PC Assembly and Repair

How to Build a PC | Tom's Hardware (tomshardware.com)

 1
Safety first
 Safety Precautions

• Clear work area and remove any clutter of food

• Remove any jewelry and watches

• Disconnect all network cables and power supply

• Use the correct tools throughout the assembly process

• Avoid electrostatic discharge

 Avoiding electrostatic discharge

• Static electricity can cause significant damage to your computer components. To prevent this from
happening:

• Wear an antistatic wrist band or antistatic mat

• Keep sensitive components in antistatic bags until you are ready to install them

• Hold computer components by their edges only

• Avoid assembling computers in areas of high static such as carpeted areas.

• Regularly ground yourself by touching something made of metal as you assemble.

 2
Prepare the Motherboard for installation
 Preparing the motherboard

• The motherboard connects all of your hardware to the processor, distributes electricity from the
power supply and has ports that allow the processor to connect to input, output and storage
devices.

• To prepare the motherboard you must install the CPU, heat sink, and RAM
 Socket

RAM slots
 Installing the CPU

• Inspect pins for damage

• Open the socket (raise lever)

• Locate the arrow on both the chip and the socket and align them

• Insert processor and make sure there is no gap between the bottom of the chip and the socket

• Close socket (lower lever)

 Installing the heat sink

• A heat sink is designed to move heat away from the CPU to prevent overheating.

• To install the heat sink:

• Apply thermal tape or thermal paste on the top of the processor

• Align the heat sink squarely above the processor and press gently to secure it

• Plug the power connector for the cooling unit into the motherboard
1. Apply thermal paste 3. Connect to motherboard

2. Place heat sink on CPU.

 Installing RAM

• Consult the motherboard manual to ensure you put the RAM chips into the correct slots.

• Unhinge/open the clips on the RAM slots

• Align the RAM chips with their corresponding slot and gently press it down until the clips are
back into place.
1. Open clips on RAM
slots
2. Press RAM chips in
slot until clips “click” or
close.
 3
Mount the motherboard to the case
 Mounting the motherboard

• Install the input/output (I/O) shield at the back of the PC case in the designated slot.

• Insert spacers into the holes on the PC case and install the standoffs into the holes on the
motherboard.

• Place motherboard inside the case and align the standoffs

• Using a screw secure the motherboard to the case without screwing it too tightly. Verify that the
back of the motherboard is not touching the case and the slots and connectors line up properly.
 Input/output
ports
I/O shield

1. Insert spacers in the PC 2. Place motherboard inside case

 4
Connect the power supply
 Connecting the power supply

• Mount the power supply to the case of the PC and screw it into place.

• Connect the two power cables

• ATX (Advanced Technology Extended) cable – 20 or 24 pin cable

• CPU power cable – 4 or 8 pin cable.

 5
Connect front panel and USB
 Connecting the front panel

• Locate the following wires and connect them to the appropriate pins on the motherboard:

• Power switch

• Power LED

• Hard drive (HDD) LED

• Speaker

• Connect any front USB ports to the appropriate connectors on the motherboard.
 6
Install hard drive and CD-ROM
 Installing hard drive and CD-ROM

• Slide drive into selected drive cage at the front of the PC away from the other components and
screw the drive into place.

• Connect one end of the SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment) cable to the drive and the
other end to an available SATA port on the motherboard.

• Connect the drive to the power supply.

• Repeat to install the CD-ROM

 7
Install graphics card
 Installing a graphics card

• The video card is usually the last component to be installed because it takes up the most space.
This is optional, since some motherboards have built-in video cards.

• Line up the graphics card’s main connector with PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) slot to
ensure that the grooves in the connector match those inside the PCI slot and push down on the card
until the clip in the PCI close (or click).
Graphics card

PCI slot
 8
Boot the system
 Power-On Self-Test (POST) and Booting

• When the computer is turned on, the Power-On Self-Test (POST) which determines if the
hardware of the computer is working correctly.

• If the hardware is functioning normally, you will hear one short beep and the computer will boot.

• If there is a fault within the system, there will be a series of beeps to indicate faulty hardware.

• If the system passes the POST, then the operating is loaded into RAM. This process is known as
BOOTING.