Newbie Builder....absolute newbie...wires.

[Lotacatz]

This is a first build...stone newbie as a builder..but I just had to do it. I'm terrified at the thought of sending power thru it. I'm still now sure of some of the wireing...I go over and over and had to redo a few..Not everything is nice and labled.

I do wish some of the instructions that come with our goodies would take us newbies by the hand...this goes here and this goes here...with color pictures. So many have black and white teeny tiny can't see too well pix.

I have put together....

Enermax CS-718 case - wind tunnel design...loading stuff from the right side. Inverted mobo. 460 watt PSU

A8N-E

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ Manchester 2000MHz HT 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket 939 Dual Core Processor.

eVGA 512-P2-N575-AX Geforce 7900GTX 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16

Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS Platinum Pro
encompassing 7.1 surround sound for Dolby Digital.

Kingston ValueRAM 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR 400 PC3200

Seagate 7200.9 400Gb with 3.AAH Firmware

The Inspire P7800 speakers 7.1

I know I should have started power and looked stuff over way sooner...but I didn't..just kept building.

Now I've never been so terrified of electricity.

Tho Enermax is good about labeling wires, there's still questions.

1. Thefirst device is the ROM and according to the Plextor diagram..the slave is the one on the first part of the IDE cable...and the Plextor burner master on the secord part...I've always seen it the other way around and when I've replaced drives kept the rom on top as master and the burner slave...does it really matter?

2. Video. Three wires..yellow black brown connected to red black black yellow...three male and four hole power connector...fits ok. The connector provided by Audigy says to use it. Somewhere I have a book that says something about the brown wires...can't find it.

3. Those cute colorful wires on the end of the firewire that is not connected anywhere.

4. Internal firewire from audigy from sound card to drive. AUDIGY 2 ZS PLATINUM.

5. Have SATA harddrive to sata cable and sata power. No jumpers used. Happily by itself.

6. VeiwSonic flat screen 19 inch. Is that weird cable I never saw before for a mac?...I hope. I know the blue video cable.

Doing the power, ribbons, slave-master, and the one speaker wire I got from Audigy is pretty self explanatory.

A few others took some more time...a little trial and error....nothing big.

My orphan wires are those tiny little things. A tiny red mic-power, orange mic-in, one wire that starts out blue r-out and turns yellow r-set, white l-ret, blue r-out, two black ground. Where the heck do these go? There's a set of colored plugs where I have the twisted colored wires go that the mobo book explains..and left over are a bunch of single plugs. Blues, red, yellows, white, no blacks...do they go there?

Setting up/configuring this beast will be a new thing for me as well....guess I'll cross that when I get there. For now I don't want to blow the thing up.

I could really use some wire education.

Thanks for any help. This thing looks so good...all black and bad looking..but will it work? :?: :tongue:

*¬*.¸¸.·´¨`»*«´¨`·.¸¸.*¬*
On the internet, no knows you're a cat.

 

[Pain]

1. Thefirst device is the ROM and according to the Plextor diagram..the slave is the one on the first part of the IDE cable...and the Plextor burner master on the secord part...I've always seen it the other way around and when I've replaced drives kept the rom on top as master and the burner slave...does it really matter?

It doesn't really matter. The one in the middle will be the slave if you have them set to cable select.

2. Video. Three wires..yellow black brown connected to red black black yellow...three male and four hole power connector...fits ok. The connector provided by Audigy says to use it. Somewhere I have a book that says something about the brown wires...can't find it.

You mean a molex connector? 4 wire thingie? Must be talking about an adapter of some sort, so just follow the instructions.

3. Those cute colorful wires on the end of the firewire that is not connected anywhere.

Um, need more info.

4. Internal firewire from audigy from sound card to drive. AUDIGY 2 ZS PLATINUM.

Same

5. Have SATA harddrive to sata cable and sata power. No jumpers used. Happily by itself.

You're good.

6. VeiwSonic flat screen 19 inch. Is that weird cable I never saw before for a mac?...I hope. I know the blue video cable.

No, it's probably a DVI cable, and if you have a connector on the video card for it, use it.

 

[Lotacatz]

Thank you...

