GSBUG Hardware Info SIG

GSBUG Hardware Info SIG

April 8, 2004

April 8, 2004 2


Agenda – April 8, 20047:00 – 7:05 Administration7:05 – 8:15 Featured Topic – Your New System

(2003 Update): Installing the Balance of Your Components (alias, “Assembly – Part 2”)

8:15 – 8:30 Hardware News8:30 – 8:55 Random Access (Q&A)8:55 – 9:00 Recap, Preview, and Close

April 8, 2004 3


AdministrationWelcome! Please Sign In.What the SIG is…and is not.

Is - a resource for computer users and potential computer users

Is NOT – a cheap way to get your computer built or repaired (contact the GSBUG Daytime Hardware SIG)

Logs – Random Access/Q&A (First Come…)

April 8, 2004 4


Administration (continued):Presentation materials will be posted at:http://gsbug.apcug.org/hwinfosig.htm

Prior presentation materials also posted.

April 8, 2004 5


Your New System (2003 Update): Set Up-Part 2Givens (from the last meeting) – you:

Set up your motherboard and installed your CPU and Set up your motherboard and installed your CPU and RAM.RAM.

Installed the assembled motherboard into your chassis. Installed the assembled motherboard into your chassis. Successfully performed an initial system test.Successfully performed an initial system test.

April 8, 2004 6


Your New System (2003): Set Up-Part 2 (cont.)The Process

Assemble and review the component docs (balance) Install the “floppy” and hard drives Install other externally-accessible drivesInstall other externally-accessible drives Install the power supplyAttach power and data cables Install I/O cables/brackets

April 8, 2004 7


Your New System (2003): Set Up-Part 2 (cont.)The Process (continued)

Install adapter cardsInstall adapter cards Perform a system-level testPerform a system-level test Set up your BIOS (baseline).Set up your BIOS (baseline).

April 8, 2004 8


Your New System (2003): Set Up-Part 2 (cont.)Assemble and Review the Component Docs

As applicable, check docs for master/slave settingsAs applicable, check docs for power, data, audio, and

other I/O connections.

April 8, 2004 9

GSBUG Hardware Info SIGYour New System (2003): Set Up-Part 2 (cont.) Install the”Floppy” and Hard Drives

If not already removed, remove the floppy and hard drive “cage(s)” from the chassis

Remove the drive bay “cover” for the floppy drive from the chassis’ front bezel – pops out towards the front

Eyeball the “to-be” location of the cage and floppy in the chassis and temporarily install the floppy in it’s cage (4 small, fine thread screws) – the eject button should be towards the “bottom” of the chassis

Position the cage in the chassis and check for “fit”

April 8, 2004 10


Your New System (2003): Set Up-Part 2 (cont.) Install the”Floppy” and Hard Drives (continued)

Remove the cage and, if applicable, reposition the floppy in the cage; secure with 4 screws

If applicable, set the booting hard drive as “master” – or leave at CS (cable select) if pre-set by the manufacturer

Install the hard drive in its cage (4 short, coarse thread screws) – the power and data cable connectors towards the rear (and typically on the “bottom” side of the drive)

Install the cage in the chassis; secure it.

April 8, 2004 11


Your New System (2003): Set Up-Part 2 (cont.) Install Other Externally-Accessible Drives

Remove the drive bay “cover(s)” for the drive(s) from the chassis’ front bezel – pop out towards the front.

Since there can be only one master and one slave drive attached to an IDE/ATAPI cable, check for master/slave drive settings; change as required – set the noticeably slower drive as the slave.

April 8, 2004 12


Your New System (2003): Set Up-Part 2 (cont.) Install Other Externally-Accessible Drives (cont.)

Note that the data cable has a “long” and a “short” end – established by the relative position of the center connector. The drives attach at the short end with the pin-1 stripe “keyed” towards the drive’s power socket.

Note the data cable’s pin-1 stripe location in relation to the “to-be” location of the drives in the chassis; adjust the “stack” such that the master drive is at the end of the cable. See next point…

April 8, 2004 13

GSBUG Hardware Info SIGYour New System (2003): Set Up-Part 2 (cont.) Install Other Externally-Accessible Drives (cont.)

