Re: Need help with a School A+Project

NEVER use a hammer to install either a CPU or RAM memory, that's just too
dangerous.
Most new CPU's already have a film of Thermal paste on them, my recent
purchase did.

assemble the computer????

Did you get a kit with all the parts included?? if not is the instructor
expecting you to buy all the parts yourself without some kind of guide??

No one on this newsgroup should really advise you on how to assemble a
computer
it's a hands on event, and if you have no experience and no education on how
to, then your instructor should be guiding you, ie looking over your shoulder.
if not get an experienced friend to guide you.

Has the instructor given you class teaching on how to format an HD? if not
he should have, I would go to him and ask, it appears to me this post is
severly lacking a much needed education, from an instructor which is what an
A+ plus class should be doing.


"Mike Hall - MVP" wrote:

"Anonymous" <nobody@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:cee8160c1e7dac8c64711132c02f9a5a@xxxxxxxxxxx
Task 1: Assenble Computer

Task 2 Create two 3 GB partitions and format them with NTFS

Task 3: Install Windows XP in the first partition

Task 4 Check your hardware configuration using Device Manager and make
sure there is no exclmation points and question marks shown on any
hardware.

Task 5 Confgure your new system with Internet Access.

Task 6 Troubleshooting

How I do this?



Go to a store and buy the following items..

Case - power supply - motherboard - CPU - memory - hard drive - optical
drive keyboard - mouse..

Open the side of the case and fit the optical drive, power supply and hard
drive (in that order)

Remove the other side, and take out the motherboard baseboard.

Put the case to one side for now.

Remove the motherboard from its packing and lay it on the foam that you will
find inside the bag. Lay out all of the parts supplied.

Fit the CPU into the slot provided on the motherboard. Note that new Intel
processors do not have thousands of easily bendable pins anymore, so it is
quite safe to use a small hammer if the CPU doesn't fit first time around.

Once done, put the hammer to one side because you may need it again when it
comes to installing memory.

Administer a small dab of heatsink paste (you don't have to use all of it in
one go) to the topside of the CPU. Fit the heatsink/fan assembly. The clips
used these days are much easier than they used to be, but stand by with
kitchen scissors or your mom's pinking shears just in case.

Now install the memory..

Screw in the motherboard mounting posts to the appropriate positions on the
baseboard, and then attach the motherboard to the posts ensuring that, when
assembled, the ports on the motherboard are facing the rear panel on the
case.

Attach the case cables to the pinouts on the motherboard. These are the
cables which supply power to the case lights.

Now fix the baseboard back into the case and cable up the drives.

Voila!!

For the next part, you will need to have hooked up a display, keyboard and
mouse.

Power up the machine. If you only hear one beep, that is a good sign that
you were not too liberal with the hammer and scissors. Any more than one
beep, you have a problem. Slow recurring beeps indicate lack of video, rapid
beeps indicate memory problems. No beeps at all, major problem.

Take particular notice of the case lights. If they light up brightly, you
have cabled everything correctly. If they do not, pull the power cable from
the back, and then reverse the case cables on the pinouts. Restart the
machine and watch to see if the initialization screen is showing memory and
hard drives.

Microsoft have made the next part easy because they have thoughtfully
provided on screen installation instructions, so I will not bore you with
the entire process. However, if the motherboard is not particularly new, XP
may not recognize all devices, and the motherboard CD may not have XP
drivers on it.

At some point, you are going to have to get onto the internet in order to
get the missing drivers. What you need is a Compaq N3121 network interface
card (the only decent bit of any Compaq machine) which is recognized by
virtually all operating systems, and an Intel 536P modem.

OK, so having followed MS instructions, you now have XP on a working
bootable partition, and you have gotten the drivers for all devices
(yipppeeeeeeeeeee.. no more exclamation marks in Device Manager).

All you have to do now is navigate your way to Disk Management and create
and format the second partition on the hard drive.

You can now return the hammer and scissors to their rightful owners.


--
Mike Hall - MVP
http://msmvps.com/blogs/mikehall/default.aspx





.

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