Building Your Own Computer System
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| Caution | The article below is currently in beta and has not been reviewed for factual errors. |
[edit] Introduction
You too can build your own computer system! This article takes you though all the steps in a no-nonsense approach. Many sites offer such advice but are typically commercial enterprises which subtly push a solution they can sell but which may not be in your best interests. The information provided here is free of any such commercial sales motive.
Hi folks.
Please find below a description of HOW YOU CAN PROVE TO YOURSELF that you can assemble your own computer from parts that you might purchase as a "kit" or from parts you might get at discount computer stores and thrift stores.....
The only section NOT INCLUDED is a step by step tutorial on how to attach a CPU to a board... there are basically two types of CPUs those that have "edges" that go into a "slot" rather like memory and those that have many little "pins"..... now, it might seem simple to be able to describe that but I have not produced a description which meets what I want to do.
The below description describes, in large, that one gets two identical computers, cheapies, one that works, the other may not.... and how one goes about disassembling one and reassembling and then repeating that with the working one and powering it up to PROVE TO YOURSELF.... that you CAN assemble a computer....
YOU ARE NOT AT THE MERCY OF THE TECHNICIAN or the "store" UNLESS YOU WISH TO BE....
Anyone who has additions, comments, etc. please feel free to kibitz... woodsmoke...
The below was last edited on 3/21/2006 at 3:59 Central Time USA..by woodsmoke
Here's how to CONVINCE YOURSELF that you CAN assemble a computer..
I will tell you RIGHT NOW how to assemble a computer of your own.
This is how I started assembling computers. The method WORKS.
First you have to get two CHEAP similar, preferably identical computers, that work.
Call discount computer shops, thrift stores, or if you don't have any, shops that build, and refurbish computers.
Get TWO - 2 towers, preferably or tabletops if necessary, cheapo, second hand, that are, to all intents, identical on the inside. Maybe even get the same manufacturer.
Get two IDENTICAL, or very similar, INSIDE, computers that work, you can get ANY type of Pentium or AMD. The main thing is to get CHEAP.
I recommend AGAINST Hewelett Packard. They have a lot of "proprietary" stuff "unitized" on the board.
First pick, a Dell, then a Gateway, then any two identical “shop brand” pcs. Even if built by a local shop, maybe the shop itself, ask if they have two that folks have traded in for newer ones, a lot of shops do that.
Anyway you want two identical, with AT LEAST one that WORKS.
Have the owner show you how to get the COVER off, quite often that is the critical thing.
It is a matter of "sliding back about an inch and lifting kind of “angley up”" if it is a single piece.
If it has a top and two sides then all you need to remove is the left side. As you face the front, just unscrew the screws on the back and you push back the left side about an inch and it comes off.
Now, you are going to DISSASEMBLE one of the computers…. If you only have one that works then disassemble the one that does NOT work.
After you have disassembled and reassembled it, then repeat with the working one and turn it on to confirm that, yes, you can assemble a computer!
Get some good light.
Get a couple of clean egg cartons and number the bottoms of the egg holders 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 7 8 9 10 11 and 12
Put a sheet down on a floor.
Work on a table, the higher the better, so you don’t put your back into a “crimp”, and lay the parts on the sheet, stepwise, as you remove them.
Don’t laugh, but I work on a metal “X” leg ironing board….. it can be adjusted to where I can stand upright and that saves a LOT on your back strain!
Put both machines next to each other, if on a table or one on a table and one on the ironing board…
If the computers are towers, lay them down so the side that still has a cover attached is on the downside…
If a tabletop then the top will automatically be “up”.
In any case you want to be able to look “down” at the “motherboard. If it is a tower, then the front should be to your right and if a table top, I generally also put the “front” to the right but for table tops it is a matter of choice, really.
If they are dusty inside, buy a “can” of “air” and take them outside and spray the dust out of them….. heat buildup on the fans and memory is one major reason for failure of a computer…. If you have a “vacuum cleaner” or a “shop vac” that can “blow” you can also use it to blow out the dust.
Put the egg carton(s) on the sheet or table.
