. One thing to

© Akravertex Tutor and quadsunmes GROUP 2010 1

INTRODUCTION



Systems Builder Introduction

consider here is the value of your time. If you are a very busy person where time ismoney, then you most likely want to buy a pre-built PC. If you don’t mind taking thetime, though, you can do better doing it yourself.

Support

Available support is a key concern for do-it-yourselfers. When you build it yourself, thereis nowhere to take the PC for service. You can’t say “Here, make this work.” On the

other hand, pre-built machines typically do come with manufacturer support. But,support is anything but consistent. Some manufacturers have questionable records on

support whereas some are quite good at it. Having support for your PC is no guaranteeof having a problem-free user experience, and it is certainly no guarantee that they willtake responsibility for your PC if it doesn’t work. The good news for do-it-yourselfers isthat the community of people who do this kind of thing themselves is increasing. Thereis a lot of data on the internet, and community sources for assistance. I’m compelled tomention our own forums where a community of thousands is available to help you out onyour PC.

Warranty

On pre-built PCs, there is typically a warranty on the whole system, and in manyinstances, you are offered an extended service plan at the time of purchase. Home builtPCs do not have full system warranties, of course, but if you buy good name brandhardware, most of the components will themselves have warranties. So, really, eitherway, you can be covered here.

Software

Pre-built PCs often come with much software on it, most importantly the operating

system itself. The actual price of the software is pretty good, because manufacturers getgreat deals on this software because they buy in bulk. On the flip side, though, thesePCs sometimes come with too much software, meaning garbage that you do not wantand just clutters the hard drive and bugs you to buy stuff. It can be quite annoying. Onhomebuilt PCs, you might pay a little more for the software per unit, but you will getwhat you want and only what you want, plus you can set it up how you want.

In general, I’m a big fan of the homebuilt PC. I’ve never used a PC I didn’t build myself.

I think it’s a huge money saver. In my case, I built it myself, and then as technologyprogressed, I incrementally upgraded the machine. This saves a lot of money in the long

run, because with a pre-built commercial machine, once it goes out of date, you prettymuch need to start anew with a new PC.




Systems Builder STEP 1: Materials Required

This tutorial is intended to assist you in building a basic PC. There are obviously aplethora of possible PC configurations and hardware that you could put into your new PCif you choose. But, what we are trying to do here is help you put together a basic PC. For

this reason, we are only requiring the basic components and tools to get you up andrunning.

Tools Required

• Screwdriver – A Phillips-head (cross-point) screwdriver is what is used in mostPCs.

• Screw Extractor – If you have surgeon’s fingers you may not need this. But, if

you’re human, it is likely you might drop a screw into your PC during thisprocedure and be too big-thumbed to get it out. A screw extractor can help you

grab those screws and get them out without messing with the hardware. Youdefinitely do not want to run your PC with loose screws in there. It could cause ashort circuit.

• Flashlight – Unless you are in a fantastic lighting situation, you will likely need a

flashlight to get a look of the landscape in your PC while you’re working.


STEP 1: Materials Required




• Tweezers – May be helpful for you in switching jumpers later in the tutorial.

Hardware Required

• PC Case

• Floppy Disk Drive





• Hard Drive

• DVD/CD-ROM Drive

• Processor





• Processor Cooling Fan

• Motherboard





• Memory Modules

• Power Supply

• Video Card





• Keyboard & Mouse

To build a basic PC, you will need at least a motherboard, a memory module, a

processor with cooling fan, a power supply, a hard drive, a floppy drive, a video card anda CD-ROM.

Most electrically sensitive hardware comes in a static bag which is designed to protectthe electronics from static electricity shock. Leave your hardware in these bags until youare ready to install them.

Software Required

• System Disk

• Device Drivers (these usually come with the hardware above)

• Operating System (for the purposes of this tutorial, we will assume you are

choosing Microsoft Windows as your operating system – PC Mechanic has lots of great information on Linux and other alternatives)





Cables and Miscellaneous

• Drive cables

• Motherboard spacers (usually come with the motherboard, but are used to spacethe motherboard up off the mounting plate)

• Screws (usually a whole pile of screws will come with your PC’s case, but if youare using a case you happened to have around, you will need to collect some

screws)

• Power cords

(for both your PC and your monitor. They usually come with the hardware whenyou buy it, of course)





• CPU Cooling Compound




Systems Builder STEP 2: Remove Case Cover

• This is a very easystep. Basically, you are

just taking the cover off

your new case. If youhave a standardcase, you take a

screwdriver andremove the four or six

screws locatedaround the edge on the

back of your case.Hang on to thesescrews and putthem in a placewhere they will not be

scattered and can beeasily found later in thisprocedure. Once they

are removed, theentire case cover

comes off in onepiece. With thisdesign, the front of thecase (also known as thebezel) does not move. Only the top and sides come off as a single cover.

• Some cases (such as the one being used in making this tutorial) use thumbscrews rather than standard screws. It works the same way, obviously, exceptthat you do not need to use a screwdriver to loosen and remove them. Simplytwist them loose using your fingers.

• Still other cases come apart differently. Some manufacturers have developed

cases using a “screw less” design. These cases are designed such that you canremove the cover simply by un-latching the parts from the chassis. With this

design, you usually take hold of the bottom of the front bezel of the case and giveit a nice solid yank. The front then pulls off. It is my experience that this usually

requires a few tries and some muscle. These cases are usually pretty durable soyou really don’t have to worry about hurting them. The sides then lift and slide off as does the top. Your case, in essence, comes apart in four pieces. Other casescome apart in a similar way, but after you take the front off, the top and sidescome off together.

• Each case is a little different in how it comes apart. There are almost as many

designs as there are companies that make them. You may find some where youdon’t even have to remove the front, and rather you just slide the sides off. Withothers, you can remove the whole motherboard mounting plate and card rack

combo from the case by sliding it out the back. This is convenient for makingquick changes to the system, although you still have to disconnect the various

cables to get it out all the way. Whatever case style you have, remember to lookit all over before you attempt to gain entry. You don’t want to force it and breakanything – take your time.

• Now that this is done, you are ready to move on.


STEP 2: Remove Case Cover



Systems Builder STEP 3: Case Preparation

At this point, you should have the new case in front of you with the cover removed.Before you can use it for a new system, you must prepare it for use. Go through thefollowing checklist to make sure it is prepared. Not all of this may be necessary on your

case, and if you’re using a case you already had, much or all it has likely been donealready. Nonetheless, this is a useful guideline.

Now that the case is open, now is a good time to go through the screw supply providedwith the case. These are usually held in a small plastic bag nestled inside the case.

Inside this bag you should find:

• Chassis screws – this is the type used to tighten down cards,etc.

• Smaller screws – just like the chassis screws, just with a smallerdiameter. It is used to fasten the motherboard in.

• Standoffs – these are screws that are used to hold

the motherboard about 1/8″ from the motherboardmounting plate. Their ends have a threaded opening inthem that accept the smaller chassis screws. If youhave an AT case, you may find small white standoffs.These serve the same function as the metal standoff,

but are simply punched through the board and slid intoslots on the case. They are rather clumsy to use

compared to the metal standoffs, but they get the jobdone. Lastly, some cases use small metal clip-lookingstand-offs. They are pinched together and slipped intosmall rectangular holes in the motherboard mounting plate and they snap in.These are, too, a bit awkward.

•Washers. These are typically small, loose washers, not the metal kind you’veseen in your toolbox. These will be used to cushion your motherboard from thescrews you will be using to hold it in. Some motherboards have metal platesaround the holes to keep the screws from shorting the circuitry, and in this case,

washers are not necessary and may not be included.

Now, verify a few things have been done, if they need to be done.

1. Clean Case – If the case is new, this should be no big deal. But, if the case hasbeen used before, it could probably stand a cleaning. Clean out the inside with arag or compressed air. Make sure the fan in the power supply is free of furrydust. Also take a rag and wipe it off.

2. Inspect the Power Supply – Make sure it is tightly attached to the case, makesure it is free of dust, and make sure it is set to the proper voltage of your area-110V for U.S. and 220V for outside countries.

3. Inspect Power Switch – Make sure the power switch is securely tightened andcorrectly connected to the power supply. In ATX cases, the power switch will haveone loose wire coming off of it. This wire will then connect to the Power Switchconnector on the motherboard.

4. Install Feet – These are little tabs inserted into holes at the bottom of the case.

The case sits on these tabs when on your desk. If the case has been used beforeor it is a more expensive case, this may not need to be done.

5. Install Case Fan – Sometimes, you may want to install a separate fan that screwsonto a rack next to the vent on the front of the case. This helps increase

circulation of air through the system. Many cases already have this installed, soyou may not need to worry about it. Some like to put a little filter over the hole


STEP 3: Case Preparation



Systems Builder STEP 3: Case Preparation

so as to prevent dust from being drawn in. An ideal and simple setup for properairflow is to set the front, lower fan to pull air in, and have the higher, rear fanexhaust.

6. Free Up the Drive Bays – Brand new (cheaper) cases sometimes have the drive

bays sealed with metal plates. It’s the most annoying thing. If you want to install

any drives, and you probably do, you’ll need to remove these. Choose the drivebays you want to use (usually the ones at the top on tower cases) and removethe metal plates. These are attached by metal, so they take some cutting, pryingand twisting to break them free. Be careful not to hurt the case or yourself. Theplate will likely have sharp edges once removed. Better cases have these bayscovered with plastic, replaceable plates which are a lot easier and make infinitelymore sense.

7. Replace I/O Shield. The Input/Output shield is a piece of metal with various holes

punched in it that allow for the motherboard connections, such as mouse andkeyboard, USB and LAN to poke out the rear of your case. All cases will comewith one but since all motherboards are laid out differently, you’ll need to installthe one that came with your board. Remove the old one simply by pushing it fromthe rear of the case inward. It usually will pop out easily, if not use a flat-head

screwdriver to pry the edges so it comes loose. Push the new one in from theinside of the case and allow it to pop into place. Check to be sure it is secure.




Systems Builder STEP 4: Install Power Supply

Some cases come with power supply unit pre-installed for you. Likewise, if the case youare using has been used before, it may have a power supply already installed. In thatcase, you only need to make sure it is an adequate unit for the computer you intend tobuild. Also, if you are building an ATX machine, you must make sure that the powersupply is an ATX power supply.

If the power supply is not already installed, you will need to install it now. Here’s how:

1. Take the power supply unit and line it up for placement into the PC case. The fan

should blow toward the rear and the wires should face forward.

2. Insert the PSU into the case. Sometimes this takes a little maneuvering to get it

into position.

3. Once the unit is in place, check the back of the case and make sure the holes on

the rear of the PSU line up with the screw holes on the case. If they do not, youmay need to turn the power supply over.

