This is an old computer build I did in 2012. This was my first and only computer build that I completed. And this was a very low budget build and by low-budget, I mean really low budget (lol). My tech skills was non-existant prior to this build and some of the experts here might find this boring but after reading about other people’s builds it inspired me to give it a try as well. I’m glad I did because I learned a lot from building my own computer. I only use my computer for average use, no gaming or overclocking.
First I’ll start by describing an old computer that I had and it was really old. I had an old Dell Dimension 3000 desktop (2004), mATX form factor, Pentium 4 Hyper-thread (single core), 256 mb RAM (upgraded to 2 GB RAM years later). When I bought this setup from Dell in 2004 I paid $550, at the time the price structure to upgrade to 1 GB RAM was an additional $150, which I had declined and glad I declined because years later the price of
RAM came way down so that is when I upgraded later to 2 GB RAM, the prices back then was outrageous. Watching a 5 minute you tube video on this old computer would take 45 minutes with all the buffering and reloads. And the CPU on that old computer would over heat when watching videos and the fan sounded like an airplane about to take off. And that old computer would always freeze which required hard shut downs and reboots. With all those problems I decided to take the leap and build my own computer which was in 2012.
I digress and back to the topic at hand. For my build these are my components that I installed in that old Dell mATX form factor case (yes to save money I decided to reuse the old case, but later decided to buy a new case which I’ll describe later);
1) Intel mATX socket 1155 MOBO, BOXHD61SA (supports Celeron, Pentium, Core i3, Core i5, and Core i7), $58 from Newegg
2) CPU-Intel Sandy Bridge Celeron dual-core processor, $51 from Newegg (I went with this economical CPU in the event I would not be able to get my system to boot and possibly scrap my project. Now that I know it works I’ll later upgrade to Core i5 quad-core. Update on this is that I got a Core i5 2500 K.
3) Kingston 4 GB RAM HyperX Blue, $20 from Frys (now that I know it works I’m planning to max out at 8 GB later). Update on this is I now have 8 GB RAM.
4) No video card, I’m just using the integrated graphics installed on the MOBO.
Initially, my plan was to use all of the remaining old parts. For instance, I’m using the old power supply unit (PSU), however, the old PSU had a 20 pin connector and the new MOBO has a 24 pin header so I had to get an appropriate adapter for that. The problem came when I intended to use the old IDE hard drive & old IDE CD ROM drive (using IDE to SATA converters, $10 each from Geeks.com, sadly this company no longer is available). Whenever I booted up I would get this message;
“Intel (R) Boot Agent GE v1.3.65 IBA GE Slot 00C8v1365 PXE 2.1 Build 089 Copyright © 1997-2010. Intel Corporation.
PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable
PXE-MOF: Exiting Intel Boot Agent.
Reboot and select proper Boot device or insert Boot Media in selected boot device and press a key.”
I was baffled upon getting this error message. I tried everything and every which way. I switched the jumpers on my IDE hard drive trying all different combinations (ie., master, slave, cable select, etc). I went into my bios and thought I assigned boot device priority giving my optical drive primary status over my hard drive. In my system setup this was the order;
1) Optical Drives
2) Removable Drives
3) Hard Disk Drives
4) Networks
This is where I got hung up until I decided to try getting a SATA hard drive (WD 80 GB, $24 refurbished) & a SATA DVD/CD rewrite ($15 new from NewEgg). This was the fix and apparently my MOBO didn’t recognize the old IDE devices because after installing the new SATA devices my BIOS now displayed these options;
Please select Boot Device:
IBA GE Slot 00c8 v 1365 PXE 2.1
P1: WDC WD 800JD-75LSA0
P0: HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GH 22NS90
So I simply chose to boot up from my DVD drive and Eureka it worked. I’m running Ubuntu/Linux for now. Windows 7 is on my wish list for later. Update on this is that I eventually installed Windows 7, and later upgraded to Windows 8.
I also decided to go with a new case. It’s a Raidmax Super Hurricane ATX mid tower for $43.