Disassemble the computer that does not work( or if both work, then one of your choice; by laying the pieces out on the sheet in the order that you take them out. The first part you remove should lay on the top left, or right, of the sheet, the next part below it...
Just start at the “top” or “front” of the computer taking things out, one at a time, working you way “toward” the motherboard.
As you take out each part, lay it on the sheet, going down the sheet, next to it or on it, place a paper with a number for the part, or number the part itself. Again, going down the sheet, just below the part put a piece of paper with the number of the "holder" in the egg carton that has the screws for the part...
I would first remove the “cables”.
Get some “masking tape” or just use a permanent marker to “lable” the part where you remove the cable and the end of the cable. If a “drive” then lable the drive itself with the letter “a” and the end of the cable that goes into it with the letter “a”. Then label the other end of the cable with the words “mother board” or "mother board in the big black plastic socket that is labled IDE 1” or something like that…
If you have a digital camera, take a picture of each step, and when you reassemble just play the pictures backward on another computer…
If you don't have a camera, or even if you do, you might make a "sketch" of the computer, from where you are looking at it, and write in the letter "a" or "b" or whatever to correspond to what is on the part itself as it lays on the sheet...
Each time you take out a "group" of screws from a part, put them in one of the egg carton "holders" and write the "number" of the holder on a scrap of paper.... this scrap of paper goes just "below" the part as you lay the parts down going down the sheet..
PAY ATTENTION to the size and length of the screws. The various drives, floppy, cdrom, hard drive use different sizes….. some use the same, but many use different…
Pay attention to which way the cable goes “into” the drive or the “socket” "IDE" or "ribbon" cables have a “extra nub” of plastic on one side of the "plug" that forces it to only go in one way to the drive and the socket.
Floppy ribbon cables have the end that plugs into the drive with a “crossover” section, several of the wires in the ribbon have been “cut alongside” and twisted over and rearranged to go into the plug and thus into the drive differently than if they were all just laying "parallel" as originally manufactured(long time ago)(it is a historical thing)…
However, the newer SATA stuff goes any way, it doesn’t matter, but I’m assuming you are not doing this to a new computer.
When you take out a “part” you should PLACE ON THE SHEET a description, just below that part of where it "was"(like "on the front" in the drive bay). ALSO Write on a piece of paper the appropriate number the depression in the egg carton for any screws which were holding the part and lay that piece of paper next to the part...
That way, you don't get the screws mixed up with the wrong parts and have all the screws you need for each part..
It might look something like this:
Parallel cable for hard drive.
Parallel cable for cdrom.
Parallel cable for floppy.
Hard drive.
1 screws for floppy scrap of paper.
Cdrom.
2 screws for cdrom.
AND THUS down the sheet with part, part, part, screws number, part, screws number.... in order
Thus, when you are REASSEMBLING the computer, as you work UP from the bottom of the sheet, you will encounter the screws that you need for the part before you get to the part.
Of course, if you run out of space at the bottom of the sheet, then go back up the middle and then down the other side.
AGAIN…..IF POSSIBLE:
Maybe take a set of digital pictures as you go. If you do that, AND then make a “powerpoint” or let MS picture indexer make a slide show…. They will already be in order from their numbers…. You can just refer to the powerpoint or the slide show as you reassemble the computer…
DO NOT remove the switches from the front of the box, they are "tricky" and if you break one you are stuck. You will learn how to do them LATER when you get the rest of it comfortable in your mind...
Now........ reassemble in reverse order LOOKING AT THE ASSEMBLED COMPUTER.
After that, do the same with the working computer and plug it in to see if it works.
Here is the CRITICAL POINT THAT MESSES UP FIRST TIME COMPUTER ASSEMBLERS.
There are metal "standoffs" on the "back side" of the computer that you lay the motherboard on and place screws through it into them.
When putting a mother board into a different computer, from which it did not originally come, but is designed to accept it; sometimes the standoffs don't match ALL of the holes or they may not match the POSITION of ALL of the holes…
The screw holes on almost ALL motherboards will have a metal “ring” round the hole…. So that you can easily see them.
If, in putting a different board in, you have a standoff touching SOLDER instead of the screw hole, which WILL have a metal ring, you blow the thing when you turn on the power.
