The Hand-Me-Down PC

Hard Drives, CDs, Modems - Upgrading an old PC

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Troubleshooting and Repairing PC's. Click here to get there:-)

Hard Drive Upgrades

Almost everybody with a hand-me-down PC will want to consider a hard drive upgrade at some point. Hard drive prices, as measure by dollars/megabyte, have fallen by a factor of at least 20 times over the past 5 years. A 40 MB IDE hard drive cost about $200 in 1992, and was often difficult to obtain due to demand. A 800MB IDE hard drive costs less than $100 today, and a 1600MB hard drive sells for about $150. In the meantime, program sizes have skyrocketed, with some applications requiring more than 40MB of free space for themselves, just to be installed! New hard drives are also faster than the older models by a factor of two on seek time (time to find where the information you want resides on the disk), and several times faster on transfer time (time to move the information from the disk to the memory). The discussion of hard drive upgrades will be divided into two sections: IDE hard drives and SCSI hard drive. Older types of hard drives, with names like MFM and RLL, which have not been manufactured since 1990, are not covered. There are no good reasons to upgrade these drives with a rebuilt version of the same type already over five years old. Replace them with IDE drives.

Time and Cost for Upgrade

Upgrade cost is dependent on whether you choose a SCSI or IDE drive. If your existing system already has an IDE drive (most PCs) or a SCSI drive in it, it's easiest and most cost effective to upgrade it with the same type. The price difference between IDE and SCSI hard drive is negligible for new units, but the difference in controller cost is tremendous. IDE controllers are integrated with all new motherboards, and are otherwise found on SIDE cards, which cost less than $15. SCSI controllers start around $50 and go as high as $400 or more, for enhanced versions with serious support software. IDE controllers are limited to controlling a combined total of two hard drives or CD drives, while a single SCSI controller can also control high quality tape drives and a variety of external peripherals, up to seven in number. Some old system boxes, without provisions for 3 1/2" for drives (the same size as your 1.44MB floppy), will require you to purchase a $5 mounting kit along with the new hard drive. In rare circumstances, the ribbon cable attached to your original hard drive may only have one drive connector on it, and you will have to purchase a new ribbon connector for $5 (though if you ask nice you might get one for free).

See How to decide if upgrading a hard drive is cost effective

There are a few factors impacting the amount of time needed to install a new hard drive. The first is whether or not you need to transfer all of the data from your old drive to your new drive. Another factor is whether you want to change the boot drive (the drive the operating system loads from) to the new drive, which is recommended if the old drive you are keeping is less than 200MB. If you take your PC to a computer shop, you will have to tell them to change the boot drive if you want it done. Changing the drive designations and copying all the data from the old drive to the new drive adds fifteen minutes to the total job. Another factor is whether the drives are mounted in easily accessible bays or in a removable cage. In the space of a couple minutes, a removeable cage can be taken out and replaced in the system box, allowing you to secure the new drive with four screws. In some systems the drives are mounted in fixed bays that are located in the front of the case, and you may have to remove other components in order to get screws into both sides of the drive. This can end up taking fifteen minutes, instead of less than five.

Hard drives over 512MB, which includes almost all new models, require a software driver for DOS and Windows 3.1 to make use of the storage beyond 512MB (Windows '95 and Windows NT users don't need to do this). Installing this software is sometimes a frustrating process, depending on the quality of documentation, and can add another fifteen minutes to the job. If you are simply adding a second hard drive under 512 MB to your system, and continuing to boot from your original hard drive, the whole upgrade should take less than 15 minutes. If you are changing the boot drive, have obstructed access to the mounting screws, and are adding a drive over 512MB to a DOS/Windows system, the job can take upwards of 45 minutes.

Adding a Second IDE Drive

Modern IDE drives can function in two modes: as the "Master" (boot drive), or the "Slave" (secondary drive). This selection is controlled by a set of jumpers on the hard drive. In the case of some older drives, there is a third category, "Single" (only drive installed), which has fortunately fallen from general use. Drives like this are sometimes stubborn about working with new drives, even when all of the jumpers are set correctly. Another variation on the basic scheme is a "Slave Present" jumper, which must be set on the drive that is Master when a Slave is being added. The main problem with older drives is that they rarely labeled the jumpers, neither on the circuit board nor with a diagram pasted to the top of the drive (new drives have both). Drives are sold with documentation that describes the use of these jumpers, but it rarely stays with the system long enough to reach the new owner of a hand-me-down PC. In this situation, you can obtain the jumper information from the manufacturers WWW site, by phone contact with their technical support, or from a fax back system, which most drive vendors employ.

There are two scenarios for adding a second IDE hard drive. The first is adding the new drive as the new boot drive (Master), and the second is adding the new drive as the Slave. The simplest way to get your new drive to function as the Master sounds a little involved, but works out pretty easily. First, install the new drive as a slave, by setting the jumper on it to slave, and making sure the jumpers on the old drive are on Master, along with slave present if it has this jumper. Connect the ribbon cable to both hard drives, making sure the red wire in the ribbon cable is adjacent to the end of the connector labeled 1 or 2 (normally the end next to the power connector), and connect a power lead, which is keyed to mate the proper way. If there are no drive leads from the power supply available, you will have to get a splitter (another sub $5 part).

Next, lay the new drive in a stable position on top of the case (note to minitower owners, it's perfectly OK to do this with the system box laying on its side), using a book to create a flat surface if none is available. Power up the computer, enter CMOS setup, and either add the parameters for the new "D:" drive in the "Standard" menu, or use "Autodetect Hard Drive" to let the BIOS determine the parameters. Save the new settings, and let the system boot. If the system hangs, or reports an error, shut down, check your jumpers and cables, and try again. Windows '95 and NT users will go through the operating systems "New Hardware Setup" at this point, and can then use "Windows Explorer" or "File Manager" to copy the contents of the old drive to the new drive, unless they want to leave the new drive as the slave. If that's the case, Win '95 and NT users can shut the PC off, secure the hard drives at this point, put the cover on, and be finished. Otherwise, Windows '95 and NT users will also have to create an emergency boot disk, if you don't already have one, making sure that the "FDISK" utility is included on the disk, and can then skip the next two paragraphs.

