PC ASSEMBLY

A. Preparing to build your own PC

Before starting to build your new PC, there are a number of things you need to do, such
that work can proceed smoothly without too much interruption. Follow these steps
before moving on to the next section.

Work Area

Find a large, clean, well-lit work surface which has two or more mains power outlets
nearby (RCD protected, if possible.) You will need space for your monitor, keyboard and
mouse and to lay your case on its side, such that you can fit the components etc.

Tools

Collect together the necessary tools nearby, such that they are close to hand. It is
advisable at this stage to set up your anti-static precautions.

Equipment

Make a collection of all your new components (still in their packaging) and place them
nearby, ready for use.

Set Up

Unwrap and carefully place your monitor (on its stand) on the work surface, such that
you can clearly view the screen. Be careful when lifting monitors as they can be
extremely heavy. Ask someone for help if necessary.

Retrieve the power and signal (if supplied loosely) cables from the packaging and fit
them to the monitor as instructed by its manual. Do the same with the keyboard, mouse
and speakers (if you have them) such that they are ready to be used later on.

Do not connect any devices to the mains power outlet yet.

B. Preparing the PC Case

Opening the Case

Check your case instructions to determine how to remove the outer casing (or in some
styles, side cover panel). This should give you clear access to the inside such that you can
fit all your new equipment. Once this is done, carefully lay the case on its side, so that
the opening faces up.
Fitting the PSU (if necessary)

You will notice at the rear of the case there will be a large hole (at the top in most cases).
You will need to install the PSU, such that the fan outlet and power socket on the PSU
will face outward and the power connectors all hang loosely inside the case.

The example on the right demonstrates a correctly fitted PSU. Notice the four fixing
screws (circled in red) that hold the PSU in place. It is also important to make sure that
any 'ventilation openings' on the PSU case itself, face toward the inside of the PC case.
The PSU has a secondary function: to draw hot air out of the PC case and push it out of
the back.

C. Fitting the Motherboard

With the PC Case ready, collect together the 'fixings' kit and follow these steps.

Unpack the Motherboard. You will notice that it is packaged in a special bag (usually
black or silver in colour.) This is a special anti-static bag. Try to keep the motherboard
inside this bag until it is needed.

A good quality motherboard will be supplied with a User Manual, driver disk/CD and all
the cables you will need to configure your PC, including a Floppy Drive cable, one or
more IDE cables and where supported, one or more Serial-ATA cables. In addition, you
should also receive an IO Shield which can be fitted into the PC Case to match the
connectors on the motherboard.

You will notice, in various places on the motherboard, there are small holes with bare
metal 'rings' around them. These can be used to fix the motherboard to the inside of the
PC Case.

Warning
Under no circumstances should the motherboard be mounted such that the back of the board is
in contact with the metal case. This will cause a short-circuit and could damage the
motherboard.Find the corresponding points inside the case and fit the standoffs as
appropriate to allow you to screw the motherboard into place. The standoffs should
raise the motherboard around half an inch off the metal mounting plate, preventing a
short-circuit.

Look closely at the Motherboard shown here. You will notice a collection of coloured
'blocks' along the top right edge. These are the connectors for the Keyboard, Mouse,
 USB etc. The Motherboard should always be fitted such that
these are accessible to the rear of the case.

Fitting the CPU

By now you will have successfully fitted your motherboard and

installed your Adapter Cards. The Processor and Memory can
now be installed as follows.

Unpack the CPU (Central Processing Unit). Make sure at this stage that you have your
anti-static measures in place and even briefly make contact with both hands on the
metal of the case to make sure. Try not to touch any exposed metal pins or components.

'Socket' type CPU and connector

If you take a look at both the CPU pins and the holes in the socket you will see that in
one or more corner there are some missing pins (examine the upper and lower right
corners of the white socket in the picture below.) This is the 'keying' method for this type
of CPU.

Note the darker, 'core' area on the CPU, where the heat is generated.

(If your CPU doesn't look like this then it is probably a Slot-Type CPU)

Gently lift the free end of the 'arm' on the edge on the socket until it stands upright.
Align the 'missing CPU pins' with the 'missing socket holes' and carefully drop the CPU
into the socket.

Be very careful not to bend any of the CPU pins. They are extremely delicate, and
should one be moved out of alignment, it will not be possible to fit the CPU.

