Build Your own Computer Part II- Motherboard/CPU/Component Installation
Apr 21 '01
The Bottom Line The best way to get exactly the computer configuration that you want is to assemble it yourself. It is really quite simple.
In Part I, we discussed motherboard and case selection criteria. In this continuation, we will start to put things together. Fortunately, it is much simpler to do than to read about it or explain it. The entire process described here takes less than one hour.
Getting Started
I firmly believe that the most important rule to follow is to take your time. Do not be in a hurry, do not force anything and plan your steps in advance. The first thing that I do is to position the motherboard in the case so that I can see which set of standoff (the small metal devices, usually bronze in color, that secure the motherboard to the case) holes is used for the particular motherboard. If you recall from Part I, I had selected an Antec motherboard and case for the project. The case package had an envelope full of screws, bolts and hardware for the assembly process. There was no need to buy anything else, it was all supplied. After locating the proper set of standoff holes, I remove the board and screw the standoffs into the holes in the case. Then I complete the case setup by removing the external slot covers where my drives will go and remove the covers from the expansion slots that I plan to use. This is a straightforward step and at most you will need a pair of pliers or a screwdriver to twist off or push out the cover plates. There is a handy brochure with the Antec case that shows you how, in both words and pictures.
Setting Jumpers and Switches
Once the case is setup, I use the motherboard manual (There is a labeled layout diagram) to locate all the places where the wires for the Power Switch, Speaker and Indicator Lights plug in. Pay attention to the orientation of the plugs on the pins, but don’t panic, if you get it wrong, just reverse it. There are no bad things that will happen, just that the light won’t work until you get the plug on right. I then locate the switches and jumpers that will have to be set to accommodate the hardware going on the board. There are not many, and the Antec motherboard manual has a clear board layout as well as charts and pictures to show exactly how to set things for each processor type. There is one bank of switches that sets the processor clock speed and clock multiplier. The core voltage for just about every CPU is set automatically, with a manual backup for those who don’t like automation or for the rare case when a special setting is required. More on this when we actually install the CPU. There is a jumper to synch the RAM to either the CPU clock or the AGP (Accelerated Graphics Processor) bus. Again, if you get it wrong, no harm will be done, just use the other choice, there are only two, so if you know nothing, you have a 50/50 shot at getting it right the first time. You do not need an AGP card installed to synch to the bus. The AGP bus clock rate is 66 MHz that will work with most SDRAM. The CPU clock speed of course, depends on the CPU. More on this later. The Antec motherboard manual will show a picture of the correct settings for your CPU. There is also a table for alternate settings that produce the same results. Prior to fixing the motherboard to the case, I set all the switches and jumpers. This takes about 10 seconds and no tools are needed, so you can see it is not a difficult process. The next step is to place the CPU in its socket. Touch the case before picking up the CPU to discharge any static charge that your body may have picked up. Do this prior to inserting any board or component. Look at the socket and identify the corner where the hole pattern is beveled, then look at the top of the CPU and find the corner with the dot or other symbol indicating that this is the corner to line up with the beveled corner of the socket. Raise the lever on the side of the socket and align the CPU with the holes. It will fall in place easily. Apply a very slight pressure to the top of the CPU and make sure that it is firmly seated. Once this is done, close the lever. Notice the flanges on either side of the socket. This is where the cooling fan will be attached. Look at the combination heat sink and fan and you will see the connecting bar that slides over the flanges. One end has a fixed slot and the other has a spring loaded or hinged slot. Hook the fixed end over one of the flanges, hold some thumb pressure on top of the fan case, not the blades, and hook the other end to the flange. It should sit firmly on top of the CPU. Next look at the power cord coming out of the fan case. There are two basic types, one with a 3-pin connector that plugs into a set of 3-pins on the motherboard, usually adjacent to the CPU socket. The other is a 4-pin connector that looks just like the ones for a CD-ROM. This type connects to a connector on the power bundle just like a drive. Now it is time to fasten the motherboard to the case.
Position the motherboard over the standoffs and use the screws provided to fasten the board to the standoffs. Now find the power bundle and the main power connector and connect it to the motherboard. It is keyed and will only go in one way. Plug-in the CPU cooling fan power connector. Connect the power switch cable, the LED cable and the RESET cable to the proper connectors on the motherboard. Double check with the layout diagram in the manual to ensure that all are placed properly.
Component Installation
The next step is to inset the memory. Last month I cited the SDRAM as my memory selection. The Antec board has a great feature, you can plug in any size SDRAM in any slot and it will be just fine. We are now very close to checking things out. The idea is to have a minimal set of hardware connected upon first power up, so that if there are any problems, you have limited the sources. A minimal set of hardware consists of the power connection to the motherboard and the CPU fan, the CPU, The CPU fan, RAM, a video board, a bootable drive (floppy, CDROM or hard drive), a monitor and a keyboard. I usually also attach a mouse for convenience. Therefore, I now install the RAM, SDRAM plugs into the connector straight, not at an angle as some other types do. The RAM module is keyed to the connector so that it will only go in one way. The other thing to check is that the locking lugs at the ends of the socket are open and when you firmly seat the RAM module they should close on the module with their little locking lip being inserted into the notch on the ends of the RAM module. A firm steady pressure on the RAM during insertion will make this happen. Now I install the video card into an expansion slot, again with a firm steady pressure. Check and see that the card is fully seated into the connector, then insert the holding bolt that secures the card to the case. Plug the monitor into the connector on the outside of the video card and connect the monitor power cord to an outlet. The keyboard and mouse get connected to the proper outlets on the back of the case. The Antec case has these positions clearly labeled so you should not get them wrong. Now slide a bootable floppy drive into its slot on the case and bolt it in place. Connect the floppy cable to the motherboard using the layout diagram to make sure that you have the proper connector. It is also keyed so that the cable can only go in one way. Sorry, Murphy. Connect the other end to the floppy. You will see a red stripe on one side of the cable; the red side is placed nearest the power connector. Take a matching connector from the power supply bundle and connect it to the floppy power connector. If you prefer to use a bootable hard drive you may install it now. Assuming that it is an IDE drive, (we will talk about SCSI devices in a future session) connect the IDE cable to the IDE 1 connector on the motherboard and the other end to the drive that should be bolted in its slot. Again the red stripe on the cable is placed closest to the power plug on the drive. Select a power connector from the power supply bundle and plug it into the drive connector. It will only go in one way, don’t try to force it. Make sure that the cables are fully seated in their connectors. Prior to installing the hard drive, make sure that the drive jumpers are set in accordance with the manufacturers instructions for your application. This means, is it a sole drive, a master drive or a slave drive? Since we are installing a bootable drive it must be the only drive or a master.
