Building your own PC(07/02)
Homebrew - Part 2
by Vinny La Bash, vlabash@comcast.net
Member of the Sarasota Personal Computer Users Group, Inc.
Last month we went through the agony of selecting individual components for our game machine. Let's see how we put it all together.
Surgeons make meticulous plans when they schedule an operation. Building a PC is hardly a life or death situation, but you too must have a solid plan of action in place before you start assembling your dream machine. Gather all the necessary tools and find a place to work. A non-metallic work surface such as wood prevents static electricity buildup. Schedule at least two to four hours of uninterrupted time to allow for the inevitable glitches. Always work in a well-lit moisture-free environment with rubber soled shoes to cut down on static energy displacement.
Buy a grounding (anti-static) strap and have it attached to your wrist and grounded on the computer whenever you are handling any of the system parts. This greatly reduces any chance of accidentally frying your components. The strap is cheap insurance, and it is false economy not to have one.
Read the manual that comes with your motherboard cover-to-cover before doing anything. The manual explains connection issues, and understanding the manual is a giant step toward preventing assembly problems. Have all of your parts, tools, and software laid out for easy access. One final thing. Your mother was right. Wash your hands to avoid transferring oil or dirt to sensitive parts, and don't touch any gold connections.
Parts list
Case
Power Supply
Motherboard
Memory
CPU and Cooling device
Hard drive(s)
Video Card and Sound Card
Network Card and/or Modem
CD / DVD Player
1.44 Floppy Drive
IDE and Floppy cables
Software list
Operating System
Motherboard Drivers
Peripheral Drivers
Tools list
Philips screwdriver
Flat screwdriver
Needle Nose Pliers
Marking pen
Anti-Static bracelet.
Zip ties (Optional)
Initial Steps
Prepare your motherboard by removing any shipping material from its surface or bottom. You already know that for the best possible start, any case you purchase should not come with a pre-installed underpowered power supply. Installing the power supply is a simple affair of lining it up with the mounting holes, inserting the proper screws, and tightening things down. Act with care because some cases have very sharp edges, and you don't want to bleed all over your motherboard. Needle nose pliers are the safest way to remove any metal pieces from your case.
The power supply comes with an intimidating number of color coded cables, clips, and sleeves. After you've mounted the power supply, find the one cable that has twenty pins on the end and plug it into the corresponding socket on the motherboard. It's colored white, and it's much larger than other connectors. You have to work hard to miss it.
After all the additional case pieces are removed, you will need to mark the case on the inside where you will install the mounting riser pins. This can be done easily with a marker by placing the board inside of the case and marking where the mounting riser pins will go on the board.
Once you have removed all the blocking metal or plastic from the case and are ready to proceed, you will need to continue by installing the mounting pins. Install the mounting riser pins in your pre-marked holes. You install the riser mounting screws by turning them to the right or by popping them in, depending on the case. Make sure you screw or pop them in completely. That way the board sits flat and is protected from shorting out.
The Motherboard
Before securing the motherboard in the case, you must first install the CPU, cooling fan, and memory.
The CPU mounts in the ZIF (Zero Insertion Force) socket. Orient the CPU with the slot by looking at the CPU's pins, and identifying Pin 1 in one of the corners. Locate the notch or number "1" on the motherboard slot. Place the CPU gently into the Socket after the retention bar has been raised. No force should be necessary to install the CPU if it is done correctly and the pins are lined up right. Lower the retention lever and lock the CPU into place. If you feel any resistance at this point, stop to avoid damage. Remove the CPU and ensure the pins are lined up properly.
The final step in the CPU installation is to attach the cooling fan power lead into the motherboard in its appropriate plug. Consult your CPU manual to determine the proper connection point.
Install the memory before securing the motherboard in the case. Handle the memory modules carefully. Don't touch the pins. The memory is slotted in one or more places depending on your memory type, and you need to insert the memory into the slot closest to the CPU with the memory slots matching up to the receptacle. This should take just a little push till the memory securing tabs fold into place.
Motherboard Installation
Next you need to mount your motherboard into the case using the screws that came with the case and a Phillips headed screwdriver.
Gently place the board inside the case making sure the holes lineup so you can put the screws through.
Next secure the motherboard by screwing in the mounting screws provided with your case. Rotating the screwdriver right tightens the screws and left loosens them. Additional washers are no longer needed as today's motherboards provide adequate space around the mounting holes for a ground-free connection.
Drive Preparation
Setup and prepare your drives before installing them into the case and attaching the appropriate cables. There are jumpers on the back of all IDE devices, determining their status in the drive chain. The jumpers can have three or more positions. Locate the plastic tab and select the device as a Master, Slave or Cable select drive.
If you are installing a single drive that is new, its default setting will most likely be as a Master or Cable select device. Confirm by checking the setting visually against the diagram on the hard drive. When set correctly, the system will detect the drive automatically during startup.
