Assembling, Configuring and Upgraging

Greggy Roy A. Marquez IT Instructor

Tips on good handling methods

When moving a computer and peripherals from one location to another, unplug all connectors and carry each item separately Hard drives are particularly delicate due to their delicate head mechanism. Protect it from severe bumps and jolts.

Static sensitive devices

CPU RAM VIDEO CARD MOTHERBOARD HARD DISK

Preventing Static Damage

When inserting or extracting printed circuits boards, or handling disk drives and ICs, always wear an earthed anti-static wrist band Try not to touch the ICs and tracks on adapter cards Always store unused adapter card, disk drives, memory devices and other static sensitive device in their anti-static bags Disregard and put down to ignorance, often quoted phrase from some complacent members of the PC fraternity.

Preventing static damage

Plan and prepare for Installation

Make sure you have all the items necessary to build your PC Choose an Os to match the type of work you want to do on your computer Prepare tools and equipments needed for PC installation

Tools

You will need basic tool kit to build a PC, the minimum being a set of screwdrivers, a pair of snipe nosed pliers and an antistatic wrist gand

Preparing to assemble the System Unit

Apply OHS Procedures Plan your time so you have at least two uninterrupted hours to physically Install the system-unit and install OS Prepare a clean uncluttered work bench or table top Avoid working on nylon carpets as they can generate high charges of static energy Do not rush around. Check the parts against the parts list to ensure you have all the PC parts close at hand along with appropriate tools and accessories.

Prepare the system unit case

Unpack the system-unit case and place it on the work bench Undo the screws at the back to release the two side covers and place them in a suitable receptacle.

Setting up your wrist band

Before you handle the motherboard and cards, etc., your wrist band must be worn

Fitting the Motherboard

Temporarily place the base plate and motherboard back into the case to determine which of the rear panel cover plates to remove to accommodate the AGP graphics card, and extra I/O port panels. After placing the motherboard and base plate to one side, remove the cover plates from the required slots in the case by flexing each one gently back and forth with an old screwdriver until the thin joining tabs shear apart. Remove the rear ATX I/O panel cover plate and replace it with the one supplied with the motherboard.

Fitting the CPU

Place your CPU, heat sink and fan ready for use. Wearing your wrist band, remove the CPU from its antistatic wrapping and examine it to locate the reference corner. The reference corner of the CPU is indicated by a small triangle or spot. This usually points to the hinged end of the CPU lever. Pull the lever on the side of the CPU socket upright to open the contacts. Now line the CPU with the socket so that the reference corner of the CPU lines up with the corresponding reference corner of the socket and let it drop gently into place

Fitting the heat sink and fan

After applying the heat sink compound or peeling off the backing sheet in the case of the pre-fitted variety align the heat sink and fan over the CPU socket with the stepped (rebated) end over the socket lever hinge cover (1). Now gently lay the heat sink assembly on top of the CPU so that it rests on the four foam pads of the CPU (2). Now fit the short end of the spring clamp over the lug on the CPU socket (3). Notice that the heat sink is parallel to the CPU socket at all times. On no account tilt the assembly when you hook on the spring clamp otherwise you will crush the CPU. Now fit the other end of the spring clamp using a screwdriver with a tip that fits snugly into the recess in the spring clamp. To do this; push the clamp down-and-out to clear the lug (4) and then push down-and-in to locate the clip over the lug (5). The heat sink/fan assembly is now fitted!

Installing RAM
Ensure you are still wearing your wrist band and place the motherboard and baseplate in front of you on the work surface. If you have a single DIMM device insert it in the first bank usually labelled bank 0. To do this: open up the slots retaining clips and line up the DIMM with bank 0 keeping it in a horizontal plane with the socket. Now push the DIMM down firmly until it locates into the socket contacts. The retaining clips either side of the DIMM assembly will automatically close into place. If the clips have not closed fully, ensure that the DIMM is fully inserted into the slot, and flip them into the closed position.

Fitting the drives

wearing your wrist band, remove the CD-R/CD-RW/DVD drive from its protective bag (a), and set the rear jumper to CSEL Now slide the drive through the drive cage until the front of the drive lines up with the front panel and the screw holes are visible through the fixing slots either side of the drive Now set the drive select jumper to CSEL. Slide the drive carefully into its bay with the connector side pointing into the case. Take care not to drop the drive otherwise this may damage the head and disk, and render it inoperative. Align the threaded holes in the side of the drive with the slots in the cage and secure it into position, using two self-tapping screws either side of the drive.

Jumper Setting
Current hard drive and CD drive ribbon cables incorporate the Cable Select (CSEL) system. This allows the drives to be automatically set as master or slave depending on their position on the cable rather than using separate jumper settings. To implement this feature the drive/s must be set to CSEL. This is an extra jumper position in addition to the normal master and slave jumper positions. When the CSEL jumper is in place, the drive on the far end of the cable is automatically assigned as master and the drive in the middle of the cable is automatically assigned as slave. In a single drive system with the CSEL jumper in place, the drive must always sit on the far end connector

CSEL jumper setting on a typical hard disk drive

Connecting the wires and cables

Front panel wiring Connect the front panel leads. These connect the motherboard to the various indicator lights and pushbuttons on the front of the case. These are usually labelled Power led, Speaker, Reset switch, Hard Drive led and Power-on/off. It is best to refer to the motherboard manual for the actual functions supported. Once the front panel connectors are fitted in their correct locations, tidy up the bundle of wires with cable ties and tuck them neatly away from the motherboard.