If the new hard drive is greater than 512MB, run the install software included, following the instructions exactly. Next, unless the install software for a greater than 512MB drive has told you to skip this step, type "FDISK", pick option "5. Change current fixed disk drive." Choose "2" for the fixed disk number, followed by option "1. Create DOS partition or logical drive", and "1. Create primary partition". Now select "Use all available space for DOS partition," after which FDISK will report the partition has been created, and will reboot the system on "Esc." Now, type "FORMAT D: /S", and DOS will prepare the new hard drive for the operating system. This may take a couple minutes, and when the job is completed, you will be asked to enter a volume name. You can do so, or hit return and accept a blank volume name. FORMAT will also report how many free bytes you have. If you only have 500 million or so free bytes (5XX,XXX,XXX), and you have purchased a larger drive, something went wrong with the special driver install software. You can try running the install software again, or call them for technical support. This is not a hardware problem, you've done everything else correctly.

You should now be able to type "D:" at the DOS prompt, "C:\>", and the prompt will change to "D:\>". If you want the new hard drive to remain the slave, you can shut the computer down at this point, secure the hard drives, using at least three screws each, put the cover back on, and you're done. Otherwise, type "DIR", and you should see the file "COMMAND.COM", and a huge number of bytes free that roughly equals the size of the drive you've added. Now, type "XCOPY C:\*.* D:\*.* /S /E". This will copy everything on the C: drive to the D: drive, and may take from five to fifteen minutes, during which time you will see your life accumulation of computer files flashing before your eyes. When it's done, type "DIR" again, and you will see that DOS has ordered the files differently on the D: drive, putting directories first and arranging them by creation date, but everything should be there. Now, you must create a boot floppy by putting a floppy disk in your A: drive and typing "FORMAT A: /S". When the disk is finished, type "COPY C:\DOS\FDISK.EXE A:".

Next (Win '95 and NT users continue here), turn off the computer and change the jumpers on the hard drives, so the new drive is now the Master and the old drive is the Slave. When you power up the system again it will take longer than usual to boot, because it is loading the operating system from the floppy disk in drive A: instead of from the hard drive. Sometimes, the system does not try to read the floppy drive, and instead merely flashes the drive light, then goes on to report "missing operating system" and freezes. In this case, you must reboot, enter CMOS setup, go to "Advanced Options", or a similarly titled menu choice (normally the second on the list) and change the "Boot Sequence" from "C: A:" to "A: C:". Save and exit, and the system will now boot from the floppy drive.

Type "FDISK" at the "A:>" prompt, and choose option "2. Set active partition." FDISK will report that no partition is set active on fixed disk 1, and ask you if you want to make the partition active now. Confirm this, and DOS will report the partition is set active, and tell you to hit "Esc" to reboot the machine. Remove the floppy from drive A:, and hit "Esc". The PC will reboot and come up just like your old PC, except it will be faster, you will have more free disk space, and you will have a spare hard drive (D:) that you can use for data or backups. Turn the PC off and mount the drives into their bays, making sure to use at least three screws each, replace the cover and you're done.

Replacing an Old Non-IDE Drive with an IDE Drive

If you have a 286 system or older, you can install a small IDE hard drive, like an old 40MB, but I would recommend upgrading the motherboard and adding a large drive instead. Do not get involved with upgrading the BIOS on a 286 in order to accommodate a larger hard drive. You can buy a much more capable 386 motherboard, complete with CPU, for the cost of the new BIOS chip. You can read this section for tips if you are proceeding with an upgrade to a 286 system or older, but you will have to follow special instructions for jumper settings included that are included with the 40MB hard drive, and you will see minimal performance gain as the end result.

If you are replacing an old non-IDE drive with an IDE drive, you will need to purchase an SIDE controller. IDE drives will not work in systems with other hard drives, except for SCSI drives, and if you already have a SCSI controller you should be using a SCSI drive for the upgrade. If you want to transfer all of your old software from the old drive to the new IDE drive, you will have to use an intermediate storage location. The best way to complete this procedure is to use a portable tape backup, or to use a product like Laplink to transfer all of your data to another computer with enough storage space on its hard drive. If the PC is connected to a LAN, copy the drivers and the NETSTART batch file to floppy, than copy your whole hard drive to a temporary directory on the server. Otherwise, you will have to back up any important data on floppy, and re-install all of the operating system and applications software from floppy disks. In any event, before we begin you should create a boot floppy by putting a floppy disk in the A: drive and typing "FORMAT A: /S". Then type "COPY C:\DOS\FDISK.EXE A:" and "COPY C:\DOS\FORMAT.EXE A:". If you have an old version of DOS, and the system reports "File not found", repeat the same step substituting ".COM" in the place of ".EXE"

Remove the old hard disk controller, which may or may not double as a floppy controller. If the ribbon cable from the floppy disk drive(s) connects to a different adapter, remove that component also. If the ribbon cable for the floppy disk drive(s) connects directly to the motherboard, the easiest approach is to leave it there, and set a jumper on the SIDE card to "Disable floppy controller". Now you will want to remove the old I/O adapter, unless the small ribbon cables to the "Com" and "LPT" ports are attached to the motherboard. In this instance you should use the jumpers on the SIDE adapter to set the com port addresses to "Com3" and "Com4" and the LPT address to "LPT2:." Now you can remove the old hard drive and install the new IDE hard drive, checking that the jumpers are set for Master or Single. Make sure you connect the new ribbon cable with the red stripe to the end of the connector labeled 1 or 2, although the cable should be keyed to only fit correctly for new drive. Connect the power lead that was on the old hard drive to the new hard drive, and connect the two wire HDD LED lead to the new SIDE card, if one was attached to the old drive controller. Use the Com and LPT port connectors that come with the new SIDE card, and mount them in an open slot on the back of the case. Connect the floppy disk drive ribbon cable to the SIDE adapter, if it isn't already attached to the motherboard, and insert the adapter into a bus slot and secure with a screw.

