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Getting ready to check CPU Post - Need advice

C

Caveman

Platinum Member
At what point do you guys power on a new build for the first time to see if it posts?

What do you have installed? I'm planning to try Mobo/CPU with single SATA SSD hooked up. THen if success with Beep, install everything else and then try to load Windows followed by driver install in this order:

MoBo
Video card
Sound Card


What else do I need to know?
 
Well you'll need some RAM installed at first or you're guaranteed to get a RAM post code. General build order for myself:

1) Install motherboard, CPU, RAM, PSU and fans

2) Test to make sure it boots properly with those

3) Power down & unhook from power

4) Hook up GPU & SSD and make sure of good boot

5) If everything boots from this point install Windows

6) Let Windows complete patching everything then shut down & unplug again

7) Hook up remaining HDDs & other peripherals & boot once again to install necessary drivers

I'm curious though, why the separate sound card? Unless it's a particularly crappy motherboard the onboard sound nowadays is typically better than a lot of sound cards from the past unless it's particularly high end. I've gone away from sound cards myself and just use external USB DACs now.
 
Do make sure you have the CPU in.
Do try to have a cooler on the CPU. (It probably won't kill it if you don't, but better safe than sorry.)
Do have at least one RAM stick in.
Do have a monitor connected. If your system doesn't have onboard video, that means a video card unfortunately.
Do have a keyboard connected. Modern systems may need a mouse too; not sure.

Don't power up the system unless the mobo is insulated from the surface it's on. That means standoffs, or power it up on a wood block or something. I learned that the hard way once long ago.

You should be able to get into the BIOS without any drive hooked up.
 
I build the computer, then set up the bios/install the OS. I've never understood why people make such a big deal about this. Just install everything. Chances are, everything will be fine.
 
nsafreak said:
1) Install motherboard, CPU, RAM, PSU and fans

2) Test to make sure it boots properly with those

3) Power down & unhook from power

4) Hook up GPU & SSD and make sure of good boot

5) If everything boots from this point install Windows

6) Let Windows complete patching everything then shut down & unplug again

7) Hook up remaining HDDs & other peripherals & boot once again to install necessary drivers
Click to expand...

This is what I do apart from (3). I do power off but always leave the cable connected for grounding. Less chance of frying something with static.
 
OlyAR15 said:
I build the computer, then set up the bios/install the OS. I've never understood why people make such a big deal about this. Just install everything. Chances are, everything will be fine.
Click to expand...

I pretty much do the same myself.

Have never had a fail.

*edit* Actually I think I did once, I forgot to connect the PSU cables to the graphics card, but that was minor.
 
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Unless I'm suspecting that something may be wrong (e.g. a parcel was damaged), or I'm doing an extremely unusual build (I'm trying to think of what might qualify as unusual), I generally just build the entire PC then switch it on for the first time.

The problems I can remember having of the builds I've done:

1 - Prat mistakes (by far the most common type) - e.g. forgetting to connect power switch, or connecting it incorrectly.

2 - Revision 1 CX430s did not like standby mode with the boards I was using (that was in 2010 IIRC).
 
First I start the power supply by itself and check the voltages with a multimeter (if the power supply is a new one), just to be safe.

Then I start with motherboard + CPU (with heatsink fan and thermal paste applied) + RAM. If no integrated graphics, I add a dedicated graphics card to this minimal setup.

After I check the Monitoring section from BIOS/UEFI for a while and all seems OK, I power down, unplug, discharge the capacitors (by pressing the power button) and then install the graphics card, connect drives (SSD and/or HDDs) and any other components.

Then I proceed to a Memtest86+ test.

If no problems there, I install the OS.
 
Thanks for the input everyone! Sorry for the quality of my OP, it left much to be desired... This is what's installed:

MoBo
CPU
CPU fan
Memory
Primary SSD

One thing that's kind of a chick/egg is when to install MoBo drivers... It would seem they would be necessary to install the OS... But yet I can't install them until the OS is installed... Seems weird...

I guess the theory is the Mobo has some very basic functionality before any drivers are installed which "tweak" performance, etc?

Oh... one more thing... Regarding the person's comment about sound cards... I did a bunch of reading - I think it was in the MoBo section where someone there started a thread on why sound is still so unreliable/not good these days...

Long discussion with most (among audiophiles) saying they have better success with a discrete soundcard... I just got one because it was "cheap enough" and I wanted to run some experiments between using it, the Mobo sound, and then porting through a Denon Rx to see what sounded best... I'm guessing the Denon solution will blow all else away...
 
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You are making this way more complicated than is necessary. Just build the computer, setup the BIOS/UEFI, stick the Windows disk in the drive and install. Then install the drivers off the driver disk supplied with the mobo.

As for the sound card. Audio will only be as good as its weakest link, which in most cases would be the speakers. Unless you have very good speakers, chances are that you will not notice a significant difference.
 
OlyAR15 said:
I build the computer, then set up the bios/install the OS. I've never understood why people make such a big deal about this. Just install everything. Chances are, everything will be fine.
Click to expand...

Yeah. Pretty-much this. Though, I did lose an SSD once, building a PC out of surplus parts, and using a (brand-new) case + PSU. The "case PSU" was bad, and damaged the mobo and the SSD I had connected. If I had powered it up without the SSD, it might not have died. Then again, that's a corner case. I'm not sure that the lesson is to power up without drives - more like, don't use cheap case PSUs, unless you really have to.
 
In the vast majority of cases, I install the OS on a fully-built computer, then immediately install drivers. Windows has some basic capabilities that allow it to drive most sound devices and displays in a basic fashion. If you're lucky (depending on the age of hardware and Windows), it'll have a compatible network driver as well, but I would still update it. If it's a Realtek NIC, it'll get updated when you run Windows Update.

IMO onboard sound is fine, it has been for about fifteen years now, give or take a year.
 
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