Check that the CPU sits perfectly flat onto the socket and is not raised at any corner.
Lower the arm again to return it to its original position. The socket will grip the CPU
pins and lock it in place.

Warning
Never power up the PC without the CPU cooler attached!
Coolers for modern processors will require some form of heat transfer material on the
underside. This may be in the form of a small 'pad' about 1 or 2mm thick. This will help
the heat to dissipate from the CPU core to the cooler.
Be sure to check the instructions that come with your cooler, as in some cases, a thin
protective film will need to be removed prior to fitting the cooler to the CPU. Failure to
do so will cause the CPU to overheat very quickly and destroy itself.
If this pad is not present, it may be necessary to use a thermal paste. Market leaders,
Arctic Silver offer excellent step-by-step instructions for applying thermal paste.

Carefully, attach the CPU cooler (it will clip onto the lugs on either side of the socket)
and connect the power wiring as necessary

D. Fitting a Floppy Disk Drive

Unpack the FDD (Floppy Disk Drive). Make sure at this stage that you have your anti-
static measures in place and even briefly make contact with both hands on the metal of
the case to make sure.

You will notice, on the front panel of your PC case, there is an opening the same size as
the floppy drive's front panel (if there is a plastic cover plate fitted, just gently push it
out from behind.)

Slide the floppy drive into the opening backwards such that its front panel becomes
flush with the front of the PC case. Clear any obstructions to this insertion from inside
the case if necessary.

Once fully inserted, there should be some fixing holes inside the case such that you can
secure the floppy drive to the case. Use the fine threaded screws for this.

E. Connecting the PC Case Front Panel

With all the hardware installed correctly, follow these steps to connect the internal
cabling.

You will have noticed during the previous work, that the PC Case itself has some cables.
These are for the Front Panel Display. These are usually labelled as the following;

• SPK - Speaker - Small speaker mounted in the PC Case

• PWR SW - Power switch - System power on/off
• RST SW - Reset switch - Reset system
• PWR LED - Power LED - Light shows when system is on (usually green)
• HDD LED - HDD LED - Light shows when system is accessing HDD (usually
red)
• SLP LED - Sleep LED - Light shows when system is suspended (in 'sleep' mode)

Basically, these connectors slide onto a set of grouped pins on the Motherboard. Owing
to the many variations of Motherboard, it will be necessary to refer to your Motherboard
manual for the connection method of these cables.
Technical Tip
It is worth noting that a speaker or switch cable can be connected both ways round and
work perfectly well, while an LED (Light Emitting Diode) cable must be connected the
right way round to function properly. If an LED fails to light when it should, reverse the
connection.

F. Connecting the Monitor and Speakers

Having completed your new PC, take some time to go back over your work in the
previous steps, and check that all your connections are correctly aligned and secure, and
that your CPU, RAM and cards are all secure in their fixings. A thorough check here can
save a lot of frustration later on.

Proceed now by connecting the remaining devices, such that you can power up and test
the new machine. Position the PC case such that you have clear access the
sockets/connectors at the back.

Monitor signal cable

Take the Monitor display cable, and connect it to the suitable connector on the Video
Card backplate. Use the cable screws if necessary to fully secure the cable. Do not worry
about other connectors on the Video card at this stage.

Speakers (if you have them)

Connect this to the 'SPK' socket. It can be found either on your sound card, or if your
Motherboard has a sound card built-in, refer to its manual for the correct method of
connection.

G. First PC Power Up

It's time to see if all the hard work paid off. If you didn't check over your work at the
beginning of the last section, now is definitely the time.

Carefully move your PC case around so that you can clearly see the front panel again. At
this point, take some time to clear to one side all your tools, loose parts and packaging,
so that you have room to move the keyboard and mouse into the main area of the work
surface.

Check the mains power cables to your monitor, PC Case (and speakers if necessary) are
plugged in and ready and switch them on at the wall. The PC case should not power on
at this point, if it does, simply press (and if necessary, hold for a few seconds) the
POWER button on the front panel until it switches off.

Switch on the Monitor (check the manual for help with this if necessary.) The Monitor
should show some indication of being 'on' by displaying a small green/amber light on
the front panel.

Press the 'POWER' button on the PC case

If there are any loud or disturbing noises at this point disconnect the power at the wall
socket immediately and refer to the Troubleshooting section.