4. Using your screwdriver, tighten the PSU down using standard chassis screws.

5. Make sure the voltage is set correctly. There is a little switch on the back that lets

you switch between 120 or 220 volts. In the United States, its 120. If you are in acountry overseas, its most likely 220. If you use 220, make sure the cord is ratedfor it. It should say on the side of the cord. It’s easiest to just check this now

while you’re thinking about it.

The next step is to install the processor onto the motherboard. Now, at this point, themotherboard should just be sitting on your work space, preferably inside of the staticprotection bag in which it came. Over the next few steps, we will be installing somehardware onto the motherboard before it is installed into the case. The reason is that, inmost cases, it is a LOT easier to do this with the motherboard out the case than with the

motherboard in the case. The chief reason is being room to maneuver your big hands.


STEP 4: Install Power Supply



Systems Builder STEP 4: Install the CPU

Installing the CPU is a pretty straight-forward process. The real risk is to the CPU. Doingthis step too fast or carelessly can result in damage to the processor. Therefore, don’tget nervous. It is an easy step, but do it with care.

There are several common interfaces for CPU’s today: Intel currently uses Socket T(775) and AMD uses Socket 939. The older generation of boards uses Socket 478 forIntel and Socket 754 or Socket A (462) for AMD. The numbers correspond to the number

of pins on the CPU. But, they all boil down to two basic types: The Zero Insertion Force

(ZIF) socket and the slot. Most processors in use today use a socket to connect to themotherboard, and the type of socket in use is typically the ZIF socket. The ZIF socket


STEP 5: Install the CPU



Systems Builder STEP 4: Install the CPU

opens and closes using a small lever. When the lever is down, the CPU is locked intoplace. When in the upright position, the processor is loose and can either be installed orremoved.

All modern systems make use of the zero-insertion force (ZIF) socket. Therefore, thisprocedure is relevant with that setup. To install a processor using this type of interface,follow this procedure:

1. Check the pins. Turn the chip over and inspect the pins. Are they bent? Theyshould all stick straight up. If many of them are bent, then it is best to request a

replacement processor. If only a couple is bent and the bend is not that much,then you may be able to use a screwdriver to gently bend the pins back intoplace. Do so VERY carefully.

2. Open ZIF Socket. This is done by grabbing the lever on one side of the socket andopening it. Pull the lever from the closed, level position, to the open, verticalposition. You may need to pull the lever out a bit before it will open. Do thisslowly and don’t force it. You don’t want to break the socket. On the way up, youmay experience a little more force. This is normal. The top part of the ZIF socket

will slide over a bit.

3. Orient The Chip. This involves locating Pin 1 on both the chip and the socket. This

is easy to do. The chip is always marked at Pin 1. The mark may be a little dot onone corner, a slightly notched corner, or a mark at one of the pins under the chip.On the socket, there is usually a notch on one corner, or a big “1″. These corners

will be matched up for correct installation.

4. Insert Processor. Bearing in mind the orientation determined in Step 3, insert the

chip into the socket. With a ZIF socket, the chip should install very easily. Itshould almost fall into the socket with all pins lining up. That’s why they call it theZero Insertion Force socket. If not, the socket is probably not open all the way. If

you do not have a ZIF socket (God forbid!), you need to exercise extreme care.Lay the chip on the socket. Make sure all pins line up. Then, slowly push the chip

into the socket. Use your thumb and push on one side of the chip until it starts togo in. Then proceed to another side and repeat. Do this around the chip several

times until it is completely installed.

5. When done, there should be basically no gap between the bottom of the

processor and the socket.

6. Close ZIF Socket. Just close the lever. You will probably feel some resistance.This is normal and it should close anyway. If you really need to lean on it,

though, check to be sure the chip is installed correctly. When down, make surethe lever snaps into place.

7. Some retail processors come with the heat sink and fan already attached to theCPU, in which case you will need to attach the CPU fan to the socket at the sametime as you close the ZIF socket. After you lock the CPU into place, take the

retention clips on either side of the CPU fan (which should line up automaticallyfor you if you inserted the processor correctly in step 4 above) and push themdown until each side clips over the tabs on either side of the socket. Sometimes it

takes using a screwdriver as leverage to be able to get the retention clips out andover the tabs, but if you do this be very careful not to slip and jab your

motherboard with the screwdriver.




Systems Builder STEP 6: Install Heat Sink/Fan

Today’s processors are running quite hot. Advancements are being made to make themrun cooler at higher speeds, but the importance of a high quality heat sink and fancannot be overstated. PCs that are not properly cooled can be quite unstable, or at its

worse, it may not even boot properly.

It used to be that you could attach a heat sink and fan to your processor directly and not

worry about it. Today, though, processors run too hot to do this and expect a reliablePC. One must use heat sink compound to seal the gap between the heat sink and the topof the processor.

Some heat sinks have a rubber heat pad on the bottom of them. In these cases, youdon’t really need to use heat sink compound because the rubber pad will create the seal.It should be kept in mind, though, that if you are using a heat sink which has been used

before and had a heat pad, that heat pad is now likely melted in the spot where theprevious processor contacted it. In these cases, you cannot use the heat pad again as it

will be ineffective. Instead, you need to clean the old rubber pad off of the heat sinkusing a non-abrasive cleaning compound. Many people use isopropyl alcohol and a

broken old credit card to scrape the rubber off without damaging the heat sink. When

the pad is removed, you can use the heat sink again using heat sink compound.

1. Attach the fan to the heat sink. This step is almost always already done for you,

but if not, you must do it yourself. This is done using the four screws that camewith the CPU fan.

2. Clean the top of the processor. Using a lint-free cloth and isopropyl alcohol (orsome other non-abrasive cleaning solution), ensure that the surface of theprocessor is clean and free of dust and finger oil. Do the same to the bottom of

the heat sink. Pay attention to the note above on heat pads if your heat sink had

or has a rubber heat pad.


STEP 6: Install Heat Sink/Fan




3. If you are using a cooling shim, place it onto the top of the processor now. Not allprocessors require shims. In fact, no processors require shims; they arecompletely optional. But, some people like to use them because they help toincrease the surface area of the top of the ship and spread the weight aroundevenly. See, some processors (such as the Athlon XP) actually have the core

sticking up slightly from the rest of the processor. So, when the heat sink isplaced on top, all of its weight comes down on the core. If the fan is a real tight

fit for the motherboard, it could really create a weight load on the processor core,and some people have actually crushed their CPU core by accident. A shim is

simply a thin piece of metal, especially designed for a particular processor, whichfits over the processor and evens out the height and helps to alleviate thecrushed core problem. When installing a shim, be extra sure you are aligning itcorrectly. They often have holes in them exactly placed so that the cache bridgeson top of the processor can poke through. If the shim is not properly aligned, youcould short out these bridges and actually burn out your processor if you run yourPC that way. Additionally, a mis-aligned shim could cause the heat sink to not

actually have full content with the CPU core, leading to overheating.

4. Apply the Heat Sink Compound.

Assuming you are not using a heat pad on your heat sink, apply a very thin layerof heat sink compound to the top of the processor core. If, as is the case withPentium IV processors, the top of the processor is totally flat, and then apply the

compound to the entire top surface of the processor. Many heat sinks come withheat sink compound in a small little package, usually just enough for a one-time

install. You can pick up better quality compound online. Arctic Silver is a verypopular choice. Be careful not to get compound on any motherboard electronics.Apply only a very small portion to the processor. Only a very thin layer isrequired. The compound must be spread out evenly across the top of the chip,forming that very thin layer. When spreading the heat sink compound, do not useyour finger. Use the edge of a credit card, or you can use a rubber glove or even

just a plastic bag over your hand. Do not apply any heat sink compound if youplan to use a heat pad.

5. Attach The Heat Sink. Place the heat sink/fan combo squarely on top of the

processor, pressing down lightly. Do not do any twisting as you install the heatsink. Press down firmly, but straight down so as to preserve the heat sinkcompound layer you just applied.





6. Secure the heat sink. Most new heat sinks use a set of clips on each side tofasten themselves down. These clips attach to a pair of tabs on each side of thesocket. It will probably take a little bit of force to bend the clip down over the tab.Other heat sinks wrap around the processor, and then just sit on top, thecompound being the only real attachment. Pentium IV motherboards have a heat

sink retention bracket around the processor socket. When you install the P4 heatsink, you will fasten each of the four retention clips into the retention bracket and

then close the clip levers on top of the heat sink to fasten the heat sink downonto the Pentium IV processor.

7. Double-Check. No compound should have oozed out from the sides. If it did then

you applied too much and need to remove the HSF, clean both the heatsink and

CPU and start over.

8. Attach fan to power source. Unless your CPU fan is powered via a standard powersupply plug, it is probably powered by a wire attached to a 3-pin power lead on

the motherboard itself. You can attach this now. The CPU_FAN power lead islocated near the CPU interface somewhere. The lead will have two small pins on

each side, and these pins surround the power plug and the pins are inserted intothe holes in the plug. It should be pretty easy and obvious.




Systems Builder STEP 7: Install Memory

You should now install your memory modules. For the purposes of this step, we are

assuming that you have already chosen the appropriate memory for your PC in Step 1.So, we will jump right into installing the memory.

It is important that you consult the manual for your motherboard to see about anyparticular sequences in which memory should be installed on your board. Some boardsrequire particular sequences of memory installation, usually depending on the memorycapacity, type, etc. Other boards have no required sequence at all, and you can chooseany slot you wish to install your memory. Most new boards support Dual Channel RAM.This is a technology that allows a performance increase when using 2 or 4 matched

sticks of RAM. Consult your motherboard manual on which slots to use for dual-channel.It is not always slots 1 & 2.

The installation of module modules is basically the same regardless of type, even thougheach module type looks a little different.

1. Ground yourself by touching an unpainted metal object. This will discharge anybuilt up static electricity in your body.

2. Pick up the memory module by its edges.

3. Decide which slots you are going to use and orient the memory module over it.

The module slot will have a small plastic bridge which will be off-center in thesocket. This matches up with a notch in the pin array of the memory module itself

and ensures that you insert the module in the proper alignment.

4. Insert the memory module. With DIMMs (SDRAM or DDR RAM), they go straight

in. Make sure the notches in the RAM line up with the little bumps in the slot.


STEP 7: Install Memory



Systems Builder STEP 7: Install Memory

5. Lock the module in place. With DIMMs and RIMMs, all you have to do is continue

to press the memory module down until the ejector clips on either side of the

memory slot automatically get pushed into the closed position. Sometimes, youmay need to help the ejector clips close, but the idea here is that those clips need

to close so as to lock the module into place. If they do not close, it is because themodule is not inserted all the way into the slot.

6. Repeat this procedure for any other memory modules you are going to install.

7. If you are using DIMMs (and most are), then you are done. If you are using RIMMmodules, then you need to fill each remaining RIMM slot with a continuity

module. A continuity module does not contain any actual memory, but its purposeis to simply act as a pass-through circuit so as to provide for a continuous

channel for the memory signal. The installation of a C-RIMM is exactly like that of a normal RIMM module.




