first computer build

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niak_558

New Member
hi everyone,

i'm building my first computer and my limited knowledge has just ran out lol so i'm in need of some help... i have two incomplete computers that i am putting together to make one. all the hard work was already done one case already had the motherboard and CPU mounted. so all i've had to do is mount the optical drives and HDD's. (i don't yet have a PSU but its on its way)

i am up to connecting up all the components with the IDE cables and don't really have any idea of what to do. so far all that i have managed is this:

there was an IDE cable marked 'system' with a blue connector on it which i have plugged into the blue connection on the mobo. the other end has 'master' printed on it which i've plugged into the DVD drive and 'slave' which is plugged into the CD-ROM drive.
there is also another IDE cable running from the Floppy drive to the connection on the mobo marked 'FDD'

what i need help with is hooking up the HDD's... i have mounted two in the case one 20GB one which has been used in a PC before so it has an OS on it already and another 30GB one which is new which i want set up as a secondary drive... there is one IDE connection left free on the mobo marked as IDE2 how do i go about connecting the HDD's?

thanks in advance,
cheers kain.
 
the same way you would with your dvd and cd drive. set primary to the drive you want to have the os installed.
 
good news, my PSU arrived today.
so far i have attached the obvious cables but have found myself left with two plugs with seemingly no-where to attach to.
there was biggest main plug that goes to the mother board which i have plugged in then the cables with the three plugs which have gone to the FDD and both optical drives, then the remaining cable with two plugs attached i have plugged into the HDD's BUT there are two square plugs left over both have room for four of those metal pins each. i can't see anywhere to plug them into are these for AMD computers? on the box for the PSU i read that it is compatible with Intel and AMD

oh and thanks oscaryu1 otherwise i prob would have been firing it up and wondering what the hell is going on. what will happen to the data already on that HDD will it be erased?

cheers, kain.
 
You don't neccesarely have to re-install the OS. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. It mostly works with some effort.

The tiny connector on the upper left part of this picture should go into the floppy drive. The bigger ones are used for the optical drives and the hard disks.
http://www.2cpu.co.kr/preview/seventeam/bps450rp3/800/08.JPG

If your motherboard has one of those square connectors you will need the square plug, otherwise, you won't need it.
Look at this pic: http://img463.imageshack.us/img463/5962/k7mnf18gem6.jpg
 
what sort of effort are you talking about to ensure the OS will still work?

my mobo doesn't have one of those square connections on it but the PSU has two plugs that would connect to one of those square connections that aren't connected to anything.... oh and with my HDD's and optical drives will it matter that the optical drives are attached to the main blue IDE connector on the mobo and that HDD's are connected to the white one marked "IDE2"?

cheers, kain
 
niak_558 said:
what sort of effort are you talking about to ensure the OS will still work?

my mobo doesn't have one of those square connections on it but the PSU has two plugs that would connect to one of those square connections that aren't connected to anything.... oh and with my HDD's and optical drives will it matter that the optical drives are attached to the main blue IDE connector on the mobo and that HDD's are connected to the white one marked "IDE2"?

cheers, kain
Click to expand...

Sometimes a scandisk in the recovery console can do the trick. You can load recovery console by booting from an XP CD and use the command CHKDSK /f. Sometimes you have to do a repair install, and sometimes you have to boot in safe mode and remove some drivers.

If your mobo doesn't have anything where the connector will fit, you don't need it.

It doesn't matter if you use IDE0, IDE1 or IDE2. You may have to configure your BIOS to boot from IDE2 if it is currently set to boot from another device.
 
this seems to keep getting more complex lol.
ahh well at least at the moment it sounds like its safe to have plug her in and see what happens... wish me luck
 
ok so i plugged her in hit the power button and... nothing! well not entirely nothing the light on the power switch lit up momentarily and a bit of a noise came from inside and then silence!

upon removing the side panel i discovered that the small noise was the fan on the CPU performing a slight turn and then thats it... i'm tipping i've plugged the fan into the wrong spot or that the CPU is stuffed? and ideas?
 
Disconnect all hard disks and optical devices and try again.

At least try it twice. Some motherboards have issues after being disconnected from the power for a while.
 
i tried wat you said it just did the same thing. theres obviously power there and it sounds like it wants to go but the fan on the CPU just won't kick over....
 
i thought i had discovered the problem. i had put the ram into the number 2 slot so i took it out and put it into one and still nothing. i disconnected the HDD's and optical drives and nothing again.
 
Maybe the PSU is dead.
Try to take out as many parts as possible. Try without them, try puttin them back in, etc. Also check the CPU unless you know it worked before and didn't get removed.
 
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