Start up the computer and enter CMOS Setup by hitting delete after the memory count. If this does not bring you into Setup, and no message like "Crtl-S Now to Enter Setup" is displayed, you have a very old system and will need the original documentation and a special Setup disk to continue. Enter the "Standard Setup" menu choice, or the first menu choice offered, and enter the hard drive parameters provided on the label or in the documentation of the new disk for the C: drive. Save the settings, place your boot floppy in drive A:, and the system will reboot to the "A:\>" prompt. Sometimes, the system does not try to read the floppy drive, and instead merely flashes the drive light, then goes on to report "missing operating system" and freezes. In this case, you must reboot, enter CMOS setup, go to "Advanced Options", or a similarly titled menu choice (normally the second on the list) and change the "Boot Sequence" from "C: A:" to "A: C:". Save and exit, and the system will now boot from the floppy drive.

If the new hard drive is greater than 512MB, run the install software included, following the instructions carefully. Next, unless the install software for a greater than 512MB drive has told you to skip this step, type "FDISK" at the "A:\>" prompt, select "1. Create DOS partition or logical drive", and "1. Create primary partition". Next choose "Use all available space for DOS partition," after which FDISK will report the partition has been created, and will reboot the system on "Esc." Type "FORMAT C: /S", and DOS will prepare the new hard drive for the operating system. This may take a couple minutes, and when the job is completed, you will be asked to enter a volume name. You can do so, or hit return to accept a blank volume label. FORMAT will also report how many free bytes you have. If you only have 500 million or so free bytes (5XX,XXX,XXX), and you have purchased a larger drive, something went wrong with the special driver install software. You can try running the install software again, or call them for technical support. This is not a hardware problem; you've done everything else correctly.

Now you can reinstall all of your old software. If you used a tape backup, first you will have to re- install the tape software. If you used Laplink with a parallel cable you will have to re-install the Laplink software, while if you used a serial cable, you can execute a "Remote Install" from the other PC. If you backed up onto a network, you will have to re-install the network drivers, log in, and then restore your data. If you had none of these means available, re-install all of DOS and Windows, following the instructions on the disk labels, re-install of your application software, and copy your backed up data from floppies into the proper directories.

See How to replace an IDE hard drive

Adding a SCSI Drive

Systems that already have a SCSI hard drive were probably high performance systems when they were built. For that reason, you probably won't want to bother changing the boot drive (the drive the operating system loads from). If you do want to change the boot drive, read the procedure for installing a second IDE hard drive as the master, and follow the same basic steps, except for substituting the SCSI jumper configuration discussed below for the IDE Master/Slave jumper configuration. If you are adding a SCSI drive(s) and controller to a system that previously had no SCSI devices installed, you will have to follow instructions provided to install the adapter and any accompanying software, before proceeding.

A SCSI adapter actually adds an entirely new data bus to your computer, where the adapter serves as the interface to the motherboard. You can install up to seven different SCSI devices on a single adapter, using a multi-connector ribbon cable inside the system box, or daisy chained (serially connected) SCSI cables outside the system box. There are two important facts to understand about a SCSI bus. First, both ends of the bus must be terminated, which involves using on-board resistors for internal devices, or attaching a SCSI terminator pack to the daisy chain connector on an external device. Second, each device on the bus has a unique ID, a number between zero and six (the adapter itself is number seven). A boot device (normally a hard drive) must be installed as ID zero or one. CD drives and tape drive are usually sold with the default ID set at two, while hard drive are generally shipped with the default ID set at zero.

When your computer boots, you will see the SCSI adapter seeking SCSI devices and finding the hard drive, at which point it will report on the type of drive and the SCSI ID (probably zero). When one internal SCSI device is already present, the best way to proceed is to disable termination on your new drive and attach it to the SCSI bus, using a connector on the ribbon cable in the section between the adapter and the existing hard drive. If there are no connectors between the adapter and the existing hard drive, re- arrange the cable connections such that there are. If the ribbon cable only has two connectors on it, you will need to buy a new cable ($10 to $20). If your system has a SCSI adapter, and both an internal and an external SCSI device(s), the procedure is exactly the same. However, if you had a SCSI adapter controlling external SCSI devices only, you will have to remove the terminators from the SCSI adapter itself, and leave them installed (usually default) on the new internal SCSI hard drive

If you are adding an external SCSI hard drive with an adapter, because there were no SCSI devices in the system, the drive and the adapter must be terminated (default settings). If you are adding an external SCSI Drive, and you have no external SCSI devices and one or more internal SCSI device(s) installed, you need to remove the terminators on the SCSI adapter, and install a terminator on the new external drive. If you are adding an external SCSI hard drive, and there are already external SCSI devices present, put the hard drive nearest to the system box on the daisy chain, so it is connected directly to the adapter and the next external SCSI device.

Select a SCSI ID not used by any other device for your new drive, and attach a power connector. Then, power up your system and note that the SCSI adapter now finds your new drive, along with the existing devices. If you have Windows '95 or NT, you will now go through the "Add new hardware" procedure, after which you will be able to use the new hard drive. If you are using DOS/Windows, you can FDISK and FORMAT the drive at this point. If your new hard drive is larger then 512MB, and the amount of free space reported is around five hundred million bytes (5XX,XXX,XXX), you need additional SCSI software to support the larger drive. Contact the drive maker and adapter maker, or check their WWW sites for software upgrades or information.

