Building a computer

Rage85 · 14 Jan 2011 at 20:10

there seems to be two PCI slots for the graphics card but unsure which one to put it in?

Clarkson · 14 Jan 2011 at 20:20

Big slot nearest the CPU.

shadow_boxer · 14 Jan 2011 at 20:20

The one closest to the CPU will be fine. Often doesn't actually matter.

Rage85 · 14 Jan 2011 at 20:24

ok cheers

also it says in the manual that the sata cable with the L shape on one side has to connect to the hard drive, and it does say HDD on the end of the cable. so that's what we did.

Rage85 · 14 Jan 2011 at 21:27

There is two wires coming from the DVD/RW that says HDA and one saying AC97 do they need to be attached to anything?

nearly done

Rage85 · 14 Jan 2011 at 21:29

there's 2 black wires coming off each fan also, look like switches, with lmh on, do you do anything with those?

SimonC · 14 Jan 2011 at 21:41

From the dvd, the hda and ac97 are for the jacks on the front of the drive, so if you want to plug headphone in plug the hda in, I assume your motherboard has hi def audio.

And the switches, just adjust the fan speed, I'm not sure if you'd want them on low/medium. Suppose you could run something like hwmonitor and have the fan switch to low, see what the temps are, then change the fan switch to medium/high, see if there's any real difference.

Rage85 · 14 Jan 2011 at 22:03

SimonC said:
From the dvd, the hda and ac97 are for the jacks on the front of the drive, so if you want to plug headphone in plug the hda in, I assume your motherboard has hi def audio.

And the switches, just adjust the fan speed, I'm not sure if you'd want them on low/medium. Suppose you could run something like hwmonitor and have the fan switch to low, see what the temps are, then change the fan switch to medium/high, see if there's any real difference.

do they NEED to be plugged in though?

Rage85 · 14 Jan 2011 at 22:04

just plugged everything in, went for the power and.....nothing

We've done everything on the guide.

anything we can check?

SimonC · 14 Jan 2011 at 22:07

From the dvd player, no. I havn't got mine plugged into anything, I keep meaning to plug it in though, Not that I have any use for it mind.

SimonC · 14 Jan 2011 at 22:09

The basics, changed fuse, PSU is turned on, is there a 110/240v switch on the back and its set to 240v.
Double check the power button going to the motherboard.
Any lights on the motherboard?

Rage85 · 14 Jan 2011 at 22:15

What power button on the motherboard? doesn't seem to be one, and no lights on the motherboard.

R.C.Anderson · 14 Jan 2011 at 22:18

Rage1999 said:
What power button on the motherboard? doesn't seem to be one, and no lights on the motherboard.

He means the header for the power button that you plugged into the motherboard.

EDIT: The power button that you plugged in is the one on the front of the case.

Rage85 · 14 Jan 2011 at 22:23

Now we turn it on and a green light comes on the motherboard briefly and the fans spin round for a few seconds but it goes off again.

Rage85 · 14 Jan 2011 at 22:27

the green light which is above the ram

WingZero30 · 14 Jan 2011 at 22:35

MADEinSTOKE said:
when you've built a few without a hitch you will say its easy ,but the first time is a bit daunting' best advice is take your time and ask if you are unsure.

This is so true.

SimonC · 14 Jan 2011 at 22:39

You put thermal paste on the cpu? is the heatsink properly seated.

If you take the heatsink off at any point, you'll need to clean and reapply more thermal paste.

The memory/ram, you pushed that right down so the white clips are hooked over the little cut out bits at either ends of the sticks.

You have the antec 300, when you fitted the psu, the fan was facing upwards?

Maybe get some pics up.

Rage85 · 14 Jan 2011 at 22:53

We put the fan on the cpu with thermal paste on but we took it off again and put it back on without renewing the paste, would that make a difference? and yep with the ram/memory and psu facing upwards.

Rage85 · 14 Jan 2011 at 22:59

also going on this pic of the motherboard http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4014/4397938551_1073988f9c.jpg

We don't have anything plugged into the floppy port or firewire header, should there be?

shadow_boxer · 14 Jan 2011 at 23:05

Rage1999 said:
We put the fan on the cpu with thermal paste on but we took it off again and put it back on without renewing the paste, would that make a difference? and yep with the ram/memory and psu facing upwards.

You still be able to boot even if you did this. Did you spread the remaining paste over the CPU. You'll need to get some more thermal paste soon and replace it properly.

Try with just 2gb RAM. Also try switching the CPU fan wire from the system fan header to the CPU fan header.