Build Your Own PC

Before doing it, connect all of the external peripherals to the system. This includes the mouse, the keyboard, and the monitor. You can also attach the printer, phone lines, or speakers to it, but this isn't necessary for now. Besides, if you are following this procedure, you won't have these installed yet.

Also, you need to have a valid system disk. The disk should include fdisk.exe and format.com.

1. Put your system disk in the A Drive.
2. Turn your monitor on, and let it heat up a few seconds before proceeding.
3. Keep in mind what to expect. You may need to act quickly. The power LED should turn on, then fans should start spinning, the hard drive should power up. You will see the video BIOS screen first, then you will see the BIOS screen and it will proceed to count the memory. You may hear one beep from the PC speaker. You may also get a CMOS checksum error or another error saying the CMOS or time isn't set. Know what key(s) to hit to enter setup. You will want to do this quickly. If you hear any weird sounds such as grinding, scraping, or loud whining, be ready to turn the system off immediately.
4. Press the power switch. Observe the system closely. As soon as the BIOS screen appears, press the appropriate key(s) and enter BIOS setup. The correct key combination should be visible at the bottom of the screen.
5. If this didn't go according to plan, troubleshoot the system. Walk mentally through the boot process and check all hardware as it goes. You may find my troubleshooting section of some help.

Skip To Page 1 Introduction 2 Purchase/Collect Components 3 Remove System Case 4 Prepare Case 5 Install Floppy Drive 6 Configure Hard Drive & CD-ROM 7 Install Hard Drive 8 Install CD-ROM 9 Configure the Motherboard 10 Install the CPU 11 Install Heat Sink 12 Install Cache Module 13 Install Memory 14 Install Motherboard 15 Install I/O Port Connectors 16 Connect the Motherboard to the Case 17 Connect Floppy to Motherboard 18 Connect Hard Drive 19 Connect CD-ROM 20 Install Video Card 21 Post-Assembly • 22 Initial Boot-Up 23 Configure the BIOS 24 Test Your System 25 Install Additional Hardware 26 Prepare the Hard Drive 27 Install Drivers and OS

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