Am on my second build, prior was 10 years ago.
Unable to POST, multiple troubleshooting, returning motherboard. Might be helpful for other newbies to learn from my errors.
1.Before you ever open the component boxes, decide where you will store each empty box for possible return and make that place ready. Open each component box slowly and carefully, and keep a list of everything that was in that box, down to the wire ties. Put the list and all packing elements back into the box, store it carefully away. If the box has no labels on it, attach some so you know what's what. I had about 10 different component boxes, several unmarked,and it was a poor use of time trying to find every element that had been in the motherboard box. (I kind of junked all the boxes and packing material together. Use a lot of labels, and try to fight your excitement-unpack in a very orderly way. Be pessimistic, expect that you will need to return something, and of course keep all your invoices, etc. Don't send in any rebates until close to deadline.
2. After failed POST, I bought a POST diagnostic card. It was cheap, but useless. Documentation was terrible. Probably written by the CEO's nephew, who dropped out of English class. I.got no readings at all on the digital readout. Two red LEDS lit up, but no clues to what they represented.
3. When trying to put the black plastic protective cover back on the CPU socket, I made the mistake of trying to fit it under the metal spring bracket, rather than on top. t looks like I bent at least 10 pins. I expect the seller will reject my motherboard return when they inspect it, so that was an $80 hard lesson.
4. While you are still daydreaming about your first build, start saving working components from broken or discarded computers. I was handicapped by not having spare power supply, CPU, memory. Difficult to troubleshoot when you have nothing to swap out. You are limited by compatibility issues, but having something beats having nothing.
Good luck to all you other newbies! I'm still having fun, learning a lot, all worth it. Having something to troubleshoot makes you smarter than you were the day before.
Unable to POST, multiple troubleshooting, returning motherboard. Might be helpful for other newbies to learn from my errors.
1.Before you ever open the component boxes, decide where you will store each empty box for possible return and make that place ready. Open each component box slowly and carefully, and keep a list of everything that was in that box, down to the wire ties. Put the list and all packing elements back into the box, store it carefully away. If the box has no labels on it, attach some so you know what's what. I had about 10 different component boxes, several unmarked,and it was a poor use of time trying to find every element that had been in the motherboard box. (I kind of junked all the boxes and packing material together. Use a lot of labels, and try to fight your excitement-unpack in a very orderly way. Be pessimistic, expect that you will need to return something, and of course keep all your invoices, etc. Don't send in any rebates until close to deadline.
2. After failed POST, I bought a POST diagnostic card. It was cheap, but useless. Documentation was terrible. Probably written by the CEO's nephew, who dropped out of English class. I.got no readings at all on the digital readout. Two red LEDS lit up, but no clues to what they represented.
3. When trying to put the black plastic protective cover back on the CPU socket, I made the mistake of trying to fit it under the metal spring bracket, rather than on top. t looks like I bent at least 10 pins. I expect the seller will reject my motherboard return when they inspect it, so that was an $80 hard lesson.
4. While you are still daydreaming about your first build, start saving working components from broken or discarded computers. I was handicapped by not having spare power supply, CPU, memory. Difficult to troubleshoot when you have nothing to swap out. You are limited by compatibility issues, but having something beats having nothing.
Good luck to all you other newbies! I'm still having fun, learning a lot, all worth it. Having something to troubleshoot makes you smarter than you were the day before.
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