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HP IT Essential I:
PC Hardware
and Software v3.1
Module 3

Assembling a Computer
 Before beginning any assembly process, it is a
good idea to review safety procedures.
• Keep the work area free of clutter and keep it clean.
• Keep food and drinks out of the work area.
• A computer monitor may store up to 25,000 volts, so avoid opening
one unless trained to do so.
• Remove all jewelry and watches.
• Make sure the power is off and the power plug has been removed
when working inside the computer.
• Never look into a laser beam. Lasers are found in computer related
equipment.
• Make sure that a fire extinguisher and first aid kit is available.
• Cover sharp edges with tape when working inside the computer
case.

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 Basic Safety Procedures

• Use an antistatic mat and grounding wrist strap.

• Use antistatic bags to store and move computer components.
• Do not remove or install components while the computer is
on.
• Ground often to prevent static charges from building up by
touching a piece of bare metal on the chassis or power
supply.
• Work on a bare floor because carpets can build up static
charges.
• Hold cards by the edges to avoid touching chips or the edge
connectors on the expansion cards.

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 Basic Safety Procedures

• Do not touch chips or expansion boards with a magnetized

screwdriver.
• Turn off the computer before moving it. This is to protect the
hard drive, which is always spinning when the computer is
turned on.
• Do not place a circuit board of any kind onto a conductive
surface.
• Do not use a pencil or metal tipped instrument to change DIP
switches or to touch components. The graphite in the pencil is
conductive and could easily cause damage.
• Do not allow anyone who is not properly grounded to touch or
hand off computer components. This is true even when
working with a lab partner. When passing components,
always touch hands first to neutralize any charges.

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 ESD Precautions

• Electrostatic discharge (ESD) is more commonly referred to

as static electricity.
• ESD is probably the greatest enemy when a user unwraps
newly purchased computer parts and components while
preparing to assemble the computer.
• The best way to protect against ESD is to use an anti-static
mat, a grounding wrist strap, and anti-static bags.

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 ESD Precautions

Always review the ESD precautions before beginning the

assembly process.
• Keep all computer parts in anti-static bags.
• Keep the humidity between 20 - 30 percent.
• Use grounded mats on workbenches.
• Use grounded floor mats in work areas.
• Use wrist straps when working on computer parts, except
when working on monitors or power supplies.
• Periodically touch unpainted grounded metal parts of the
computer to lower the static energy of the body.

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 Computer Cases

• There are three basic types of computer cases:

– Desktop
– Tower
• Mini-tower
• Mid-tower
• Full tower
– Portable
• Whether buying a tower or desktop, it is recommended that it
conforms to the ATX standard and has at least a 250-watt
power supply (300 watts is ideal.)
• The desktop case is considered the most difficult to upgrade.

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 Desktop Computers

• The desktop design is one of the more familiar case styles.

Desktop units are designed to sit horizontally on the desktop.

• The two important considerations in choosing a desktop case

style for a computer are:
– Available desktop space

– Form factor

• The newest form factor,

and the one most often
encountered, is the ATX.

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 Tower Computers

• Tower cases are usually designed to sit vertically on the floor

beneath a desk.

• Tower cases come in three sizes:

– Mini towers

– Mid towers

– Full-size towers

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 Power Supplies

• The power supply is one of the most important parts that

needs to be understood. The power supply unit provides
electrical power for every component inside the system unit.
• The power supply plays the critical role of converting
commercial electrical power (AC), into DC required by the
components of the computer.
• There are two basic types of power supplies:
– AT power supplies – Designed to support AT-compatible
motherboards.
– ATX power supplies – Designed according to newer ATX
design specifications to support the ATX motherboard.

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 Power Supplies

• There are two major distinctions between the legacy AT and

the new ATX power supplies.
– The AT power supply has two 6-pin (12 pins) motherboard
power connectors (P8/P9)
– The ATX power supplies use a single 20-pin power
connector (P1).
– In the ATX-compatible power supply, the cooling fan pulls
air through the case from the front and exhausts it out the
rear of the power supply unit.
– The AT design pulls air in through the rear of the power
supply unit and blows it directly on the AT motherboard.