Systems Builder STEP 8: Configure the Motherboard

At this point, your have your processor, heat sink and fan and your memory installedonto your motherboard. In most cases you are now ready to install your motherboardinto the case. In some cases, however, it is necessary to do a little configuration on your

motherboard beforehand. It is easier to do this with the motherboard sitting outside of the case.

The settings that may need to be configured are:

• CPU Speed

• Bus Speed

• CPU Voltage Setting

Most motherboards in use today make use of the CMOS settings to configure these

options. In this case, you can skip this step because you will need to wait until your newPC is powered up in order to configure these options. If, though, you are using an oldermotherboard in which these settings are controlled via the use of jumpers, then we needto tackle this here.

Configuring a Board Which Uses Jumpers

You need to have the manual for your board available. If you do not have the manual,log on to the manufacturer’s web site and see if you can find this info there. You can alsotry their tech support via phone. In some cases, too, some of the jumper settings areprinted onto the surface of the motherboard. If you don’t have any of this info, you are

just out of luck. Unfortunately, you must have some form of documentation availablesimply because motherboards have so many settings to adjust. If you’re dealing with an

older board, you may need to spend some time trying to identify the manufacturer sothat you can see if they do support it. You can many times use the BIOS ID numbers to

identify the board online.

Motherboard manuals come in two main formats. Some are friendly for hardware buffsby listing a separate jumper or DIP switch for CPU core voltage, I/O voltage, multiplier,and system bus speed. They then tell you the settings for each of these. This format is


STEP 8: Configure the Motherboard




better because of the increased control. Other manuals list the settings next to a list of commonly used CPU’s, showing the common settings for each. While this format iseasier for the end user for easy setup, it is tougher if you like increased control of thesettings, for overclocking for example. The best manuals do both: list the jumpersettings individually as well as provide a list of processors and the jumper settings foreach.

When playing with the board, be careful with it. Avoid placing the board on the static bagit came in, as this can cause an electro-static shock to build up, which may very well fry

the motherboard. Always place the board on a flat surface, wooden desks work best, notcarpet or anything like that. And always ground yourself before handling the board.

When handling the board, handle it by the edges only when at all possible.

Now, here is the basic procedure for motherboard configuration:

1. Read the Manual. Always. Read the listings for settings and locate all jumpers on

the motherboard itself and what settings they control.

2. Set the voltage settings. Older chips use one single voltage. The newer chips weuse today use a split voltage. Most of these motherboards provide jumpers forthe core voltage and I/O voltage. Set them to match your intended CPU. If youare using an older chip with one voltage, just set both voltages to be the same.Your best bet to choose the correct voltage is to see what is printed on the CPU

itself. Most CPUs will have “core voltage” printed somewhere on it. That is yourvoltage. Some jumpered boards are designed to detect the voltage automatically

and then use the correct voltage. In this case, you will not have to worry about it.3. Set the processor speed. This is not usually done with a single jumper. It is,

instead, done by setting the system bus speed and a multiplier. The multiplier isthe number which when multiplied by the system bus speed gives the processorspeed. There is a separate jumper for each of these settings. Configure these tomatch the intended CPU. If you know what you’re doing and would like tooverclock the chip a tad, set these jumpers a little differently. Generally, though,I would recommend actually getting the system working before trying tooverclock it. If your manual lists settings by CPU, just do what it says. You cansometimes infer from the manual which switches control voltage, multiplier, etc.

Generally, if your board is jumper-controlled, you will need to consult the manualfor the proper jumper arrangement, use the motherboard layout in the manual to

find the jumper on the board itself, and use either your finger or tweezers toadjust the jumper to look like the diagram in your manual. When the jumpers inquestion look like they should in the diagrams, then you’re set. And, again, if your CPU settings are NOT jumper-controlled, you will be taking care of all thislater on.

Some old boards make use of a jumper to set the cache size and type. Set this now, if need be. If you have internal cache, which most do, you won’t need to bother. Likewise,some boards give you the ability to use either AT or ATX power supplies. Depending on

which type you will be using, you may need to set a jumper to tell the board what typeof power to use.

If your board supports the asynchronous SDRAM clock speed, as most boards with Viachipsets do, you need to set the jumpers properly for this as well. This capability allowsyou to run the memory at a different clock speed than the rest of the system. Thiscomes in handy, for example, when you want to use older memory yet run the rest of the system at the higher bus speed. You can set the system bus speed at 100MHz andthen set the memory to run at 66MHz or 75MHz, for example. The instructions for

properly setting this up are in your board’s manual.





If you’ve done that, most of the configuring is done. Now you want to double-check theother settings that were set by the manufacturer to make sure they are correct. Makesure the CMOS-clear jumper is set to normal so that you can change the BIOS settingslater. Make sure the battery jumper is set to onboard battery instead of external battery.If you have a jumper enabling FLASH BIOS, make sure this is disabled. Also, check tosee if all jumpers enabling or disabling onboard controllers are set correctly. All these

settings are usually set correctly by default, but you need to make sure. Keep in mindthat many boards control these feature via their CMOS and you will be setting them after

the PC is up and running, not now with jumpers.

Double-Check all of your own work. Better safe than sorry.




Systems Builder STEP 9: Install the Motherboard

Now you need to install the motherboard into the case. If you’re following this tutorial,the CPU, fan and memory will already be installed onto the motherboard, so you will beinstalling this whole setup into the case now.

1. Turn your PC case onto its side and move all the power leads from the power

supply out of the way so that you have clear access to the motherboard plate. If you are using a case in which the motherboard mounting plate can be removed,you may wish to remove it now and install the motherboard outside of the case

itself.2. Locate the holes on the motherboard and the holes on the case or motherboard

mounting plate. You might want to hold the board just above the casemotherboard plate and see which holes on the case line up with holes on themotherboard. All motherboards have mounting holes in different places.

3. Now gather your standoffs. Screw them into the holes in the case or mounting

plate that line up with holes on the motherboard. You can tighten them with a3/16″ nut driver or by hand. Some cases have small spacers that snap into place.With these, you push them through the mounting plate from the back side and

they will snap into place.4. For the holes on the motherboard that line up with an eyelet hole on the case (ahole that is very long so that you can slide things in it), install a plastic stand-off on the motherboard. The stand-offs should poke through the motherboard and

expand to keep them in place. The little disk on the other end of the stand-off willlater be used to slide into the eyelet holes. If your case does not provide eyelet

holes, do not worry about this step. Most cases use only the metal standoff screws to hold the motherboard, which is a hell of a lot easier than the slide-in

variety.

5. Take the motherboard by its edges and hold it over the case. Align it so that it is

properly aligned with the rear connectors facing backward, etc.

6. Lower the motherboard into the case. Sit it on top of the standoffs you just

installed so that each standoff lines up with a screwhole on the motherboard. If you happen to be using any of the slide-in standoffs, you will need to slide theseinto their eyelet holes as you lower the board into the case.


STEP 9: Install the Motherboard

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http://www.pcmech.com/byopc/step-9-install-the-motherboard/#%23



Systems Builder STEP 9: Install the Motherboard

7. Inspect the screws you will use to tighten the board down. If the head of thescrews are too wide, and you think they might contact any circuitry on themotherboard, place a plastic washer over each hole. I’ve had some ATX boardsrefuse to start up later because they were grounded somewhere to the case,probably by a screw.

8. Tighten the board down. Install the screws into each of the standoffs underneath,

through the board and the washers if you used them. Tighten them down by handfirst, then finish them with a screwdriver. Make sure you do not tighten them too

much. You don’t want to crack your board. Just make them snug so that theboard doesn’t wiggle around in the case. It may be necessary to adjust the

position of the board somewhat in order to get the holes aligned enough with thestandoffs to tighten down the screws.

9. If you were installing the board to a removable mounting plate, install themotherboard mounting plate back into the case. On some cases, the plate isinstalled from the side. On these, you insert the bottom edge of the plate into aguide rail on the bottom of the case and then rotate upward. The top edge of theplate will contact the case, at which point you can screw it in or a spring loadedhandle will lock it in. On other cases, the plate may slide in a different way, from

the rear for example. These plates are then easily removed later if you ever needto remove the motherboard.

10.Double check your work. Check to be sure that the back of the motherboard isnot touching any part of the case or mounting plate. Make sure the slots and

connectors line up with the holes on the back of the case. And definitely be surethat the board is rigid and tight. If you press down on the board at any point, itshould not bend down.




Systems Builder STEP 10: Connect Motherboard to Case

Now it is time to begin connecting your newly installed motherboard to the various wiresof your case as well as its power source.

NOTE: If you have been working on a removed motherboard mounting plate, you willneed to install the plate back into the case in order to be able to make the connectionsbelow.

1. Connect the power to the motherboard. On an ATX board, the power connector isone large 20 or 24 wire plug. It is keyed for correct installation. Just plug it in.

The board may also require a square, 4pin +12v plug and even a spare 4pinMolex or two. Check your manual to make sure the board is fully powered.

2. Connect the CPU fan to the power. Many CPU fans connect to one of the powersupply leads. They often, then, provide a pass-through so that you have aconnector free for a drive, thereby placing the CPU fan on the circuit to aparticular drive. Others have a little 3-pin lead that connects to a small connector

on the motherboard itself. Just plug it into the motherboard. The connector isusually labeled CPU_FAN 1 or something to that effect. If your cooling fan uses

the 3-pin type and you are following this tutorial to the letter, then this is likelyalready done.

3. Study the case connectors on the motherboard and match them up with case

connector wires. The connectors are usually a big block of pins located in thelower section of the board. Some boards label the pins, but it is best to have your

manual since it can sometimes be difficult to determine which label goes to whichset of pins. If you have a good case, each connector will be labeled to tell you

what case feature it leads to. If this isn’t the case, you may have to physicallytrace the wires back to see what feature it goes to. When connecting, consult themanual for pin 1′s, to make sure each connector is plugged in the right way.

Remember, if the particular case feature is not working later, you may only haveto turn the connector around on the motherboard. The next steps will walk youthrough connecting each wire.

4. Connect the power switch – On ATX machines, the power switch is connected tothe motherboard instead of the power supply itself. Consult your manual. The

connector is usually labeled PWR_SW, or maybe just PWR, but you must makethis connection. Doing this wrong could cause your system not to start later.

5. Connect the reset switch. It can be plugged in any way, just make sure you

connect it to the right pins. The pins may be labeled RST or RESET, but it is bestto also consult the manual.

6. Connect Power LED/ Keylock Switch. Many system cases put these two devices onone 5-pin plug, but if you case does not have a keylock, it will be alone. The

motherboard will probably be labeled accordingly. Just plug in the plug. If yoursystem has separate plugs for each, connect them separately.

