Newbies nightware build continues - HD Question

[spartacuskzm]

If I sleep before 3:00 am it will be a miracle.

My HD has no "case", but it does seem to have a place where screws would go in on the exposed side. is that correct, or did I need to buy some kind of covering?

It's an 40 GB IBM Drive

IBM Drive

I can plainly see the ciruitry on the bottom.

Thanks for helping a newbie.

 

[E3Art]

not really sure what you mean by "case" but generally the holes in the drive are to mount it to your case or to put on drive rails and then put it in your case

 

[E3Art]

ok i just saw

<< I can plainly see the ciruitry on the bottom >>



that is normal, thats how hard drives come.
you have to decide how you are going to mount it to your case. then just screw it in. I know it may sound complicated if its your first time but feel free to ask all the questions you want.

 

[spartacuskzm]

E3 - thanks for helping me. Done w/ Floppy and HD, but now I'm at the CD. I'm such a bozo. I don't even know how to properly install the rails...which holes in the rails to use, etc. etc. Any pointers ;-)

Thank you VERY much

P.S. Are you going to be up for a while - I'm sure the questions are going to keep on flowing. If so, I'll continue to use this thread.

 

[spartacuskzm]

OK - figured that one out I think (but it seems loose)...now on to the DVD drive and then MB I think aack!

 

[E3Art]

if its loose try to move the dirve rails up or down for a more snug fit, just keep trying till you get it where you want it. Those things are a real pain in the butt. I hate putting on drive rails. As far as pointers i dont really have any because all drive rails install differently, youll eventually get it by trial and error....mostly error. After you put it on wrong 300 times youll figure it out.

the motherboard can be tricky if youve never done it. just make sure all the screws and standoffs are in snuggly, dont leave any gaps as things can short out and your system wont boot, I know its happened to me, no damage, just very annoying. so its better to make sure your screws and standoffs are in right the first time. Make sure you ground yourself by touching your computer case on the metal before trying any of this, it would be a shame to fry your new system.


ill be up all night, happy to help

 

[E3Art]

one more thing, its probably too late but most of the time its easier to install the motherboard first and then everything else, depends on how much room you have to move around in your case.

 

[spartacuskzm]

I keep reading about the standoffs and am assuming they're the V-shaped pieces I placed on the case to keep the board off the case itself. My question is whether I need to use the plastic push-pins or screws instead (or both, since there aren't enough of the plastic push-pins). Please advise.

Thanks!

 

[E3Art]

i prefer the plastic ones since you dont have to use any screws with it, you just push the board down and thats it and you dont have to worry about shorting the board out. Also you dont have to fill up every hole with a stand off, i only used 4 or 5 in my system, just use enough to give the board support when you put everything in and keep it secure after your done

 

[yata]

Is your case ATX? The mobo side of the case should have screw holes that matches your mobo. The case should come with metal thin nut-like pieces that goes into the case holes. The top of the nut is where you place the mobo. The holes matches and you place the screws in. Wiggle the mobo into the ATX form factor.

Hard drives should come with drive rails. Attach them to the HD by screw, then slide into case slot. Don't forget to set jumpers for HD before putting it in.

 

[spartacuskzm]

Ok - that parts done. Now the toughy. Is there any magic to connecting the cords, power, etc? Almost there ;-)

 

[E3Art]

not really, everything pretty much will only fit one way

 

[E3Art]

what all are you hooking up, HD, CD-ROM, floppy...ect?

 

[E3Art]

well i guess im gonna go to bed after all. ill check the post when i get up. feel free to email me or whatever. hope everything goes well

 

[spartacuskzm]

Darn - just missed you. Been screwing around w/ the cables for a while but not having much luck. I'm probably gonna pack it up (and clean up the living room for the roomies) soon, and will continue tomorrow night. However I'm gonna take the comp I working on right now apart to get some pointers ;-).

Thanks again...I'll be talking to you tomorrow.

Derek

 

[Cybordolphin]

Your Hard drive should attach to the IDE#1 on the motherboard via a flat cable. On the motherboard you will see (3) spots (usually together) approx. 2 inches in length..... this is where you attache the flat cable. Make sure the "red" wire on the flat cable is plugged into the slot so that the red wire goes to (1) on the slot (you will see a small "1" on the motherboard). If you look at the flat cable(s) you will see that one of the end wires is actually "red" or painted with a "red" color. The red goes to the "1" pin on the slot. You will find a slightly smaller (almost identical), slot for the cable that goes to the floppy drive.
You will notice the floppy drive "flat" cable is slightly narrower, but attaches in the same manner as the hard drive. These "flat" cables carry the data from/to your motherboard.

