New build Problem!

[Triangle Man]

I've put in all the parts and what not. i think i'm ready. so i turn on the computer. It's on for about half a second, while making a very loud whine. but then it just shuts off.

so now i've taken out all the parts and i'm following the standard trouble shoot directions.

i have one question, tho. i've taken the heatsink/fan off and the rubber heat pad is all melted. Should i clean it off of the heatsink and processor and go buy cpu cooling compound, or is it still ok to put it back on?

Earlier, i think i made a mistake or two in installing the heatsink fan. Either that or the fasteners are just bad, because i'm having trouble getting them all secure at once. could that be a part of the problem?

and, this is probably important, the HDD LED is not lighting up for that half second of power when i turn it on, so im guessing something's wrong w/ the hdd, but i have no idea what.

my specs are in my sig.

[shadowpr]

first try this: http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=132409

don't worry about the hdd light yet.

aas for the heatsink, if you just used it for a few seconds and that's why the compound melted, i don't think you should have to worry about that.

also, make sure all the pegs of the heatsink are inserted fully. it does take some force on the intel heatsinks. be careful;, but do apply force. you can search this forum for numerous refereces to that.

[Triangle Man]

i did that (build it on cardboard. didn't get cooling compound like u said) and discovered something. it's not the fan, but the videocard that's making that awful whine

i saw that i failed to plug in the supplemental power thingy. now it runs whine-free.

something shows up on the monitor and says i need to insert a boot something w/e (it went away before i could read the whole thing. i assume that's the system disk i don't have. ? will i need a floppy drive for this?

but neways. there's a few of things im unsure of, about whether they matter or not. i've decided to be paranoid and assume that if i don't know something, i'm doing it wrong. so i have some cables that are a mystery to me. would it help to take pictures and specifically ask which cables are for what? or would that be useless.

btw that wire to connect the video card to the psu i just mentioned branches out into two 3-pin ends. should i connect both ends to the psu?

[shadowpr]

Originally Posted by Triangle Man btw that wire to connect the video card to the psu i just mentioned branches out into two 3-pin ends. should i connect both ends to the psu?

i did. not sure if it's wrong, but my video card works good like that.

and don't worry about it asking for a disk right now...you don't have any drives attached.

now that you now that evverything is working and not turning off on you, proceed to assemble it inside the case.

[Triangle Man]

alright. one of the mystery cables i was talking about is one that has 3 ends. the first is a 9 pin thingy that says HD audio on the back. The second one on the cable says AC'97 and looks the same as the first. the last is 9 2-pin thingies, and there are two tags preceding it that tells what each color wire is. one tag says AC'97 on the back and has 7 colors. the other says Azalia on the back and has 9 colors.

when i look in the manual, i find a section that has something to do with audio connectors and points you to a place on the mobo that fits those 9 pin plugs. it says it's for a chassis-mounted front panel I/O module that can support HD audio and legacy AC'97 audio.

and just wanna know exactly what that is and what it's for. and whether i should get it or not.

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another question. the 3.5" thingies for my hdd seem weird. there are 3 slots on the bottom with metal slidy thingies on the side. when i put it in there, the holes line up with the hdd holes, but it's rammed up against the front-side fan (does that matter or not?). when i put it on the top slots w/o the metal slide things, it doesn't line up w/ the screw holes (does it matter if it stays in place fine but has no screws?). All slots have plastic "locks" on the side that hold the drive into place (sort of. they can still slide if u push hard enough) when you want them to. is this enough, or should i fiddle with it until i get the screws holes lined up?


I can try and find a digital camera if my words fail.

[shadowpr]

are those cables coming from the case? if so, then just match them up to the MB and where the MB manual says to plug them into.

they all have to do with the sound.

edit: didn't notice the second part of your question about the hdd. the way mine is (different case mind you) is my hdd are pressed up against the front cse fans too, but it's ok cause they are resting on those metal "slidie thingies" as you put it. and the holes to screw them in lined up. screw then min, and then mount the whole thing.

i know my case has like a cage alomost for the hdd drives. i screwed the hdd drives into that, and then slid that back in.

if in doubt, post pics (make sure they are just links) and i'll try to help more, or someone lse with more experience will help.

[Triangle Man]

alright. i ended up plugging in the 9-pin AC'97 thing.

as for the HDD, that's a relief. it fits kind of weirdly into it's current slot, so ill move it back down.


neways, another question! i have 2 IDE cables. one has a tag labeled "floppy" and the other has a tag labeled "HDD." i didn't get any cables w/ my dvd-drive, so i guess i have to use one of these on it. does it matter which one? the only difference is that, on the floppy cable, a section of 7 wires on the ribbon is twisted.

also, when i look at the manual (dvd) it mentions what appears to be a 3 pin audio cable in a diagram. but this might be only for sound card owners...

[shadowpr]

you can't use a ide cable on a sata drive. you need a sata cable and sata power connection

[flanzig1]

Since motherboards usually come with 1 SATA cable and you have 2 SATA drives(HD & DVD), your going to have to buy another SATA cable. They are around $3-$5 at a local comupter place.

[Triangle Man]

there's no sata slot for my dvd. it opens and closes fine using the hdd ide cable, tho.

i put everything back in the case. it's on and it's stable.

im getting something that says
CMOS Checksum Bad
Press F1 to Run SETUP
Press F2 to load default values and continue.

i know there are jumpers somewhere for the CMOS thing but i can't find them...
ill be sure to search the forum and the manuals for a solution, tho. if i can't find nething ill let u know.

and, by the way, thanks for all the help you've given me so far, shadow. and speedy help, no less. i don't know many places where i can get support like i do here.

Also, Vista finally arrived at my doorstep. excellent.

[shadowpr]

glad it's up and running.

[Triangle Man]

im in the BIOS setup and im on the page to select boot order. do i pick Atapi CD-ROM or HL-DT-ST DVDRA as the priority one? aren't they kind of the same thing?

also, in pcmech's guide, it tells me there is a sequence of keys i must press to enter cmos setup, and that the sequence is shown to you for a short amount of time when you first turn the power on. it also says it's on the bottom of the screen. But i can't find any numbers on the bottom. There are some green ones, but they're HL-DT-ST and nothing happened when i pressed them. However, there's another screen, but it flashes so fast it is not humanly possible to read a single letter. it has a big logo in the background, tho.

[shadowpr]

as for the bios, and boot order, just pick whatever your dvd or cd drive is. that's what you're going to put your OS cd in to start the install.

the device that should be after that would be the Hdd.

[Triangle Man]

alright. im at the point where i can format and partition my hdd. how do i know how many partitions i want and how big they should be? does it really matter? ?

[Gen.Ben]

Just format the whole disk, then install.

[Triangle Man]

ok. as long as i can partition it later, i guess.

[Gen.Ben]

Yes, You can do that easily in windows

[Triangle Man]

alright, so everything seems to be working nicely. the OS is installed and not exploding. now im installing drivers and trying to remember how to get onto the internet. and i definitely couldn't have done without pcmech. it feels good.

[shadowpr]

congrats.

just remember to get the drivers from the manufactures websites.