Installing heatsink/fan combo over CPU

I want to install Windows and the software/drivers for my motherboard and hard drive at the same time.

Getting anxious? So am I but I'm forcing myself to be patient.

I've been taking pictures of my progress with the build and I'm going to post them after it's up and running and everything is connected.

 

I'm impressed that you've been so patient. I would have run away screaming by now!! :foolish

 

There are no drivers for the HDD unless you are installing a RAID array. I thought you may want to make sure it POSTs ok because that would signify that everything is ready to roll. I'm looking forward to seeing your pics after you get it rollin. We will wait until your ready to continue.

 

WoooHoooooooooo!

The cable for my DVD drive came in today!!!

Ok, I know you guys know that I don't need a DVD drive to post but I need a DVD drive as my eyes . . . I know you might not be able to understand my need to put the Windows disk in the drive, but I have to or I'll be lost because I don't know what to look for and, like I said before, BIOS and CMOS scare me so hopefully my motherboard disk will take care of that for me and I can update my drivers later. A Disc Utility CD came with the hdd and I'll pop that in next and it might take care of a few other things for me.

I don't plan on overclocking, flashing or anything like that, because I don't know what they mean except that they have something to do with speeding things up for gaming.

Ok, one of my last questions before I start. Which end of the cable do I connect to the DVD drive and which end do I connect to the IDE1 port? One end is black and the other end is red. I remember someone mentioning that it has to be connected in a certain way or it won't work. (HEY! It'll even glow under UV light! LOL).

 

I was just looking at the motherboard manual and a question arose in my mind. The jumpers, can they be put on the pins upside-down? Say there are 3 pins, 1 2 3 and the jumper is supposed to go on top of 1 and 2, would it matter which way I placed the jumper on top of 1 and 2? I didn't move any except for the jumper on the DVD drive in order to make it a Master drive (as told to me by a tech at BenQ), but I was just wondering if I should move them.

 

On jumpers it does not matter which way the JUMPER ITSELF goes on. Now what pins you place it on is another story.

As for the IDE cable, I would think the red end goes into the board and the black end to the device. Usually the mobo end is blue. Is it a 2 device cable? If it is then to know for certain would be to look for the longer end from the middle IDE plug. In other words, look at the IDE cable and find the center IDE device connector. Now look at the 2 ends of the device. The side where the 2 IDE connectors are closest goes to the device (hook master device to end not middle) and the longer end goes to the board.

 

I think the jumpers are all set to the default location . . . they match the schematics in the manual.

Thanks I connected the cable to the DVD drive using the connector where the the middle and the end connectors are the closest to each other.

I'm going to post it now . . . wish me luck!

 

I take it your lack of a subsequent post means you are busy installing/configuring Windows and you are not having any trouble. Hopefully! Let us know how it goes.

 

HI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We've done it! The computer works! And I'm even on-line!

A HUGE accomplishment . . . unbelievable! I'm shocked! And it is soooo fast! It closed about 8 pages in 2 or 3 seconds when I clicked on Restart (I had to try it).

I have a few bugs to work out still (with your help, if you don't mind). I can barely see the print on my monitor because it's so tiny and I have to press F1 to start it, but the biggest bug is that it doesn't recognize an ext hdd that I connected using a USB 2.0 port.

The first screen that pops up for about 10 seconds says:
Press Del to enter setup
Press Tab for post screen

I posted and then entered setup but I didn't know what to change so I didn't change anything.

The next screen that pops up says:
Press F8 to enable System Configuration
Press F9 to Select Booting Device after POST
Press F1 to continue, Del to enter SETUP

When I press F8 and F9, nothing happens, but pressing F1 gets me into Windows.

So far I downloaded and installed Avast and there were 52 updates at the Microsoft Update site.

I don't have the speakers or printer connected yet but I'm going to do it tomorrow. It's after 3 am here and I have to be up in about 4 hours.

