First time builder, needs help

[lonehunter23]

So I finally ordered all my parts and everything came in a few days ago. The only problem is I'm pretty overwhelmed by all of it. This is my first time building a PC and I thought the directions would be pretty user-friendly, but their not.

I didn't start trying to assembly everything until kinda late last night so I didn't have much time to look up videos or google stuff, I figured I'd look here first before there is some great information to be found here with really helpful people.

I got the mobo screwed down and in place fine, the PSU is in place and I have two power cables from the PSU going into the mobo. One question I have is about the PCI-E power cable going into the mobo. The cable plug is 3x3, but then there is a 1x1 connector also so to me it looks like it's really 4x4, but when I tried to plug in into the PCI-E port on the mobo it doesn't want to fit at all. But when I used just the 3x3 and left the 1x1 off to the side it plugged in just fine.

Here is the link of my order: http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=26184488

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

 

[alvine]

hi
your mobo will take a 24 pin main power connector which is situated on the side of the mobo
the cpu power connector should be on the top of the cpu socket. it can be either a 4pin or a 4+4 (8pin). if the 8 pin does not fit there might be a chance you are trying to fit a 6+2 pin pcie connector to the 8 pin cpu power.

 

[varun706]

OK Here's what can really help you: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/274745-31-step-step-guide-building.

 

[CaedenV]

1) Reset CMOS (generally done by moving a jumper or unplugging the battery on the mobo for a little while, but some boards have a push button now). This should be done while unplugged from the wall.
2) Install the bare minimum of parts just to make sure that things are working properly. This would be your power supply, motherboard, CPU, 1stick of ram, and the case speaker; use the onboard video if available otherwise install the GPU. Power it up, see if fans are moving and things are running, see if you can get into BIOS/UEFI and tell it to load the default settings. If left on you should hear a single short beep through the case speaker if everything checks out OK. If you get long beeps then it is generally bad Ram, if it boot cycles then it generally means bad mobo or power supply.
3) Install the rest of your general hardware; the rest of the ram, HDD, CD, video card, sound card, card reader, case fans, etc. If anything prevents POST then remove things one at a time to find the problem child. Once everything is running go back into UEFI and see if there are any changes you want to make (boot defaults, turning off extra unused features, changing fan settings, AHCI/RAID for SSDs, killing the annoying sleep light, etc.).
4) Load your OS, drivers, and antivirus. Run all system updates. Use the manufacturer's website for any drivers you require as they will be more up to date than what comes in the box. Before loading any extra software run your primary backup, this should be burned to CD/DVD for safe keeping.
5) Perform some system tests. WEI (Windows Experience Index), Windows Memory Diagnostic, Prime95, memtest86+, etc. Just make sure all your hardware is working properly and stable at stock settings with a minimum of software loaded.
6) Perform OC and any other system customization, and retest the system for stability. This is where you change windows for SSD performance/longevity.
7) Load programs; Office, games, productivity software, web browsers, utilities, etc.
8) Enjoy your system

 

[CaedenV]

oh, the 6+2pin PCIe power is for graphics cards, not the mobo. The 2x4 spot on the mobo is really 2 2x2 connectors which will sit side by side, and this is for CPU voltage control. The PCIe is to power a GPU if your card needs one, and will hook into the back end of the card with either a 2x3 or 2x4 connector (which is why 2 of the pins are loose and optional because not all cards require them).

 

[lonehunter23]

That link doesn't work. I'm making some progress, got the processor in, one HDD connected to a SATA port, USB 3.0 connected.

I'm having issues with these 3 thin cables coming out of the tower, labled Power SW, reset SW, and HDD LED. I can't find where they plug into the mobo. Their small little things, I tried looked around the edge of the mobo and can't find the same labels.

 

[Rockdpm]

First off, you don't plug a PCI Express Power cable into the Motherboard. There should be a 8pin or 4+4 pin sleeved in with the 24 Pin. PCI E goes to your Video Cards, or Soundcard (if there is any on a PCI Express) but other than that. You should be set. Let us know how it goes.

 

[Rockdpm]

That link doesn't work. I'm making some progress, got the processor in, one HDD connected to a SATA port, USB 3.0 connected.

I'm having issues with these 3 thin cables coming out of the tower, labled Power SW, reset SW, and HDD LED. I can't find where they plug into the mobo. Their small little things, I tried looked around the edge of the mobo and can't find the same labels.