Connecting the wires and cables

Fit the main ATX 20-way motherboard power cable socket to the motherboard. It only locates one way, so after aligning it in the correct direction push it home fully until the locating lug (if fitted) clips into place (Figure 5.22(a)). Some ATX motherboards have extra power connectors for a 12 V feed. If this is the case with your motherboard you should fit these as well. The disk drive ribbon cables can now be connected to the motherboard. Observe the correct polarity. There is a stripe marked on the first wire of each ribbon cable and this must go to pin 1 of the drive and motherboard connector. Nowadays most drive cables are indexed and only fit one way into the corresponding sockets but do make yourself aware of the leader stripe to pin 1 rule. The hard disk must connect to the primary motherboard IDE connector and the CD drive to the secondary IDE connector

Inserting the Graphics Card

Make sure an empty rear panel slot is available for the card. If not, remove the offending screening plate. Now push the card firmly into the AGP edge connector. The card goes into the slot quite deeply, so make certain that you have pushed it home fully. Now secure the mounting plate into the rear case frame with a suitable screw from the set of case screws

Fitting sound, modem and network cards

Our motherboard has the sound, modem and network subsystems built into the motherboard so separate adapter cards are not required. However, conventional AT and ATX motherboards do not include these items so now is the time to fit these into the spare PCI slots Now take the audio cable supplied with the CD/DVD drive and connect it from the drives analogue audio output connector (a), to the appropriate audio input connector on the sound card. This enables the user to play music CDs directly into the sound system.

powering up the system

Check over all the leads, connectors and cards and make sure there is nothing loose or badly fitted. A typical check list is as follows:
PSU screwed home fully into the case and nothing fouling the fan PSU mains selector on rear set to 220V Motherboard fitted securely no screws loose underneath Rear ATX I/O panel fitted correctly CPU fitted correctly and Fan supply connected DIMMs pushed fully into their slots and secured All adapter cards pushed fully into their slots and secured All extra I/O connectors and panels fitted correctlly

powering up the system

Front panel wires fitted correctly Drives fitted flush to front and fully secured Drive power and ribbon connectors connected properly No loose screws or other loose items in system-unit case

powering up the system

Clear a space on your work top area and place the monitor and system-unit at a convenient location close to a mains outlet. Connect correctly fused mains cables to the monitor and system-unit. If the recommended mains plug fuse rating is not specifiedon the back of the equipment use the suggested fuse rating below:

System Unit: CRT type monitor: LCD Monitor:

2 3 fuse 2 A fuse 1 A fuse

powering up the system

Check that all mains on-off switches are in the OFF position and plug the monitor and system-unit mains leads into the wall socket. These items are now earthed through the mains supply. Connect the mouse and keyboard to the rear I/O panel mini din connectors. Connect the monitor signal lead into the appropriate socket on the graphics card. Switch on at the wall socket and power up the monitor and system unit. After a few seconds you should see details of the graphics card and/or the power up procedure on screen during the power on self-test (POST)

Configuring CMOS setup

The next step is to enter CMOS setup to set the CPU and RAM parameters. Also while you are in the SETUP menu, the boot sequence, cache, date/time and other options can be set. BIOS manufacturer
AMI Award Phoenex

Key or key combination

Del Del alternatively Ctrl Alt Esc F2, Ctrl Alt Esc or Ctrl Alt S

Configuring CMOS setup

Boot your PC and enter CMOS setup by pressing the appropriate key or key combinations during the POST as shown in the above data. In the Main setup screen, set the time and date and check to see if the hard disk drive and floppy disk drive have been autodetected correctly. In this Award CMOS setup utility, you can view the Sub-Menu of the items prefixed with an arrow head by highlighting the item and pressing Enter.

Configuring CMOS setup

Now the CPU parameters must be set. The exact method used depends on the system ROM manufacturer. Refer to your motherboard manual for the correct procedure. Current motherboard/ CPU combinations automatically detect and set the main CPU parameters, which is just as well, as CPU core voltage and operating frequencies vary widely. The CPU core voltage in particular must be set accurately to avoid burning out the CPU.

All we have to do is set the correct CPU core clock frequency as a multiple of the system clock (external CPU clock). In our example, the system clock is 133.33 MHz and the CPU is an Athlon XP 2400.

Installing the operating system

We have chosen MicrosoftWindows XP Home Edition for our system as it is one of the most stable and user friendly GUIs available at a reasonable price.8 Also different users can configure the system to their own requirement. Tom an experienced Windows 95/98 user will quickly get used to the new environment and if he chooses he can set it up to look and feel like Windows 98. Jane a relative new comer to computers will find the friendly and informative Windows XP environment easy to learn and use.

Installing the operating system

Unpack the Windows XP Home Edition CD from its wrapper taking care not to tear the Product Key and Certificate of Authenticity (COA) labels. These must be kept as they are needed to Activate and Register the software. If the system is switched off, switch it on and insert the Windows XP Home Edition CD into the Compact Disc drive. If the system is still powered up displaying the no operating system message, insert the Windows XP CD and press the Reset button on the front of the systemunit. The disk starts up and prompts you to press enter to set up Windows XP. On pressing Enter the installation proceeds