What to do after computer is together

[zamacman]

I have ordered everything for my computer that I am going to build. Now I have a few questions. After I get it all together do I just put in the windows disk? or will I have to install the software to the cd-rw first? I am upgrading from a P2 300MHz compaq and this is my first build sorry if I got dumb questions. The last question is how do I tell the temp on my computer? I will have the Asus P4P800 board with 512Mb pc2700 ram and 2.4c processor and radeon 9500 Pro and what should the temp stay under not to cause damage?

 

[MichaelD]

What Operating System will you be using? Is it the full version or an upgrade version? Do you have the CD Key for it?

After you put the PC together:

1. Hookup up monitor/KB/mouse
2. Hit power button, assuming it powers up, hit DEL to enter the BIOS. Set the time/date and select "load safe settings" or "basic settings"
3. Change boot order to boot from CD rom. Put CD in CD drive.]
4. Reboot. Boot up to CD rom and you can figure it out from there.


Don't worry about temps right now. Get the OS loaded first.

 

[murphy55d]

I'd try turning it on and making sure it works, first.

But yeah, once it's together and working, just set it to boot from your CD/DVD drive, and pop in your Windows install cd.

Not sure what you mean by installing the software to the CDRW first...though. You can't install anything until Windows installs and formats your hard drive.

 

[Finnkc]

yup just hit the power and sniff for smoke ... no smoke means you are good to roll.

lol jk

Boot up the Windows install and make sure you have drivers for everything except your CD Rom drives, HDs, they are plug and play and don't require software.

 

[v1vek]

well, the first thing you would want to do it partition your hard drive the way you want it with either fdisk or any software that comes with the drive itself. After that you would want to pop in your windows cd and begin the install.

 

[kaizersose]

i think what he meant by "installing the software to the cdrw first" is if he needs drivers for his cd drive to work properly. the answer is no, you can read cd's from the first power on. to recap, these are your steps
1. Finish internal assembly
2. Plug in all external components (do not put the case cover back on yet)
3. Power-on and watch all the fans. Get ready to kill the power if any important ones dont spin.
4. Hit [del] to enter bios and set up to boot from cd, etc.(should be instructions with mobo)
5. Put OS cd in drive and reboot.
6. Windows will give youa screen asking where you want to install the os as well as some options to partition and format. First partition and format your drives, then install windows on one of the partitions.
7. Once you have windows installed and all your hardware is operating properly, you can put the case cover back on.

Good luck! Its seems a lot scarier than it actually is.

 

[piasabird]

I recommend not putting it together completely until you test it a bit. I like to test a computer with the floppy to see if it will boot first. XP is a little different. XP likes to load off of the CDROM directly onto the hard drive. The XP CD is Bootable and can partition and format the hard drive for you.

You need at least the MB, CPU, COOLER, RAM, HD,CDROM, Video Card, and Floppy Maybe to test the computer. You can add any extra Sound Cards or other add-on cards later. I recommend a keyboard and mouse that works off of PS2 connectors. This guarantees they will work on first boot without an operating system.

You need to set up the HD and CDROM in the BIOS and set the boot order. I prefer a boot order of Floppy, CDROM, HD. You need to make sure the jumpers are set right on the HD and CDROM and they show up in the BIOS. Most new devices like CS or Cable Select. When the computer boots it should show the devices it detects. You may have to hit esc or the space bar to boot from CDROM.

 

[chocoruacal]

Originally posted by: piasabird
I recommend not putting it together completely until you test it a bit. I like to test a computer with the floppy to see if it will boot first. XP is a little different. XP likes to load off of the CDROM directly onto the hard drive. The XP CD is Bootable and can partition and format the hard drive for you.
.

Actually, installing an OS is a great way to test for stability. If you have bad hardware somewhere, chances are WinXP will freak out during the install.

As a beginner...keep the following in mind.

1. Put your OS on a separate partition.. A 5-10 gig partition will be more than enough for the OS, swap file, and any future service packs.

2. First thing you should do is run Prime95 and 3dMark01 in loops to test for stability. Memtest86 can be used to test RAM. If you have a hardware problem somewhere, you might as well find out about it in the first week, when you can still RMA parts directly to the place you bought it.

