Installing RAM, DDR2, DDR and RDRAM
Installing Video Cards (PCI Express and AGP) and Modems
My illustrated guide to replacing an CD burner |
Full size flowchart with text: Hard Drive Troubleshooting Flowchart |
There are three basic hard drive technologies in use in today's PC's, and we covered all three in the 4th edition of Build Your Own PC. The latest technology is SATA (Serial ATA), and we installed serial ATA drives in both of our new builds. The Pentium 4 560 build gets a two drive SATA RAID, for 400 GB of high performance storage featuring matched 200 GB Seagate drives. One of the pleasures of working with SATA drives is the small format cables when you start working with arrays and don't have to worry about disrupting airflow with yards of ribbon cable.
We used a single Western Digital 80 GB SATA drive in our Athlon 64 system to demonstrate the Wester Digital SecureConnect SATA cable, which requires a legacy power socket on the hard drive. This hybrid system is supposed to cut down on occurrences of SATA cables breaking the somewhat fragile connectors on the hard drives. The socket 478 P4 system was given the full drive array treatment, first an IDE RAID with an add-in adapter and two parallel 80 GB IDE drives, then a two drive SCSI array with a high performance Maxtor Atlas drive.
In addition to the hard drive, both of the newer systems included a DVD recorder, the Socket 775 P4 getting an dual format Memorex recorder (+R / -R) and the Athlon 64 getting an early dual layer recorder. The old P4 build had to get by with a mere DVD player:-)
We also went out of our way to select cases that would demonstrate different drive mounting systems. The Antec case a nice removable drive cage (one locking lever) for the 3.5" hard drives, and a snap-in rail system (screwless) for the DVD recorder and any other 5.25" drives. The mail order generic case we used with the Athlon 64 was the old screws from both sides variety. We conclude the builds with a brief tour through the required CMOS Setup settings for each system.
If you were just looking for some illustrated links to replacing bad parts, I have step-by-step photos for how to replace a hard drive.
This illustrated guide to building a PC can't be updated due to my non-compete with McGraw-Hill. Click on B/W thumbnails for fullsize color images, use "Back" button on browser to return.
| The first step to installing the drives is to remove the drive cage from the case. The typical mini-tower drive cage is attached with a couple of screws, and a spring steel release on the bottom. Handling the drives and screwing them into the cage is much easier with the cage out, even when access in the case appears to be good. The frustration you'll save on the first dropped screw or bent pin is well worth the extra work. |
Removing drive cage |
Installing "Master" jumper on Hard Drive |
When building a PC with an IDE hard drive, you'll almost always want to set the select jumper on the drive to "Master". Do it before you secure the drive, it's alot easier. In our single hard drive, single CD drive system, the hard drive will be the master and the CD will be the slave, both attached to the same ribbon cable. |
| The hard drive is secured with four screws, usually the coarse thread type, and the end of the drive with the connectors must point towards the inside of the case. There are usually a couple rows of holes in the cage, make sure the holes you pick let the screws clear the opening at the front of the case when you put the cage back in. Normally, the second set from the cage bottom is used (two photos ahead). |
Securing the hard drive |
Installing the ribbon cable with the cage out |
Always install the ribbon cables before replacing the drive cage in the case. About the most common mistake made by beginner and experienced PC assemblers alike is miss-aligning the floppy drive ribbon connector, either failing to make the connection with the red key wire to the pin 1 or 2 side of the connector, accidentally forcing the end of the connector in between a vertical line of pins, or even missing an entire row. All of these mistakes are due to poor visibility once the drive is in the case. |
| As the cage is being installed back in the case, you can see that the ribbon cable is already connected to the floppy drive and has been fed through the opening prior to sliding the cage in. Note also the position of the screws securing the floppy drive to the cage, all the way foward in the slots, which is the norm. The hard drive is mounted in the second set of holes from the cage bottom. |
Installing drive cage in case |
CD connections (shown out of case) |
The connections for the CD drive here are shown with the CD out of the case, for illustrative purposes only. The only cable you can actually attach before installing the CD is the patch cable for sound, the thin connector at the far left. The selection jumper, between the sound cable and the ribbon cable, has been set to "Slave". |
| Don't forget to reinstall the screws back in the cage, even though it snaps into place. The CD drive has already been installed in the top bay of our mini-tower, though you can wait until after you restore the plastic faceplate to the case, particularly if you aren't sure which set of screw holes will align the drive flush with the cover. |
Securing cage, CD installed top bay |
Ribbon cables installed on motherboard |
The ribbon cables have been installed on the motherboard (no room in picture for hands), with the red key wire in the ribbon towards pin one on the connector. The IDE cable has been installed in the connector marked "Primary". The identical connector marked "Secondary" will be used only if you add additional IDE devices to your PC. Just visible in the center of the picture is the edge of the ribbon cable running from the hard drive up to the CD, not shown here. |
Step-by-step PC Repair Troubleshooting Techniques and Running a Computer Repair Business