Lecture 2

Assembling a Computer
 Safety Procedures
• Clean work area free of clutter and food
• Never open a monitor
• Remove jewelry and watches
• Turn power off and remove power plug
• Fire extinguisher available
• Use anti static mat and wrist strap
• Hold cards by edges/avoid touching chips
• Put components on non conductive surface
• Do not use magnetized screw drivers
 Electrostatic Discharge
• If you notice it, it’s at least 2000 volts
• Charge of 200 volts can damage components
• Keep all components in anti-static bags
• Humidity below 50%
• Use grounded mats (workbench and floor)
• Use wrist straps
• Periodically touch unpainted grounded metal
computer parts to lower the body’s static energy
 Keeping an Inventory
• Document all components, parts purchased
– Use an inventory checklist
– May be difficult to recall later
– Will be helpful in locating and downloading device
drivers
• Note specific warranty info
– Save specifics about installation and maintenance
requirements so warranties will be valid
• Use small box to hold all manuals and disks
– Label box for specific computer
– Store in secure place
 Choosing a computer case and system
unit
• Case • Power supply
– Allows easy access to internal – Minimum 250
components
– Provides room for expansion (space, watts
#bays) – ATX
– ATX form factor • Single 20 pin
– Available desk top space • Fan pulls air
– Sturdy through case
– Adequate ventilation from front to
– LED indicators on front back
– Dust filters if area where computer to
be used is dusty
– aesthetics
 Preparing to install Motherboard
• Review the motherboard location map
• Configure the motherboard
– Install the CPU, heat sink and fan, RAM
– Connect power supply cables to motherboard
power connectors and misc. connectors to
correct switches and lights
– Set the system BIOS
 Configuring the processor
• Set jumper settings for
appropriate frequency

• Ensure the CPU used

supports the BUS
speed and the CPU
clock speed
 Motherboard jumper settings

• A jumper is used to bridge a pair of pins that are to be

connected to complete a circuit on the board.
• Follow motherboard manual instructions carefully
• Common jumper settings
– Processor voltage
– Password clear
– CMOS clear
– BIOS setup access
– Host bus frequency
– Processor frequency
– BIOS Recovery
Types of CPU interfaces
• Two main types
– Socket
• Socket 7 very common
• Socket A for AMD Athlon and
Duron chips
• Socket 370 for Celeron and some
Pentium II and III chips

– Slot
• Similar to expansion card interface
• Slot 1 used by Intel Pentium II
processors
 Installing the CPU

• ZIF (Zero Insertion Force) trait on nearly all socket 7 and similar
types
• Inspect pins for damage
• Locate pin 1 on both chip and socket
• Open the ZIF socket (raise lever)
• Insert processor (should easily slide on)
• Make sure there is not a gap between bottom of chip and socket
• Push lever down
• Set CPU voltage jumper settings if necessary (Pentium II and later
CPU’s adjust automatically to voltage)
 Install Heat Sink and Fan
• Attach fan to heat sink if not already
attached
• Apply thin layer of compound to chip
surface
• Attach heat sink by placing squarely on top
of processor and press down gently
• Bend clips in place to hold sink
• Make sure there is good contact between
sink and Chip surface
• Wipe off any excess compound
• Plug power cord from fan to fan power
pins on motherboard
Install RAM
• Two types memory modules used
on most PC’s
– DIMM (168 pin, used on all current
machines)
– SIMM (72 pin)
• Look at motherboard map to
determine which bank to place
DIMM 1 module in
• Orient the Dimm chip over the
slot (keyed) and insert into slot
• Lock in place by closing levers
 Installing the Motherboard
• Position case for easy access, locate holes on motherboard
and corresponding holes on case
• Insert spacers that came with motherboard into holes on
case and install plastic standoffs into holes on motherboard
• Carefully slide the board into the case, lining up holes
• Tighten board to case with screws
• Verify that the back of the motherboard is not touching the
case, all slots and connectors line up properly, board is
securely held in place, and board does not bend when
pressed
Attaching LEDs, keylock and speaker
• Use motherboard manual as a guide for
proper placement
– Turbo LED (mainly legacy item)
– Power LED
– Hard drive activity LED
– Keylock switch (common with older systems,
rare now; prevented BIOS meddling)
– PC speaker
 Connect power supply cables
• AT motherboard
– Locate two large wire leads from power supply (P8 and
P9)
– Locate 12 pin power connector on motherboard
– Plug P8 and P9 into connector
– Be sure black wires are in the middle beside one another
• ATX motherboard
– Attach the connector that is keyed to fit only one way
into the motherboard connector
Attach the floppy drive
• Select 3.5”drive bay, remove
faceplate and insert drive into
bay, ensuring fit and secure drive
with screws
• Attach power and ribbon cable (or
save this step until later if cable
will be in the way of installing
other drives
• Check your work
 Attach hard drive and CD-ROM
• Use separate IDE cables if possible and set both jumpers to Master (or
single on the hard drive if available)
• If sharing an IDE cable, set the hard drive to Master and the CD-ROM to
slave
• Install hard drive away from power supply which can act like a magnet and
destroy data
• Keep hard drive near front of case to benefit from air drawn into case and
keep away from other hardware
• Slide drive into selected drive rail and screw drive into place
• Attach ribbon cable to the primary controller of the motherboard and
attach power cord
• Follow with CD-ROM installation and attach to secondary controller of the
motherboard
 Attaching ribbon cables
• Usually, red stripe on cable indicates pin 1
• Usually pin 1 on floppy data connectors is closest to the power
connector
• If two floppy drives are on one cable, drive A is configured on
the end connector and drive B is configured on the middle
connector. Drive A is used for just one floppy drive.
• Floppy drive IDE is 34 pin
• HDD and CD-ROM IDE cables are typically 40 pins
 Installing a video card
• Use AGP expansion slot if available,
otherwise use PCI or ISA
• Remove slot insert and insert video card
by aligning pins and gently applying
pressure
• Secure to case with a screw
• Some motherboards have built-in video. AGP VIDEO CARD
If you want to install an external card
then you must disable the built in video
in the CMOS
 Post Assembly Checklist