It is a DVI. The video card has two VGA ports. I can plug in the VGA of course. I've seen adapters for DVI's to plug into VGA ports..would that work...or is it one or the other or can both be used in the vga with the adapter for the dvi?...

On the firewire...I think I was thinking outloud..I meant the internal firewire that came with audigy is what I used...I should be ok there. It goes to the audigy drive on the front. The one that came with the case has a bunch of lovely little colored wires on it...not using it. Just got me curious.

The orphans...the l-out, l-ret, mic-power,r-ret, r-out, mic-in and ground...guess they will stay orphans for now. Maybe I don't really need them if I can't find anything to plug 'em into.

The connectors...yes..molex. Sorry.."thingy" isn't too techy. But neither am I. That's a slow process. It's the regular power connectors...the red-black-black-yellow wires that come out of the PSU.

The one that I hooked up to the video card and then hooked to two of the power connectors is a split power adapter that came with the card. They said it would deliver better power..it is a monster card. (looks more like something in a sports car engine) It's just it has the three wires that went nicely into the regular four wire power plugs. I guess it'll be ok.

It's pretty hard to plug into something that isn't supposed to go.

Why do I smell smoke and I havn't yet put any power to it? Man...I am not a very positive person sometimes. Is this common for first timers? Waiting to throw that first switch?

I read where one guy had a cat pee in the whole thing and he salvaged it. Must be tougher then a I thought. I can't imagine a mobo surviving cat pee.

Thank you for your help. Seriously appreciate it.

*¬*.¸¸.·´¨`»*«´¨`·.¸¸.*¬*
"First, ye rubs somethin' furry t' build up a charge, then ye picks yer target!"

~StrykerMom~

 

[Pain]

It is a DVI. The video card has two VGA ports. I can plug in the VGA of course. I've seen adapters for DVI's to plug into VGA ports..would that work...or is it one or the other or can both be used in the vga with the adapter for the dvi?...

You can use either of them, but only one at a time. If your video card has a dvi connector and the montior has too, then use the dvi cable.

The one that I hooked up to the video card and then hooked to two of the power connectors is a split power adapter that came with the card. They said it would deliver better power..it is a monster card. (looks more like something in a sports car engine) It's just it has the three wires that went nicely into the regular four wire power plugs. I guess it'll be ok.

If your power supply has enough molex connectors, then use one straight from the PS to attach to the video card. Don't use that power splitter/adapter if you can help it.

Why do I smell smoke and I havn't yet put any power to it? Man...I am not a very positive person sometimes. Is this common for first timers? Waiting to throw that first switch?

You aren't smelling smoke, just the smell of new electronics. Mainly from the power supply probably, but could be another thing else. When you first power it up you will smell similar smells coming from the power supply, but don't worry if there isn't smoke and fire coming out of it.

 

[Lotacatz]

"Smoke"....forgive me for being so unclear. I should know better how to talk on a forum. I was "smelling" smoke in my head as in anticipation something will just catch fire. It's still "unborn" so to speak. No electricity has been put to it. I was waiting for a small 80cm optional fan to be delivered...to put in. Actually I did blow up a speaker set once...long time ago. There was an actual fire.

I changed that split plug from the video folks... It was their idea to "deliver" more uniform power or some darn thing. Can't hurt anything, I'm sure, to be on a nice, single power plug. Probably safer, really, at this stage. That card cost a bunch.

Thanks so much for clarifying that DVI thing. The "instruction" picture shows two cables (not including the power plug) coming out of the back of the monitor and going into the back of the computer without so much as a printed word explaining either/or and we wonder why us newbies get so confused. Someday the perfect "build your own" will come out that uses color pictures, define it all, take us by the hand. Not a cable or a plug that you cannot look up in the same book...and uses english as it goes and defines the "terms" most folks use that know how to do this stuff. That'd be nice.

I'm sure most of us havn't graduated an electricians course and it's hard to know what to study up on until we end up with our hands inside the case with a handful of wires. You bone up on as much as is available then the awful reality. And not knowing the "tech terms" yet. 8O

I've seen a cable that was dvi on one end and vga on the other as well as an adpter that converts one to the other. So...guess we're covered. The card has no dvi port...just two vga so I guess it's just the VGA.....thanx again. I was clueless. The monitor has both connections and the card both vga....I understand now.