NOTE….NOTE….NOTE…. TO POSSIBLE “KIT” BUYERS:::::
BEWARE THE KIT!
I have, as of 4 Feb 06 now helped three(3) people who bought “very high end” computer “kits” from a WELL KNOWN SUPPLIER OF PARTS AND KITS”….
In all three cases. The kit went together as advertised…… BUT……..
The standoffs messed it up……. HOW? You might ask…. They are such a simple thing!
Very SIMPLE…. You get what you pay for….even at $700 or $1500…..
All three of them, one $700, one of them $800, one of them $1,100 were the “end of the year” price reductions that had been significantly higher at the beginning of the year….
Here is what I PERSONALLY think happens…..
The kit sellers have a bunch of fancy “boxes”…. And they have a bunch of the “guts”…..
For someone who has already built a computer, if the “guts” are “close” then the company assumes that they already "know what to do anyway..I mean.. EVERYBODY knows that”, MAY be the attitude.
BUT, the “FIRST TIME” person “doesn’t know that”.
What you get is a nice box, a nice set of guts….. and a book that very PRECISELY tells you everything you need to know about how to program which jumper setting to do this or that…..
In the bunch of “guts” like a cdrom…. You will get a “cdrom” but the problem is that the cdrom does not have a paper instruction sheet for YOUR computer….. it has a generic paper instruction sheet provided by the cdrom’s manufacturer…… Now….. the “experienced” person knows “all about” cdroms….. but the inexperienced person does not….
You will find a LOT of instructions like this for:
a) cdroms b) hard drives c) power units
You will find very NICE instructions that have a “diagram” of the mother board with the plugs labled….. but not a photo of the mother board…
You will find EXCELLENT DETAILED instructions on how to “program” the jumpers and settings to “tweak” your mother board…… because supposedly only an EXPERIENCED person would even buy the kit….
But what you WILL NOT GET……….. is a detailed set of instructions about where to put “standoffs” on the back of the computer so that they will match the holes in the mother board….
What you WILL get is a bag of standoffs of various sizes, to fit any board that the kit maker happens to have…….
And a little scrap of paper saying something like: “various manufacturers have various patterns for standoffs for various motherboards….. you should check with the manufacturer of your particular mother board to determine the correct pattern..”
WHAT!!!???? WHAT!!???? You’ve spent $700 plus on a kit and somehow have to determine which standoff arrangements are appropriate for YOUR particular situation. FOR YOURSELF……SHEEEESSHHH!!!!
By default, most folks have no clue about how to do this so they just screw them all in…..
And at least ONE of them “touches solder” and the MOBO is ……..toast….
HERE IS HOW TO AVOID THIS…You do this very simple thing…..
First, observe that the BACK OF THE CASE HAS EIGHT..(8) or more “standoff holes”(PROBABLY). They will be, usually, in “dimples” in the metal which are “raised upward” or they may just be screw holes…
The MOTHERBOARD….. has six(6) standoff “holes”(MAYBE)…
You have a SACK with 10 or 12 standoffs of different lengths…..
And a sheet, photocopied, that cost MAYBE …$00.001 to make(in a $700 kit).
SHEEEESSHHH!!!!
Ok. Back to standoffs and the board.
The standoff is SUPPOSED to touch the metal ring that is around the screw hole that is in the motherboard, if the motherboard has screw holes that have them, again, some may not.
The screw is going to go through the hole into the standoff. It will thereby touch the ring of metal if there is one. However, the screw, and ring WILL NOT touch anything else on the motherboard. The little individual parts of the motherboard are separated from each other. The holes do not touch the parts. The screw touches the metal ring, if there is one, but that metal does NOT contact any other "parts" on the motherboard. The screw goes into the standoff and the standoffs are screwed into the case.
The point behind all of the above is that you do NOT need an "insulator" between the motherboard and the standoff.
Somehow, a kind of “myth” got started a few years ago that there was supposed to be an “insulator” between the standoff and the board…… dunno how… ..if you are given insulators. You CAN put them on….. but when heat has to “flow” it won’t be able to.. the whole computer is grounded to itself anyway…..I’ve never used an “insulator”.. don’t know anybody that does…… have talked to several shop owners about it and they just laugh and say.”yep..that old saw has made me a lot of money!”.