7. Connect the hard drive activity LED. Some come on a 2-pin plug. Others come on

a four-pin plug, sometimes only two of the pins actually doing anything. Consultyour manual, or play with it until it works. It is usually labeled HDD, HDD_LED, or

something like that. If this is attached wrongly, the light may either never comeon later or will stay on all the time when the PC is running.

8. Connect the PC speaker. Most cases put this onto a 4-wire plug. Just plug it in tothe 4 pins on the motherboard. Other cases put the speaker connector on two 1-wire plugs. In this case, plug them into pins 1 and 4. I never could figure out whythey did that…

9. Double-Check your work, as always. Note that if an LED does not light up, its

case connector needs to be flipped 180 degrees.


STEP 10: Connect Motherboard to Case



Systems Builder STEP 11: Install Floppy Drive

1. Choose which drive bay you want to install the drive to and remove the face plate

off of that bay. Save the face plate for future use. Pick a bay that will fit thedrive. If you have to install a 3.5″ drive in a 5.25″ bay, you’ll have to use aspecial front panel to adapt it. This panel sometimes comes with a new floppy

drive when you buy it.

2. Now, slide the drive into the bay from the front. Make sure the front of the drive

is flush with the front of the PC. Also make sure the screw holes on the drive alignwith the screw holes on the drive mounting rack.

3. If your particular case has a removable drive rack (as does the one we are using

for this tutorial), then you may need to remove the rack from the system tosecure the drive. But, in using removable racks, you need to pay attention to

which set of screw holes to use on the rack which will result in the drive facebeing flush with the front of the PC. In some cases, it is still easier to install the

drive from the front and make it flush just to see which screwholes to use. Thenyou can remove the drive rack, making note of which holes to use.

4. Secure the floppy drive. Using your screwdriver and screws, secure the drive to

the drive rack. For removable racks, you can do this separate from the case. If the rack is part of the chassis itself, then sometimes it is easier to turn the caseon its side to secure the drive so that you are not fighting gravity as you try toget the screws into the holes.

5. OPTIONAL: If you are installing a 3.5″ drive into a 5.25″ drive bay, you will need

to use a rack system which will bridge the gap between the drive and the chassis.These racks are simply metal rails which are secured to the drive by screws.

These effectively make the 3.5″ drive as wide as a 5.25″ drive. Then you caninstall and secure the drive as normal.

6. Connect the power supply to the floppy drive. On the 3.5″ drives, the plug is very

small…the smallest coming out of the power supply. On the larger 5.25″ drives,the connector is a large 4-wire connector, just like the hard drive power

connectors. These are a little harder to plug in, and may take some rocking. The


STEP 11: Install Floppy Drive

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http://www.pcmech.com/byopc/step-11-install-floppy-drive/#%23



Systems Builder STEP 11: Install Floppy Drive

mini-plugs are much easier to plug into the 3.5″ drives. It is designed so that it isobvious which way to attach it.

7. Attach the Ribbon Cable. Floppy cables have a twist in the cable. The “A:” drive

goes AFTER the twist. If you have a second “B:” drive, this goes before the twist.You do not need to mess with master/slave jumpers. If you choose not to mess

with the twist, you can, with later BIOS versions, swap the order of the drives inthe BIOS. 3.5″ drives use a set of pins for the connection to the ribbon cable.5.25″ drives use a card-edge connector, just like the typical edge of an expansioncard. You need to use a cable with the proper connectors for each type you use.Many floppy cables come with connectors for each type on each side of the twist.Always check Pin 1 on the ribbon cable connector. The red edge of the cable isaligned to Pin 1 on the connector of the drive. If you accidentally reverse this,your drive won’t be damaged, it just won’t work, and the floppy drive light will

stay on all the time until fixed. The connector on the far end of the ribbon cableconnects to the floppy controller on the motherboard or I/O card (usually labeled

FDD). Consult your motherboard’s manual to determine which your floppycontroller is.

If you are installing any other 3.5″ drives (such as a ZIP drive), then you can installthose the exact same way.




Systems Builder STEP 12: Configure the Hard Drive & CD-Rom

Before physically installing your hard drive or CD-ROM, it is easier to configure themoutside of the case. Configuring them involves changing jumpers, and doing this withinthe confines of the case can be quite difficult sometimes.

How to configure these drives depends on how many drives you intend to install and of what type.

Your motherboard has two built-in IDE channels, each supporting two devices. If twodevices are on one channel, one must be the “master” and the other the “slave”.

Usually, your primary hard drive (the one which contains the operating system) is themaster and the other drive is the slave. If you only intend to install one hard drive andhaving nothing else on that IDE channel, then you can select the “cable select” settingfor the drive, which tells the drive it is alone on the channel.

You can attach any IDE device onto your IDE channels in any order. But, it is

recommend you use IDE1 for your hard drives and IDE2 for your CD drives. It is alwaysbest to keep the CD drives on a separate channel from the hard drives.

Configuring these drives is very easy. Often the jumper settings are printed on the top of

the drive itself. On CD drives, the settings are described right above the jumper pins. Onhard drives, the information is printed on the top of the hard drive, if it is printed at all.If not, then consult the manual for it or go online to try finding the specs. The manualswill also outline any special jumper settings such as use of the limiter jumper on Maxtorhard drives.

If a particular drive does not need to be jumpered at all, it is best to hang the jumper

over one pin. This is the same as being unjumpered, but makes sure the jumper is there

for future use if needed.

If you are using SATA Hard drives, you are in luck. Because each SATA drive uses itsown channel, there is no need for jumpers or worrying about master/slave relationships.


STEP 12: Configure the Hard Drive & CD-ROM



Systems Builder STEP 13: Install Drive

Before simply following the directions below on mounting the hard drive, pay attention towhere you put it. Technically, you can put the hard drive in any free bay of your case,but there are a few considerations:

• Hard drives generate heat, especially the drives with the higher rotation speeds.Therefore, it is best to place these drives as far from other hardware as possible.Give them room to breathe.

• If it is necessary to install a drive cooler, make sure you have room for it.

• Some cases give room under the power supply to install a hard drive. Bad idea. Apower supply is like a magnet, and magnets and your data do not go together.Don’t install a hard drive anywhere near the power supply. Keep your hard drivenear the front of the case.

Okay, let’s install the actual drive:

1. Determine which drive bay to install the hard drive into. In most cases, the hard

drive usually goes into a 3.5″ slot toward the front of the case, near the bottom.These bays do not have a corresponding opening to the front of the case simply

because there is no reason to see the hard drive from the front. Some cases usea removable drive rack to hold the hard drive. If your case uses this type of

setup, remove the rack now.2. Slide in the hard drive. If you are using a removable drive rack, just push the

drive into the rack so that the screw holes line up. If your case has the drive rackas part of the chassis, then just lift the drive into the case and line up the screwholes on the drive with the drive rack. Be sure the drive connectors face towardthe back of the case.

3. Fasten the hard drive into place using your screws. This is easy to do on

removable racks. In non-removable racks, tightening down screws on the far sideof the hard drive can be a problem, because the screws are not highly visible andthus it is hard to get to them with a screwdriver. It can take a little creativity to

get at them. Most cases which have this problem have little holes where you canstick the screwdriver through and tighten the screw beneath. If the screw is not

in there, I’ve even had to do a controlled drop of the screw onto the hole andthen use the screwdriver to position it into the hole. It can be a real feat to do itsometimes, and this is one reason some manufacturers went to the removableracks. If you have a magnetic screwdriver that can hold the screw, this might beless of a problem for you.

4. If using a removable drive rack, you can now install the rack back into your case.

Some racks are fastened into place using a simple thumb lever. Others need to

be screwed in.5. If you have any other hard drives which you are installing as you build your PC,

then repeat the 4 steps above for the other drive.

6. Attach the power cable. Choose an unused power lead from the power supply andplug it into the power plug on the hard drive. The plug will be keyed so that it willonly go in the correct way. SATA power connectors are thin and black; they areobviously different from other white Molexes.

7. Attach the ribbon cable to the hard drive. The ribbon cable goes from the primaryIDE controller of the motherboard to the drive, usually labeled IDE1. Make surethe red edge of the ribbon cable is aligned with Pin 1 on the drive ribbonconnector. If you can’t see Pin 1 marked, then it is almost always the pin closest

to the power connector. If you place the cable on backwards, you may get

strange errors that make your new drive sound like it has died already. As for thecable itself, usually you have two plugs closer together on one end of the cable


STEP 13: Install Drive

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Systems Builder STEP 13: Install Drive

and then a third plug on the far end of the cable. The far plug plugs into themotherboard. Of the two remaining cables, there are no requirements as to whichplug to use on which hard drive. If you are only installing one hard drive, just usewhichever one of those plugs reaches the drive best without stretching the ribboncable out. If you are installing two hard drives, then plan it out so that you canuse both connectors in whichever order works best. With SATA the ribbon cable

goes to an SATA controller. Start with SATA_1 and move on if you have multipledrives.

SCSI Drives

If you are opting for a SCSI drive setup, then there are a few minor variations from the

procedure above. First, you need to install a SCSI controller into one of your expansionslots (unless your motherboard has an integrated SCSI controller). Then proceed:

1. You need to set any switches or jumpers that need setting on the new drive. InSCSI setups, each device gets its own SCSI ID, numbered 1-7. #7 is usuallygiven to the adapter card. You may pick, then, any other unused address. Youmay need to take into account any little quirks in your adapter, such as speciallikings to other addresses that could cause problems a little later. You’ll need themanual for this one.

2. Check for the correct termination. In SCSI setups, the adapter can hold up to

seven SCSI devices. These devices are hooked up in a chain, usually with theadapter at one end and another device at the other end. This ending device mustbe set to be the terminating device, therefore ending the SCSI chain and making

a complete electric circuit. In some cases, the adapter is in the middle of thechain, therefore you must terminate at both ends of the chain. You may need toconsult the manual for any special termination techniques particular to yourbrand of drive. In general, a certain jumper setting will enable internaltermination on the drive itself, eliminating the need for a special terminatingplug.

3. The procedure for actual installation is the same as the procedure above for IDE

drives.








Systems Builder STEP 14: Install the CD-ROM(s)

Whether you are installing a CD-ROM, a DVD-ROM, a CD-R/RW, or even a DVD-R/RW,

each of these drives install the same way. The installation is quite simple.

1. Choose which drive bay you wish to install the drive in.

2. If you have not yet removed the drive bay cover, do so now. This is usually done

by pushing two tabs together and pushing the plate out from the front of thecase. As I mentioned in the case preparation step, if you have a metal platecovering this bay that has not been removed, you will need to pry it out beforeyou can install the drive. When you are done, the drive bay should be open fromthe front of the case.

3. If your case makes use of drive rails to hold the drive into place (the case we areusing does use such rails), then fasten these drive rails to the sides of the CDdrive. In order to determine which set of holes is the one to use, it may be

necessary to temporarily slide the drive into the drive bay. However you decide todo it, the drive rails should be positioned such that when the drive is put into

place in the case, it will be flush with the front of the case rather than beingrecessed or sticking out.