But I'm here and I owe it all to you guys, and I do mean all. I'd still be trying to get the back panel out if it weren't for you. You've been great and I really appreciate your patience. Before I disconnected my monitor from my other pc, I re-read all the posts so I wouldn't miss or forget to do something when I was disconnected. As they say, hindsight is 20/20 and I can see how I must've driven you crazy! And I am truly sorry about that.

I can't thank you enough for all the help you've given me, so hugs and a kiss all around, :wine and cheers to you all!

Denise

 

Denise, like the others, I have watched , and marvelled at your patience.
When your computer starts up, now,just let it go on with it.- as you only have one Windows setup, that is the only boot you will want, so just sit back - you have done it.
You do not need to get involved with the Bios - if you had you would have only to load failsafe defaults, but all is well- leave the Bios until you get much more confident in that side of things.
I am pleased to see that you have re-read all the help, and advice you have had.
It will make life easier. - the personal accomplishment you have made, you can feel very proud.
Your continual questioning has made it stick in your mind -
If the Industry did not try to make computers seem so technical, and talked about them in plain English/French, or, whatever, would'nt life be different.
You have made a big start in uncovering much of the the veil of jargon that the computer industry probably made up to keep its secrets, as long as it could.
Being the type, who will not let it beat them , helps. Read about it, question it, ask again, when you feel you understand - you are home and dry.

 

baklogic, thanks for your kind words, now as well as when we were all in the thick of it.

I think I can say now that if I had to build another computer, I wouldn't put it off for 6 months again out of fear of having absolutely no idea where to start after I removed the side panel. I have some more quetions but I'll leave them for later. I never did get to sleep last night. I found out that the reason the ext hdd wasn't recognized by My Computer or Disk Management was because I had followed the wrong wire and connected a different ext hdd. The info that was on the ext hdd contained a complete back-up of all my programs and files for videos (codecs, etc). So I used the time to transfer them to the new pc and I'll install them later.

I hope a lot of people find this topic when they're thinking about or have already started to build their own computers. It's full of excellent advice, recommendations and helpful tips and, as you said, it simplified the building of a computer to a level that most people can understand, even if they still have questions. The mysterious aura of the inner workings of a computer has been removed here. And if that doesn't help them, they at least won't feel so bad when they can't grasp something and it takes umpteen posts for them to see it as it did me with the 4 pin CPU power connector. I feel sorry for what I put Walter through . . . it must've given him permanent indigestion and I wouldn't be surprised if he cringes when he sees newbie posts about building computers. I really am sorry for that Walter . . . I couldn't see the forest for the trees.

Well, I just came back from dropping my grandson off at pre-k so I'm off to bed for about 7 hours. I hope I hear the alarm clock when it goes off.

Have a great day/night everyone! You all deserve it after all the shaking of your heads you had to do. I enjoyed it all and it will definitely be an experience that I'll never forget. Each and every one of you were wonderful!

Denise

 

zzz
By the time you read this, we all hope you got some sleep.
Walter was a great building brick, never gave up, and was plugging away all the way through.confused -Everyone seemed to be waiting for 'LIFT OFF' probably with less patience than you.
Like I said previously, after the build the rest is chicken feed, but, if/when any little snag occurs, :cry just be as patient as you were with the build, as there are some good computer brains on here - and someone is sure to try their best to help you through.

 

Fantastic news Denise. :major

I've got a PC here that needs a major rebuild so if you are free......

 

Ummmm, I, errrrr, I, you see........I was ummmm, TESTING YOU! Yeah. See I, ummmm, wanted to make sure you....errr...were strong enough to make it. Yeah. I wasn't upset, it was all a TEST OF WILL! Good job. A+ I say.

 

baklogic, I got a few good hours of sleep. Once the computer booted up, I couldn't go to bed last night until I had some things situated, and it was worth it. Thank you for your patience and calming influence. I was patient because I had to be, you were patient because you were you.

 

It definitely is fantastic news Yargwell and thank you for your help.

With all of you, I felt like I had a team of the best doctors in the world giving me their undivided attention. You all made sure that this computer got up and running and it really is a testimony to your dedication, being here and helping people with small and large computer problems.