That video card obliterated one of the x1 slots as in being so big....hadn't planned on using that little slot anyway. I looked at my own little video card on this machine and then look at this thing......makes 4 of this one.

My son is in Iraq and payed for most of this hardware. He's a stone gaming freak so the hardware is up there a bit as in expensive. He's due home soon and I hope this thing is going to be good to go before he gets here. If it is successful....even his wife won't see him for awhile. :lol: .....he hits the games and he's "gone" for long time.

He's more then earned a decent gaming machine. All the "Stryker Families" for this outfit are on a count down now. They play Janes Combat games and gulf thunder, etc with the real stuff outside the tent....go figure. :roll:

Getting past this total newbie stage is painful...but I've always found it worth it in the end.

And thanx...I won't worry if I don't see flames....remember..I did once. We blamed the product..they did take it back.

I always was a little gutsy. I just can't NOT do something that grabs my interest. After getting my first computer after a disability..I got terribly hooked on them. My first husband was a computer program/systems analyst for a computer we called Penelope. An IBM 305 RAMAC ..drum drive. Cards were your copies. I sorted enuff of those things to last a lifetime. Computers interested me then. Sorry he's not around to see these things but he anticipated something pretty big. Privacy was his big concern. I don't think "firewall" was in the lanquage yet. Transisters sure changed things a lot. They were forever replacing "tubes".





Can't think of anything else at this point. But.....the set up will come...as in...software, bios, cmos....arrrrrrgghhh. That'll be a new one for me as well.

Do you start with the 98 boot disc?....had to do that once with a tech after repartition.....turned out to be a sick mobo. (told him so) Back to the mobo book.

Thanx again..so very much.

*¬*.¸¸.·´¨`»*«´¨`·.¸¸.*¬*
"First, ye rubs somethin' furry t' build up a charge, then ye picks yer target!"

~StrykerMom~

 

[Pain]

I would be more inclined to believe your video card has 2 DVI connectors instead of 2 VGA connectors. The DVI connector will be slightly longer and typically is white on the inside of the connector. The VGA will typically be blue on the inside of the connector. But, don't worry. As long as you have one of them hooked up to the same type of connector on the monitor, then you're good to go.

I also wouldn't worry about waiting on that extra fan. You could go ahead and power it up now and get it running without that fan.

If you have a windows XP disk, then you don't need the 98 boot disk. I use them occationally, but on new builds you can just boot from the XP disk and go from there.

And, when you do first power it on, don't be too concerned if you actually do smell something a little funny after the power supply warms up. It may smell of something funny, and often times people mistake it for burning odor, but it's just the new smell baking off the parts. Nothing to worry about.

That's very nice of you to do for you son. I'm sure he will appreciate it when he gets home.

 

[Lotacatz]

It would seem a video card like this would ......but no...the good old standard blue ones. Those you know what they are. I'd just never seen DVI before. Now I know. This is the first flat screen I've had. Had to give it a shot.

With that black case and black lined screen , black speakers, black keyboard....looks sorta wild. If the LED's all work...the razor mouse and Seitek keyboard all mostly black...it'll be pretty kewl looking.( I use a MS Ergonomics).

Maybe he bank rolled most of it but I'll be darned if I let him take it out of here...I birthed it.....but he comes here to play anyway. His wife won't let him alone if he gets lost in a game...and he still uses his old room for "alone time"...this will no doubt end up there on a wireless...and enuff speaker power to keep him going. The speakers just got here and the wires were self explanatory...for a change.

I'm glad I can go from the xp...xp 64. You read it and it sounds easy and sure enuff...stuff comes up about boot this or boot that.... I think I read too much and get myself lost.

There is one question. I have a wireless adapter...one of those you put on a pci slot....it says for 32 bit PCI. I never saw any that says 64 bit...so are 32 bit PCI slots just a standard. As in another term I'm dumb on.

Ok.......I'll get to it when I'm rested...my poor brain. Cluttered with wires big time.

I set those drives to cabel select..so that's that. Lost a jumper cap...it's long gone somewhere in the hollows of that case but I had more.