Modems

There are two choices involved in installing a new modem or upgrading from an old modem. The first choice is modem speed: 33.6K or 56K (14.4K or 28.8K still work if you're that tight for cash). The second choice is whether to buy an internal modem, or use an external modem, which has its own power supply and is attached to a serial port on your computer. The reason we made modem speed the first choice is that it can have an impact on whether you choose an external modem or not. Most hand-me-down PCs are equipped with serial ports that can handle a maximum speed of 19.2K. You can check this by running the Microsoft Diagnostic at the DOS prompt by typing MSD, then clicking on "Com Ports". If the UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter) type is a 8250, your maximum speed is 19.2K. This means, if you want to install a 28.8K or faster external modem and actually see the incresed performance, you'll have to open the computer and install a higher grade SIDE card with a 16550 UART, or purchase an external modem that comes with it's own adapter card. Either way, it means that if you were purchasing an external modem to avoid opening the system box, you may have to settle for the speed running at 19.2K. Don't buy an external 14.4K modem, you're just throwing away money. Get a faster model that can be easily moved to your next PC.

Time and Cost for Upgrade

Installing an external modem takes about two minutes, if you don't need to install a new adapter with a 16550 UART. Installing an internal modem can go as quickly as five minutes, but that depends what Com port you want to set it at. You can buy internal 14.4K modems for less than $30, and internal 28.8K modems cost less than $50. Internal 33.6K modems start around $50 and "Flex" 56K modems around $100. External 33.6K and 56K modems still run over $100, and the 33.6K models can often be upgrade to 56K speeds. External 28.8K modems start under $75, and if you buy a 28.8K modem without an adapter, you can buy an SIDE card with a 16550 UART for $30, but you may have to read a lot of ads to find one. External modems also require a serial cable which costs less than $5, but if you don't get it at the same place as the modem you will end up paying twice that for shipping and handling. External modems use one of your systems Com ports. Internal modems add a Com port, or replace an existing Com port. For Windows '95 and Windows NT users, adding the modem as Com4 works fine, but for DOS/Windows users, you will have less problems with software applications if you disable your existing Com2 port, or change it to Com4, and set then set the internal modem to be Com2. Modems all come with software and your internet application will also need to be configured for the modem. Follow the instructions that come with the software after completing the hardware installation procedures.

See Determining is a modem upgrade is cost effective

Installing an Internal Modem

If your mouse is attached to Com1, or has a separate mouse port, you can set your internal modem to Com4, IRQ=3, install it in an open bus slot, and you're finished. If your mouse is attached to Com2, you can set your modem to Com3, IRQ4, and you're finished. Power up the computer, and run MSD to see if the system sees all three ports. If not, power down, remove the adapter, check the jumpers, and try again. The "line" connection on your modem goes to the wall jack, and the "phone" connection is for plugging in a telephone handset.

See an illustrated guide to replacing a modem

Installing an External Modem

You will need a serial cable, which is generally not supplied with the modem. The modem manual will specify what kind of cable is required, whether a straight serial cable, or a special "Hayes" type. The end of the cable that attaches to the modem is generally a 25 pin hole female connector, but the end that attaches to the system box can be specified for Com1 or Com2. The cable end for Com1 is a 9 pin hole female, and the connector for Com2 is a 25 pin male. External modems are equipped with their own transformer type power supply, which requires an AC outlet to plug into. The "line" connection on your modem goes to the wall jack, and the "phone" connection is for plugging in a telephone handset.

Installing Modem Software

If you only intend to use your modem for surfing the web, the Internet provider will supply software that works directly with the modem, so it's not necessary to install the software that comes with the modem. When you run the Internet software setup, one of the modem options will be "pulse" or "tone". This depends the type of phone service you have, not the modem. If you have push button telephones that make short beeps of different pitch when you dial, you have a tone connection. If when you first try to make your Internet connection, you can hear the modem dialing but then hear a dialtone instead of ringing (until the recording comes on asking you to hang up), you installed the modem as tone on a pulse connection.

If you have purchased a fax/modem, the software adds another "printer" to your installed printers list, where the printing device is your fax. When you select any document in Windows, and click on Print, you can select the "Fax Printer", and you will be prompted for the phone number of the fax you are sending to, along with cover sheet information. Receiving faxes requires your computer to be turned on, in Windows, and the fax receiving software must be loaded. I do not recommend having this software loaded every time you boot, unless you have a separate phone number for your fax. Otherwise, your computer will pick up your house phone and whistle every time the phone rings when you're in Windows.

CD ROM Drive

There are four different routes to go when adding a CD drive to a PC. Most readers will already have a single IDE hard drive in their PC, so the easiest and least expensive route for most people is to buy an IDE CD drive and add it as the Slave (see Installing IDE Hard Drives). The next option is to buy a CD player, IDE or otherwise, that comes with its own controller or can be hooked to an existing sound card. The third route is to buy a multimedia upgrade kit (see Installing a Multimedia Upgrade Kit), which includes a CD drive, sound card, speakers and several CD titles. The fourth choice is adding a SCSI CD, internal or external, which is easily connected to an existing SCSI bus (See Installing SCSI Hard Drives). Both SCSI and IDE CD drives are available in multi-CD changer units, like those in more expensive stereos, and SCSI CD drives also come in external versions.