I not only learned how to put pieces together inside a computer but I know what makes it run and (hopefully) how to fix it if there's a problem. I know that I'll have more questions and I'm glad that you're all here to help me.

 

LOL Walter . . . it was a TEST and we all came through with flying colors. Your knowledge and advice helped me so much that saying thank you doesn't seem enough but, for lack of better words, Thank You. Whenever I look at this computer, which is very often, I'll remember you and everyone else who helped it come to life.

I still have a few more pictures that I want to take and when I get them developed, I'll post them here. It's a very clean-cut, uncluttered and efficient design without the ribbon cables. I'm more than happy with it!

P.S. When did you pick up that stutter

 

Congrats DeniseM! Great to see you got it running. Looking forward to seeing the picts.

E

 

Thanks Fred, and thanks for your help in getting my computer up and running.

 

I'm b-a-a-ck . . .

I have 2 hardware questions. The first one is that the IDE cable that connects my DVD to the motherboard has a grounding wire that needs to be connected to something but I don't know what to ground it to. Can someone tell me what I need to connect it to?

The second question is a little more difficult. I have a HP DeskJet 5600 All-in-One printer. I downloaded and installed the x64 Beta Driver 5.64.0.17 for it but My Computer doesn't recognize it. It keeps wanting to install it on its own. I tried to let it but when it finished, it told me that it found new hardware (the printer) again, so it didn't work either. I led the New Hardware program right to the x64 Beta Driver 5.64.0.17 file and it wouldn't accept it. Does anyone have any ideas on what I can try?

 

Did you look here for you HP driver?

 

Hi Yargwel . . . thanks for the link. I had gotten the X64 Beta Driver there last night but it doesn't complete installation. At the very end, it says to turn on the printer at that point and plug it into a USB 2.0 port on my computer. I did that and it then said that the next step will take a few minutes. I waited about 1/2 hour and Windows kept giving me the message that it had detected new hardware and brought up the New Hardware Wizard. The manual specifically states not to use Windows New Hardware Wizard. After a few attempts to install the printer using HP's drivers and updates without success, I tried Windows New Hardware Wizard. After I finished, the New Hardware Wizard told me that it found new hardware (my printer), lol. My printer never showed up in Printers/Faxes. I went around in circles but got nowhere. The HP page says:

It looks like even if it gets recognized by My Computer, I won't have the faxing capability, just copying and scanning. :mad

Before I bought the printer, I contacted HP tech support and asked them if it would be compatible with Windows X64 and they assured me that it would. I wouldn't have bought it if it wasn't because I already had everything to build the computer except for a few miscellaneous cables, etc. I didn't check out the warranty but I think I will. If it's still returnable, I'll try to send it back. Unfortunately, for Christmas, my daughter sent me over $200.00 worth of ink cartridges for it (special ones for picture developing, etc). But I probably won't be able to send it back anyway. Grrrrrr.

Ok, I guess I got the gripe out of my system

Time to try to do something about it.

Thanks again Yargwel.

 

Ouch - I felt that - I would contact HP like you said, asap, and check- if it has not got a compatable driver, and they told you it had.............
Silly question, now - how about going all through the driver uninstallation, and then reinstalling again ?
Printer drivers, in XP, and previous could be a pig, and often messed up no matter what.
Go to the printers folder, and see if there is an uninstall option, from the printer .
If not , see if it shows in add and remove,
if not, no doubt you have the Beta driver downloaded where you can find it ?
on the driver setup- try running it again to see if you can do a repair, or, uninstall.
Then shut down and restart , and try again.- but install the software, with the Printer connected, but not swiched on, until prompted by the software- NOT WINDOWS- then switch the printer on and see if it runs through - if Windows now says its found this , and that, just concentrate on your software, and let Windows mumble away, .
See if it helps - Drivers are going to be a problem with Vista, and that is why I will watch, and learn - My copy of Vista will only be opened when I finish my new Core 2 Duo build (waiting for something from USA, to finish it.)
I have been reading up, and noting little pitfalls, but I will run it alongside a new copy of XP, that is also waiting to go onto my new computer.
Have you downloaded Vista compatability wizard , yet?? - might save some heartache later.http://majorgeeks.com/Windows_Vista_Upgrade_Advisor_d5485.html

