How to assemble a computer

How to assemble a computer step by step

The entire procedure should take 3-4 hours if you have no problems. We'll proceed in stages. Rather than install all of the components in the system at once, I prefer to the bare components necessary and test as we go along. In the first part we'll install the motherboard, floppy drive, RAM, CPU, and video card and test that the system boots and detects the floppy, hard disk, CPU and video. The next stage is to install the CD-ROM and Windows9X. In the last stage, we'll finish by overclocking the system.

Tools and Supplies Required

• Grounding Strap - This can be purchased from Radio Shack or Compusa for a few dollars.
• Phillips screw driver
• One medium sized flat screw driver - Used mostly to help with releasing clips from power connections.
• 1/4" socket screwdriver - I've found this better to use in most cases than the phillips with the 1/8" hex screws. It keeps the screw driver from slipping and potentially causing damage.
• Electrical tape - I use black electrician's tape to tie up any lose wires.
• Bungee straps or Plastic tie wraps - Same as above. I've even used velcro wraps purchased from CompUSA.
• Cardboard sheets - Cardboard sheets can be used as a working surface. It is safe to use cardboard to rest components that are sensitive to static electricity.
• Non Conducting 1/8" washers - I use nylon washers purchased from Home Depot. They work great.

• Set up your work area - Gather your tools and materials and have them nearby to minimize running around. Make sure you have plenty of lighting and a power socket located nearby. As mentioned above use cardboard on your working surface. This helps to reduce the risk of static discharges to your electrical components.
• Before you begin read your motherboard manual, case manual, etc. Familiarize yourself with the layout of the board (the 20-pin power, fan connectors, IDE controlers, PCI slot, AGP slot, RAM slots, CPU Slot, etc).
• Orient your case so that you can work with it comfortably. Lay it on it's side. Not in the upright position. The case should be open and the insides exposed.

• Never work on your system with the power turned on. Before you touch anything always make sure the power is turned off. (You should leave the PS plugged into the wall socket to keep it grounded, BUT make sure the power supply is turned off.)
• Punch out any openings in the back of your case to fit your motherboard ports. You may need to use a  plate supplied with the case or motherboard that fits the ports for your motherboard.
• Attach your grounding strap to your wrist and the clip to the metal chassis of your case.
• Examine the floor of the case. If you do not have stand-offs you will need to insert them. stand-offs are meta hex screws that screw into the motherboard plate of your case. The motherboard rests on the stand-offs. The stand-offs are usually supplied with your case. Align the stand-offs with the holes on your motherboard. For now just screw the stand-offs in for the holes that align with your mobo. Snug them up but be careful not to over tighten or strip the screws.
• Examine the cables coming from the power supply to ensure that they are proper length. Make sure the power cables are out of the way temporarily.

• Insert your motherboard into your case. Make sure that your stand-offs are in place. Be careful to ensure that your ports are aligned with the holes you punched out in the back of the case. Don't force anything; the external ports should fit nicely but snug.
• Take your 1/8" hex screws and put the non-conducting washers on them. Now use them to screw down your motherboard. The screws go into the holes that aligned with your stand-offs. Do not over tighten your screws. You want them to be snug, not crushing your motherboard.
• We've got the motherboard in!

• Find your 20-pin power supply cable and connect it.

• Slot 1 CPU's require mounting brackets to keep them firmly in-place. My brackets came with my motherboard. In my case, I had to first put the mounting brackets in place on my CPU and heatsink combo and then insert the CPU into slot 1. I then had to flip over my mother board and screw the brackets from the bottom. Non-conducting screws were provided with my motherboards.
• If you don't have a jumperless motherboard you'll need to set the proper jumpers for your CPU multiplier and bus speed. Read your motherboard manual carefully before attempting this. It is important that you use the correct settings or you could potentially damage your CPU or motherboard. If you have a jumperless motherboard you will do this in the BIOS later on.
• Next we'll install the memory. SDRAM memory goes straight into your DIMM slots. Mine has clamps that lock into place once the memory is firmly seated. Consult your motherboard manual for types of memory and configurations for your system.

• Place your graphics card in the PCI or AGP slot. Remove any plates covering the the slots on the back of the case. Screw down the card's bracket to the case. Connect the SVGA cable to the monitor.