Time and Cost for Upgrade

The majority of CD drives sold today are IDE drives. If you have a system with one IDE hard drive, you can add an IDE CD drive with no extra hardware required. If you have two IDE hard drives in your system, you will need to purchase another SIDE adapter ($15) to use as a secondary controller, unless your motherboard is equipped with one. IDE CD drives start under $30 for older 4X speed, cost about $50 for the 10X speed, all the way up to over $100 for the 24X speed. Pricing for CD drives including a proprietary controller runs about $10 higher. SCSI drives range in price from under $50 for old 2X models to over $300 for 8X external multi CD changers. CD drives that are supported by a proprietary connector on an existing sound card in your machine (Panasonic, Mitsumi, Sony), are often older 2X drives and can be found for under $30 (if you look real hard). If you are adding a CD drive and a sound card at the same time, please go to Multimedia Upgrades. In some instances the manufacturer won't include a free power supply connector, and you will have to buy a splitter (less than $5).

See Is a CD ROM upgrade worth the money?

CD drives require a special software driver to operate, which is supplied on a floppy disk with the drive kit. Including installing the software, adding a CD drive will take between 10 to 15 minutes. If the CD is being added to a Windows '95 or NT environment, software support will probably be included in the operating system, but follow the instructions that ship with the drive. There are two pieces of software that need to installed in the DOS/Windows environment. The first program is the low level driver provided by the manufacturer, which lets the BIOS communicate with the CD as a fixed disk drive. If you are adding a SCSI CD to a PC that already has SCSI drives attached, this support may already be installed. The second piece of software is MSCDEX.EXE (MicroSoft CD EXtension), and is normally included both with the drive, and in your DOS and Windows directories. The install program should pick the latest version of MSCDEX to handle the DOS/Windows interface for your CD. Software upgrades are widely available on the Internet.

Adding an IDE CD Drive to a System with an IDE Hard Drive

The IDE CD drive has a set of Master/Slave jumpers, just like IDE hard drives. The CD drive must be set as the Slave. The order of the two drives on the ribbon cable is unimportant, although the CD drive is usually placed on the end connector due to cable length considerations. The red wire in the ribbon cable should be adjacent to the 1 or 2 on the connector of all the IDE devices (both drives and the controller). If the system reports a hard drive error and won't boot up, check that the hard drive is not an older type that has a Single jumper, and needs a Slave Present jumper to be added. Install the software and verify that the drive is functioning before putting the cover back on the system box.

Adding an IDE CD Drive to a System with Two IDE Hard Drives

See How to install a CD drive

The Master/Slave jumper on the CD drive must be set to Master. If you have a secondary IDE controller integrated on the motherboard, you can attach the ribbon cable from the CD drive to it and won't need another adapter. If you're unsure whether or not there is a secondary IDE connector on the motherboard, and don't want to open up the system box yet, you can check in the CMOS setup. Hit "Del" after memory count during power up, and check the "Advanced Setup" menu or similarly named option, which should be the second or third menu choice. If you can't find setup options for your primary and secondary IDE controllers, they aren't a part of the motherboard, which is normal for most hand-me-down PCs. If you need to add a secondary IDE controller, it is easiest to buy an IDE "paddle card", which has an IDE and floppy drive controller without all of the extra ports provided on an SIDE card. This way, you only have to set the jumpers for "secondary controller" and "disable floppy controller" on the new adapter, instead of having to disable or reassign all of the existing ports as well. The red wire in the ribbon cable should be adjacent to the 1 or 2 on the connector of the drive an the controller. Install the software and verify that the drive is functioning before putting the cover back on the system box.

Adding a CD Drive with a Proprietary Adapter

Many of the early CD drives and some later models ship with their own interface adapter. In these cases, you will have to follow the instructions that come with the kit. If you are attaching the drive to the interface on an existing sound card, you will need the sound card documentation to get it working. Most proprietary adapters, and all sound cards, come with an extra 3 or 4 pin connector block, for direct connection to the audio output of the CD drive. This is needed when the CD drive is used to play music discs. Install the software and verify the drive works before putting the cover back on the system box.

Adding a SCSI CD drive

Most people won't want to buy a SCSI CD drive unless they already have a SCSI adapter in their PC, or they need a large capacity external CD changer. If you are adding a your first SCSI controller to the system, you'll need to install the SCSI peripheral interface manager software that comes with the controller. This is the software you will see at boot time, reporting on the SCSI devices installed in the system. Many SCSI CD drives are sold as "bare" drives, i.e. no cables, no software, limited documentation. You may have to re-run the install software that came with your existing SCSI adapter in order to get the CD working. You need to have a software driver installed in the CONFIG.SYS file which will look something like "DEVICE=C:\???\???CD.SYS /D:XXXCD", where the question marks depend on your specific software and "XXXCD" is know as the Device Signature. You will have to add a line to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file that looks like "C:\DOS\MSCDEX.EXE /D:XXXCD", where "XXXCD" is the same device signature used when installing the device driver in the CONFIG.SYS file.

You can install up to seven different SCSI devices on a single adapter, using a multi-connector ribbon cable inside the system box, or daisy chained (serially connected) SCSI cables outside the system box. There are two important facts to understand about a SCSI bus. First, both ends of the bus must be terminated, which involves using on-board resistors for internal devices, or attaching a SCSI terminator pack to the daisy chain connector on an external device. Second, each device on the bus has a unique ID, a number between zero and six (the adapter itself is number seven). A boot device (normally a hard drive) must be installed as ID zero or one. CD drives are usually sold with the default ID set at two, but you should note the IDs of your existing SCSI devices and make sure that you have picked a free number for the CD drive before proceeding.

