By Brian Lance, Tampa PC Users Group
Before we throw it all into a box and hit the switch, let's review Part One of this article, which appeared in the September newsletter:
Bring your tools, hardware, software and miscellaneous items to a handy work surface. Familiarize yourself with the case and layout of the cards. A good example is an Enlight case (on a computer I recently built). The diagram shows arrows parallel to the case, so I pulled on it until I thought I was going to break something (hopefully, not a finger!). There are six little bud-like snap-onto connectors on the inside of the front panel, which was removed easily when I noticed there was a handle of sorts on the underside. Had I looked the case over a little more carefully, I could have avoided that scene. The rest of the case comes apart easily, and without tools. Lesson learned.
Some tips: Remember to always handle processors, memory modules and cards without touching pins or circuit traces. Check your cables and other parts for damage. Write down the model number and common name of your peripherals and cards. This will help when locating new drivers and updates. The FCC ID, which will appear on modems and other devices, may be useful as well.
Check your jumpers again and set according to the configuration you need. Definitely mark the location of ones you may have to change later in your manual. Some on-board devices (video, sound) may appear to disable themselves after installation of a like card, but if there is a conflict or the on-board device appears in Windows, you may need to manually disable it via jumpers.
If you don't have a grounding leash, touch a grounded metal surface on the case before you begin. This should drain any residual static charge. If you're worried about static building up due to carpeting (you should be!), get off the carpet, get a leash and come back here when you're done.
Now, let's start with the on-board components. Locate your memory DIMMs or SIMMs (Dual- and Single Memory Modules) and install them according the directions in the manual. SIMMs have to be installed at a 45° angle and pushed to vertical to install. Note the direction that they will have to angle from. If the chips have to be pushed to the right, start installing the chips from the rightmost slot in that bank. DIMMs install straight down. Open the retaining clips so they are laid back from the slot, align the chip, push down evenly, and the clips will close automatically. Check all memory to ensure proper contact.
I've noticed that certain motherboards advertise a maximum amount of RAM that can be installed. Say 1024MB. When looking in the manual, you might see a warning not to populate the board with both SIMMs and DIMMs, therefore making it impossible to attain the maximum memory. You can ask, "Why would I need a Gigabyte of memory?" You probably don't - yet. Memory will, in all likelihood, get cheaper per unit and the memory needs of applications will grow accordingly. How much memory was in a standard PC five years ago? The point is that if you do happen to need the advertised capacity, ask if can be reached without going against the manufacturer's recommendations. This is also true for bus or clock speeds - you can go past the recommendations, but you may not get support.
If your case has a removeable mounting plate, take it out of the case. Otherwise, your plate is part of the case and cannot be removed, so ignore references to the plate, substituting the case itself. Line up the motherboard with the plate, keeping in mind the card slots face the rear of the case. There should be at least four mounting holes that line up through both motherboard and plate. Note the location of these on the plate and set the motherboard aside. Find your standoffs. These may be little doohickeys with a hexagonal internally threaded head and a screw base or (the cheaper and much less desirable) tiny plastic christmas trees. Screw the standoffs into the plate. If these leave an uneven plane to put the motherboard onto, you may have to make do with one or more of the trees. These go into slots on the plate with a hole at one end and are to be pushed to the other end of the slot until they lock in place. The motherboard will then be secured to the standoffs by machine screws - and insulating rigs, if you have them. The trees will just push up through the motherboard and clip onto the holes.
Installing the CPU is a snap with a ZIF socket, which the Socket 7 CPUs are. Raise the lever on the side of the socket. Line up the corner of the CPU that is not square with pin 1 - this should be indicated on the chip as well as the socket. The CPU should drop right in. Slowly lower the lever (you may hear a squeak). That puppy is seated! The new Intel chips (Pentium II) are Slot 1 and install similar to a memory module.
Before you affix your heat sink (and possible fan), lay it on the CPU to see just how they will bond. This is usually done via a clip of some sort. Determine if you need anything special to help dissipate the heat, such as thermal grease or silicone. If so, apply this in a thin layer to the CPU and heat sink. The CPU and heat sink meet as flat planes, so if too much is applied, it may ooze out. This is not good. Go clean it up and continue. Now mate the heat sink with the CPU. There's a good chance the first time will be problematic, and you may need an extra hand to help out. On Socket 7 systems, there will be little tabs the heat sink will latch onto.
Next, let's attach any onboard cables, such as IDE, floppy drive, sound, video and USB (Universal Serial Bus). If you have an ATX case with predefined panels (there will be several), choose the one you are going to use and screw this into the case. If it does not have the panels, decide whether to use ports behind the cards - which will block external access to that card - or knock-outs built into the case (recommended). For instance, the TX Pro motherboard in my Enlight with case has built-in sound and video. I used the video through a case knock-out until I bought a card to replace it. So there are now two video ports, but the onboard is disabled. If I had a 'knock-out pop-in', I'd remove the cable and port and plug the hole.
Note how many slots you have open and what type they are. Current systems may have a combination of ISA, PCI and AGP slots. The AGP slot is for an AGP video card only. Check to see if any of the cards have connectors that need cables attached. Sometimes the cables will prevent cards being adjacent to each other, so you will need some idea of what will go where. On a new system, you may have cabling from the modem or CD-ROM (to sound card), from a video card to a 3D accelerator or cards dedicated to I/O, such as a SCSI.
Next, install your storage (floppy drive, hard drive, Zip drive, CD-ROM, DVD, tape drive, etc...). These will all have bays designed for them, in 3.5" or 5.25" form factors, and will be outlined in the documentation for your case. Cases will vary, but most hard drives will be mounted internally, vs. the "external" bays for floppy drives. There should be four screw holes visible through the sides of the bay for each device. The sides of the bay are slotted and sometimes more holes are on the devices; these are to accommodate a wide variety of device/bay combinations. Make sure the external drives are mounted flush with the face of the case, or, for cases where the face covers the floppy (or Zip), just behind the case's face. All storage devices are designed to be mounted horizontally. Most can also be on edge (rolled 90 °) as well. The documentation I have here mentions that a hard drive should not be more than 5° off from horizontal, so don't put a phone book under one corner!
After a final check, put the plate with the motherboard into the case and secure it. Plug in the power connections from the power supply to the various components. If there is a separate plug by itself (not chained to another plug), use it for the CPU's fan. Most components, except for a 3.5" floppy, will use the larger 4-pin connector. The power for the motherboard is two separate plugs for a non-ATX power supply. These are white rectangles with 6 wires each. These snap onto the motherboard with the black wires in the middle. An ATX connector is one plug with two rows of ten.
Next time: Part Three: Everything Else. u