My First PC Build; What to do?

[Techless]

I'm building my first PC and using instructions found on the web. My plan: 1st boot w/ mobo, CPU, RAM & video card. Next boot w/ floppy & hard drive. Then add CD and so on. I'm not clear as to when to input to BIOS, partition HD, update drivers and the like. Should I do these things as I build, or wait till it's all together? Can anyone offer an assembly order with all the details for a beginner?
Thanks,
Techless
Abit KT7A motherboard, AMD 1.4 266FSB T-Bird, Crucial 512 PC133 ram, MSI GeForce 2 MX-400 video, IBM 60GXP 40GB hard drive, 300w power supply, Windows 98 SE o.s.

 

[sohcrates]

firstly, congrats on going the do-it-yourself route. you'll never regret it! (nor will your wallet!)

i'll tell you what i do....nothing sacred, but it's worked for me

1) mount mobo, cpu (make sure you don't have the little plastic on the bottom of the heatsink if you're using the stock thermal pad of your athlon), ram, video card, and floppy. at this point, you should be able to boot up and get into bios, check temps in hardware monitor, leave it running for a bit, and edit cpu multiplier, ram (bus) speeds, et.

2) throw in primary hard drive, as well as all other pci cards and any cd-roms. (some people don't put all cards in immediately, but i do). boot off windows 98 cd or, as i do, boot off a win98 boot floppy (downloadable from bootdisk.com). (set bios to boot from cd if you want to go that way)

3) once at command prompt, you can go ahead and fdisk and format. then, reboot and boot off cd and run win98 setup.

4) once windows is up and running, install all drivers and what not, and you're set.

5) i'm not sure if there's new bios's available for the abit or not, but if there is a newer final bios release, you might want to look into flashing your bios back after step 1.

anyway, this is the best i can do right now feel free to ask specific questions

 

[Techless]

Hey sohcrates, Thanks for the info. It may be a couple days before I get time to build again and I'm waiting for a BIOS backup (shipped yesterday) before I play with that. I'll let you know what happens though. Techless

 

[DaiShan]

also if you run into any problems, check the forum checklist if that doesn't help, I am running this same board, so just post a thread and I am sure someone here can help ya, btw, andy Hui should be getting that FAQ on installing a fresh OS any day now (hopefully)

 

[btvillarin]

Well, I too want to congratulate you on your new endeavor. Trust me...once you figure it out, you'll never buy a regular computer again. Anyway, here are some guides to start you off (if you haven't yet read or seen them):

Tom's Hardware Guide How-To: Do It Yourself PC System
PC Mechanic's "Build Your Own PC"
Hardware Central's "Build Your Own PC"
Tweak3D.net's 3-Part guide "How To Build A Computer"
PCWorld.com's "Build Your Own PC"
BuildEasyPC Step by Step Building Guide

It looks like you have a good system, but I'm not sure about that IBM 60GXP. There's been some problems with the 75GXP series, and now some are starting to show with these as well. Is it possible to return it and get perhaps a Maxtor D740 from Newegg.com for $88? I think those were supposed to be pretty good, especially with it's Fluid Dynamic Bearing Motors.

Also, since I see you're gonna be using Windows 98SE, it and other Win9x/ME operating systems has problems with memory 512MB+. So, Cacheman fixes this limitation. Run through all the wizards to optimize your system. (for future reference) This post shows a good explanation from Toejam31 - Link

Some tips while building (in no particular order):

1) Take your time. Don't rush it, because you might find out that in your haste, you shorted a component out.
2) Make sure everything is secure. You don't want something loose, like an IDE cable, power connector, processor, HSF, PCI cards, hard drive...
3) Have all the tools you need around you, so that you don't have to get up and find it.
4) Get a plate or bowl to place all the screws and tiny hardware in.
5) Place the components (processor, memory, video card) on top of their anti-static bags, so they're ready to go.
6) If the case has direction, it'd be in your best interest to read them, so you know how the case structure works.
7) Put all the manuals and CDs that came with your components, plus any invoices and packing slips at your desk filed away. You should always have them for future reference (if the need arises).
8) Save the boxes. If something comes up, it'll save you time and money. I'd specifically save the motherboard box, especially since it's one of the retail items people buy. If you buy anything else retail, save that box as well, until you're certain you can throw it away.

(Okay, I didn't think I'd have 8 tips, but every little bit helps, right?)

It's interesting to see how other people recommend to build a computer. When I built my first computer, I just put everything in carefully, then booted, flashed the BIOS, formatted the HD, and installed Windows. When I built the two for my friends after that, I did the exact same thing, except I didn't take as much time, knowing more how to go about it. It didn't mean that I wasn't cautious, but I wasn't as scared to mess up. One thing I do remember was that I was kinda shaky, and I needed a fan blowing on me to cool off.

Try to have fun, and don't sweat it. I'm sure you'll be fine.

 

[DaiShan]

Very nice post btvillarin, techless, definitely go over those links, very informative, about the 60gxp though, if you have it you should be fine, it was only really a problem with some of the 75gxps produced at a certain factory in europe (forget which) the 60gxp has proven to be a reliable line, but like any piece of mechanical hardware is subject to deterioration and failure over time, doesn't mean it will happen, just that it is possible, I don't think the risk with the 60gxp is any higher than any other brand/model though. (I have 2)

 

[Techless]

Thanks for all the input so far. I'll check out the links and do some homework and I'll let you all know what happens. TTYL, Techless

 

[Techless]

To sohcrates (reminds me of Bill & Ted), Dai Shan and btvillarin,
Thanks for your help, I really appreciate it! I booted with the CPU, memory, all drives and video card. I was building with confidence when I entered BIOS setup. I was stopped cold right away when my Athlon was identified as: 0644 with a clock: 1050 MHZ. Does this mean I got taken for a ride when I was sold a 1.4 GHZ 266FSB T-Bird? Techless:frown:

 

[darthur]

techless, what you need to do is set the CPU speed in your bios.
I think yours is basically the same as my KT7-raid so here are the instructions.

1) During boot-up enter bios
2) highlight Softmenu III Setup and press enter
3) The top line in white should say "CPU Operating Speed" and the numbers next to it are in red. If the numbers are not highlighted do so now and press enter
4) You should now have a little pop-up menu with a whole list of speeds to choose from. Scroll down with the arrow keys to your rated speed and and press enter.
5)exit from the SoftMenu screen and then save and exit from BIOS.

The system will reboot and you should see the proper speed posted now.


This is also one of the methods to OverClock your system but keep in mind that if you overclock you CPU any warrenty you have is out the window and its a good way to make little CPU trinkets you can make into keychains (I should know I have a couple of the

 

[Rhi]

Congrats Techless! Sounds good!

The speed thing...a 1.4 Ghz Athlon should have a multiplier of 10.5 and a FSB of 133. Make sure this is so.

-Rhi