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 Power Supplies

• The power supply produces four (five in the ATX) different

levels of well-regulated DC voltage for use by the system
components.

• These are +5V, -5V, +12V, and -12V.

• In ATX power supplies, the +3.3V level is also produced and

is used by the second-generation Intel Pentium processors.

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 Power Supplies
ATX

Voltage Wire Color Use

Disk drive motors, fans, cooling devices, and
+ 12 volts Yellow
the systems bus slots

- 12 volts Blue Some types of serial port circuits and early

programmable read only memory (PROM)

+ 5 volts Red Motherboard, Baby AT and earlier CPUs, and

many motherboard components
- 5 volts White ISA bus cards and early PROMS
Most newer CPUs, some types of memory,
+ 3.3 volts Orange
and AGP video cards
Ground -- Used to complete circuits with the
0 volts Black
other voltages

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 Motherboard Location Map

• A motherboard location map

shows where the major
components and hardware is
located on the motherboard.
A motherboard map can be
found in the documentation
that comes with the
motherboard.

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 Configuring the Motherboard

• Configuring the motherboard typically means the following:

• Installing the CPU

• Installing the heat sink and fan

• Installing RAM

• Connecting the power supply cables to the motherboard

power connectors and connecting miscellaneous
connectors to the correct switches and status lights on the
front case panel.

• Setting the system BIOS (Basic Input Output System)

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 Configuring the Connectors

• For the disk controllers, always remember that a colored

stripe on the data cable is pin-1.

• Most modern connectors are "keyed" by a missing pin or a

blocked connector, so they cannot be fitted the wrong way.

• Usually, the colored wire(s) in a power cable are positive and

the white or black wire(s) are ground or negative.

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 CPU Interfaces

• There are two main types of CPU interfaces.

– Socket type (e.g., socket 7) - Socket 7 has been the

standard interface, although the newer systems are now
using different sockets. It is the only interface used by at
least one generation of Intel Pentium processors (Pentium
I) as well as AMD and Cyrix chips.

– Slot type (e.g., slot 1.) - Slot type interfaces use a slot
similar to expansion cards. Slot 1 is the Single Edge
Contact (SEC) interface used only by the Intel Pentium II
processor family.

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 RAM

• The two types of memory modules used on most PCs are:

– Dual Inline Memory Module (DIMM)

– Single Inline Memory Module (SIMM)

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 RAM

• Dual Inline Memory Module (DIMM)

– 168-pin

– DIMM cards are inserted straight into the slots

– When DIMM sizes are mixed on the motherboard, it is

important to remember to put the DIMM with the largest
memory size in the first bank.

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 RAM

• Single Inline Memory Module (SIMM)

– 72-pin
– SIMM cards are inserted at an angle of about 45 degrees

– Each bank of memory for a SIMM has two sockets. You

must fill the first bank before moving onto the next.
Additionally, each bank must be filled with RAM modules
that have the same access time and size.

NOTE: A bank is a group of

memory slot used to install
RAM

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 RAM

• Rambus Inline Memory Module (RIMM)

– 184 pins
– RIMM modules use only the direct Rambus memory chips
(RDRAM)
– RDRAM is characterized by its high bus speed.
– RIMMs require that if you do not fill all RIMM slots with
RDRAM memory, you must keep the empty slots filled with
termination boards

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 Connecting the Power Supply

• The power supply converts the alternation current (AC) line

from your home to the direct current (DC) needed by the
personal computer.

• This process will vary depending on the type of motherboard

that is being installed (AT or ATX).
• Sometimes it is helpful to delay attaching the power connector
to the board until all the components
have been installed that need to go
on the motherboard.
• This allows for more working
space inside the case.