 

I have probably gone a bit on the careful side, because I use my machine, so much, and do not want two around, so by partitioning, and putting XP on first, then running the wizard, I can save a lot of aggravation, with Vista.
Oh - Vista will kick XP OF TOP SLOT WHEREVER I PUT IT, AND APPARENTLY TAKE THE C DRIVE FOR ITSELF, BUT A BIT OF REGISTRY HACKING WILL CHANGE TO WHAT I WANT.
I will not, at the moment be able to use my Hyperos, and partirion magic, BUT- WE WILL HAVE A CRACK AT BEATING IT.

 

I finally got My Computer to accept and recognize the printer. I doesn't have the fax capability though, as it said it wouldn't, so I'm going to contact HP and see what they have to say about that. I don't have to fax something very often but when it's needed I'd like to be able to use it.

I uninstalled it, installed it, plugged it in, disconnected the power supply, restarted, back and forth for a couple of hours and it wouldn't install. What I wound up having to do to get the printer installed was exactly what the directions told me not to do. At that point, I figured that I had nothing to lose so I clicked on the "(not recommended)" way to install it and it installed without a hitch.

 

I don't have Vista, I have X64. I was able to partition the hard drive with no problem in Disk Management. It might be more complicated with Vista.

 

When I installed x64, Windows placed WMP v10 in my pc. I tried v10 when I used my other pc and I didn't like it. I can't remember the exact way I got v9 back but I did a rollback and did something like choosing "Repair" and it allowed me to uninstall it and I then reinstalled v9. I tried downloading and installing v9 again but Windows won't let me and I can't do a rollback because v10 was placed in my computer when I installed x64. Does anyone know a way around this or should I bring this up in the software forum?

 

Sorry, that was me meandering on, - x64 has similar problems with drivers, and I missed a line out in my meandering.
The IDE lead - I have had them with spare wires, and they have been for extra power connections, so I never used them.
I suggest that unless you can get the supplier to explain what to connect to -DON'T.Everything ids working, and I have not come accross a round IDE cable with an earth wire- so like I said, above-tie it up out of the way.

 

Or is Vista and X64 the same?

 

From a quick look around, it can mess up the system if you try to uninstall it.
You could have a look in system restore, and see if Windows made one before installing it, but as it was a new install, it might not be there - if not you will have to Wait for someone else to come on- Was it ASUS, who said he had more information on x64 system.

 

No, but, Vista also has a x64 , as well as x32, and I am toying with jumping to x64 with Vista- that is why I went off on a tangent- its' my age, silver surfer(65), you have to make allowances -:banghead
I did not bother until I decided to have a go at Vista.

 

I was just reading up on X64 at Microsoft and this was one of the posts on upgrading to Vista . . . the post reads from bottom to top. I found it interesting.

​

 

I believe Asus said that he uses X64.

It looks like Vista is more popular than X64. I hadn't heard of Vista last Spring when I purchased everything. I'm happy with X64 . . . I haven't seen a difference between 64-bit and 32-bit, to be truthful (except that my printer lost it's faxing capability). Because it's a new install, I don't have all the pesty problems that I had with my other pc . . . it needed a reformat but I kept putting it off, thinking that I'd have this one up and running soon. I didn't think it would be 8 months later though. I have to find a lot of files/programs/codecs that will run with X64. I have a lot of videos and I do a lot with videos so I'll need them.

 

Hey Denise, could you do me a favor and refer me to a picture of that cable you are talking about. I have never seen an additional ground wire on an IDE cable before (they are all built in). If there is one, it would certainly go to the chassis without doubt, but I want to get a look, if possible.