3. Read your entire motherboard manual. Its amazing how many posts could be cleared up if the person took the time to read the documentation. Read the manual...know what settings you'll have to change when you first boot to the BIOS...CPU/Memory speed, memory timings, boot order, etc.

4. You do not need to install drivers before installing XP. Your CDRW will boot XP from disc just fine

 

[zamacman]

I think I got everything but what are BIOS??

 

[Corporate Thug]

BIOS stands for basic input output setting system (i think). this is where you can adjust clock speeds, ram timings, check temps, adjust voltage, etc...

 

[borgmang]

Originally posted by: chocoruacal

Originally posted by: piasabird
I recommend not putting it together completely until you test it a bit. I like to test a computer with the floppy to see if it will boot first. XP is a little different. XP likes to load off of the CDROM directly onto the hard drive. The XP CD is Bootable and can partition and format the hard drive for you.
.

Actually, installing an OS is a great way to test for stability. If you have bad hardware somewhere, chances are WinXP will freak out during the install.

As a beginner...keep the following in mind.

1. Put your OS on a separate partition.. A 5-10 gig partition will be more than enough for the OS, swap file, and any future service packs.

2. First thing you should do is run Prime95 and 3dMark01 in loops to test for stability. Memtest86 can be used to test RAM. If you have a hardware problem somewhere, you might as well find out about it in the first week, when you can still RMA parts directly to the place you bought it.

3. Read your entire motherboard manual. Its amazing how many posts could be cleared up if the person took the time to read the documentation. Read the manual...know what settings you'll have to change when you first boot to the BIOS...CPU/Memory speed, memory timings, boot order, etc.

4. You do not need to install drivers before installing XP. Your CDRW will boot XP from disc just fine

Where does raid fit into this list/what step? Will that be an option when I boot from the OS CD? I'm setting up 2x Raptors Raid 0, then WD SATA 250gb as backup. If it's a option for Raid then do I partition after raid for 10 gig OS? Thanks in advance.

 

[borgmang]

Originally posted by: borgmang

Originally posted by: chocoruacal

Originally posted by: piasabird
I recommend not putting it together completely until you test it a bit. I like to test a computer with the floppy to see if it will boot first. XP is a little different. XP likes to load off of the CDROM directly onto the hard drive. The XP CD is Bootable and can partition and format the hard drive for you.
.

Actually, installing an OS is a great way to test for stability. If you have bad hardware somewhere, chances are WinXP will freak out during the install.

As a beginner...keep the following in mind.

1. Put your OS on a separate partition.. A 5-10 gig partition will be more than enough for the OS, swap file, and any future service packs.

2. First thing you should do is run Prime95 and 3dMark01 in loops to test for stability. Memtest86 can be used to test RAM. If you have a hardware problem somewhere, you might as well find out about it in the first week, when you can still RMA parts directly to the place you bought it.

3. Read your entire motherboard manual. Its amazing how many posts could be cleared up if the person took the time to read the documentation. Read the manual...know what settings you'll have to change when you first boot to the BIOS...CPU/Memory speed, memory timings, boot order, etc.

4. You do not need to install drivers before installing XP. Your CDRW will boot XP from disc just fine

Where does raid fit into this list/what step? Will that be an option when I boot from the OS CD? I'm setting up 2x Raptors Raid 0, then WD SATA 250gb as backup. If it's a option for Raid then do I partition after raid for 10 gig OS? Thanks in advance.

Bump

 

[borgmang]

Originally posted by: borgmang

Originally posted by: borgmang

Originally posted by: chocoruacal

Originally posted by: piasabird
I recommend not putting it together completely until you test it a bit. I like to test a computer with the floppy to see if it will boot first. XP is a little different. XP likes to load off of the CDROM directly onto the hard drive. The XP CD is Bootable and can partition and format the hard drive for you.
.

Actually, installing an OS is a great way to test for stability. If you have bad hardware somewhere, chances are WinXP will freak out during the install.

As a beginner...keep the following in mind.

1. Put your OS on a separate partition.. A 5-10 gig partition will be more than enough for the OS, swap file, and any future service packs.