IF SOMEONE HAS DIFFERENT INFORMATION about insulators PLEASE POST IT….. WITH REFERENTIAL LINKS…
OK.... now for the standoffs of your first real "kit"
a) pick out four “corner” and at least one “center, or close to middle”, “dimple or screw holes” on the back of the computer.
b) Visually compare these to the motherboard….. top left, top right kind of down toward middle and kind of off by the IDE 2 plug, down at bottom left. Down at bottom right but in an inch and up a half inch…… SOMETHING LIKE THAT….
c) Pick out five standoffs that are the same in length and screw them “lightly” not tightly into the five dimples.
d) Pick five screws that will screw into the standoffs, try them each…
e) Carefully lay the mobo on the standoffs and assure that the “back” of it will match up with the openings on the back of the computer…
f) Try one of the screws in one of the “easiest” holes and make sure that it goes into the standoff….
g) Check the other holes to make sure that there is a standoff behind them….you can move the mobo a fraction of an inch left right to visually inspect for them….
h) Make sure that you have five standoffs, and five screws.
i) Remove the mobo and tighten the standoffs but not so much that you “strip” the threads….. they are BRASS and soft…
j) Replace the mobo
k) AGAIN verify that you have five standoffs under five holes and put the five screws in…. tighten but not so hard that you “break” something….. just “tight”.
Getting back to the computers you are experimenting on…..
TAKE A COUPLE OF THE STANDOFFS OUT AND PUT THEM BACK IN TO VERIFY THIS PROCESS….
WIRES:……. These are really kind of hard to mess up except for where they actually go onto the motherboard…… the cables and power cables will only fit one way, as you will determine when you do this process….
However, the little wires that “turn things on and off” and “indicate hard drive or cdrom activity” are another matter…
Before you remove them from the board, make a sketch of the “pins” that they plug onto…. NOTICE ONTO….. they will be raw pieces of metal sticking up… lable the sketch so that you can easily tell which side was “up toward the top” and which side was the “back” or “front”… There will be several colors of wires….. if you are lucky they will have little pieces of plastic on them labled “pwr” “hdd”, etc…. use those names and make sure which color is labled for “left right”.
On some switches, it doesn’t matter which wire goes on which side but on others it does……
OK.here’s something I’m NOT going to tell you.
LEARN THESE TWO(four) COLORS OF WIRE: in terms of the voltage in them, red, black, white, yellow. Notice I'm not telling you the voltage. You can find it in Google by typing “what voltage is the red wire in a computer”. The RED and BLACK are most important… do this for all four colors of the wire.
KNOW them! You don't really need to now, because you are reassembling something that has a model next to it.
But later when you start assembling your OWN computer, or building a kit, you have the knowledge, it is IMPORTANT.
THAT IS WHY I DID NOT GIVE IT HERE….. I consider it kind of an “index” of just how much a person wants to build a computer and a way for you to find out that there IS information on the net……just type in Google…”what is the voltage of the red wire”…. You will get a bunch of hits…
Ok what about if you want to install a “motherboard” that you bought in business A into a “box” you bought at business B?
There are labels on the mother board…… usually in big letters and numbers….. but the first time that you do this just very simply ask they person where you bought the board this simple question:
”who is the manufacturer of this board, what is it’s name and number and can you show me those things on the board?”
Then, when you get home, type into Google: PS160(or whatever) specifications….. you will at least get a “diagram’ usually a “photo” . Try doing the same in “images” also..
Also type in the name of the mobo and “pinouts”…… you might get an immediate one page hit for “pinouts” for all of a manufacturers boards or you might get a PDF file….just look in the index…..
OK so you've reassembled the machine and it runs.
BEFORE DOING ANYTHING ELSE, the machine on, open the cdrom, and CLEAN THE TRAY!
If you build many computers from second hand parts you will soon be amazed at what people put into the cdroms.
I have actually found coffee drips! No kidding! But at least clean the dust off; use a damp rag if necessary and then dry it.