When your computer boots, you will see the SCSI adapter seeking SCSI devices and finding the CD drive, at which point it will report on the type of drive and the SCSI ID. With one internal SCSI device installed, the best way to proceed is to disable termination on your new drive and attach it to the SCSI bus, using a connector on the ribbon cable in the section between the adapter and the existing hard drive. If there are no connectors between the adapter and the existing hard drive, re-arrange the cable connections such that there are. If the ribbon cable only has two connectors on it, you will need to buy a new cable ($10 to $20). If your system has a SCSI adapter, and both an internal and an external SCSI devices, the procedure is exactly the same. However, if you had a SCSI adapter controlling external SCSI devices only, you will have to remove the terminators from the SCSI adapter, and leave them installed (usually default) on the new internal SCSI hard drive

If you are adding a external SCSI CD drive with an adapter, because there were no pre-existing SCSI devices in the system, the drive and the adapter must be terminated (default settings). If you have no external SCSI devices and one internal SCSI device installed are adding an external SCSI CD drive, you need to remove the terminators on the SCSI adapter and install a terminator on the new external drive. If you are adding an external SCSI hard drive and there are already external SCSI devices present, connect the CD drive directly to the adapter, and connect the next SCSI device in line to the CD drive. Test the drive before putting the cover back on the system box.

Sound Card

If you have Windows '95 or NT and a PnP (Plug 'n Play) BIOS, the sound card upgrade is pretty easy, because possible hardware conflicts can be detected and corrected through the operating system or CMOS setup software. The usual case for a hand-me-down PC will be DOS/Windows running on a 486 or earlier model system, without a PnP BIOS. If you have a very basic system, with no modem or other extra adapter cards, then installation is a breeze. Unlike all other adapter cards, the multiple of eight, as in "8-bit Sound Blaster", "Sound Blaster 16" or "Sound Blaster 32", does not refer to the width of the bus connection, in bits. In fact, the numbering convention doesn't even remain consistent from series to series. The "8-bit Sound Blaster" was called such because it had an 8 bit D/A, A/D converter. This means that it could sample only 64 discrete levels of volume (dynamic range), and it had a maximum sample rate of 22KHz (half the fidelity of a music CD). The "Sound Blaster 16" has 16 bits of D/A, A/D resolution, giving it a dynamic range 64,000 levels. It is also capable of sampling at 44.1 KHz, the same sampling rate used for recording music CDs. When artificially generating music (MIDI or Wave Table), it is capable of 16 simultaneous voices (polyphony). The "Sound Blaster32" series also have 16 bits of D/A, A/D resolution, but they are capable of 32 channels of polyphony, and support memory expansion for Wave Table sound.

Time and Cost for Upgrade

Sound cards are available in a range of prices from $30 to over $400. The minimum I would recommend is a Sound Blaster 16 compatible, starting around $40. If you invest in a genuine Sound Blaster (around $80) or other brand name card, you will get better support and access to software upgrade than with a clone card (Creative Labs, the creators of the Sound Blaster, have the best tech support site I've ever seen, at www.creativelabs.com, which includes diagrams and jumper settings for all of their boards). The time to perform the upgrade should be under a half hour, but the time it takes to decide which card to buy can easily exceed that, and I would recommend finding a recent product review in a magazine. If you have your sound card installed at a PC shop, try to take the opportunity to exercise all of functions before you leave. Record your voice, play it back through the speakers, play a test MIDI file, and if you have a CD drive installed, make sure you can play a music CD through the speakers. It's very easy for a shop accidentally send you away with what they believe is a working sound card upgrade, but you're the one who will have to lug the system box back in again if they missed something.

See Deciding if it's cost effective to upgrade the sound card

Installing a Sound Card

You must have the documentation that comes with a sound card to install it properly. The first step is always to run a special software utility that comes with the sound card, or MSD (MicroSoft Diagnostic), to determine what resources are available for the sound card settings. To further complicate the issue, sound cards come with a number of default settings (IRQ=5, Base Address=330, MIDI Address=220 and DMA=1) that are assumed to be standard for many DOS applications. Therefore, sound card manufacturers recommend that you leave the sound card on its default settings, and change the settings on any conflicting cards. Either way, it means having to reconfigure some existing software. Finally, Sound cards are delivered with a great deal of software of their own, for playing music CDs, recording, playing WAV and MIDI music, etc., all of which must be installed in Windows. It is a common problem to install a sound card, and not realize that one of the software drivers isn't working properly until months later when you first use a MIDI or Wave Table application. Wave table cards come with upgradeable memory modules, often in the form of standard SIMMs. The memory is used to store more and bigger samples of actual instruments, for playing better quality and more complex music.

See How to install a sound card

Multimedia Upgrade

A multimedia upgrade is a kit including a CD drive, sound card, speakers, microphone, control and application software, and normally has a bunch of CD titles bundled with it. One advantage that purchasing a multimedia kit has over acquiring the parts separately is you are guaranteed simple hookup of the CD drive. There will be two custom cables supplied to connect the CD drive to the sound card, a ribbon cable for data and a stereo connection for music CDs to be played. The only cost benefit of buying a multimedia kit is the bundled software. This is something that must be examined according to the titles included. Many CD titles are so called "shovel ware", collections of clip-art, out of copyright text, warmed over shareware, and three year old versions of current titles. These same CDs can be purchased in quantity packs for two dollars each. Other bundles may include reference works, edutainment software and games that would cost from $10 to $30 if purchased alone.

Time and Cost for Upgrade

Installing a multimedia kit takes no longer than installing a sound card, which is the main part of the job. A half hour should suffice for most people. The titles that come with the kit should not be installed as applications unless you actually intend to use them. They take up some space on the hard drive for the executable section of the program, and they often make modifications to your system files that alter the memory usage and performance in ways you might not like. Multimedia kits cost between $150 to $450, depending on the speed of the CD drive, the quality of the sound card and software, and the quantity and quality of titles.

Installing a Multimedia Upgrade Kit

The procedure for installing a multimedia upgrade kit is identical to installing a sound card, which mainly means carefully following the instructions. Because any additional components are connected to the sound card, and not the motherboard, the multimedia kit is essential a system within a system. The only part you may need that is not necessarily included in the kit is a power splitter, required if all of the power supply leads are already in use. The sound card included in a multimedia kit is actually several adapters in one, so don't be surprised by the number of jumpers that must be selected, or the number of options you must confirm with a PnP (Plug 'n Play) adapter.