Sometimes the master drive will be on the bottom and the cable will go up, flop back over after attaching to the slave drive, and then drop down to the motherboard. Sometimes the master drive will be on the top and the cable will just drop down, connect to the slave drive, and then drop down to the motherboard. All cable dependant.

Watch the lateral positioning of the drive in the chassis so drives don’t recede from or overhang the front bezel.

Secure the drive(s) in the chassis – 4 small, fine thread screws for each drive.

April 8, 2004 14


Your New System (2003): Set Up-Part 2 (cont.) Install the Power Supply

Note the required orientation of the power supply in the chassis – the rear screw holes in the power supply need to match up with the corresponding openings in the chassis.

Check for a protruding flange on one edge of the power supply. If present, the flange may need to slide into a channel inside the chassis. Orient the power supply such that the flange is aligned with the channel.

April 8, 2004 15

GSBUG Hardware Info SIGYour New System (2003): Set Up-Part 2 (cont.) Install the Power Supply (continued)

Hold the cables out of the way and lower the power supply into the chassis; as appropriate, slide the flange into the channel. Angle the “top” of the power supply slightly towards the motherboard and then ease the power supply into place.

Secure the power supply, as applicable, with 4-5 large, coarse thread screws.

If the power supply has a switch, turn it OFF.The voltage setting should be 110 or 115; set accordingly.Leave the power supply unplugged.

April 8, 2004 16


Your New System (2003): Set Up-Part 2 (cont.)Attach Power and Data Cables

If present, connect the power supply fan monitoring cable to the “pwr fan” socket (header) on the motherboard; note keying.

Connect the floppy drive data cable – “non-split” end at the motherboard and the “split” end at the drive; make sure BOTH rows of the floppy header are engaged. Ensure both connectors are fully seated.

April 8, 2004 17


Your New System (2003): Set Up-Part 2 (cont.)Attach Power and Data Cables (continued)

Connect the hard drive data cable – long end at the motherboard and the short end at the drive; watch the connector keying (pin-1 identification at the motherboard and pin-1 stripe at the drive end – placed nearest to the drive’s power connector). Ensure both connectors are fully seated.

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Connect the data cables for the other drives – long end at the motherboard and the short end at the drives; watch master/slave and the connector keying (pin-1 identification at the motherboard and pin-1 stripe at the drive end – placed nearest to the drive’s power connector). Ensure all connectors are fully seated.

April 8, 2004 19

GSBUG Hardware Info SIGYour New System (2003): Set Up-Part 2 (cont.)Attach Power and Data Cables (continued)

Note the keying of the power supply’s power connectors and the keying of the motherboard and drive sockets.

Connect the main power cable to the motherboard – watch the keying; make sure the cable is fully seated.

Depending on your motherboard, you may also need to connect a second power cable to the motherboard –

Pentium 4 motherboards have a 2x2 (4-pin) connector socket. Dual processor motherboards may have a 2x4 (8-pin) connector

socket. All such connectors are keyed (side clip).

April 8, 2004 20



Connect the floppy power cable to the floppy drive – note the power connector keying (the connector’s two “legs” straddle the flat plastic portion of the drive power header). Ensure the connector is fully seated.

Connect power cables to the other drives – note the power connector keying and the drive connector socket keying (two beveled edges). Ensure each connector is fully seated.

April 8, 2004 21


Your New System (2003): Set Up-Part 2 (cont.) Install I/O Cables/Brackets

Many current motherboards include cables and brackets to provide additional I/O functionality – USB 2.0, IEEE-1394 (FireWire), and audio. If present – and desired – the cables need to be connected to the associated motherboard header/socket, the cable routed to a rear “card slot” bracket opening, and the bracket secured.

Watch for connector keying at the motherboard.Note that you may need to enable the particular feature -

in the BIOS or by jumper.

April 8, 2004 22


Your New System (2003): Set Up-Part 2 (cont.) Install I/O Cables/Brackets (continued)

Note that you may NOT have enough motherboard headers to support FRONT I/O connections (to FRONT chassis locations) AND support all rear I/O ports. If you do not connect all the cables for a rear bracket (at the motherboard), consider taping over the non-functional ports – at the bracket.