4. Slide the drive into position. Most of the time this is done from the front. If youinstalled drive rails in step 3, then make sure those rails are lined up with the

drive rack as you push the drive in. Then push the drive all the way in until theclips on the drive rails snap into place. At that point, you can skip the next stepand move to step 7.

5. If you are not using drive rails, then you will simply have the drive in place, but

not fastened down inside the case. At this time, screw the drive into place. Youmight want to just place the screws in but not tighten them. This is done so that

you can slide the drive out again later. When installing the cables later, you mayneed to slide the drive out a few inches so that you have enough room to work

behind the drive. In many cases, especially mini-towers, one can have a hardtime working behind the CD-ROM because it is pinned up against the front of thepower supply. Sometimes it is helpful to put the case on its side as you tightenthe drive into place.

6. When tightened into place, make sure the front of the drive is flush with the frontof the case. If the front bezel is off the case on installation, make sure you don’t


STEP 14: Install the CD-ROM(s)



Systems Builder STEP 14: Install the CD-ROM(s)

make the mistake of making the drive flush with the case frame. It needs to stickout a little so it will be flush with the bezel when you re-attach it. Also make sureit appears straight. While this doesn’t really affect functionality, it’s a matter of aesthetics. If the drive is in too far or sticking out too far, go ahead and re-adjustit now.

7. Attach the power supply to the drive. Just like a hard drive, just find a free 4-wire

power plug and plug it into the power connector on the CD-ROM.8. Attach the ribbon cable. Connect one of the two available plugs on the ribbon

cable to the CD drive. Just choose the plug which can reach the drive best. If youhave two CD drives, use the plug on the end of the ribbon cable for the top mostdrive, and the middle plug for the next lowest CD drive. Attach the plug on the farend of the ribbon cable to the secondary IDE port on the motherboard (usuallylabeled IDE2). Just like connecting any other drive, you must ensure that Pin 1 on

the connector is lined up with the red edge of the cable. Pin 1 is usually markedin some way on the drive and on the motherboard both. Sometimes, it is just a

small mark on one corner of the cable connection port, and that indicates thatthat corner pin is your pin 1.

9. Attach the Audio Cable. This small 3-wire connector goes from an “Audio” plug on

the back of the CD-ROM to a 3-pin plug on the sound card. If you happen to haveon-board audio circuitry on your motherboard, the CD-IN plug will be on yourmotherboard and you can connect this now. Since you likely do not have a soundcard installed at this point, you can connect one end of this cable now to the CDdrive and leave the other end free to connect once the sound card is installed.

Some CD drives have both an analog and a digital audio out. Most of the time,people just use the standard analog audio, but if you wish, go ahead and use the

digital. Your drive should come with audio cables for both options.




Systems Builder STEP 15: Install the Video Card

You must have a video card installed in order to complete this tutorial so that you cansee the output from your new PC once you turn it on. Installing a video card (or anyexpansion card for that matter) is incredibly straight-forward and easy.

1. Find an expansion slot ideal for your video card. You can consult the bottom rightimage for a look at the three types of video card slot types: ISA, PCI or AGP.Most video cards in use today are using the AGP slot, which uses the topmost slot

(usually brown) on your motherboard. Other cards use the PCI bus, which mostmotherboards have several of and the slots are usually white. The very old video

cards use the larger ISA bus, but it is unlikely you will be using this type of videocard unless you are building a PC out of incredibly outdated hardware.

2. Remove the case insert that corresponds to the slot on the motherboard. This isusually done by unscrewing, but some cases have punch out inserts. If unclear,what we are referring to by “insert” is the small plate which covers up the rearslots on your case which your expansion cards will emerge from.

3. Insert the video card in the slot. You might need to rock the card in, inserting oneend first, then rocking the rest of the pins into place. The old ISA cards may be

tougher because of their length. You might not be able to rock them. Most of you,though, will not be dealing with ISA video cards anymore. When pushing down,

make sure the motherboard does not flex. If the board tends to bend, it may benecessary to place one hand underneath the board to hold it up. Also, in some

cases, you may have a problem with the leading edge of the video card’s metalplate hitting the case behind the motherboard. The result is that it keeps youfrom being able to push the card in all the way. I’ve tried all sorts of weird crap tofix this problem, including taking pliers to the card and actually bending it.Sometimes, you can grab a flat-head screwdriver and pry the hole wider that thecard’s lip protrudes into. But, in most cases, just playing with it for a bit will do

the trick. It might also be worth noting here that AGP video cards are typicallyinstalled “upside down”, meaning the circuitry side of the video card will face

down. ISA and PCI cards are usually installed “right side up”.


STEP 15: Install the Video Card



Systems Builder STEP 15: Install the Video Card

4. With the video card inserted into the correct slot, it will probably sit there with nosupport at all. It is still, though, necessary to tighten it in using a screw. Thecard’s metal plate will have a notch for a screw and it will line up with a screwholeon the side of the expansion hole on the rear of the case. Just insert a screw intothat hole and tighten it.

5. Double-check your work. Make sure the card is securely in place and, if your

video card has a cooling fan on it, make sure no ribbon cables or power leads aregetting into the fan blades.




Systems Builder STEP 16: Post-Assembly

Well, you have gotten this far. Congratulations! You have now completed the hardwareportion of putting together your PC.

Admittedly, if you are following this tutorial to the letter, your PC is rather bare-boned atthis point. It is highly likely you will be installing some additional hardware such as anetwork interface card (NIC), a sound card, maybe a dial-up modem or other hardware.

Some people like to install everything right away. Usually when I build a PC, I like tostart with the basics. The reason is that it makes the installation process of your

operating system easier. Once you have your operating system installed, you can thengo in and install your additional hardware and get those items working one at a time. Itcan be a little daunting to try to get everything working at the same time, especiallysimultaneously to installing the operating system itself.

Now, you are about ready to turn your new PC on for the first time. But before we do sowe need to give everything the once over and make sure we didn’t miss something. So,

with a flashlight, check all of your work. It is better to “waste” the time than to engagein wasted time trying to track down why the system will not boot.

Review all your connections and installations as completed in prior steps. Here is abulleted list of highlights to guide you:

• Drives properly connected to the power supply

• CPU fan attached to the power supply or to the power connector on the

motherboard

• If this is an older AT machine, ensure the P8 and P9 main power connectors areinstalled properly, with black wires in middle.

• The 110/220 volt switch on the back of the power supply is configured properly

for your area• Ribbon cables attached correctly and securely. If using rounded cables, the arrow

on the connectors indicating Pin 1 should be aligned with Pin 1 on all driveconnections. On gray cables, ensure the red edge is aligned with Pin 1.

• All connections tight, no connectors off by one set of pins

• If there are any key motherboard settings which are jumper-controlled, ensurethese settings are correct

• No wires or ribbon cables protruding into fan blades

• Power switch connector on ATX machines properly connected to the PWR_SWpins on the motherboard. If this is not properly done, the machine may not eventurn on when the switch is pressed.


STEP 16: Post-Assembly



Systems Builder STEP 17: Initial Boot-Up

It is time for the moment of truth. To see if this thing works!!

Let’s get everything connected and prepared to turn it on:

1. Connect your mouse and keyboard

2. Connect your monitor to the video card and connect the power cord to the

monitor.

3. Connect the power cord to your power supply on the PC itself.

Okay, now for boot up time!

1. Stick your system disk into the A: drive. You should have prepared or gotten a

system disk in the first step of this tutorial. If you are using a bootable CD-ROM(as is the case with Windows XP) then just stand by on this because the CD drive

will not be openable until the power is on.2. Turn your monitor on and let it heat up a few seconds before proceeding. Heating

it up for a few seconds ensures you don’t miss any potential error messages

because the CRT tube is not ready to display an image.

3. Before hitting the power switch, take note of what to expect. If you notice

something awry right away, you may need to quickly turn the PC back off. Here’s

what to look for:

a. The power LED should turn on

b. The CPU and PSU fans should start spinning

c. The hard drive should power up.

d. You will see the video BIOS screen first, then you will see the BIOS screen andit will proceed to count the memory.

e. You may hear one beep from the PC speaker. It is possible you will get morethan one beep, which indicates an error which we will address.

f. You may also get a “CMOS checksum error” or another error saying the CMOSor time isn’t set.

g. Know what key(s) to hit to enter CMOS setup. This will be shown on thebottom of the screen usually during the memory count. You will want to press the

stated key combination to enter setup immediately because CMOS setup is thenext step.

h. If you hear any weird sounds such as grinding, scraping, or loud whining, beready to turn the system off immediately.

i. Keep in mind that if you miss the stated sequence to enter the CMOS setupbefore the boot sequence moves on, there is nothing wrong with just hitting thereset button and rebooting until you do catch what it is. It will not hurt your PC toreset it immediately or turn it off quickly if you notice a problem.


STEP 17: Initial Boot-Up



Systems Builder STEP 17: Initial Boot-Up

4. Press the power switch. If it powers up, observe the system closely. As soon asthe BIOS screen appears, press the appropriate key(s) and enter CMOS setup.The correct key combination should be visible at the bottom of the screen.Sometimes it pops by too quickly for you to see which keys to press. No problem.Don’t hesitate to just hit reset and try again, as stated above.

5. If everything started up as expected and you successfully got into the CMOS

setup screen, just let it sit there while you take out a flash light and inspect thesystem as it is running. Make sure all the fans are running. Make sure all the fans

are operating smoothly and not generating any strange noises. Make sure thecase power LED is on. Make sure the floppy drive light is not stuck on. If it is, the

ribbon cable is not properly aligned with Pin 1 and you will need to turn the PCback off and flip it around. If any of the fans are not spinning, turn the PC backoff immediately and plug the fan in. You do not want to run the PC for longwithout fans running, especially the CPU fan.




Systems Builder STEP 18: Configure the BIOS

Now, your new PC should be up and running and you should be staring at the BIOSsetup screen.

Your next step is to make sure your BIOS is using the proper settings. While some userslike to use the BIOS to tweak the system into running like greased soap, during an initialbuild it is best to keep settings conservative, which usually means leaving them at theirdefaults. Remember at this point we are most interested in getting this PC to work. I will

first walk you through the necessary steps, then I will go over some of the other settingsyou may see that you don’t need to mess with at this point.

When you get into CMOS for the first time, do the following:

1. Go into your Standard CMOS Setup screen. Ensure your video settings are correct

(typically EGA/VGA) and that your floppy disk is properly set to the size you areusing (usually 1.44M). You will see settings for IDE Primary/Secondary

Master/Slave. If these items are not already properly set for the hardware youhave, have the BIOS auto-detect your drives for you. Also, set the date and time

to the correct settings.