Network Adapter

Most network adapters sold today are PnP (Plug 'n Play), but not true PnP. Rather than changing adapter settings in the CMOS Setup or through Windows '95 or NT, the manufacturer supplies a DOS program which must be run to change the adapter settings. All the same, this beats having to move a bunch of jumpers around. The settings for your network adapter often depend on the LAN (Local Area Network) software, which may not support every combination of settings the card can produce. If you have Windows for Workgroups, Windows '95 or Windows NT, you can create a peer to peer (no dedicated server) network using just the Windows software, network adapters and cabling. The biggest users of hand-me-down PCs on LANs are probably schools, and in the classroom environment, you should really strive to use the same network adapter, on the same settings, in every PC. Otherwise, the software installation and maintenance becomes a nightmare.

Time and Cost for Upgrade

This is one procedure which is almost never performed in computer shops, except with new computers, since the cabling and software installation have to be done at the customer site anyway. There are few parts easier to install in a PC than a PnP network adapter. Even if the adapter is a manual jumpers type, only one interrupt and base address must be selected, and most adapters come with software that determines the possible settings for you. Network adapters capable of running thin ethernet (direct wired coaxial cable) and 10base-T (twisted pair phone wire) start around $30. If a thin ethernet is run, you can expect to spend about $200 additional in parts (coaxial cable, connectors, two terminators and a crimping tool) in order to wire a classroom of computers. For 10Base-T cabling, the wire (4 twisted pairs in a sheath) and the connectors (RJ-45 plugs) are a little cheaper, but along with a crimping tool, you need to buy an active hub. Hubs are sold by the number of ports (connections) they support, and they can always be connected together to support more users, although you may lose a port doing so. Eight port clone hubs start under $100, while 24 port name brand hubs cost over $500. School buyers should always ask for educational discount on networking software.

Installing a Network Adapter

Installing a network adapter takes almost no time at all. Most clone adapters emulate the old Novell NE2000 standard, and will work with your network operating system if you choose NE2000 for the adapter type. Of course, having one PC with a network adapter installed accomplishes nothing. The real work is connecting it to other PCs and getting the software configured. The software configuration will depend on your choice of network operating system, and is beyond the scope of this book. We will provide a brief overview of network cabling for the two most common low cost LANs, thin ethernet and 10Base-T.

Installing a Thin Ethernet LAN

A thin ethernet LAN consists of a many segments of RG-58U or other 50 ohm coaxial cable, linking together many PCs and terminated at each end with a 50 ohm terminator. Each PC is connected to this segmented cable by a "T" connector, where the vertical member of the "T" is attached directly to the network adapter, and a segment of cable is connected to each side of the cross member. Cable segments are added from "T" to "T" until the last PC in the chain is reached, at which point a terminator is installed on the unused end of the "T". The main disadvantage of thin ethernet is that if one connection is broken, the whole network fails. The only skill you must master for this process is putting BNC connectors on coaxial cable, unless you buy pre-made lengths. Coaxial cable consists of a central conductor insulated by a a thick dielectric cylinder, covered by a conductive braid or foil, and covered with thin protective sheath.

There are three different types of BNC connectors you can work with. Twist-on connectors are favored by many schools, because they require no tools, and can be easily re-made if rough handling breaks the connection. Crimp-on connectors are the easiest to make, but they require a special tool ($20) and aren't particularly robust. Solder connectors are rarely used anymore, because they are labor intensive to make up, but they offer the best reliability and electrical characteristics. In all cases, you may want to consider buying a special coaxial cable stripping tool that cuts the cable sheathing from the braid, and the braid and insulator from the central conductor, at the proper distance ($20).

Installing a 10Base-T LAN

A 10Base-T LAN consists of a bunch of PCs, each separately connected to a central hub. The disadvantage is the cost of the hub, but the advantage is that a connector failure effects only the PC on that segment. The wiring used for 10Base-T networks is twisted pair phone wire, which is normally sold with 4 twisted pairs together in one sheath. The pairs are easily identified by color coding, like green and white with a green stripe, blue and white with a blue stripe, etc. You only need four wires to make 10Base-T cables, but it's important that you use two pairs, since the twists in a pair provide the electrical shielding. Cables are connected straight through using RJ-45 jacks, which look like very wide telephone jacks. RJ-45 jacks can house 8 wires, which is why most cabling is sold with four pair, but only two pair are actually used for 10Base-T.

The first pair is used to connect pin 1 to pin 1 and pin 2 to pin 2, and the second pair to attach pin 3 to pin 3 and pin 6 to pin 6. By straight through connection, we mean that the same wire goes to the same position on both connectors. You need a special crimping tool to make up these connectors, and you have to squeeze really hard to make a good connection and crush the stress relief into the cable. Before you actually crimp a cable, carefully examine your wiring through the transparent connector to make sure you have the wires ordered correctly, and look at the connector end-on to make sure the copper ends of the wires show up as an even row of orange dots against the connector end. When a good cable is plugged into an adapter and a powered up hub, the green link light on the back of the adapter should be lit. The red light shows network traffic, or is used in diagnostics as described by the documentation. Unless I'm in practice, I end up mistaking the colors and making about one in four cables wrong. You can repair a 10Base-T cable by finding the bad end, cutting it off and replacing it.

Dealing with PC Shops for Upgrades and Repairs

If you don't want to get involved with upgrading or repairing your PC, and you don't have a friend or moonlighting technician to turn to, your only option is to take your PC to a shop. PC shops come in many flavors, from hundred million dollar national chains to the Mom 'n Pop store in 1000 square feet on a side street. Dealing with national chains gets you a certain consistency in parts pricing and labor rates, but if you are willing to be part of the decision making process, a small store can save you an arm and a leg. The main point, to abuse an overused expression, is that computer repair is not rocket science. This means that the store employees who speak so glibly about gigabytes and magahertz may have learned everything they know by reading this book a week before you. Don't walk into any computer store without already knowing what you want and how much you are willing to pay. An ethical technician is a better find than a skilled one.