April 8, 2004 23


Your New System (2003): Set Up-Part 2 (cont.) Install Adapter Cards

As applicable, install your video card – make sure it is full seated and that any included retention mechanism is fully engaged. Secure with 1 large, coarse thread screw.

As applicable, install other adapter cards – make sure each is full seated. Secure each with 1 large, coarse thread screw.

If possible, do NOT install an adapter card in the PCI slot next to (below) the video card slot – possible IRQ conflict.

April 8, 2004 24


Your New System (2003): Set Up-Part 2 (cont.) Install Adapter Cards (continued)

If you fill all or almost all of the available adapter card slots you MAY have IRQ conflicts. Check the docs that came with the cards to see if there are any applicable “Troubleshooting” instructions – or start swapping card locations – and/or try to reserve PCI slots in the BIOS. Good Luck! [The best plan may be to pull a card at a time (lowest-priority-first sequence) until the problem “goes away”. Consider doing without that card.]

April 8, 2004 25


Your New System (2003): Set Up-Part 2 (cont.) Perform a System-Level TestPerform a System-Level Test

Attach your keyboard and mouse – note motherboard connector location and connector keying. [IF PS/2 devices, “mouse sits on the keyboard.”] If “wireless” device(s), connect the receiver to the system, add batteries to the device(s), and “sync up” the device(s) and the receiver (see supplied docs).

Connect your system to your monitor and power on the monitor.

April 8, 2004 26


Your New System (2003): Set Up-Part 2 (cont.) Perform a System-Level Test (continued)Perform a System-Level Test (continued)

Connect the power supply to a grounded power outlet via a good surge suppressor; turn on the surge suppressor, and, as applicable, turn on the power supply.

April 8, 2004 27



Push the chassis “power-on” button – the system “should” start up. If not, check to see if the power supply fan is spinning – if not, the power supply is NOW bad, the surge suppressor is not turned on or is NOW defective, you NOW have a bad power cable between the system and the surge suppressor, or you have no power at the wall. [Just in case, check that you didn’t dislodge the power [Just in case, check that you didn’t dislodge the power on/off switch cable at the motherboard.]on/off switch cable at the motherboard.]

April 8, 2004 28



Listen for “Beep Codes” – 1 beep = AOK; 3 = video; other Listen for “Beep Codes” – 1 beep = AOK; 3 = video; other number = RAM. Remove power, remove/reseat affected number = RAM. Remove power, remove/reseat affected component (combos), add power, and retry. component (combos), add power, and retry.

If the power supply fan is spinning but the system is not starting (and no beep codes), turn OFF the power and unplug the system from the surge suppressor.

Remove and reinstall the video card. Make ABSOLUTELY sure the video card is fully seated. Reconnect power and try powering on again.

April 8, 2004 29



If no help (system is still not starting up), then, in the following sequence, disconnect/remove components from the system until the unit starts up. Each time – power down, remove power, remove or disconnect the component, reattach power, and retry powering on the system. Debug from there.

System RAM (also - depopulate, swap slots, try known good) ALL the non-video adapter cards (all cards except the video

card) – if this works, add back one at a time.

April 8, 2004 30



Once the system starts up, check chassis “power-on” and “hard drive activity” lights – if needed, attach or correctly attach those leads to the motherboard.

Check that the floppy drive power-on light comes on and then goes back off. If it doesn’t go off, the data cable connection is wrong (power down and fix).

As the system starts up, as applicable, hit the “Del” or “F2” key to enter the BIOS.

April 8, 2004 31



If you are able to enter the BIOS your system-level test was at least partially successful – at least the motherboard, CPU and RAM are functional.

Exit the BIOS and allow the system to boot further. Watch for device enumeration – hard drive, floppy, and other drives. If there are any error messages, write them down. The system should halt when it finds no OS or no bootable drive.

April 8, 2004 32


Your New System (2003): Set Up-Part 2 (cont.) Set Up Your BIOSSet Up Your BIOS

Reboot the system and go into the BIOS. IF you have the booting hard drive attached to a

secondary controller (RAID or SATA), select that controller for first boot – also, as applicable, set to “ATA” or “RAID” elsewhere in the BIOS (screens vary).

Enable or disable devices that will or will not be used, respectively.

