Well, im not gonna lie to you its pretty simple. 1) Unpack everything 2) Install CPU, Heatsink+fan (including pluggin it into a 3-pin fan connector), and Ram onto the MotherBoard (MoBo) and set to the side. 3) Open up the case, remove the front metal inserts (its easier to remove them all now then later when its built) and locate the baggie of screws. 4) Screw the brass or silver stand-offs into the appropriote locations onto the side-plate. Use the MoBo as a guide if needed. The stand-offs will look like screws with a place to put another screw into it. They are used to keep the MoBo from comming in contact with the side-plate and shorting out. 5) Remove the inserts from the back-plate if needed, or if the MoBo comes with its own back-plate replace it. The back-plate is a 1.5inx4in removable plate that allows access to the PS2, Parrallel, Serial, USB, and typicly any other on-MoBo device. 6) Position the MoBo so that it can slide into the back-plate, once its in place screw the MoBo into the Stand-Off's. 7) Locate and connect the front panel power button wire to the MoBom, typicly is marked "PWR-ON", or "PWR-BTN". The MoBo book will help you locate the front-panel header, and the power button pins. 8) Connect the power supply's MoBo Connector (rectangular, 2 rows of pins) 9) If video is on the motherboard this is the best time to give the system a little test and see if the RAM, CPU, and MoBo are functioning correctly. Connect a monitor to the video, and turn the power on. If the system powers up and you see the POST screen continue to the step 11. If the system fails to POST check the following, power supply power switch, the power supply cable, make sure its all the way into the MoBo, Make sure the power cord is plugged in to the back of the power supply, make sure that the board is on the stand-offs and not touching the metal side plate, make sure the RAM is fully seated, and the CPU, and the Heatsink is on correctly, and the fan is plugged in. Go back through and make sure everything to this point was done correctly, the MoBo books usually give a good step-by-step pictures, but bad translation. 10) If you have a seperate video card locate the appropriote slot to plug it into, usually an AGP slot, this one will usually be brown and will have a spacer more toward the BACK of the MoBo (left as your looking at it), To install the card, remove the back blade where the video card will be. Then slide the card into the slot, lining the card up with the hole in the back youve just made. Go back to step 9 to test for post. 11) Set the jumpers on the CD-ROM and Hard Drive to Master or Single if available. Slide the CD-ROM, Floppy Drive, and Hard Drive into place on the front of the case. Where you put them is really up to you as long as they fit. Screw them into place, the CD-ROM and Floppy Drive will use the same type fine threated screw, and the Hard Drive will use a coarser thread. 12) Next, if the hard disk drive is ATA66+ find the 80 conductor cable plug the blue or red (color makes no difference some companies use one or the other) end into the MASTER or IDEx (where x is the smaller number, 0 or 1) connector on the MoBo (usually will be the same color as the cable's connector) and the END of the cable into the Hard Drive, using the middle connector on the master drive will cause the ATA66+ to not function correctly. Plug in the 4 pin power connector. THE RED STRIPE ON THE CABLE IS PIN1 THIS WILL ALWAYS FACE THE POWER CONNECTOR ON THE DRIVE. Plug in the 4 pin power connector. Repeat step 9 and see if the MoBo recognizes the Hard Drive, if not check cableing and make sure the CMOS is set to auto-detect all the IDE devices. Again the MoBo Book can tell you how to do this. 13) Locate another IDE ribbon cable, regualr or ATA66+ will work. Plug in one end into the MoBo and one of the other connectors into the CD-ROM. THE RED STRIPE ON THE CABLE IS PIN1 THIS WILL ALWAYS FACE THE POWER CONNECTOR ON THE DRIVE Plug in the 4-pin power connector. Repeat step 9 and see if the MoBo recognizes the CD-ROM, if not check cableing and make sure the CMOS is set to auto-detect all the IDE devices. Again the MoBo Book can tell you how to do this. 14) Locate the floppy drive ribbon cable, it will be smaller then the IDE cables, and have a twist in a section of it. Connect the un-twisted end into the motherboard FDC connector. Plug in the connector AFTER the twist into the Floppy drive. The red stripe on this cable wont help ya very much, it depends on the manufaturer, but the RED is usually AWAY from the power connector. Plug in the 4 pin power connector and go back to step 9. If the floppy drive light stays on the cable is on backword. Power down the system and flip the cable at the floppy drive. 15) connect the other front panel connectors. Congradulations youve just built a computer. If i was unclear on something, im sure i was somewhere, leave me a private message. Most everything i refered to can be located in the MoBo manual.
You approach the turnstiles and know that when you get there you have to give the man two dollars or he won't let you inside but when you get there everything goes wrong.
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