There are no rules for pricing parts used in upgrades or repairs, but an average PC store will mark up parts added to existing systems by 50%. The mark up on a given part often reflects the value, so that a $10 adapter may be marked up to $25, while a $275 printer will sell for $350. On top of this, there is an hourly labor charge, usually $50 or more, but some shops will charge by the half hour, or flat rate certain procedures. Most small shops are willing to bargain, within limits, and may have used parts they can use to upgrade your machine with at a steep discount. By the same token, don't be shy about asking for all of the original documentation when you pay for an upgrade, even the useless hard drive booklet. This helps prevent stores, both national and local, from selling you second-hand parts as new.

The labor charge and general inconvenience of dragging your PC in and out of the car make up a large part of the upgrade cost, so it makes sense to do all the upgrading you may need in one shot. If you are getting a CD drive or a sound card, think seriously about getting both at the same time. If you are getting a CD drive or a multimedia kit, make sure you have a 1MB video adapter, or buy one at the same time. If you are upgrading the memory (RAM), and your hard drive is under 200MB, upgrade the hard drive at the same time. Finally, unless you have a brand name machine that has a CPU upgradeable, non-standard motherboard, always buy a new motherboard with a new CPU. Always remember to call first and ask if you can leave the keyboard and monitor at home.

If your PC suffers a complete failure, i.e., you can't get it to work, that's an easy sort of thing for your local shop to fix. However, if you have intermittent problems, like the system freezing or rebooting itself, occasional video failure or drive read errors, the speed and cost of repair are entirely dependent on how much you can tell the technician. Write down any error messages that appear on the screen, and what software programs you are using when lockups occur or messages appear. Seemingly unimportant factors like whether you keep your word-processing files on floppy disk or the hard drive may help the technician quickly diagnose the problem. Technicians do have diagnosis software, but it's pretty useless for many intermittent problems. If you bring a computer to a shop without supplying a detailed description of the circumstances of the intermittent failure, you will either end up paying for parts you don't really need, or for the labor time of a technician playing with your computer and waiting for the problem to occur.

The single most important thing you can do to educate yourself about current pricing, is go out and buy the current issue of "Computer Shopper", published by Ziff Davis. It's as thick as a phone book, and the index isn't always useful because many advertisement pages lack page numbers, but don't be intimidated. Open it up at random, flip a few pages in either direction, and you'll find the current pricing for the parts we reviewed in this book. Check the price in a couple of different ads, knock off five percent, and you will know pretty accurately what your computer store is paying for the part(s) you want.

Dealing With Nationwide Warrantee Providers

Most PCs are sold with warrantees ranging from 1 to 3 years, and this almost always includes at least one year of parts and labor. The brand name computer manufacturer you buy from is almost never the actual provider of warranty service, even though they may take your phone call and handle the problem report. Warrantee repairs are generally handled by national services, who often take a flat fee of around $20 per computer to assume responsibility for the labor involved in the repairs. Some of these warranty service providers really employ large numbers of full time technicians all over the country, who are often trained to do repair work on many types of electronic equipment. Other warrantee providers have no real technical employees at all, and simply call a PC shop in your local area and fix a price for the repair.

In both cases, the process goes something like this. You call a 800 number to report a problem and ask for your guaranteed 24 hour or 72 hour repair. The telephone representative tries to get you to troubleshoot the problem over the telephone, leading you through complicated software procedures if the PC is still functioning, or asking you to check connections and listen for certain sounds if the computer won't boot. Eventually, they tell you that a technician will be out on a certain day, and if you're lucky, they tell you morning or afternoon. The company you bought the computer from then overnights (second day for 72 hour warranties) the part to your home or office, where the technician from the service provider meets it and installs it in your system.

If the telephone troubleshooting session went well, this will probably result in a fixed computer. However, if the problem was of an intermittent nature, the solution isn't always obvious, and the new part may fix nothing. Sometimes, when a certain model of computer is experiencing a high failure rate of a particular component, the manufacturer will try replacing that component first, even if the problem doesn't seem to be related to it. There is nothing the technician who comes to your house can do for you if the computer isn't fixed after the repair, unless the manufacturer has a special deal with them to provide parts. You will have to get back on the phone and schedule another repair attempt. One of the reasons repairs are done this way is that the manufacturers often use re-manufactured parts; parts that have come back as defective and have been verified good or sent overseas for repair. They would lose too much money if they had to start paying a warranty provider for new parts.

One of my favorite anecdotes from working in the computer industry involved a man who had once been the national customer service manager for a major retail computer store chain. While interviewing a potential new service hire, he prompted the technician over and over again with the question "What does a PC technician fix?" until he finally got the answer he was waiting for, "The customer." This attitude is prevalent among many computer manufacturers. What the customer service representative really wants is to get you to stop calling. Whether this is done by fixing your computer, suggesting a work around, or transference of the blame onto another party (i.e. you or a software company), is largely dependent upon you. Never allow a computer manufacturer to procrastinate a repair based on the approach that it will be easier to troubleshoot when it gets worse. This is comparable to your mechanic telling you not to complain about the brake job until you rear-end somebody.

Start Your Own PC Business - Building, Repairing and Servicing PCs, Training, Products
Repair Your PC - Troubleshooting Computer Failures
Selling Computer Services - Winning Customers for Your PC Business
The Book Industry - Who's Selling the Books You're Reading
Cost Effective PC Upgrades - A Quick Guide to Upgrading Decisions

The Hand-Me-Down PC Table of Contents