 

The link for Vista require the purchase of some of their sponsor's products after filling out a 30 page questionairre. They try to get you coming and going.

 

Hi Walter . . . I don't have a digital camera so I couldn't take a picture of it and post it right away but this is the url of the one that I bought

http://www.jr.com/JRProductPage.process?Product_Id=4098175&JRSource=googlebase.datafeed.ANT+77228

I checked around a few site but they don't explain the wire either. No instructions for it were on the package. I found a picture of it at another site but it doesn't explain the wire either.

 

Well the wire goes to the chassis (as any ground wire for anything would). It goes to the metal surface of the chassis as to ground it. You can place it on the screw that holds you BenQ in place on the chassis (on the component slots for DVD drives). Just take out the screw, put on the ground wire, and place the screw back into the hole where it was. That should do fine (if it reaches). Just make sure the ground is somewhere on the chassis (not the component itself or any other component).

 

Sorry our Hours do not synchronise too well, and I had to leave the post.
Hi Denise, and Walter, from the description by the retailer, of the IDE cable --this is the bottom line
"Shielded with aluminum foil and braided silver mesh with ground, for maximum shielding"
So , it does ground the sheathing (shielding) material for maximum effect.
I woul suggest the chassis, then .

Yes Denise, a lot of interesting discussions regarding the New Vista - I was offered the free trial, ages ago, but decided against it.
If you are interested, the x32,and x64, choices are given, apparently from the same disc, when setting up, and if you choose x32, at the first instance, you cannot then install the x64, instead, even though both are on the disc- That is why I have been waiting, and watching ,when possible, for niggles.
Anyway, that is digressing again, you will get as senile as me, - on with the job!
Have you tried just connecting your printer to the phone line to fax ?, when you need to- not ideal, but a thought.

 

Hi baklogic . . . my hours are crazy anyway. It's about 6:40 am here and I'll be going to bed soon. 24 hours isn't a long enough day.

My new computer is fast but I would give the credit for that to the processor and motherboard, not Windows 64X, but I'm usually wrong about these things. I'm finding it very hard to get 64X software also and I go to the Microsoft forums often as I like to read what people say. Many people are complaining about Vista 64 and XP Pro 64. The software and hardware haven't caught up to it yet, my printer being a good example. I do a lot of things with videos and because the hardware inside my computer is fast, the video programs move along at a clip that's about 3 or 4 times as fast as my old one, but I think if the programs were 64-bit, they would move along a lot faster. But I'm very happy with 3 or 4 times faster.

I have my all-in-one printer connected to my phone line, using a splitter. Earlier, I pressed the fax button. There a front display and it said "Fax" so I was wondering if it would work manually. I hope so. I might be able to send faxes but I probably won't be able to receive them anymore, not that I have in the past couple of months that I've had it, but it might come up someday . . . or it might not. I've decided to keep the printer and not get caught up with HP over it. I can't prove that the tech said that it's compatible with X64 and it might be more trouble than it's worth. I have all those ink cartridges that my daughter bought for me too. In a few years, I'll start thinking about getting a new printer and, since it took me 8 months to start building my computer, it'll take me a while to get up the desire to start checking them out. By that time, Microsoft will probably come out with X128, but I'm not going to fall for that one again.

I'm still waiting for the SATA card/adapter to come in so I can connect 4 of my USB 2.0/SATA hdds and I have a 4-port firwire card on my old computer that I'll connect to my new one and get those connected. The tower has 4 USB 2.0 ports on it to connect the other 4 so I should be all set for a very long time, but whenever I say something like that, it usually comes around and kicks me in the butt.

I don't look at it as my mind getting senile . . . it's just taking it easy!

Have a good day. I'm off to sleep and my grandson will be getting up soon . . . this is going to be interesting.

 

Hi . . .

