Jedi Star

Safety Precautions:

When assembling your computer at home one should be extra careful about the deadly ravages of static electricity. A shock which you cannot even feel can make serious damage to computer components such as RAM or a Processor.

• Never assemble on a carpet area. Carpet greatly produces static electricity in your body.
• Use rubberized mats below your computer while working on it. It will also protect your table from getting scratches.
• Always grab a metal part of the computer chassis with bare hands before touching anything inside.
• Always handle electronic components with non conducting i.e. non metallic edge.
• Never plug ATX power supply into AC supply unless it is connected to computer’s motherboard.
• Never eat, drink or smoke when working on a computer.

STEP 1 : Installing Motherboard

Installing motherboard is very simple. Align the motherboard with mounting holds and rare panel openings and then screw it.

Before actually installing the motherboard read the manual carefully.

• The only difficult part is matching the mounting holes in the mobo with the ones in the case.
• Once you identify the correct mounting holes, you will have to install the stand off`s.

Don`t get confused of any extra holes.

Once you have the correct stand off`s inserted, put the motherboard in the case. Line up the mounting holes and rear panel connectors and screw it.

Don`t over tighten the screws, doing so will crack the board. Use a standard screw drive and not the electric one.

Finally connect the ATX power connector from the power supply to the mother board. On P4 and other high end computers you will also have to connect P4 connector.

STEP 2 : Installing Processor

The micro-processor is delicate and expensive part of the computer. Never touch its pins or conductors with fingers.

Always hold it by its edge.

Both the processor and the socket have only two corners without pins in order to avoid incorrect installation. Never apply force to make the processor fit into the socket. If you come across any resistance then re-align the processor and the socket.

Now gently close the bail.

STEP 3 : Installing CPU cooler.

The processor radiates large amount of heat, without the cooler it would burn.

CPU cooler consists of three parts 1. A fan, 2. Heat Sink and 3. Mounting Device which attaches the cooler to the motherboard. Heat sink compound or thermal jelly is applied between heat sink and the die of the processor in order to improve the heat transfer between processor and heat sink.

Now you need to install the fan. Usually it gets plugged into a three pin connector on the motherboard.

STEP 4 : Installing RAM

RAM just like processor is very sensitive to static charge. Avoid touching the metal conductors, hold it by its edge.

Before inserting the RAM make sure that the notch and tab is correctly lined.

Now simply push it straight into the slots and push the retainer clips inward.

STEP 5 : Installing Hard Disk.

SATA (Serial ATA) are becoming more preferred nowadays. The hard disk is installed in the cage using mounting screws. Select the correct hole on the case in order to correctly fit the hard disk. Do not over tighten the screws.

Now connect the hard drive cable to the Hard disk and motherboard. Attach the cable gently but firmly into the slots.

Now connect the power cables. It should be done using the correct polarity. Its designed in a way that it fits only in the correct way.

The same way attach the auxiliary drives too.

STEP 6 : Final Checks

Now attach the Power cable to the SMPS. And before switching On the power supply do a final check on the connected components.

Hook up the keyboard, monitor and mouse using appropriate connectors.

Now switch On the power supply. If everything is done correctly, you will here a beep.

Now you will have to press Delete or F2 or some other key (Refer the manual) to get the CMOS screen or BIOS set up screen as shown above. Now follow the instructions in the manual for the BIOS set-up.

Posted under Computers, General