Glad I had to look for it tho...a loose screw was in there and I thought I had been so careful... If I get thru the set up...I'll be the new champ...my soldier son and I are forever doing a one-upsman-ship. We have a fun relationship.

Thanx....as always.


*¬*.¸¸.·´¨`»*«´¨`·.¸¸.*¬*
On the internet, no knows you're a cat.

~StrykerMom~

 

[Pain]

No, the wireless card is 32 bit and it will be fine.

I might suggest however that you not use 64 bit windows. Drivers are slow to come and there is no real need to use it right now and sometimes it's more trouble than it's worth, from what I hear. I do not use it currently so I can't speak for sure, but that's what I hear.

 

[Lotacatz]

The only 32 bit xp I have is the magnell recovery disc. It's the one that came from ABS with this computer some time ago. Still need to download sp1 and 2 with it...but..well, I'm used to it.

My soldier son has a 32 bit XP but getting it from Iraq is a bit tuff. Mailing out of there...well....not! Mailing stuff in takes long enuff.

Do some folks make two particians for a 32 bit xp and 64 bit...seems I read it somewhere.

I didn't consider the 64 bit drivers. 64 has been out long enough, is seems, they'd catch up. *sigh* What can I say...

If the magnell would work it'd be nice...aren't they geared for one computer? I really don't know. When you own something it seems you should be able to freely use it.

As ever..thanx :?

*¬*.¸¸.·´¨`»*«´¨`·.¸¸.*¬*
"First, ye rubs somethin' furry t' build up a charge, then ye picks yer target!"

~StrykerMom~

 

[Pain]

Not sure about the magnel disk or whatever, but OEM licenses are written such that you are not able to use that OS on any other machine. Take that for what it's worth, and it's hard to say if it would even allow you to install it on another machine, or if it would allow activation.

 

[Lotacatz]

As I vaguely recall they put it in the bios or some darned thing and make it pretty impossible. Heaven help you if you have to replace the mobo...but ABS has always been pretty good at helping around things.

If this mother board on this machine I'm using, (and is issuing a "hissing " sound..fan probably) needed replacing I'd have to probably buy it thru them. They keep a pretty complete record of each customer and machine. Never came up to ask them.

Anway..when my soldier comes home...we will be able to add the 32 bit XP bought seperately from any company to our growing "stuff" around here.

Things can be done and udone and redone....so nothing is stamped in metal. If it doesn't work out...then it doesn't ....and can be cheerfully replaced. This fresh 64 is all I have on hand right now.

I'll just go stick that wireless in and cross my fingers. What can I say. It's been fun...now for some more. *sigh*

Happyhappyjoyjoy. :tongue:


*¬*.¸¸.·´¨`»*«´¨`·.¸¸.*¬*
On the internet, no knows you're a cat.

~StrykerMom~

 

[Lotacatz]

Well...talk about anticlimatic. Nothing...not a thing but a green light on the mobo....what...start over? No fan...nada...pulled that plug quick.

*sigh*

*¬*.¸¸.·´¨`»*«´¨`·.¸¸.*¬*
"First, ye rubs somethin' furry t' build up a charge, then ye picks yer target!"

~StrykerMom~

 

[Pain]

Do you have all the power connectors plugged into the motherboard?

Are you sure you have the power switch connected to the right place on the motherboard? It's connected to PWR SW and not RESET or something else? [I guessed at the PWR SW, it might be called something else].

Don't freak out yet, it's probably something simple. :lol:

 

[Lotacatz]

It's a weird feeling but I don't usually call much of anything quites..lol...good ol' die hard.

Well..the green light is on..so mobo must getting something...but I'm probably at a lost about the power switch...which stangely did come to mind...how does that set up? Wish I knew what all those names mean.

Both power connectors to mobo...the 4 pin and that big sucker.

The start switch is strangely quite...and I didn't hold it like I should've.
Old trusty-rusty I'm using now just kicks on when you hit it.

Any instructions with this case really stink. If you want to make millions...write a book that could teach someone as low on the build yer own totem pole as anyone can get.


Ok...removed the sound card and a usb to see better....sometimes taking a shot with a digital camera will bring it out nicely. Reset all those plugs...the little colored twisted guys...

Ok..green light on..again...