The power connector that goes to the power supply (plug in LAST), only connects to the motherboard one way. You should be able to figure it out.

The "power" connections on your hard drive and cd/dvd drives, are the same connector type. You will notice that there are 4-6 connectors coming off of your power supply that will fit only one way into each of your hard drive/cdrom/dvdrom. Your "power" connection on your floppy drive is much smaller and you will find a few of those types of connectors coming from the power supply as well. The power connector for the floppy drive.... again only can connect one way. You will see this when you go to connect.

Note that your RAM can only go in ONE way. Do not force ANYTHING. Take your time, and if you have to force anything into position.. you probably have it going in wrong. Take a look at the RAM and you will see that it can only go in one way (for instance).

It might be very helpful to go to a site that has "pictures" of a computer build. Try BXBoards.com or one of those sites. I don't think Anand has a "photo by photo" article on building a system (although they should) for their members.

REMEMBER and ALWAYS.... NEVER, NEVER, EVER plug your computer/power supply into the wall... UNTIL you are completely finished. And only after you have removed ALL tools and have made sure your connections are all correct.

NEVER try to attach a sound card/video card or other PCI card or RAM with the computer plugged into the wall. This sounds like a no brainer... but the temptation will be to just quickly plug in a PCI card without unplugging. I promise you will short something if you don't unplug first.

BE very careful installing your CPU. Take your time. If you become frustrated.... leave and come back.

Let us know how it goes.

 

[sanz]

spartacuskzm...

Dunno how much of a newbie you are... but from this post, I get the feeling you really need help. Its fun building your own PC.. but if you don't know what you're doing, you could damage your components. I would hate to see you come back to the forum with a heading like "oh no.. my athlon is dead" with your first DIY PC

I'm sure you've done your research on how to build your own pc.. but just in case, I found these sites off google. Here and here. Pretty detailed and should help you.

People on the forum can help, but there's a limit as to how much you can help with just words. So if you have a friend who knows PC, get him to show you how. It'll be so much easier for you and you'll learn faster.

Sorry for treating you like a complete newbie.. but you did say you were one..

 

[ElFenix]

a couple extra tips

1. its usually a lot easier to install your cpu and heatsink before putting the motherboard in the case.
2. hard drive cables and the socket they fit in usually have a notch on the socket and a small key on the cable so they only go in the right way. pin 1 is always next to the hard drive's power connector.
3. floppy cables go in about 20 different ways and only 1 is right. trial and error, though frustrating, works here.
4. motherboard standoffs come in the metal screw in kind where the board attaches via another screw, and the plastic kind. its really hard to remove the mobo from the case with the plastic kind (takes some pliers). so if you think you'll be in and out of there a lot then use the metal ones. as long as you only have standoffs under the hole in the motherboard you're not going to short it.
5. ram is also a good thing to install before casing the motherboard. it takes a lot of force, but is much easier when you can push straight down on it without a million cables and the power supply in the way.
6. the first time you boot the computer you should only have ram, processor (with the heatsink on it) and video card in the motherboard. nothing else is required to boot. this helps in troubleshooting because if something is wrong its one of those. you can have the other things in the case if you want, but don't plug them in yet.

 

[Cybordolphin]

Good idea Sanz....

 

[spartacuskzm]

Well the computer is now powered and running, but the darn thing keeps giving me a "Disk Boot Failure" message when I try to boot from the CD. Any thoughts on that one?

By the way, you all aren't that far off the mark on my newbieness. I watched a friend of mine build one back in college (over 10 years ago), but besides that all I've done is install various cards and RAM.

I do appreciate all the handholding, and apologize again for my ignorance.

 

[Pederv]

If you're trying to boot from the CD and you're getting the Failed Bootdisk Error, then you need to go in the bios and change the boot order so the CD comes before the C drive.

 

[spartacuskzm]

The problem is that I've done that (at least I think I have). Under the Advanced Bios section I made CD the first Boot, and then disabled all the others (after having tried it CD first, HDD second, etc). Just doesn't seem to want to work. Going to bed now, but any advice will be much appreciated tomorrow - uh, I mean later today.

Thanks

 

[narzy]

here is also another tip, this is how I learned, disassemble a computer and put it back together before you actually go to build one, I know its a bit late for you but for people thinking about doing it...it really helps.

also if you need to use another computer as a refrence on how things are roughly spose to go...minus cableing every mobo differs even slighly on that. good luck on your build

 

[E3Art]

try putting in a floppy boot up disk and try agian sometimes this helps

 

[HOWITIS]

do you have the master/slave settings correct on the drives? if you have a cd and dvd you need to set one master, the other slave just check the manual for directions.