$fdd Build you own PC - Part 3 - Testing =================================== $ffd Plug in your monitor at the VGA port on your video card and connect it to the mains (The monitor may have its own mains plug OR will connect at the back of the PC, via a "though" mains port). Connect your keyboard, ensure you're now switched on at the wall, press the power switch on the monitor and pc - and stand back:) You should hear the fan(s) and the hardrive start up, the monitor should then show some info about your graphics card and then the BIOS manufacturer and maybe the CPU type (check that its reported correctly). A memory count will probably then follow, then general data about the devices in the system. The computer may then attempt to boot - dont worry if it come up with a "Non-system disk error" - the hard disk is unlikely to have been formatted. If all of the above occured, and nothing seriously wrong was reported, chances are everything is fine so you can power it all off and go about connecting up anything left to do (mainly the serial / parallel ports). Dont attatch devices such as soundcards or modems until after you've installed Windows 95 (Check out my other article for tips on that). You can attach your CDROM drive (preferably to the Secondary IDE connector on the motherboard, setting the CDROM's jumper to MASTER) and of course, the mouse. $fbfProblems? --------- If the fans and harddrive powered up but the system just makes patterns of beeps with no display you may have set the jumpers incorrectly or you have faulty memory, a faulty graphics card or motherboard. If its there's no life at all from the PC, it may mean a dodgey CPU or motherboard.. If there's no power to anything you have a dead PSU (or havent got it switched on or connected:). Without swap-out parts to test, it's pretty tough to tell what the problem may be - all you can do is re-check everything's fitted correctly - as a last resort try it actually out of the case (on a insulated surface of course). Assuming it works so far ------------------------ Once you have your system fully constructed (minus the aforementioned peripherals) you can reboot and go into the PC's BIOS setup. It'll tell you how in your motherboard's manual - normally hold DEL on boot or something similar). Most of the options shouldn't need changing, some main settings to check are: 1. IDE devices and floppy drive recognized properly. 2. Boot sequence, ie: "boot from floppy 1st if available" 3. Parallel and serial ports are enabled. 4. RAM speed is set correctly (60ns for EDO's) 5. Time and date - obviously not critical:) Once everything is set, save the settings and exit. Place "MS DOS disk 1" in the floppy drive and follow the instructions to partition and format your hardrive and install MSDOS. For info on installing windows 95, see my other article. $fddCommon boot problems -------------------- Problem: Floppy drive LED stays on constantly but drive is dead. Cause: Floppy cable is connected back to front (IE: Pin1 misaligned) Problem: Wont boot from floppy drive. Causes: You may have the floppy drive connected to the floppy "B" connector, swap to "A" internally or in the BIOS settings. Problem: Still wont boot from floppy drive. Causes: You may have the boot sequence incorrectly set. Set it to "A,C" ie: floppy first, hard drive second. $cffJargon ------ EIDE: (Enhanced) Intelligent Drive Electronics - a standard connector for harddrives and cdroms. ISA: Industry standard Architecture - The old type of expansion slot on PCs (long black connector). 16 bit only, dumb and slow. PCI: Peripheral Component Interconnect - New type of expansion slot on PCs (shorter white connector). 64 bit, fast and intelligent. PnP: Plug and Play. A feature offered by PCI slots and Windows 95. You plug in the device, and it's found and configured automatically. EDO: Extended Data Out. Provides slightly faster access than the original FPM memory. EG: 60ns access time SDRAM: Syncronous Dynamic RAM. New memory type for faster processors. Access times around 10ns. $ff0[I never read this till after I built my PC and it is not a complete tutorial but it does cover the basics. Building your own PC can be fun but a few tips I've picked up are: 1) Start off with a motherboard, floppy, SIMM, keyboard and VGA card and configure your BIOS first. Then add a hard drive and set up using FDISK and PQMAGIC on floppy. Then install MSDOS and Windows on your hard drive. Add each component after this getting Windows to recognise each new piece of gear. Start with your CDROM drive so you can run the CD drivers disks afterwards for your other gear. 2) DIMMs are a bastard to get in. Push one in end until it clicks then work your way across the chip applying pressure untill you get to the opposite end and push it in hard by using your fingers under the motherboard and on top of the chip untill it clicks. the other end may pop out if you don't hold it! Make sure you are in contact with the non-painted part of the metal casing to prevent static electricity frying your chips. 3) PnP BIOS's are the best. Go for a newer jumperless motherboard if you can or a new TX Pro with 5 PCI slots and 3 DIMM slots and make sure that the last PCI and first ISA slot is not shared. 4) Shoving your CDROM in the secondary EIDE slot is the best option as opposed to serial with HD or off your soundcard. 5) You have to pull that lever up, drop in the CPU, and drop it back down again on SOCKET 7 motherboards. It's amazing how many people don't notice that at first. 6) Matrox gfx cards are great but the back plates are 3mm to short so they have to be bent to stay in the PCI slot. What I did was stripped my 486 clone box, went to a computer fair and spent £432 and ended up with an AMD K6 233MHz CPU mounted on a TXPro motherboard with 32MBs 10ns DIMM, Matrox Mystique 220 4MB VGA card, 24x Creative CDROM. The rest was in the box already. I still pick Phils brains though when I hit a snag. :) Kei] $fffend