2. First thing you should do is run Prime95 and 3dMark01 in loops to test for stability. Memtest86 can be used to test RAM. If you have a hardware problem somewhere, you might as well find out about it in the first week, when you can still RMA parts directly to the place you bought it.

3. Read your entire motherboard manual. Its amazing how many posts could be cleared up if the person took the time to read the documentation. Read the manual...know what settings you'll have to change when you first boot to the BIOS...CPU/Memory speed, memory timings, boot order, etc.

4. You do not need to install drivers before installing XP. Your CDRW will boot XP from disc just fine

Where does raid fit into this list/what step? Will that be an option when I boot from the OS CD? I'm setting up 2x Raptors Raid 0, then WD SATA 250gb as backup. If it's a option for Raid then do I partition after raid for 10 gig OS? Thanks in advance.

Bump

 

[Nebor]

You'll have to install your RAID drivers when you install windows, it will prompt you to hit F6. You should have the raid drivers on a disket, that came with your motherboard.

 

[borgmang]

Originally posted by: Nebor
You'll have to install your RAID drivers when you install windows, it will prompt you to hit F6. You should have the raid drivers on a disket, that came with your motherboard.

Will it prompt me at first boot? If so, after I install the raid drivers will I be able to partition the Raid? I was planning on creating a partition of 10gb for the OS, and the remaing for other progies. What do you think?

 

[Nebor]

Yes, after you install the raid drivers, it will ask you where to install windows, and allow you to make partitions.

 

[borgmang]

Originally posted by: Nebor
Yes, after you install the raid drivers, it will ask you where to install windows, and allow you to make partitions.

Thanks I appreciate the Info. That was one thing I was unsure of. I've never set-up a raid before. Do you think 10 gb is a good size for the OS? I'll be running 2x Raptors Raid 0, and a WDSE 250gb single drive as Backup/archive. Also do you think I should install all my progies on the remaing 70gb Raid 0 partition, and save the WDSE for data only? Thanks again.

 

[Davegod]

10gb is more than ample, 5gb will be fine with plenty space - you can probably even do it with 2gb (my XP pro folder is 1.54gb), but i'd keep it 5 maybe 10gb because hey youre probably not pinching for every last gig and better to have too much space than not enough! You're partition setup seems fine idea although you might also want to have a 2gig partition for the swapfile, purely to reduce it fragmenting the bigger partitions and for convenience, hardly a big deal though. I'd probably put the swapfile on the raptors, because although the conventional wisdom seems to be to have it on a seperate controller (i.e. the 250mb WD) the raptors should be way quicker and outweigh the other advantages.

One extra optional step you might like to do is once you have your OS all up and fiddled how you like it, use Norton Ghost or er whats the other one, powerquest driveimage or something, to make a ghost image of the OS to store as backup. This way you can very quickly restore the whole thing without having to do it all again, should something screwup the OS making you otherwise need to reinstall.

 

[borgmang]

Originally posted by: Davegod
10gb is more than ample, 5gb will be fine with plenty space - you can probably even do it with 2gb (my XP pro folder is 1.54gb), but i'd keep it 5 maybe 10gb because hey youre probably not pinching for every last gig and better to have too much space than not enough! You're partition setup seems fine idea although you might also want to have a 2gig partition for the swapfile, purely to reduce it fragmenting the bigger partitions and for convenience, hardly a big deal though. I'd probably put the swapfile on the raptors, because although the conventional wisdom seems to be to have it on a seperate controller (i.e. the 250mb WD) the raptors should be way quicker and outweigh the other advantages.

One extra optional step you might like to do is once you have your OS all up and fiddled how you like it, use Norton Ghost or er whats the other one, powerquest driveimage or something, to make a ghost image of the OS to store as backup. This way you can very quickly restore the whole thing without having to do it all again, should something screwup the OS making you otherwise need to reinstall.

Would you put the swap file on the 10 gig partition, or the 62 gig partition of the Raptors?

Also, what software is better.
1. Norton Ghost
2. Powerquest Drive Image
3. Acronis True Image

 

[sillious]

Originally posted by: shady06
BIOS stands for basic input output setting system (i think). this is where you can adjust clock speeds, ram timings, check temps, adjust voltage, etc...

Bump - everyone knows that!