Advertisment

Build a PC...

author-image
PCQ Bureau
New Update

Advertisment

13

Time to connect power to the motherboard itself. You could have either an ATX power connector or an AT connector at your cabinet (power supply–SMPS). Some motherboards and some SMPSs give you connectors for both. Be sure that you’ve got matching connectors on your motherboard and your cabinet
Advertisment
14 If you’re using AT power connectors, they connect like this. You’ll be connecting two power connectors to the motherboard. Ensure that the black leads come at the center
15 If you’re using an ATX connector, plug it in such that the lock on the side is aligned, and locks properly 
Advertisment

Don’t force any connector or card in. If you’ve to use lot of force, then you’ve probably got it wrong. Forcing them in can damage the connectors and pins. So re-check whether you’ve got it right.
Advertisment
16 Time to move on to add-on cards. If you’re using a motherboard such as the Intel 810-based ones, then you don’t need a separate video or a sound card. Otherwise, for video you need to put in an AGP card. The AGP card goes into the brown-colored slot on the motherboard 
17 Most other cards are PCI cards. You won’t find any new card that’s based on the older ISA slot. So most recent motherboards don’t have any ISA slots. A PCI card goes into the PCI slot (white-colored) like this
Advertisment

Once everything is connected, it’s time to close the cabinet, connect the monitor, power up the machine, and start installing the operating system. If the machine doesn’t start up, but beeps instead, check your motherboard manual for what the beeps mean. Then rectify the error and start again.   
Advertisment