 All expansion cards are fully inserted

 CPU fan is attached to power
 The 110/220 volt switch is configured properly
 Drives are connected to power
 Ribbon cables are attached correctly
 Fans are free from interference from wires
 CPU voltage settings are correctly configured
 Power switch is off and power supply connectors are connected
properly to motherboard
 All connections are tight
 Pins are properly aligned
 Close the case before booting
 Connect keyboard, mouse and monitor and plug in AC power cord
 Booting the system
• BIOS = Basic Input Output System
– Embedded in ROM chip on motherboard
– Contains program code required to control all
basic operating components of the system
• Contains software needed to test the hardware and
load the O.S.
 Entering the BIOS configuration

• Follow the prompt early in the startup process

(usually strike the “delete” key or “cntrl-alt-del”) to
access the CMOS Setup utility.
• Enter date and time
• Set hard disks fields to “auto” to allow BIOS to auto
detect and configure the hard drives
• Make sure that the floppy drive and the video card
are detected
• Program Halt On to “all errors” so that error problems
can be reported before they corrupt data.
 BIOS and Chipset Features setup
screens
• BIOS Features • Chipset Features
– Place where system – Auto Configuration
hardware can be fine should be set to
tuned for optimal “Enabled”
performance
– Set up boot sequence
Power Management and PnP/PCI setup

• Power Management • Plug n Play

– Feature settings to control – Default settings should be
the computer’s optimal used when working on
power management for newer systems because any
devices manual configurations
– Recommended to disable the require a good knowledge of
choice “power management” the bus devices installed.
as when enabled, because – If any conflicts occur, the
devices can be put into sleep “reset configuration data”
mode, but some software feature will clear this portion
applications and OS may not of the BIOS setup and return
recognize the devices in this it to defaults upon reboot
mode
 Integrated Peripherals and Fixed disk
detection screens
• Integrated Peripherals • Fixed Disk Detection
– Includes devices such as – In the event that the “Hard Disks
floppy and hard drive AUTP setting” in the CMOS setup
controllers, USB controller, screen is not automatically
serial and parallel ports, detecting the hard drive’s
geometry, the Fixed Disk Detection
sound card chip will allow the manual running of
– Set these features to the IDE auto detection program and
“auto”to permit the BIOS to select the auto detection for each
issue for example, the drive on the controller channel. The
appropriate IDE drive BIOS will scan and report drive
commands to determine parameters which can then be
accepted or rejected.
what mode the hard drives
will support
 Passwords screens and the load setup
defaults screen
• Passwords screens • Load Setup Defaults Screen
– User password – Resets the BIOS setup to
• Allows the installation of a default settings
password that will keep the
system from booting unless – Will not affect the settings in
the password is entered the standard CMOS Setup
• Prevents access to the BIOS screen
– Supervisor password – Can be used when
• Usually found in large configuring the system for
institutions the first time and problems
• Once set, the BIOS setups are encountered.
are locked with a master
password
 BIOS EXIT OPTIONS
• Exit without saving • Save and exit setup
setup • Computer will restart
with new configuration
 POST errors, troubleshooting

• POST routine ensures that all the hardware the system

needs for startup is there and that everything is
functioning properly before the boot process begins
• Post error codes take the form of a series of beeps that
identify a faulty hardware component.
• If the new system is functioning normally, one short
beep will usually be heard at the completion of POST.
 Troubleshooting POST continued

• POST typically provides three types of output messages: audio codes

(beeps), onscreen text messages, and hexadecimal numeric codes that are
sent to an I/O port address.
• POST generally continues past non-fatal problems, but fatal problems
cause POST to halt the boot process. If problems occur early, before any
drivers are loaded for the monitor, for example, then POST can only signal
that a problem exists using beeps.
• If the POST and the boot sequence can advance up to a point where the
system can use the system video to display messages, then a message can
be displayed on the screen. The message indicates what problems occurred
and the probable cause. These are referred to as visual error codes. These
error messages are usually in the form of a numeric code, for example,
1790-Disk 0 Error.
You’ve successfully assembled a
computer
All the best on your unit exam!