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 Connecting the Power Supply

• WARNING: Do not open the power supply it contains a

capacitors which can hold Electricity (WHICH CAN KILL)
even if the computer is power off for a week, if not
longer. If you do open it WHICH IS NOT
RECOMMENDED, take all precautions and ensure you
work with one arm behind your back to direct the
electricity away from the heart. Also ensure that you
have no jewelry on (such as a watch or rings). However
again THIS IS NOT RECOMMENDED and still cannot
protect you 100% and is still potentially dangerous.

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 AT Power Supply

• AT power supplies are considered legacy

• AT motherboards have a 12 pin connector and the AT power
supply has two 6 pin connectors (P8 and P9).
• Plug the P8 and P9 wire lead connectors in the 12-pin power
connector.
• Make sure the black wires are in the middle, right next to each
other or the motherboard could be damaged.

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 ATX Power Supply

• ATX is currently the most common type of power supply.

• ATX motherboards have a single 20 pin connector (P1).
• The connector is keyed for easy installation.

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 Connecting Floppy Drives

• The floppy drive exchanges data with the motherboard

devices, including the microprocessor, via a 34-pin flat ribbon
(data) cable

• Usually, a red stripe on the edge of the cable identifies pin-1.

Lining the red-stripe edge with pin-1 of the drive connector or
drive controller interface assures a correct alignment.

• If the cable is incorrectly oriented it becomes immediately

apparent on power up by the fact that the floppy drive LED
light comes on immediately and stays on.

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 Connecting Floppy Drives

• Current system BIOS versions can support up to two

floppy drives on one controller via a daisy chain cable
arrangement. Cable pin-outs 10 through 16 are cross-
wired between the middle drive connector and end drive
connector, producing a twist that reverses the Drive
Select (DS) configuration of the drive plugged into the
end connector of the ribbon cable. This feature, called
cable select, automatically configures the drive on the
middle connector as Drive B and the drive on the end
connector as Drive A. The twist is beside the Drive A
connector.

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 Installing a Hard Drive or CD-ROM

• Attaching the hard drive and CD-ROM are basically similar.

• First, the jumper settings should be properly set.

• The designation of a hard drive or CD-ROM drive as either

master or slave is generally determined by the jumper
configuration, not by the order in which the drive is daisy-
chained to the other drive.

• The hard drive that is used to boot the computer should be set
as the primary master

• The only exception is if the drive is jumpered (set to) "cable

select" and both the system and ribbon cable support cable
select.
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 Connecting a Hard Drive or CD-ROM

• Hard drives and CD-ROM drives communicate with the rest of

the system using ribbon cables.

• Ribbon cables are widely used to connect peripherals such as

floppy drives and hard drives internally.

• IDE cable ribbon cables used for hard drives and CD-ROM
drives typically have 40 pins and can connect two devices to
each cable.

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 Power On Self Test

• Whenever a computer starts up, a series of tests are automatically

performed to check the primary components in the system, such as
the CPU, ROM, memory, and motherboard support circuitry.

• The routine that carries out this function is referred to as the POST.

• POST is a hardware diagnostics routine that is built into the system

BIOS.

• The basic function of the POST routine is to make sure that all the
hardware the system needs for startup is there and that everything
is functioning properly before the boot process begins.

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 Power On Self Test

• POST also provides some basic troubleshooting to determine

what devices have failed or have problems initializing during
this pre-startup hardware check.

• The POST routine provides error or warning messages

whenever it encounters a faulty component.

• Post error codes take the form of a series of beeps that

identify a faulty hardware component.

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 Power On Self Test

• If the Post advances up to the point where video can be displayed,

the error codes are displayed on the monitor.

Error Code/Range Possible Problem

1xx System board or BIOS

16x CMOS, options or time not set
2xx Main memory
3xx Keyboard
5xx Color monitor
6xx Floppy drive
17xx Hard drive
86xx Mouse

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