Cooling Fans
One more minor, optional item to consider. Cases come with a fan on the power supply, and that is usually enough to keep the components other than the CPU cool enough. The CPU fan is a must unless you opt for a more exotic, more expensive alternative such as a Peltier cooler. This is a device that uses the Peltier effect. You do remember that from Physics class? You did take Physics courses, didn’t you? The Peltier effect is the cooling phenomenon resulting from expanding a gas rapidly through a small orifice. (That’s a fancy word for little hole). The typical fan costs about $15, the Peltier device, about $50. I use a fan. The other option that I chose is the addition of a case fan. This is a low cost item, but since the greatest enemies of electronic equipment are heat and moisture, the case fan provides a great deal of extra protection at minimal cost. Typically about the same as a CPU fan. The many ribbon cables that proliferate in the case also manage to interfere with good airflow, so the case fan helps quite a bit. If you don’t have many peripherals you probably don’t need this fan. Antec makes a very good case fan and it installs quite easily without requiring any tools. Just squeeze the plastic frame around the speaker and it comes off. The fan fits right into the plastic frame without any bolts. Just line up the springy legs of the frame with the holes in the case and it goes right back in place. Then you merely connect the fan to a power connector. It comes in two versions, a four-pin connector that attaches just like a drive power plug and a three-pin connector that plugs into the motherboard. You may add the case fan later if you think that you may need it.
The Moment Of Truth
Now comes the big moment, time to power up the minimal system. Don’t be too concerned about the BIOS settings at this point; the default settings will do just fine now. Upon turning the machine on, look and listen for the CPU fan. If it is not running shut down at once and check the power connection and make sure that the blades rotate by either blowing on them or spin them gently with a pencil. They are really reliable devices and there is little chance that the fan will not work. Assuming that the fan is running look for the start of the boot process on the monitor. If there is a problem, you may see the LED blink but the screen stays blank. There will also be some beeping from the beep codes. There are several sources to decipher these beep codes. First check the BIOS section of your motherboard manual. The codes differ per BIOS manufacturer. The next two sources are the BIOS manufacturer’s web site or a good hardware manual such as Scott Muellers, Upgrading And Repairing PC’s. This is not vital information as there are only a few sources of problems at this stage. If you know that the monitor and video card are good and are properly connected, check the RAM. On some boards the slot that the RAM module is plugged into is important, on the Antec board any of the three is OK. Check to be sure that the module is properly seated in the slot. The other possible cause for no video is the CPU. There are some sources that sell “remarked” CPU’s. These are units that might be factory rejects or just do not meet the specifications and have been re-labeled by unscrupulous vendors. Several years ago, I bought an Intel 233 from a local store that did not function at the 233 MHz speed, and when the board was set up for a 233 CPU, there was no video. The system seemed dead. The solution was to set it for a slower speed. Instead of setting it for the rated 66 MHz clock speed, I set it for 60 MHz, which produced a 210 MHz chip instead of the rated 233. But it worked and worked fine. There is no sure way to tell in advance, short of actually plugging them into a system. However, in many cases, a simple adjustment of the CPU clocking parameters can correct things. There are two parameters to consider, the clock speed and the multiplier. When I use the term clock speed here, I am really talking about the CPU bus frequency. For example a higher multiplier setting can compensate for the lower clock speed. The operating frequency (actual achieved clock speed) is the product of the bus frequency and the multiplier. If you use a 3.5 multiplier with a 66 MHz clock speed, you get 3.5 times 66 equal 231 MHz. Since the cited 66 MHz is really a round off from the true 66.66 MHz frequency, that is how you get 233 MHz. If you drop the clock to 60 MHz and keep the 3.5 multiplier you get a 210 MHz chip. Raise the multiplier to 4 and you get 240 MHz. The Antec board has the capabilities of many different combinations, so you can get rated performance from even many re marked chips. Even more important, the settings do not require moving several jumpers, there is a switch bank that does the job so all you need do is move a simple switch, just like turning a light switch on or off. We will cover this subject in more depth in subsequent articles.
Relax, It’s Over For Now
Right now, I’ve probably bored you to death with detail, the actual job really is much easier to do and compensate for potential problems than a first reading might indicate. I chose to go to such lengths, mostly to let you know that in the unlikely case that you run into problems, they can be readily solved by you. There is almost never a need to call for high priced help.
If you have followed these steps, the chances are overwhelmingly in favor of the machine booting properly. You will now have a functioning computer and can proceed to add peripherals, preferably one at a time, verifying the proper function of each at each step. We will discuss adding the most common peripherals in subsequent articles. Again, I apologize for the ad nauseum detail, but than the more that you are aware of, the fewer problems that you will have.
That’s probably enough to absorb now, we will continue in Part III.
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