Looking for build advice :)

Okay everyone, I think I'm good so far. I hooked up the monitor and keyboard, and pressed the power button.. Lights worked, heatsink fan whirred, video card fan whirred, got a beeping noise then a message on the screen saying something about Restarting because there were no boot drive, which I obviously haven't installed yet.

Is this sign of a successful POST? May I continue now? :)
 
Thanks :)

Any easy way or tips on mounting the mobo? My father is trying to help me... It's really hard. The I/O shield keeps freaking popping off... Can't figure out which holes to use for the standoffs, ugh. This part is really annoying.
 
You can use your fingers to measure the distance between holes in the motherboard, to figure out which standoffs you'll need.

Hold onto the board by its edges. You have a big case, so this should be easy. Just align it with the I/O plate, and scoot it into the I/O plate.
 
enginurd said:
You can use your fingers to measure the distance between holes in the motherboard, to figure out which standoffs you'll need.

Hold onto the board by its edges. You have a big case, so this should be easy. Just align it with the I/O plate, and scoot it into the I/O plate.
Click to expand...

The I/O plate is what we're having trouble with. Those little clip thingys in each hole, you know it has one on each side?, it won't allow us to put the motherboard against it or let us align it properly.. I'm so confused at this point :( And the inside of the case is scratched and I'm scared something is going to break or something.
 
Set the board down slightly misaligned from the standoffs, but aligned with the I/O plate. Make sure none of the tabs from the I/O plate get into any of the ports, and just slide it in.
 
Also, does the 8800GTS video card require two PCI port things? I mean the little metal things on the back of the case that you slide off to when you put something in one of those slots. It looks like one slot takes the ports that connect to the monitor, and the other is like a ventilation thing, does it need a slot off also?
 
Syribo said:
Also, does the 8800GTS video card require two PCI port things? I mean the little metal things on the back of the case that you slide off to when you put something in one of those slots. It looks like one slot takes the ports that connect to the monitor, and the other is like a ventilation thing, does it need a slot off also?
Click to expand...

Yeah, each card needs 2 slots open on the back of the case.

The I/O plates suck. What you should do is bend back all the little 'spring' tabs all the way back so they're flat and won't push back against the board when you put it in place.

I hate I/O plate design. Motherboard manufacturers are retarded, and they are proof.
 
Yes, its a two slot card, so you'll need to remove 2 pci slot covers.

EDIT: /me so slow
 
SO close now! Everything seems to be put together.... It's now 9PM and I started at around Noon, WOW.

Now I get to play around in the BIOS :( Not looking forward to that, heh, but at least the building itself should be done!
 
I definitely will :) Even though the cables are absolutely horrid looking right now ;) I don't have enough patience left to unplug stuff and try to organize them all! Heh.

I think this is a good sign still! I finished putting everything together.. Pressed the power switch (Woohoo, I got all the pins right it seems!).. All the LEDs work, the fans all work, all hardware works.. The monitor then reads "Reboot and select proper boot device". Uhm... What next? Should I have something in the CD-ROM drive already??
 
Heh, yah, put your windows disc in the optical drive. :p

Partition and format your HDD(s).
 
Ah.... Can someone give me really dumbed down instructions for this? :( I can't get the computer to recognize my hard drives. I heard I was supposed to enable Raid? But even when I do that in the BIOS, the computer will reboot and I see the text before it disappears saying:
No devices found... RAID disabled

I go into the BIOS, then I go to Integrated Peripherals, like the manual says, I chose RAID in the RAID Mode option... reboot, and everything is the same.

I've tried to find instructions online on booting the computer for the first time and getting it to work.. But honestly? They're all about 10 years old and don't help me at all. Ahh what do I do?
 
enginurd said:
The BIOS won't detect the drives?
Click to expand...

Nope it wouldn't detect it. But silent-circuit told me that I should try just one drive at a time.. First drive I tried, still no detection.

Second drive? Got to the Vista installation.. and voila! It detected the partition! So I lucked out and got a DOA hard drive :( My first build too! I have such horrible luck.. But at least I know what's wrong, and it wasn't my fault after all! I knew I was following the directions :D

I am kinda sad though that my first build had to have a dead drive... But, again.. At least it works!
 
Congrats on your first build! I'm hoping you've got everything humming along nicely now. You'll need to post pics soon. :cool:

Don't worry about the DOA hard drive, it happens. Much better to have a dead hard drive, which isn't really that hard to figure out, that a screwy mobo or flaky piece of ram.

-Jade
 
Thanks for all the kind words and help everyone :) I couldn't have done this without you all! (I would probably still be figuring out how to put the thermal paste on :p )

I couldn't continue anymore last night.. I was sooo exhausted after the actual build, it was the most tedious thing I've ever done! But I'm going to start installing Vista and adjusting the BIOS in a bit. I should be okay now, most likely, yes? Everything seems to work.. No error messages.. The one drive works.. It's reading CD's.. Everything is spinning and lighting up.

I just want to know if you think I'm at the point where I shouldn't have to get in there and do anything more with the hardware itself. I only want to know because if so, then I need to haul that giant thing upstairs and set it up here. (Like I've said before, I'm disabled and really need to be in bed all day.. And after spending 12 hours at the dining room table last night, I'm in a lot of pain. And it would make things easier if I could get the computer up here to do the whole Vista thing, so I can have my foot elevated :) ).

Going to take some pictures tonight so you can all see just how horrible my cables are right now ;) I am NOT going to take them all apart and try to organize them yet haha. No no no. So that will have to wait until I have the energy and patience ;)
 
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