I'm in BIG trouble. I used to use PConPoint and I just downloaded, installed and ran the X64 version that I got from them. I set a Restore Point before I ran it in case it caused a problem. My computer won't boot up now. I tried "Last known good configuration," "Safe Mode," etc, but none of them worked . . . my computer just reboots and stops at the DMI Pool screen and reboots on its own again. In Last known good configuration, the Windows X64 screen came up but then rebooted again. I can get into BIOS/CMOS/Set-Up screen but I don't know to do. *big sigh*

 

Hmmm. Two things to do in BIOS would be to load optimal defaults and to check to make sure that in the advanced setup that the correct HDD is set as the boot drive. If you don't want to load optimal defaults, at least check to make sure the proper drive to boot from is set as the boot drive (you can always exit BIOS without saving anything at all if you feel the settings are ok). I know you are still a bit panicky about BIOS, but you will have to get in there sooner or later. May as well be sooner.

 

Can you give me step-by-step instructions? I looked all over BIOS and didn't see anything that said "click here and everything will be fine!"

I formatted the hard drive so that there are 3 partitions. All of my programs are in C and then I have an F and G drive/partition.

I went into:
Advanced BIOS Features
- Boot Seq & Floppy Setup
-- Hard Disk Boot Priority
--- 1. Ch2 M : ST3320620AS (highlighted in red but when I pressed "Enter" it didn't do anything.)
--- 2. Bootable Add-in Cards

 

Well, it looks like the boot disk is the right one (320GB Barracuda SATA). You can exit BIOS, don't have to save settings. I am trying to think of what could have happened with PC on Point. I know of the program and I can't think what it could have done.

 

Ok, thanks Walter. I'll check back every so often to see if you post something.

PC onPoint found about 500 things and I deleted them. I thought it was a lot but I figured it was because of programs that I installed and then uninstalled because I found a different one that worked better with X64.

I don't understand why "Last best know configuration" doesn't work. I set a Restore Point also. Is there a way that I can access it?

 

Dang DeniseM, you killed it! lol

This is a long shot Denise, with the computer off, unplug the power for a while, then plug it back and try again. That has helped me some when I try some crazy overclocking and am too lazy to reset the cmos. Again, long shot.

Walter34- what do you think about a Win restore from the CD?

E

 

If it helps, it always stops at Veryifying Pool Data.

This is the email that I got from PConPoint:

 

Yeah Fred, I was thinking that too. I hate having to do that unless you have to. Some of the other guys may have an idea or 2 first, I guess. I can only think that maybe boot files are corrupt.

Denise, in the mean time why don't you try a few things. You have no disks in the tray or floppy, right? All of your hardware connections are good (HDD, ect)? Also, did you try to load optimal defaults in BIOS? You can give that a go as what sometimes causes those boot issues is BIOS settings. I know your boot devices seem good (that is your primary right), but you can double-check that. If not you may have to try help from the recovery on XP cd. Don't do that yet though. I haven't used that in a long while, but I think it has a bootfix or something like that. Baklogic, Fred, or one of the others may want to weigh in on that.

Oh yeah...also check boot device order, i.e. DVD-RW, Floppy, HDD. Make sure that the HDD in the boot order is the boot drive (btw-doesn't have to be in that order necessarily, I am giving example). I keep talking about drive order even though you only have one internal drive is because I have seen times where Windows assigns drives and bumps them up in front of boot drive- even drives connected via PCI card (external).

 

If no luck, see if you can wait a while for Fred to weigh back in or Baklogic. Fred may be able to help more than me with a recovery or using XP cd help and such. Last time I needed to use it was on a P4 machine a while back.

 

Walter34, I have not used in a while either, was hoping you had!

Ok DeniseM, we are going to have to start charging you consulting fees! lol I think you need to do a Windows repair with the disk. Again, unless you research it and are comfortable with it, do not do it yet. I am going to have to do some research on it, and I have had a few beers, so I am not advising any further tonight.

If nobody has posted an alternate solution or has helped you with it tonight, I will post instructions for you in the morning.

E

 

Hi Fred,

Charge me? lol . . .

I've heard of Windows repair but I've never done it. I've installed a lot of programs already but would it be easier to reinstall windows?