What should happen

Check that the CPU fan is spinning to prevent heat damage to the CPU. You should be
able to hear the faint 'rushing' noise of some fans and the noise of the HDD spinning up.

The 'power' light on the PC case should illuminate and the HDD light may flicker a little.

After a few seconds, the Monitor will begin to display various texts and eventually stop
at a message similar to - Unable to load Operating system - or similar.

This is an excellent response and demonstrates that the system is ready to have the
Operating System installed.

H. New PC Troubleshooting

Select from this list of possible problems and some suitable suggestions will be given.

"After I pressed the Power button..."

• Nothing Happened
• There was a loud bang (possibly with smoke) in the PC Case
• PC is on but monitor shows no display and the pc speaker 'beeps'
• PC is on but there's no display and one 'beep' from pc speaker
• PC is on but no lights show on the PC case front panel
• PC is on but HDD does not spin up
• PC is on but CD-ROM shows no lights/will not eject tray
• PC is on but the CPU fan/fans do not spin
• On boot up, monitor shows corrupted display
• On boot up, monitor shows incorrect CPU type/speed
 • On boot up, monitor shows incorrect RAM total
• On boot up, monitor shows FDD/Keyboard/Mouse not found
• There was another problem not listed here?

Nothing happened

• Check mains plug switched on at wall

• PSU may have its own power switch - check this is on
• Check PSU-to-Motherboard cable(s) are correctly connected
• Check front panel power switch is correctly connected
• Check Reset button is not stuck 'in'
• Check mains cable fuse

There was a loud bang (possibly with smoke) at the back of the PC Case

• PSU was faulty or set to incorrect voltage for mains supply system. Replace PSU

PC is on but monitor shows no display and a sequence of beeps emits from

the PC

• Check fitting of CPU, RAM, Video card, sound card etc. If necessary, remove and
refit these components
• Check the motherboard manual and perform a BIOS reset procedure
• This may indicate a faulty motherboard

PC is on but monitor shows no display and one beep emits from the PC

• Check monitor is switched on at the wall socket

• Check monitor power cable is connected correctly
• Check that the monitor's signal cable is connected correctly to both the PC and
Monitor
• Check that the monitor is switched on at its front panel
• This may indicate a faulty video card

PC is on but there are no power and/or HDD lights on the PC case front
panel

• Check correct connection of front panel connectors to the motherboard (see

motherboard manual)
• This 'may' indicate a faulty Motherboard

PC is on but HDD does not spin up

• Check power connector to HDD is properly connected

• Check IDE ribbon cable is correctly connected to both Motherboard and HDD
• This may indicate a faulty Hard Drive
PC is on but CD-ROM shows no lights/will not eject tray

• Check power connector to CD-ROM is properly connected

• Check IDE ribbon cable is correctly connected to both Motherboard and CD-
ROM
• This may indicate a faulty CD-ROM Drive

PC is on but the CPU fan/fans do not spin

• Disconnect the power immediately to prevent damage to the CPU from

overheating
• Check fan power cables are correctly connected to the relevant power connector
(in most cases, a motherboard FAN connector or one of the PSU power
connectors)
• Disconnect the power and carefully spin the fan blades with a finger. If there is
any resistance to this movement, this may indicate a faulty fan unit

On boot up, the monitor shows corrupted display

• Check seating of CPU, RAM, Video card, sound card etc. If necessary, remove and
refit these components
• Check the motherboard manual and perform a BIOS reset procedure
• This may indicate a faulty Motherboard or Video card

On boot up, display shows incorrect CPU type/speed

• Check the motherboard manual for the appropriate CPU jumper settings (where
applicable)
• Check BIOS settings for CPU type (see Motherboard Manual)
• Perform a BIOS reset procedure
• Perform a BIOS update (with an updated BIOS, the Motherboard may support
your CPU)
• This may indicate a faulty/old motherboard

On boot up, display shows incorrect RAM total

• Check correct seating of Memory Modules in slots

• In cases of two or more modules, this may indicate a faulty module
• This may indicate a faulty/old motherboard

On boot up, display shows - FDD/Keyboard/Mouse not found (or similar)

• Check correct connection of device described, In the case of the FDD, check its
ribbon and power connections
• Check that the BIOS is configured correctly for the device described
• This may indicate a fault with the described device or Motherboard