April 8, 2004 33


Your New System (2003): Set Up-Part 2 (cont.) Set Up Your BIOS (continued)Set Up Your BIOS (continued)

Do NOT enable “Turbo”, “Top Performance” or similarly named “options”.

If in doubt, do nothing or, if identifiable, set options to “default” – see motherboard manual.

Save your changes and exit.Reboot to confirm BIOS changes did not have a negative

effect. If OK, stop. If not, back out the BIOS changes one at a time.

April 8, 2004 34


Your New System (2003): Set Up-Part 2 (cont.)You’re now ready for next month (final meeting in

this series) – Your New System: Installing Your OS and Device Drivers; Functional Testing.

April 8, 2004 35

GSBUG Hardware Info SIGHardware NewsProcessors

AMD released the Athlon 64 FX-53 processor – 2.4GHz, 1MB L2, 940-pin, $733 (1K lots); simple line extension.

Intel released additional Xeon processors – MP at 2.2 and 2.7GHz w/ 2MB L3 and 3.0GHz w/ 4MB L3 ($3692, 1K lots); DP at 3.2GHz w/ 1MB & 2MB L2 – simple line extensions.

Core Logic (chipsets)SiS released the SiS656 Northbridge for Intel Pentium 4

processors – first PCI Express (PCIe) Northbridge; supports either DDR or DDR2 SDRAM.

April 8, 2004 36

GSBUG Hardware Info SIGHardware News (continued)Core Logic (chipsets)

SiS released the SiS756 Northbridge for AMD Athlon 64/Athlon 64 FX processors – first PCI Express (PCIe) Northbridge.

VIA released the PM800 and PM880 Northbridges for Intel Pentium 4 processors – both include S3 UniChrome Pro integrated graphics and support MPEG-2 hardware decoding (for DVD playback) and HDTV (through 1080p). The PM800 has a single-channel RAM controller and the PM880 has a dual-channel RAM controller.

System RAM – nothing new

April 8, 2004 37

GSBUG Hardware Info SIGHardware News (continued)Motherboards

Gigabyte announced the RZ series of entry-level motherboards – use older and lower-end chipsets.

Leadtek exits motherboard business (quietly).Graphics processors & cards

NVIDIA announced the Quadro FX 700 workstation GPU – mid-range line extension (AGP 8X); partner cards announced (PNY, 128MB, AGP 8X).

NVIDIA announced the Quadro FX 600 PCI workstation GPU - supports up to 8 monitors using 4 PCI cards; partner cards announced (PNY, 256MB).

April 8, 2004 38


Hardware News (continued)Graphics processors & cards (continued)

S3 licensed technology to Creative/3Dlabs.S3 announced its GammaChrome PCIe GPU line – no

details.XGI announced PCIe solutions – no details.

Hard DrivesHitachi released the Deskstar 7K400 - 400GB ATA/IDE

(PATA and SATA SKUs), 7200 rpm, 757Mb/sec internal transfer rate; for DVR and “nearline” storage.

April 8, 2004 39

GSBUG Hardware Info SIGHardware News (continued)Hard Drive Controllers

3ware announced the Escalade 9000 series of SATA RAID controllers – 4, 8, and 12-port models; 64/66 PCI.

Other DrivesPlextor announced the PX-712 (PATA) and PX-712SA

(SATA) dual-mode DVD burner – 12(8)/4/16/48/24/48; first 12X DVD burners; PX-712SA the first SATA ODD.

Sound processors & cardsTurtle Beach announced the Catalina (7.1) and Riviera

(5.1) sound cards – above and below Santa Cruz, respectively.

April 8, 2004 40


Hardware News (continued)Modems & NICs

US Robotics announced 125Mbps acceleration technology for their “wireless turbo” 802.11g adapters (PCI and PC card).

Chassis & power suppliesAntec announced the Aria small form factor (SFF) chassis

– accepts microATX motherboards, includes 300W power supply. Finally!!!

April 8, 2004 41


Random Access (Q&A)

April 8, 2004 42


Recap, Preview, and CloseRecapPreview

Featured Topic for May 13, 2004 – Your New System (2003 Update): Installing Your OS and Device Drivers; Functional Testing

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