Now to install your OS….. if it is Windows, you can probably use the cd that you have…. If it is Linux, use the .iso.
If you are installing a linux distro(I recommend Xandros! He, He) I really do recommend that you replace one of the cdroms, if it does not have a speed on the front or a 2x speed with a 48, 52 or 54 speed cdrom. Don't take the 2x speed cdrom out, just unplug the power cord and ribbon cable, get a box to prop the faster cdrom on beside the machine and plug it in. Install the OS and then replug the cable.
NOTE: installing another cdrom is just as simple as the above. Remove one of the "bay" covers, put the cdrom in, attach the middle plug of the ribbon cable, plug in one of the other power cords and THEN put the screws in.
A second hard drive, if not SATA requires "jumpering" the drives, that will be covered in another section if there is demand from the gentle readers.
Also, there is enough desire, I can provide photos for the above as a step by step process……. I presently have a server upon which I can host the photos….. however, to make it a PERMANENT….. thing, a more permanent server would be needed.
Comments on the above are welcome at this point. Just type in your name and comment away! And also append a date.
The following is a “first run” at how to “mod” a computer.
If the CC folks think that the above is acceptable, then I will put up a more lengthy discussion along with photos of how to mod a computer
Now, here is I how I started MODDING computers.
I looked at some of the commercial(modded) boxes. then I went home, got a jig saw, drew an opening on the side of one of the towers and cut it out. Just that simple.
The steel is hard to cut, just that simple. File and sand it off,
Disassemble the rest of the computer's outsides, mask off the lights, and paint.
If you use "plastic fusion" DO NOT put an enamel on top of it because the solvent in the “plastic fusion” will leach into the enamel and the enamel will blister. Plastic fusion works with plastic fusion. If you want a "beautiful" color use fast dry enamel. Go to a discount store for white primer and a car parts store for knock down, drop dead colors, but, be aware, that if the paint depends on sunlight for the effect you won't get it in a interior room.
Next, get a piece of plexiglass from a glass or autobody shop and attach it to the inside of the hole with double stick velcro or a liquid cement or bolts.
Or, go to a “dollar shop” and buy a “plexiglass” clipboard, pop the clip off and do samo, samo above. Of course you have to make sure that the plexiglass will fit the hole…. So maybe work backwards with it. Buy the clipboard and THEN cut the hole.
Get a lighted fan(they cost about $7.00 U.S.D. and put it in the plexiglass or replace one of the fans which is already in the machine, if you can SEE IT… ,if there is one.
However, cutting plexiglass other than with a jig saw is just plain hard to do.
A "hole cutting" drill will just seize up and hurt you or whoever else is holding the plexiglass or nearby... I have NOT found an inexpensive method of cutting a hole in plexiglass which gives a decent apperaing result.
But, the really easy way to do this is to get a pre manufactured case which has thin aluminum sides so you can cut them with a "hand nibbler" it takes a "chunk" of metal out so that the metal doesn't "curl" like it does with metal shears.
You can also sometimes get flourescent auto lights on sale that folks put on their cars to pretty them up or get compter "modding" lights. But, make sure that the amps and watts requirements for the light can be handled by the power supply….
Here’s where the bigger the boy, the bigger the toy comes in…… start LURKING at computer “modding” shops and POUNCE on a “last year’s lighted power supply”!
Yes, you to, girls and boys, can, errr....... make a "bigger the boy, bigger the toy" computer!
Me, I've got three. My old HP that I use for internet. If it goes for some reason, I owe it money, it is so old, I've got an IBM that I painted up real good and put some LEDs in and a completely modded silver machine that I bought a commercial "box" for and added to it.
Building your own can be more expensive than buying a ready to go one, but is not as much fun. I've had lively debates in other forums about the relative merits.
I DO NOT recommend buying stuff off the net until you have built something from junk or at least tore apart something you found at a thrift shop.
Buying from the net can be cheaper, but shipping gets involved, and if it is a plexiglass "kit", the plexiglass can break in shipping and you spend two weeks getting it taken care of,
But, this will be a LOT of fun........
Again, comments are welcome!
woodsmoke