• Select the 3.5" floppy drive bay and install the drive. My case came with mounting brackets which are screwed to the sides of the drive. The drive is then slid into place and locked with clips. This is a nice arrangement that makes for easy installation and removal.
• Examine the floppy disk controller on the motherboard for the position of pin 1.
• You should also have a 34-pin floppy cable. Note the twist in the cable located between two of the connectors. The connector located next to the twist in the cable should be then end that goes into the floppy drive. The connector on the other end goes into your floppy disk controller on the motherboard. Be sure to align the red strip on the cable with pin 1 on both the drive and the floppy controller.
• Connect the power to your floppy drive.

• Now we're ready to try a power on test to detect the CPU and floppy.
• Turn your computer on and enter the BIOS. Hit the "Delete" key as the system is booting.
• Once in your BIOS make sure that the floppy drive is selected as a bootable device.
• If you have a jumperless motherboard you will now need to select the proper CPU setting. On the ABIT VA6 this is done in CPU Soft Menu. 
• Our PIII 500E works on a 100MHz front side bus with a multiplier of 5.0. Later on we will increase the FSB setting to overclock the system but for now leave it at 100MHz.
• You may also need to make sure that your BIOS has set your floppy drive to bootable. Read your manual to find the proper settings.
• Save your BIOS settings to the CMOS and exit.
• Your system should reboot and detect the floppy drive. If it doesn't. Power down and go back over your settings. Make sure your cables are firmly connected and correct pin 1 alignment.
• Insert you boot diskette into the floppy drive and test again.
• If you succeeded to this point you should be able to boot into DOS and see your a: drive.

• Again you should have mounting brackets that came with your drive and/or your case. Connect the IDE cable to controller one on your motherboard. Make sure that the red strip on the able is aligned with pin 1 on both the drive and controller. Connect the power. Make sure that your drive has the Master jumper pins set. Consult your drive's documentation if you don't know how the jumper pins should be set.

• Once your drive is installed we're ready to boot the system again.

• Turn the system on.
• Enter your BIOS and make sure the drive is selected. Usually, auto detect should be enabled for the IDE controller. I had to enter the "Detect Hard" drive on my BIOS. Save your settings on exit.
• Insert the installation diskette that came with your hard drive.
• Reboot your system.
• The drive software should partition your disk and create a boot sector. You will need to have your operating system's boot floppy handy. Once the hard disk drivers are installed the system should be rebooted. Remove any floppies from the drive. 
• If installation disk doesn't automatically partition and format your drive you can do this manually with the fdisk and format commands.
• Power down the system.

• Now we'll need to install the CD-ROM before you can install Windows.

• You're CD-ROM should come with a diskette containing the DOS drivers. It should also (if you're lucky) provide you with the installation setup to do this automatically. If  it doesn't you can do it manually if you have the right drivers. You'll need to modify the config.sys and autoexec.cfg files to load the drivers and run the MSCDEX.EXE program.

Your config.sys should contain a line similar to the following: REM - other gump in your config.sys goes here - Device=C:\ATAPI_CD.SYS  /D:OEMCD001 Autoexec should have the following line:

• Once you have completed installation of the drivers reboot and test to see that your drive is detected. If successful you can now begin installation of Windows9X.
• After your system has booted and your CD-ROM is working you can run the Windows9X setup installation procedure. 'cd' to the CD-ROM drive and run setup.exe.
• Windows will load and reboot and begin detecting the new hardware devices on your system. This includes the graphics card. You should have your graphics card's drivers handy as Windows will prompt you for them.
• If you're running Windows 95a you may also have a problem with the 440LX or 440BX chipsets. Hopefully, your motherboard manufacturer provide the patches to your operating system for these new chipsets. Otherwise, Windows 95 will run in compatibility mode. Everything will still work but your PCI bridge will not be working correctly. If you do not have the patches for these chipsets first see if you can obtain these from the vendor you purchased your motherboard from, motherboard manufacturer or Intel. I downloaded mine from Intel and they worked fine.

• At this point you should have a functioning system and can begin installation of your sound card and modem. I will not go into any further detail here as this is a fairly straight forward process. I recommend installing them one-at-a-time. Install the hardware and drivers for one before proceeding to the next.
• I hope this guide proved to be of some small help to you. Enjoy your new system!