Set the CD /DVD as a Master device with your ZIP drive or CDRW device slaved to it. We're assuming that none of these devices is plugged into a USB port. If this is the case, configuration is simpler. Check your manuals.
Drive Installation
Sliding the hard drive(s) into the case will lock it (them) into place. Finish mounting them by securing them with the screws provided by the manufacturer. Some cases require the use of brackets that attach to the sides of the drive. Check your manuals.
Align the drives with the front face cover so that they sit flush once the system is put together.
Peripheral Installation
Video, sound, and NIC inline peripheral cards are very easy to install. This is one of the simplest things to do when assembling a system. If possible try and give yourself an open slot between the inline cards as this helps in heat reduction and reduces IRQ sharing problems. Make sure the cards are completely and firmly inserted into the appropriate slots. Improperly seated cards will generate error messages at best, or result in a no post (power on self-test) machine when you power up for the very first time. Most systems will have a video card, a modem or network card, and a sound card as add-in cards so running out of PCI slots should not be a problem.
Cable Installation
Take whatever time is necessary to establish the correct beginning and ending points of your system cables. Knowing where each plug goes will prevent startup problems and greatly assist you with any future troubleshooting. Look for a small tab protruding from the IDE cable indicating the correct direction for installation. If there is no tab, you'll find a red wire on the cable that signifies it as pin one.
Use your manual to locate the IDE 1 and 2 connections on the motherboard. The primary IDE connection is usually colored with the included cables on most of the newer motherboards. The hard drive should be plugged into the primary IDE channel. Connect your CD and second hard drive, if you have one, to the secondary IDE channel.
It's hard to install the 1.44 Floppy disc drive wrong as it has only one place to connect on the board. Yet some people still manage to install the cable backwards. If the floppy drive light won't go off when you power up, the cable needs to be reversed on the back of the floppy drive. Luckily, this common mistake is easy to fix.
Connect all the power leads to the appropriate drives. Now check all the connections to ensure everything is properly seated and nothing is loose. Neither the power nor the data cables will read the drives if plugged in wrong or loose. Always use new cables to reduce chances of installing a defective part. Today, people are installing the new round cables for more efficient air circulation inside the case. They save space, and are more esthetically pleasing.
Wiring the Case
You are most likely to run into trouble at this point if you have not bothered to read the manuals or if your documentation is inadequate. Without good reference materials, it can be difficult to determine the exact location of where wiring harnesses connect. If you followed our advice in Part One of this article, you have a motherboard with excellent documentation. If not, then you need to get outside assistance such as a knowledgeable friend or a good technically oriented Website that offers this kind of advice. One of the better sites for this and similar technical issues would be WWW.MOTHERBOARDS.ORG.
You need to know that a black wire is a ground wire and if your cables are not labeled as +/- the black wire would go on the (-) side of the connection. (the (-) being the ground on the board and the black wire the cable ground). Reputable manufacturers mark their boards clearly. Attention to detail is essential when connecting wires because improper cross-connections could short out the board.
Power Connections
Now is the time to recheck all the steps you have taken up to now. When you are sure all is well, plug in the connector from the power supply into the board. Most motherboards now require a minimum of a 300W PS to work efficiently, and the Pentium 4 boards take a special 12V PS with two additional connectors for powering the board.
After you have connected the power supply to the board, check to see that the on/off switch on the case is connected to the motherboard. We forgot to do this and almost had cardiac arrest when the system wouldn't start. It takes about two minutes.
Seal the case, get ready to set the BIOS options, then power up. If your system doesn't start, disconnect all the IDE devices from the board and remove all the components except the memory, video card, and CPU. Sometimes a component will conflict with one of the other system parts or the board itself. Put the other system parts in one at a time until you find out what the problem is.
BIOS Setup
Many of the motherboards currently in production automatically detect components in your system assembly and do not require the adjustment of the BIOS to work properly. If you have to adjust the BIOS, press the DEL or F1 or F2 depending on your system and this will take you into the initial BIOS screen. Once again, this is where you need to read your manual to understand the performance features. Be careful when making changes so you don't hinder performance.
Windows & Drivers
The final step is the installation of Windows XP and any needed system drivers. If the system starts but won't boot from the CD, you will need to go into the BIOS and make the CD ROM the first boot device.
You may have to first FDISK and then format the drive. Windows XP will guide you through these steps, and will do them automatically for you. After XP is installed, load the motherboard drivers that come on the CD included with your motherboard, and then finish by installing any additional drivers for your peripherals.
Rock with your new system! :
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Copyright 2002. This article is from the July 2002 issue of the Sarasota PC Monitor, the official monthly publication of the Sarasota Personal Computer Users Group, Inc., P.O. Box 15889, Sarasota, FL 34277-1889. Permission to reprint is granted only to other non-profit computer user groups, provided proper credit is given to the author and our publication. We would appreciate receiving a copy of the publication the reprint appears in, please send to above address, Attn: Editor. For further information about our group, email: admin@spcug.org/ Web: http://www.spcug.org/
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