CPU fan is going and seems the power fan is going...those two big ones that work in the windtunnel..nothing..

And....three rapid beeps....repeats.....

Lemme guess..it's really mad about something.


*¬*.¸¸.·´¨`»*«´¨`·.¸¸.*¬*
On the internet, no knows you're a cat.

~StrykerMom~

 

[Pain]

OK, three rapid beeps. That's to tell you something. It might be listed in the manual what that means. Either the video card is not seated properly, or the memory, more than likely. I forget what they all mean.

 

[Lotacatz]

I pulled the video card for now..along with the sound...the fan on the video did nothing...then for the heck of it I tried that split thing...the fan started-stopped. That's all it does...start then stop. 460 watt psu should be enough to run it you'd think.

Anyway...sound card is out...video card is out..

I can't even get the two large fans to work...I don't see how that can mess up. I must've unplugged and replugged a dozen times those little fan wires. They just won't spin.

Tried with one memory stick...same.

You'd think the mobo book would have beep codes...but nooooooo..

Actually it's like one long and three shorts..then you hear it again...and it's like two really fast and three beeps......or something that sounds like that.

If I can't get those crazy fans working....

Phoenix/Award BIOS....the award bios is not famous for it's beep codes..
Award:
1 long, 2 short Indicates a video error has occurred and the BIOS cannot initialize the video screen to display any additional information
Any other beep(s) RAM problem.

If push comes to shove and I wear out, there's this wireless guy (works for local wireless) but has his own buisness and makes house calls. He brought me the router and set it up for a laptop I have for a little more then the price of the router. I can always ask him if he does flat rates for getting something like this on it's feet. I'd hate to watch the clock.

I was so hoping to pull this off.

Video fan won't keep going and I can't get the regular fans to work...just the fans in psu, chipset, cpu....those are ok. Even the rom draw opens and closes...or is it the burner...hardly matters right now.

At least it has a green light.

I'll give it till monday or so.

*¬*.¸¸.·´¨`»*«´¨`·.¸¸.*¬*
"First, ye rubs somethin' furry t' build up a charge, then ye picks yer target!"

~StrykerMom~

 

[Lotacatz]

Well...some update.

The big case fans still won't work, the little fan came...and it won't work when plugged into the fan plugs for the case.....has to be something with the case fan. The wires are correct...used a room fan as the case was open.

BIOS/CMOS comes up along with an Asus splash screen...the fan in the video is good. I get one beep when it boots...and then that funny babeep followed by three and then no more. It stops that no matter where..it does it seemingly on some kind of cue...like reboot...

The screen complains my cpu fan should be faster...I'm lost there...the little readout stays at 30C...but I have no idea if it's a real functioning thing.

The reboot button works just like it should...I'm so surprised to get this far...just a little more it seems. Keyboard and mouse light up really awesome. I know they are getting what they need...good keyboard commands for anything it wanted...no probs. Just hung at license agreement...to accept press F1...there ya sit.

It see's everything in there....all drives in their proper place...set cdrom to boot and is going along nice and fine. Just hit any key to continue..and it does. I know it sees the harddrive and saw it was raw...can't get to the partician tho.

Windows set up. Loads all it's little files...and is happy when you select this or that with keyboard....We will get as far as the license agreement and press f1 if you agree...and there it gets stuck. It did make it to partician once and it didn't go on there.....it saw it was a raw disc but never got to partician...now just hung up at the license agreement.

Man..what a headache....I'll tackle it tomorrow...just if I could get past that lousy license.


*¬*.¸¸.·´¨`»*«´¨`·.¸¸.*¬*
On the internet, no knows you're a cat.

~StrykerMom~

 

[edwuave]

if you have no confidence, get a pro to guide you.

 

[Lotacatz]

I'll hammer it out for awhile. While it's not really a lack of confidence, it's a lack of knowledge. If I didn't have confidence I wouldn't have even tried it.

I'm this far and is usual for me to keep working on it till there is just no other way.

The whole idea was to pull it off myself. It's fun.

*¬*.¸¸.·´¨`»*«´¨`·.¸¸.*¬*
"First, ye rubs somethin' furry t' build up a charge, then ye picks yer target!"

~StrykerMom~