2. Unless your board has jumper-controlled processor and voltage settings, you willneed to set these options in your CMOS now. In our Soyo board, the screen to go

into is called “Soyo COMBO Feature”. It may be called “SoftMenu” or some otherterm on your board. Consult the manual to find out if you can’t see it. Once in

that screen, you need to set your system bus speed, CPU multiplier, memorytiming speeds, CPU voltage, etc. Many of these options have an AUTO settingwhich is the safest choice if you don’t know otherwise. Some other systems havea list of possible processors, in which case just choose yours from the list. On ourtestbed Soyo board, this screen was also used for enabling or disabling onboardsound, RAID, and 10/100 LAN and if your board has similar settings, you can setthis to your liking. For example, if you will be using a sound card of your own,you would need to disable the built-in sound on your motherboard. If you have

onboard SCSI or onboard RAID capability, then set these depending on whetheryou will be using them or not.


STEP 18: Configure the BIOS




3. Confirm your boot order. One of the screens in your CMOS (many times theAdvanced Features screen) will have a boot order option. This controls the orderin which the PC will look for a copy of something to boot off of, whether it is a fulloperating system or just a diskette or CD. In a little bit you will be installing yourfull operating system and will need to boot the system beforehand. If you areusing a standard system diskette, make sure A: (or your floppy) is enabled to be

first in line. In this case, you might want to also check to be sure that if there is asetting to disable seeking out the floppy altogether, that is set to indeed seek out

the floppy drive (some people set this to off so as to make the boot processfaster, but you cannot do that while building). If you are going to be booting from

a CD (as is probably the case if you will be installing Windows XP) then make sureyour CD-ROM is first in line.

Those are the basics of what you will need to set in order to continue with this tutorialand have your PC set properly. Now, I will give a brief rundown of some of the othersettings you may see. This is by no means meant to be a complete reference, as allboards are different. Your motherboard’s manual is your best reference to the settingsyou need to concern yourself with.

Advanced BIOS Features

This section controls some of basic operating settings of your PC. For example, you willenable/disable things such as on-board cache, determine the boot device, etc. Here aresome of the common settings:

• Virus Protection/Warning: Will scan your hard drive boot sector on startup for

viruses and alarm you if anything attempts to write to the boot sector. Enable forincreased security, but disable to avoid the annoyance. If you are using a third-

party antivirus utility (or plan to) then this is useless.

• Cache Settings: These settings control L1 and L2 cache, which in most newersystems resides on the processor itself. In almost all cases, this is enabled andshould be. If there is an option to have ECC error checking on the L2 cache, goahead and have it enabled.





• Quick POST: This will allow the BIOS to skip some tests such as the memory test

on boot-up, thus allowing the PC to boot faster. You can disable it for the sake of thoroughness, and this is fine if you leave your PC on most of the time. But, if you turn it on a lot, this is an annoyance and I’d recommend enabling QuickPOST.

• Boot Sequence: This controls the order in which the PC looks at the drives for

bootable information. Sometimes the BIOS will have one field for this and youscroll through the options. Other versions have separate settings for “First BootDevice”, “Second Boot Device” and so on. This was addressed above.

• Boot Up Floppy Seek: Controls whether the floppy drive will be looked for at all.Set this to enabled, at least until you get your operating system installed

• Swap Floppy Drive: Allows you to control the assigning of the A and B drive

letters to your floppy drives by swapping the order that is dictated by the twist inthe floppy drive ribbon cable. Most of the time this is disabled.

• Fast A20 Gate: The gate A20 is a device used for addressing memory above the 1

MByte mark (don’t really need to get into that here). This used to be controlledby the keyboard via a pin. Keyboards still play a role in this today, but you

control it via the BIOS. Some BIOS have enable/disable, some have Normal/Fast.

I would go ahead and leave it at the default.• Typematic Rate Settings: These options control the rate at which holding down a

key on the keyboard will produce characters on screen. Just leave it disabled as itisn’t very important.

• Boot Numlock: Enable to have Numlock on when you start the computer.

• CPU Serial Number: Enables or disables the serial number thing in some older

Intel CPUs. Privacy buffs, disable it.

• Security Option: Some systems have an option to require a password every timethe system boots up. You’ll probably want this disabled.

• Video BIOS Shadow: – Disable.

• OS Select For DRAM > 64MB: Set to Non-OS2. This is an archaic setting.

• HDD SMART Capability: Set to disabled. It is only useful if you have softwarerunning which monitors the status of the hard drives.

• Small Logo Show: Controls whether the little EPA logo is shown on your bootup.Disable. Sometimes there is a small select option; too, for selecting which logowill be shown.

Advanced Chipset Features

This area of the BIOS allows you to control certain aspects of your motherboard whichare specific to the chipset on your board. This would include bus speeds and memoryissues. Some boards place their controls for processor, bus speed into this screen aswell. I address that in more detail above. Most of the time, you don’t need to worryabout anything in here for the sake of this tutorial. But, a general outline:

• Chipset Special Features: Disable. Not all BIOS have this.

• L2 Cache size: If this option exists, set it to match the size of your externalcache.

• DRAM Parity Checking: Enable only if using parity memory

• Dram parity/ECC mode: “Parity” if using parity memory, “ECC” if using ECC

memory

• Memory Timings: This area allows you to control the speed of the memory. OnVia chipsets, it will usually also display the processor bus speed and the DRAM

bus speed, allowing you to set the memory to operate on the Host Clock or BYSPEED. You can set the memory speed manually or have it run at the same speed

as the system bus. If you are using SDRAM, you can also control the CAS latency,which is usually best left at default unless you’re a real tweaker.





• AGP Mode: Controls the AGP Mode, such as 1X, 2X, 4X or 8x. Set to Auto if

available, or whatever it is set to already.

• AGP Frequency: Set to 66MHz.

• AGP Aperture: Controls how much of the PCI memory address range will bededicated to graphics memory space. Usually, 64MB is fine, but you can set it to

whatever you want.

• DRAM Frequency: Set to the speed of your memory

• System BIOS Cacheable: Only valid when the system BIOS is shadowed. It canspeed up access to the BIOS, but because the OS rarely needs to look at theBIOS, enabling this does not cause much benefit. Disable.

Power Management

This section should be fairly straight-forward to even the novice user, and you should beable to use your manual to best describe the settings. I usually leave everything in heredefault and you should for now, too. You’re just trying to get the PC working at thispoint, not fine-tuning every little aspect of the BIOS.

Integrated Peripherals

• IDE HDD Block Mode: Speeds up hard disk access by transferring data frommultiple sectors at once instead of using the old single sector transfer mode.

When you enable it, the BIOS will automatically detect if your hard disk supportsblock transfers and configure the proper block transfer settings for it. Up to 64KB

of data can be transferred per interrupt with IDE HDD Block Mode enabled. Sincevirtually all hard disks now support block transfers, there is normally no reasonwhy IDE HDD Block Mode should not be enabled.

• Master/Slave PIO Mode: This function allows IDE drive to transfer several sectorsat a time. Several modes are possible. Mode 0 means one sector at a time. Mode

1 is no interrupts. Mode 2 means sectors are transferred in a single burst. Mode 3means 32-bit instructions at up to 11.1 MB per sec. Mode 4 is 16.7 MB/sec. andMode 5 is up to 20 MB/sec. Standard for most drives today is PIO Mode 4. But,many BIOS’s offer an AUTO setting that will automatically make the best call for

your drive. These modes must be set for each drive, including primary master,slave, secondary master, slave.

• Master/Slave UltraDMA: Set to Auto. Enable if your drives are UDMA capable.

Keep in mind that to use this feature also requires it to be set up via theoperating system.

• On-Chip PCI IDE, or IDE Controller: Used to either enable or disable either of

your on-board IDE controllers. You can disable one of these if you do not need it,freeing up resources. For example, if IDE-2 is unused, you can disable it, thus

freeing up IRQ 15 so something else can use it.• USB Controller: Enable or disable your motherboard’s on-board USB controller.

• USB Keyboard Support: Many boards have a separate setting for USB keyboards,so you will need to enable this if you use one.

• USB Mouse Support: Same as keyboard, but sometimes you see one for mice,

too.

• Onboard 1394: Enable or disable your onboard Firewire capability

• FDD Controller: Enable or disable your motherboard’s on-board floppy diskcontroller. You probably want this enabled.

• OnBoard Serial Port: Used to enable or disable the serial ports. Setting to AUTO

will usually default to IRQ 4, and 3F8 (COM 1) or IRQ 3 and 2F8 for COM 2.Disabling will, of course, free up the IRQ’s.

•

Onboard IR Function: If you have an infrared device connected to themotherboard, you can enable IR here. IrDA (HPSIR) mode, ASK IR (AmplitudeShift Keyed IR) mode, and disabled are the available options. Sometimes you





might see an SCR mode, for smart card readers. Choose the mode used by yourIR device. This setting is usually linked to Serial port 2, so if that is disabled, thisoption may not show up. Sometimes this option is called UART Mode.

• Duplex Mode: This will determine full duplex or half duplex transfer modes foryour IR port, if enabled.

• Parallel Port: There are four options. The default value is Normal (SPP) which will

work with all parallel port devices but is very slow. Two faster bidirectional modesare available, namely the ECP (Extended Capabilities Port), used for devices withlarge data transfers, and EPP (Enhanced Parallel Port), for devices that switchdirections a lot. ECP uses the DMA protocol to achieve data transfer rates of up to

2.5Mbits/s and provides symmetric bidirectional communication. On the otherhand, EPP uses existing parallel port signals to provide asymmetric bidirectional

communication. There is usually an EPP+ECP mode for users who don’t knowwhich mode to choose, but this can also take up an extra IRQ.

• ECP Mode use DMA: Controls the DMA channel used for ECP transfers. DMA 3 is

default. You can set to 1 if there are conflicts.

• Init Display First: Used to control whether to initialize an AGP or a PCI video cardfirst on start-up. Only relevant to users who use both types of video cards with

one monitor.• Power On Function: Some motherboards allow you to turn on the system via a

variety of alternative ways other than the normal power switch. Examples includemouse buttons, button only (normal), or by keyboard. Select whichever optionyou want.

PnP/PCI Configuration

This section controls some of the various aspects of plug and play and the PCI bus. Much

of it will not need to be touched at this point, but a couple items bear mentioning:

• PNP OS Installed: If all your operating systems support Plug & Play (PnP), selectYes so that they can take over the management of device resources. If you areusing a non-PnP-aware OS or not all of the operating systems you are usingsupport PnP, select No to let the BIOS handle it instead. Some say that it is bestto leave this option set to No regardless of whether your OS is PNP-capable ornot. The reason is that when it is set to No, the BIOS will attempt to resolve any

resource conflicts. If it is set to Yes, even if a conflict is detected, the BIOS willignore it. So, setting it to Yes provides a bit of a safety net, and it will not affect

the ability of the OS to perform PNP on its own.

