Installing Your Motherboard
by Ken Webb

Disclaimer:

In spite of all our good intentions, errors and omissions can occur. We therefore cannot be responsible for the use of nor the accuracy of the following:

Arrange all your components on a suitable work surface. Then, before removing your motherboard from it's anti-static bag, discharge any static electricity by touching the computer case. Be sure the power cord is disconnected, and if you're upgrading an old system carefully remove all the add-on boards and the motherboard from the case. Look at the new motherboard to be certain that any metal standoffs in the case line up with grounding holes in the motherboard. This is very important! There should be at least one metal standoff to ground the motherboard to the case, but any metal standoff that doesn't line up with a grounding hole could cause a short circuit and possibly ruin the new motherboard. The same is true when installing a motherboard into a new case. Install one or two metal standoffs into the case that line up with grounding holes in the motherboard and as many plastic standoffs as will line up with the remaining holes. It's also a good idea to mount plastic standoffs into the holes in the front (toward the front of the case) two corners of the motherboard. These holes usually don't line up with any holes in the case so you'll need to cut off the bottom part of the standoff leaving enough to keep the motherboard from touching the metal case. Mount the motherboard into the case and put screws with red cardboard washers through the motherboard into the metal standoffs. Attach the connectors from the power supply to the motherboard with the black wires together in the middle. Remember "black-to black" and the plugs are correct.
Now you're ready to test the installation. First check that the input power switch on the back of the case is set to 115 and not to 230. Next plug in some RAM, a video card, the keyboard, the case speaker, and finally the power cord. Plug the monitor into the video card and turn it on. Then turn on the computer power switch. If you hear one or two beeps and see information scrolling up on your monitor, then all is great. You've installed your motherboard correctly and you're ready to add all those wonderful peripherals. If you install them with the same care and attention to detail you used to install your motherboard, they should work just fine. Just install one or two things at a time and run tests at every step. Enjoy your computer! Here are some hints and tips to solve some of the more common problems:
All motherboards are tested before they're shipped but the shipping companies can cause changes to occur. Check for obvious damage. Be sure the CPU isn't loose in the socket. Ensure that no jumpers have fallen off and are loose in the bag.
Most of the sensor wires to the front of the case plug in only one correct way. The five-pin connector on the motherboard is for the power LED and the keylock. Pin #1 and #3 are for the power LED. Usually the green wire goes on pin #1. Pins #4 & #5 are for the keylock and it really doesn't matter which way its plugged in. Just be sure the key isn't locked or the system won't respond to your keyboard. The four-pin connector is for the case speaker. Mount the connector on pins #1 and #4. The red wire usually goes on pin #1, but it'll work either way. Turbo LED connector is usually two pins and one is marked as positive. The colored wire (usually yellow) goes on the positive pin. Really not much point to connecting the turbo switch wires. In fact most Pentium boards don't have a turbo switch connector at all. If you must connect the turbo switch you should know that there are usually two pins on the motherboard and three wires from the switch. You can plug in two of the three wires and the system will be in turbo mode in one of the two switch positions. Hard drive LED will usually have two pins with one of them marked positive. Of the two wires from the HDD Led, one is usually red and goes on the positive pin. The reset switch has two pins and you can mount the two wires from the case either way. Any CPU later than a DX-33 needs a cooling fan. Be sure it's mounted tightly and plug the power cable into any power supply plug except one going to a hard drive. Hard drive, floppy drive, in fact any ribbon cable in your computer has a colored stripe on one side. Be sure the colored stripe lines up with pin #1 on both ends of the cable. If you plug a cable in backwards, not only will the device not work but the video might not work either. When you startup your computer the beeps are codes to alert you to potential problems. 1-beep means everything is OK. 2-beeps mean CMOS settings need to be set. 8-beeps mean the system can't find your video card. 1-long-beep means the system can't find any RAM. If all else fails, start over. Sometimes when you've invested several hours and still can't get the computer to work, it's time to take a break and then start over. It usually is something simple and basic that didn't get connected correctly early in the assembly. Good Luck!