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BOOT CAMP 324 (04/05/04)
BUILD YOUR OWN PC, part 4
We are now ready to
begin the final assembly and testing of our home build PC. Start by checking
that the hard disc and CD/DVD drives are set to ‘Master’ and fit them, along
with the floppy drive into their respective ‘bays’ at the front of the case.
Carefully align the front of the floppy and DVD drives so that they are flush
with the case and tighten the screws – two per side.
Next the motherboard,
remove it from its box and place it on its anti-static bag. Open the retaining
latches on memory slot 1 or (A1), hold the memory module by the chips (don’t
touch the contacts), line up the notches on the contact strip with the lugs in
the slot and insert it into the slot, when you are happy with the alignment
press down firmly at both ends and the latches will click into place. Remember
never force anything!
Next the CPU chip and
fan; lift the locking lever on the side of the Zif (zero insertion force)
socket. Holding the chip gently by the sides and taking great care not to touch
the pins. Orientate the CPU so that the triangular mark on one corner aligns
with the mark on the socket and the ‘missing’ socket pin hole. The chip should
drop smoothly into the socket under its own weight, flip the lever down and the
chip is safely locked into position. If the CPU doesn’t fit re-check the
alignment.
Now you can install the
CPU cooling fan. Avoid touching the underside, this has a coating of gooey heat
transfer compound and it can be very messy. Undo the latches on the top of the
fan, line up the ‘claws’ with the retaining clips on the side of the CPU socket
and press down firmly. This is the only part that might require a little extra
pressure to secure. Once the fan is seated move the latches to the locking
position and pop the fan plug into its socket on the
motherboard.
Time to fit the
motherboard into the case. It sits on raised ‘pillars’ stamped into the case
metalwork; take extra care when lining up the rear sockets with the holes in the
back of the case. Thin metal strips around the holes are meant to touch the
sides of the sockets to ensure good electrical contact; they’re easily bent and
can foul the front of the sockets. Screw the motherboard directly to the
threaded mounting pillars – not too tight though! This is where the long
shafted, magnetised screwdriver earns its keep, helping to hold the screws, and
retrieve the ones you drop…
Now comes the tricky
part, connecting the front panel lights, On and Reset switches, internal speaker
and front panel USB sockets. As I indicated last week this is a fiddly job, so
take your time, make sure you have plenty of light to see what you are doing and
keep the motherboard layout diagram close at hand. Check and double-check the
connectors against the diagram as a wrongly connected ‘On’ switch is the most
common cause of a non-functioning PC.
We’re on the home
straight now. Connect one of the two larger flat ribbon cables between the IDE 1
socket on the motherboard and the hard drive. There are three identical plugs on
the cable; two are close together at one end, and one on its own at the other
end. This one goes to the motherboard; one of the other two (it doesn’t matter
which) goes into the back of the hard drive. The spare plug is for a second hard
drive. (If you only have a single IDE cable both drives can share the cable but
the CD/DVD drive has to be set to ‘slave’). The sockets are ‘notched’ so there’s
no chance of fitting the plugs back to front but be careful not to bend the
pins! The IDE 2 socket connects to the CD/DVD drive in the same way. The floppy
drive uses a smaller ribbon cable, it’s important to use the end plugs, ignore
the one in the middle (for obsolete 5.25-inch ‘diskette’ drives).
Fit the audio cable
between the CD/DVD drive and motherboard and the last job is to connect the two
cables from the power supply unit (PSU) to the motherboard and the power leads
to the disc drives, there are several identical ones for hard disc and CD/DVD
drives and one small one for the floppy drive.
Basically that’s it! The
only thing left to do now is triple check everything is in its rightful place
and all of the cables are secure, you can tidy loose ones with plastic cable
ties. When you’re happy with it refit the case sides, connect the monitor,
keyboard, mouse and speakers, plug in the power cable and switch on.
If all’s well the PC
will boot up, bleep, the BIOS logo will appear on the screen and after a few
moments it will report that it cannot find an operating system. You are now
ready to install Windows. The Asus motherboard is factory set to search for boot
up information on the CD/DVD drive, so load your Windows installation CD, reboot
and follow the prompts; if the PC doesn’t work or won’t boot from the CD drive
see the troubleshooting guide in Tip of the Week. When Windows has finished
loading insert the motherboard utilities disc to install the sound, video and
LAN drivers – if needed -- and your new PC is ready to
use.
Next week – Under attack!
JARGON FILTER
BIOS
Basic
Input Output System: diagnostic and configuration program that checks the PC
hardware before the operating system is loaded
TRANSFER COMPOUND
Chemical paste to ensure thermally efficient contact between
a CPU chip and cooling fan
LAN
Local Area
Network -- a computer network
TIP OF THE WEEK
A totally dead PC is very rare so if nothing happens when you
power up for the first time check the obvious – the rear panel on/off switch,
the ‘On’ switch connections on the motherboard and the two power cables from the
PSU to the motherboard. If the fan is running then the mains supply is okay, if
not it could be the cable or mains fuse. If the PC bleeps more than twice there
may be a problem with the memory module, make sure it is properly seated. If the
PC bleeps but the screen remains blank check the monitor is on and the cable is
securely connected. If the PC won’t boot from the Windows CD-ROM check the
drive’s power and data cables, also enter the BIOS program (press the Del key at
boot up) and verify the CD/DVD-ROM drive is listed as a ‘Boot Device’. If you
are using an alternative operating system or an older version of Windows you can
use a Windows 98 emergency recovery disc to partition and format the drive.
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