• Reset Configuration Data (Force Update ESCD): ESCD (Extended SystemConfiguration Data) is a feature of the Plug & Play BIOS that stores the IRQ,DMA, I/O and memory configurations of all the ISA, PCI and AGP cards in thesystem (PnP or otherwise). Normally, you should leave the setting as Disabled. If

you encounter serious problems with the installation of a new PCI card, thesesettings can help bail you out. Such a conflict could be serious enough that theOS may not start. If this happens, you can go into the BIOS and enable thisoption. Next time the PC boots, the BIOS will go and re-configure the settings for

all PNP cards. The BIOS will automatically reset this setting to DISABLED nexttime you boot.

• Resources Controlled By: Normally, the BIOS controls the IRQ and DMA

assignments of all of the boot and PNP devices in the system. When this option isset to AUTO, this is what happens, and the ESCD is the mechanism for doing it. If

you set this option to Manual, you will be able to manually assign all IRQ andDMA information, usually via a sub-screen of the BIOS that will enable if you setthis option to Manual.

• PCI/VGA Palette Snoop: This option is only useful if you use an MPEG card or anadd-on card that makes use of the graphics card’s Feature Connector. It corrects





incorrect color reproduction by “snooping” into the graphics card’s framebuffermemory and modifying (synchronizing) the information delivered from thegraphics card’s Feature Connector to the MPEG or add-on card. It will also solvethe problem of display inversion to a black screen after using the MPEG card.

• Assign IRQ for VGA: Many high-end graphics accelerator cards now require anIRQ to function properly. Disabling this feature with such cards will cause

improper operation and/or poor performance. Thus, it’s best to make sure youenable this feature if you are having problems with your graphics acceleratorcard.

• Assign IRQ for USB: Assigns an IRQ to the USB controller. It enables or disables

IRQ allocation for the USB (Universal Serial Bus). If you are using AGP, thisshould be enabled. If you are not, you can disable this to free up an IRQ.

PC Health

This might be called by a bunch of different names, but it is the section of the BIOS (if ithas it) that monitors things like fan speed, CPU temperature, voltage levels, etc. Youmay also be able to set a shut down temperature, so if the CPU gets way too hot, thesystem would shut itself down for safety.

Defaults

Many BIOS versions have pre-set sets of default values which you can pre-load. Somehave “fail-safe” defaults and “optimized” defaults. If you don’t wish to mess with any of the above, you can use these options to set the BIOS info up to certain sets of settingsin one or two button clicks.

Passwords

Most BIOS versions have security options to allow for user or supervisor passwords. Mostpeople do not use them. But, if you do, just make sure you record the password. If youlose it, you’ll have to reset your whole BIOS to get your system back.

Save and Exit the BIOS setup program. This will reboot the machine. Make sure yoursystem disk is still in Drive A:.




Systems Builder STEP 19: Test the System

At the end of the previous step, you saved your CMOS settings and the system rebooted.You should have had a system disk or CD in the boot drive so that the PC booted itself properly. If you got an error to the effect of “Missing Operating System”, then you likely

did not remember to put the system disk into the drive or the system disk is not validand bootable. If it is not a bootable system disk, you will need to get one before pressing

forward. More modern operating systems like Windows XP come with CDs whichthemselves are bootable, in which case just make sure the CD is in the CD-ROM. If you

are still having problems, verify your boot order was set correctly in CMOS in theprevious step. Remember, if you are trying to boot from a diskette, your floppy drive

must be set as the first boot device. If you want to boot from CD, your CD-ROM must beset as the first boot device.

Assuming you handled that properly, the PC should be up and running and you areeither sitting at a command prompt or some other screen dictated by your bootable CDor diskette. Now that the PC is just sitting there running, it is a good time to test a few

things before proceeding further. Check the following:

1. Check the LED’s on the front of the case. During boot-up, the HDD LED shouldlight. If it does, it is connected properly to the motherboard. If not, try reversing

the leads on the LED plug, or just turning it around. You can also check that thepower LED lights and that the turbo LED lights, if it is connected.

2. Check the hard drive. Make sure it is spinning.

3. Check the fans. Make sure the CPU fan, power supply fan, and case fan(if you

have one) are all spinning without any wires in the way. If your video cardhappens to have a fan, make sure it spins freely as well.

4. Make sure the CD-ROM has power by hitting the eject button and seeing if it

opens.

5. Hit the reset button to be sure it works. While it reboots, check to be sure all thedata on the BIOS splash screen is correct to your system.

6. Let the system run for 10-15 minutes. While it is running, go into your CMOS

setup again and go to the PC Health screen so that you can monitor the CPUtemperatures while it is running. The purpose in doing this is to ensure that the

processor is being adequately cooled and will not lead to instability. If youchoose, you can also – CAREFULLY – ground yourself and then reach in and

gently touch the sides of the CPU and heat sink as it is running. If the heat sink islukewarm to the touch (not too hot to touch) then it is doing its job properly.During this testing period, you can just let the PC run for a bit. If, after severalminutes, the heat sink gets too hot or the temperature readouts becomeabnormally high, or if the PC Health screen freezes and you cannot do anything

with the keyboard, then you likely have a cooling issue with your processor. Youare either running a cooling fan which is not adequate for your processor or thereis an issue with inadequate heat transfer between the processor and the heat

sink, which means you might need to re-install the processor and do a better jobof using heat sink compound this time.

Okay, now that we are pretty sure the hardware portion of this tutorial is a done deal,let’s move into setting your hard disks up.


STEP 19: Test the System



Systems Builder STEP 20: Prepare the Hard Drive(s)

Before we can install your operating system to your hard drive, that drive must beprepared for use. In order to use your hard drive, it must be partitioned and formatted.If you are building a system and putting a previously used hard drive into it, you may

not need to perform this step. But, on any new hard drive or one you are just trying tostart over with, you will need to do this. If you are installing Windows XP, all formatting,

partitioning and installation work from the XP CD. You should have your first boot devicebe the CDROM already. Insert the disk and reboot the system. Windows Setup will begin.

Then, skip down to the step on Windows XP Installation. If you are installing a legacyOS, then proceed.

Many retail hard drives come with their own utilities for setting up their hard drives. Forexample, Maxtor hard drives are packaged with a utility called MaxBlast. MaxBlast itself serves as a bootable disk for your system, and after booting the system up it will movedirectly into the first step of its wizard to set up your drive. These kinds of setup arevery convenient and will walk you right through both partitioning and formatting the

drives. If your hard drive came with such software, then I recommend you use thatsoftware and follow the manual that came with your drive. And, in that case, simplyfollow the manufacturers steps and you can proceed to the next step in this tutorial after

doing so.

If you are using an OEM hard drive or one you happened to have around already, youmay not have any software for it. So you will need to set your drive up the old-fashionedway. Here’s how:

HARD DRIVE PREP – THE OLD FASHION WAY

Partitioning is done using the FDISK command. FDISK is a plain-jane, text-only utility

that comes on most Windows/DOS setups. FDISK should be included on your systemdisk and when you use it, it will actually be run off of the floppy drive. If, for some

reason, your system disk does not have FDISK.EXE on it, get one that does.

Take a little time to plan your partitions. Do you want one large partition for the entiredrive? Or do you want to separate it into different drive volumes? If you have FAT32, itis very popular to create one partition for the entire drive. Otherwise, if you are using adrive larger than 2G, you will have to separate it into more than one partition. Also, keepin mind that smaller partitions lead to smaller clusters, thus less slack or wasted disk

space. With almost any modern operating system (I’m thinking Windows here) you willwant to use the FAT32 file system. When you go into FDISK, it will ask if you want to

enable “Large Disk Support”, and you do if you’re using any OS Windows 98 or newer.

So, start.

1. Type “fdisk” at the command prompt. If it does not work, it is because your hard

drive is not attached properly or you may be missing FDISK.EXE on your systemdisk.

2. It will ask if you wish to enable Large Disk Support, and in most cases, you will.

Type “Y” and proceed.3. Next, you will see 4 menu options. If you already have partitions on this hard

drive, you can choose option 4 to view the current partition setup and decide if you want to change it. For a brand new drive (which I’m assuming for the

purpose of this tutorial), you’ll need to start from scratch.

4. Some information: The first partition is your primary DOS partition. This is your

C: drive and can’t be divided. This is also called the active partition. You can only


STEP 20: Prepare the Hard Drive(s)




have one active partition. The second partition is optional. It is called an extendedpartition. This is the space left over after the primary partition. Then, logical DOSdrives are created within the extended partition, each having a letter by whichyou will refer to it.

5. First you have to setup a primary DOS partition. Choose Option 1 (Create DOS

partition or Logical DOS drive).

6. Choose Option 1 in the next menu.

7. Now you can make your entire hard drive the primary partition or only a part of

it. Many people just make the entire drive one partition just to stay simple. If youwant to break from this norm, specify the amount of drive you want to partition

in either megabytes or percentage of total drive. If you are using a percentage,be sure to follow the number by a “%” or the computer will think you’re talkingMB’s. As a tip, I generally like to have my operating system(s) stay on their ownpartition, so I like to assign 2 GIG or so to the primary DOS partition, allowingample room for a few versions of Windows. That’s just me.

8. Next, you’ll need to make this partition active. Return to the main FDISK menu

and choose Option 2 (Set Active Partition). Follow the prompts.

9.If you’re going to create an extended partition (and you probably will unless

you’re only going to use C), choose Option 1 again, but this time choose Option 2in the next menu (Create Extended DOS partition).

10. Plug in the percentage of drive to partition for this one. You can use the

remaining amount for simplicity. Do not make this partition active. Only one canbe active.

11. After you create an extended partition, you will be given the Create Logical Drives

option in the extended partition menu. Follow the on-screen instructions to assigndrive letters to your partitions D: through Z:.

12. After all this is done, you can choose Option 4 (Display Partition Information) and

check your work.

13. After the drive has been partitioned and all looks fine to you, press to exit FDISK.

You’ll be told you need to restart the machine and that’s what you’re about to do.14. Reboot the machine with the system disk in Drive A:. If you try to do anything on

the C: drive, you may get an error about Invalid Media Type. Don’t worry aboutit. It’s because you haven’t formatted it yet.

Here’s how to format your newly created disk partition(s):

1. At the A> prompt, type format c: /s. The “/s” tells it to make the disk bootable by

copying some elementary system files to the C drive. If you booted from a CDand intend to install the OS right away, you do not need to copy system files, inwhich case you can leave the “/s” off.

2. You will get a warning saying that this action will erase all data on the drive. This

is normal, and since there is no data on the drive, just press “Y” and move on.3. It will show the status as it happens.

4. If you created additional partitions on this drive, format those volumes now. Type “format d:” or “format e:”, where the letter corresponds to the volume you wish

to format. Do not type the “/s” since you only want the C: drive bootable. Do thisfor all remaining partitions you created during the partitioning process.

