Putting the parts together
Now that you've spent about $2000 just to buy the parts, don't let that go down the drain. Read the directions and your manuals below before proceeding. Good Luck.
Step 1 - Safety: Ground yourself so that your computer parts don't get zapped and ruined by your own static electricity. You can do this by either stepping on a static mat or simply touching the case with your hands. Remember to disconnect all power supply before beginning to assemble your computer.
Step 2 - Load up
motherboard: Install
RAM, BIOS, and the processor onto your motherboard. Remember to check your
motherboard manual on how to do this properly. RAM slots usually come in rows
of 4, and have a small pin at the side, which you may need to unclip before
inserting the RAM. The processor is a small square-like object, which fits
into a square slot easily seen on the motherboard. Depending on the motherboard
types some may have the processor and BIOS attached to it. Remember to connect
the power supply to the motherboard.
| Step 3 - Put in the motherboard: Carefully attach the motherboard to the case. You can and should use the jumpers, screws, risers, washers and spacers that are provided. If this seems difficult, consult the motherboard manual. |  |
Step 4 - Insert Video Card(s): Jam your video card into the correct slot of the motherboard. If it is ISA, put it in the black ones of matching size. If it is PCI, push hard into the first in the many rows of black slots. If you have a graphics accelerator you can plug this in too, and remember to plug in the correct monitor cable(s) behind if you have a video accelerator. Then plug it into the monitor.
Step 5 - First Test: Now that you have the RAM in the motherboard, the motherboard in the case and connected to the power supply, and the video card installed, you can give it a test. Plug your monitor into the video card, plug the computer into the wall, and flip the switch. Turn on your monitor and plug the power supply unit into a wall socket. Stand back and turn it on. Hopefully you'll get some sort of startup screen. If you did, congratulations. You have a working computer (it needs more parts, but the easy part is over). If you didn't feel that incredible sigh of relief and joy, unplug the computer and check everything. Is the power plugged in? Did the power supply's fan come on (if not, make sure it's connected to the switch). Is the RAM fully seated? Is the video card fully seated? Is the monitor on and plugged in? Is the motherboard plugged into the power supply? If you hear a series of four beeps (Three fast. One slow), your video card is not fully inside the computer, or could be faulty. If you exhaust all of these things, make sure you have all jumpers set correctly. If you do, you may have a bad component. Test them on other machines or take them to the dealer.
Step 6: Install
Hard Disks and Floppy Drives: Physically
install the floppy drive into a drive bay. Just slide the whole box in there
and screw it in with the screws provided with the case or the drive. Then
plug the drive into the card/motherboard. The floppy drive ribbon will have
a twist in the center of it. Plug the "twist" end into the drive with the
colored part of the ribbon towards the center (one edge of the ribbon will
be colored or have some dots on it, or something). Then plug the other end
into the card/motherboard. The colored part of the ribbon will go on pin 1's
side (this is what the color indicates). Pin one on the card/motherboard will
be indicated with a 1 in that corner or a dot or something similar. If it
isn't, check your manual. If you can't figure it out, just try one way and
if that doesn't work, switch it. Then you need to plug the drive into the
power supply. It will be one of the narrow white plugs coming out of the power
supply. It can only be installed one way onto the drive. Then mount the hard
drive into the case like you did with the floppy drive. Plug ribbon into the
drive with the colored part of the ribbon towards the power on the drive.
There are two ribbons, and the second will go into the second hard disk (or
the slave). At the other end, plug the colored part of the ribbon into pin
1, just like the floppy drive again. For power do the same as the floppy,
but use the larger white plug. It can only fit one way, too. After this you
may want to conduct another basic check.
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Step 7 - Other Devices: Install your other Sound Cards, Ethernet cards, or SCSI cards similar to the video card, and then your CD-ROM. Your CD-ROM works similar to the hard drive, except that it has a few other colored wires that plug into the sound card. This is so you can listen to CD Music. |
Step 8 - Final Check and configuration: Turn on your computer again. Something is likely to go wrong, if it does, solve the problem by zeroing in on the device. If everything is right, congratulations! You will now need to find a suitable OS for your new computer. I personally recommend Windows. To install it you will either need a boot disk or go into your BIOS settings (press DEL or F1, or similar at startup) and set it to boot from CD.