Ok now refer to your Motherboard manual. It should be in there (With a few looking up in the index) I don't know by heart where each pluggs in. But i do know the the speaker goes in the top right of the pins. on the bottom of your Motherboard there will be a small white panel with Pins sticking out of it. The thin case cables go there.

 

[lonehunter23]

Just powered up for the first time and all seems well. Got a HDD, 1 stick of ram, and the CPU with stock fan.

Still need to put in the video card, 2nd stick of ram, dvd drive, a SSD and swap the stock CPU fan.

Then take it all apart and run all my cabling properly. It's not pretty right now, cables are everywhere.

 

[lonehunter23]

Ok, starting to have some issues. I have everything in the case except the dvd drive and the SSD.

When I power on everything will spin up for a few seconds then it restarts itself. When it boots backup it's fine, but the DRAM LED is sometimes solid red. This last time it started blinking, slowly at first, sped up, then finally stayed solid red.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

I didn't start trying to assembly everything until kinda late last night so I didn't have much time to look up videos or google stuff,

Next time, after ya order ya stuff and are waiting the 3-5 days it takes to arrive, you should be downloading all manuals, updated drivers and the like so that when it arrives, after 3+ days of studying, you know exactly what to do.

One question I have is about the PCI-E power cable going into the mobo. The cable plug is 3x3, but then there is a 1x1 connector also so to me it looks like it's really 4x4, but when I tried to plug in into the PCI-E port on the mobo it doesn't want to fit at all. But when I used just the 3x3 and left the 1x1 off to the side it plugged in just fine.

The PCI-E cable doesn't go to the MoBo....it goes tpo the GFX card.

The 4 pin or 8 pin EPS cable goes to the MoBo......in all likelihood, your MoBo has one of the following:

1) 4-pin CPU connector
2) 8 pin EPS connector with plastic plug that should be removed if your PSU has the 8 pin EPS connector.

http://www.antec.com/Believe_it/connectors.php?ProdID=24850

The 6+2 pin that you are describing is a standard GFX connector. Look at your power supply manual.....it should explain that the 6+2 pin connector should have it's 6 pin plug pushed into the appropriate port on the GFX card and the +2 part left hanging. If the GFX card has an 8 pin connector, the +2 part also gets plugged in.

 

[lonehunter23]

I got windows installed, still having problems though. I can't get online. When I go into Device Manager there are several yellow !, saying it's not detecting the network card, some other yellow ! next usb bus or something.

Do I need to download the drivers?

Also when I plug my monitor into the video card my monitor remains black. But if I plug into the on board graphics card it's fine. How do I get the computer to use my video and not the on board one?

 

[Rockdpm]

I got windows installed, still having problems though. I can't get online. When I go into Device Manager there are several yellow !, saying it's not detecting the network card, some other yellow ! next usb bus or something.

Do I need to download the drivers?

Also when I plug my monitor into the video card my monitor remains black. But if I plug into the on board graphics card it's fine. How do I get the computer to use my video and not the on board one?

Well first off you must plugg the video card in after you have installed windows and have all the drivers and such. turn off the computer plug in the graphics card. and plug in power cables yadda yadda. then go back to windows and windows should install a default driver. but whatever you do, don't turn off onboard video in bios. because if the Graphics card ever goes out.....the only way to reset is pull out CMOS and once you do tht you must go back and set hard drive as primary boot up and all that good stuff

 

[lonehunter23]

I got the computer up and running. I've installed all the drivers (I think). I have my monitor plugged into my video card, but in Device Manager it's still saying standard vga graphics adapter.

 

[Rockdpm]

well obviously the card is detected, just not fully. sounds like your still having a driver issue (I know i know, you have installed drivers, plugged in video cable to card i know i know) but see with a driver. You can install and re-install a driver all day long and still have that issue come up eventually. Also make sure your video card is properly plugged into the PCI Express slot. and the PCI Express power cables are plugged in.

 

[lonehunter23]

Dumb mistake on my part. I was installing the Windows XP drivers. I installed the correct drivers (Windows 7) and it's being detected.

My last problem seems to be with my ram. When I had both sticks in my DRAM led would stay solid red, sometimes blink red, then turn solid red.

It only happened with both sticks being in at the same time. I tried each stick individually in the same slot and everything was fine.

 

[Rockdpm]

well are the full amount of ram being showed when you have both sticks in being shown in the BIOS as *GB of *MHZ Ram?. also in windows. Cause if it shows in bios as the total amount of ram. then the lights are just flashing like that because they are testing or checking; my motherboard does it to