5. When you are complete, you should be able to do a directory listing to be sure itis formatted by typing “DIR C:” at the command prompt. You’ll likely get a FILENOT FOUND message, but that’s normal. At least the drive is set up.

When you have done both procedures above, reboot the system. If you copied thesystem files over you can do so without the system disk in the diskette drives. If not,

you’ll need to leave the system disk in Drive A. If using the C drive, it is supposed toboot normally and go to the C: prompt. If you get an error like “No boot device found” or





“No ROM Basic”, you probably forgot to make the primary partition active. Run FDISKagain and fix that. If you get an error like “No Operating System”, you probably forgot tomake the disk bootable. Make sure you typed “/s” at the format command.




Systems Builder STEP 21: Install the CD-ROM Driver

NOTE: This Step is here only for those users who must manually get their CD-ROM recognized before installing their operating system. You may not need todo anything. See below:

Most operating systems come on CD, which requires you to have your CD-ROM workingin order to install the operating system. This is usually a pretty easy thing to do. In fact,

sometimes it is totally unnecessary for you to actually DO anything, because it is takencare of. If you are installing Windows 98 and have a real Windows 98 boot disk, it has

the option of booting with CD-ROM support automatically. If your operating system CD isbootable (and in many cases they are) then as long as you have your CDROM set asyour boot device in CMOS, it will automatically go to the CD-ROM and begin the processof installing your operating system. In this case, this step is not necessary.

Otherwise, read on…

Your CD-ROM comes with an install disk that, if properly programmed, will install yourCD-ROM drivers very quickly. Unfortunately, many manufacturers make lame installationdisks, requiring you to do some of the work manually. For this reason, I recommend you

have a copy of EDIT.COM on your hard drive or system disk in case you have tomanually edit the CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT. Also have a copy of MSCDEX.EXE onyour disk in case your CD-ROM installation does not include it. If necessary, use thecommand “copy mscdexe.exe c:” to copy the file from your system disk to your harddrive.

Some installation programs are very particular as to what they expect. Some will stop

unless MSCDEX.EXE is not already installed on the drive C: Some go so far as to expectthis file in C:DOS, and it might not tell you this. You can just put the file in a directory

called C:DOS and try again. Other installations cannot properly configure CONFIG.SYS orAUTOEXEC.BAT. Some will halt if these files aren’t already present on the hard drive. If

you run into problem, keep this in mind.

Below, I will outline a general procedure for installing DOS-mode CD-ROM drivers. Thisobviously changes on a per-drive basis:

1. Make sure EDIT.COM is on your hard drive. It may be found on your system disk,

your installation disk, or you may need to get it from another system. Copy thisfile to the new computer’s C: drive.

2. Install the CD-ROM Installation disk in Drive A:.

3. To be safe, you might want to create a AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS if they

are not already there. You can do this by typing “EDIT CONFIG.SYS” then saving

it empty. This will create the file, although it will be empty. Do the same forAUTOEXEC.BAT.

4. Run the Install program. Usually you type either “a:install” or “a:setup”. It will

copy necessary files, and modify your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT. Justfollow the prompts. All install programs are different. When this is done, reboot.

5. Check the system files. You can EDIT them or type “type config.sys”. The line will

look something like “DEVICE=C:CDPROVIDE-CDD.SYS /D:MSCD001″. In theAUTOEXEC.BAT file, it may look like “C:WINDOWSCOMMANDMSCDEX

/D:MSCD001 /V”. The parameter after “/D” should be the same in both files.These lines will vary depending on your CD-ROM and files locations.

6. If you want to change the drive letter of the CD drive, add “/L:F” at the end of the line referencing the CD-ROM in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Change “F” to thedrive letter you wish the CD-ROM to be.


STEP 21: Install the CD-ROM Driver



Systems Builder STEP 21: Install the CD-ROM Driver

7. Test your work. Reboot. The CD-ROM should activate. Then stick a CD in thedrive and try to read it by switching to the appropriate drive just as you would toread a floppy diskette. If it didn’t work, then first check your AUTOEXEC.BAT andmake sure it is leading to the correct location for the file MSCDEX.EXE. This file isnecessary on all systems to make a CD-ROM operate in DOS.




Systems Builder STEP 22: Install the Operating System

Okay, it is time to install your operating system. This is the final step necessary to makeyour new PC a fully workable PC.

There are many operating systems on the market today, but for the sake of this tutorial,we are assuming you will be using Microsoft Windows. There are, of course, other OSes

out there including many varieties of Linux, and you are certainly welcome to try thoseother operating systems if you wish. As things stand now, though, simple statistics willshow that an overwhelming majority of PC users make use of some version of Windows.For that reason, we are focusing on the Windows operating system in this step.

Your first step is to buy your Windows operating system. The first thing you will notice isthat Microsoft distinguishes between “full versions” and “upgrades”. The upgrade is

cheaper, but it will ask for and check to make sure you have a previous version of Windows installed before proceeding. Often you do not need to have a prior version

installed physically to get it to work, but you must have a prior version available onfloppy diskette or CD-ROM, because whether it checks your hard drive or a removablemedium, it will check for a prior version. A full version, of course, is designed to be

installed when no other version is there or when you have no valid license to a priorversion.

TIP: Instead of installing Windows from a CD, some people prefer installing directly from

the hard drive itself. The basic reason is speed. Hard drives are many times faster than aCD drive, and since the Windows install procedure will be moving a lot of data from the

CD to the hard drive anyway, many people prefer to simply skip the bottleneck and doeverything from the hard drive. Basically, this is done by copying the entire Windows

setup from the CD to the hard drive before installing anything and then running Setupdirectly from the hard drive. Just copy the whole CD over to a directory on your harddrive, and then run Setup from that directory. This is also helpful later down the road if you need to install a Windows component and cannot find your Windows CD.


STEP 22: Install the Operating System



Systems Builder STEP 23: Tidy Up

Now you have a PC which you built and it is now running with a newly installed operatingsystem. Great job!

You are now ready to get the PC set up as you want it. With Windows set up as a virgininstallation, there are a few things you need to do right at the start. Windows XP willseek to get you to activate your copy of Windows, but it is recommended you hold off on

this until you get your drivers finalized.

1. Enable Windows XP’s built-in firewall (if you are using XP). The firewall is not

perfect and you can easily replace it later with a better option. However, youneed to connect to the internet now to download the latest drivers for your PC.The Windows firewall will suffice for now. To enable the firewall, go to the ControlPanel and click Network and Internet Connections, then click Networkconnections. Right-click on your network connection and choose Properties. Go tothe Advanced tab and check “Protect my computer and network by limiting or

preventing access to the computer from the internet”.2. Next, connect to Windows Update by visiting www.windowsupdate.com using

Internet Explorer. Scan for Updates and then go directly to the critical updatesand service packs section. If there are any major service packs listed, installthem now and reboot.

3. Install your motherboard’s chipset drivers. Most likely, your motherboard camewith a CD which contained drivers for the chipset as well as any integrated

hardware. You can install this software and drivers now from the CD. You shouldalso check the motherboard manufacturer’s website and see if there is any

updated driver software since the CD was created. After installing these drivers,reboot again.

4. Re-visit Windows Update and install any other key updates, including DirectX.

5. Now, visit the website of your video card manufacturer and download the latestdrivers for your video card. Install them. You will likely need to reboot again.

6. Lastly, you should install any remaining hardware and drivers for your newcomputer. Install the sound card drivers as well as the drivers for any remaininghardware. Visit the manufacturer’s website to see if there are more recent

versions of each. You may need to reboot after each installation. Simply gothrough each until each component in your PC has the required drivers installed.

7. Now, active Windows. If you installed Windows XP, there is an activation processwhich you must go through. This is Microsoft’s way of curbing pirated copies of Windows. Windows will give you a grace period of 30 days after installation toactivate it. If you do not activate it within this timeframe, Windows will stopoperating. Windows will remind you when you log in as well as at a regular

internal until you do activate. To activate, you simply follow the wizard. It iseasiest to activate via the internet. Doing it this way is very automatic and isdone using a secure server. If your PC is not internet connected, you can activate

it via telephone. Call the toll-free number on the screen, read off to the operatorthe number displayed on the screen and type in the confirmation number they

give you.

For future reference, if you make a major hardware change to your new computer at alater date, Windows may require you to re-activate. Simply follow the same procedure.

Windows will also ask you to register your copy. This is totally optional. If you skip it, itwill not ask you again.


STEP 23: Tidy Up



Systems Builder STEP 23: Tidy Up

At this point, your new PC is now ready to go! Next, you can begin installing yoursoftware and customizing your new computer to suit your needs.

Congratulations. Enjoy your new PC!




Systems Builder Index

Index

11st Edition.....................i

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Abasi.........................i

Aa. The power LED should

turn on...................38Advanced BIOS Features

.............................41Advanced Chipset

Features.................42After all this is done, you

can choose Option 4(Display Partition

Information) and checkyour work...............48

After the drive has beenpartitioned and all looks

fine to you, press toexit FDISK. You’ll be

told you need to restart

the machine and that’swhat you’re about todo..........................48

After you create anextended partition, you

will be given the CreateLogical Drives option in

the extended partitionmenu. Follow the on-

screen instructions toassign drive letters to

your partitions D..........through Z.....................

. 48

AGP...........................43AGP Aperture..................

Controls how much of the PCI memoryaddress range will bededicated tographics memoryspace. Usually, 64MBis fine, but you canset it to whateveryou want...............43

AGP Frequency................Set to 66MHz............43

AGP Mode......................

Controls the AGPMode, such as 1X,2X, 4X or 8x. Set toAuto if available, orwhatever it is set toalready.................43

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All connections tight, noconnectors off by oneset of pins...............37

AMD...........................15Apply the Heat Sink

Compound..............18Assign IRQ for USB..........

Assigns an IRQ to the

USB controller. Itenables or disablesIRQ allocation for theUSB (Universal SerialBus). If you are usingAGP, this should beenabled. If you arenot, you can disablethis to free up anIRQ........................45

At this point, your new PCis now ready to go!Next, you can begininstalling your software

and customizing yournew computer to suityour needs..............54

Attach the fan to the heatsink. This step is almostalways already done foryou, but if not, youmust do it yourself.This is done using thefour screws that camewith the CPU fan.... ..17

Attach the power supplyto the drive. Just like a

hard drive, just find afree 4-wire power plugand plug it into thepower connector on theCD-ROM..................34

ATX...........................14AUTOEXEC.BAT...........50

Bb. The CPU and PSU fans

should start spinning 38Before physically installing

your hard drive or CD-ROM, it is easier toconfigure them outsideof the case. Configuringthem involves changing jumpers, and doing thiswithin the confines of the case can be quitedifficult sometimes.. .30

bezel..........................11BIOS..........................40Boot Numlock.................

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