ASSEMBLING A COMPUTER.
The computer is made up of various components which when connected they work
together to process information and data.
The components are connected to each other through circuits on the motherboard.
System unit casing
Hard disk drive SATA cable
Expansion slots
Power cables
Cooling fun
Power supply (Box)
Fig 1. An open system unit
Basic computer setup follows the steps below
1. Select a suitable system unit for the computer. The system unit
casing must much the kind of motherboard that the computer uses
2. mount the motherboard, disk drives in the casing. Disk drives may include the
hard disk, CD-ROM drive and floppy drives. It is important to earth the hands
before touching the motherboard and to wear a wrist member to avoid
electrostatic electricity spoiling the motherboard chips.
3. Connect the disk drives to the motherboard using the data cables.
4. Slot memory (RAM) chip in expansion slots.
5. Close the system unit casing
6. Connect the mouse, keyboard, monitor and printer to their
respective port behind the system unit.
Power interface
PS/2 ports
Video port
USB port
Sound port
Fig 2. Ports on the backside of system unit
After all the components are properly connected, connect the computer to the UPS.
Switch it on and watch carefully as it boots. In case any of the components has a
problem, a message will be displayed on the screen.
Trancing hardware problems
Most hardware problems are caused by the following.
1. Loose cable connections or improper fitting in the motherboard slots.
This can be fixed by fixing loose point.
2. Spoilt and damaged hardware devices like disconnected circuits, cable break or
burned chips on the motherboard.
This can be fixed by replacement of the components.
3. Lack of appropriate hardware drivers or corrupted software drivers for a specific
hardware. Drivers are special firmware that enables hardware components to
function properly.
This can be fixed by installing proper device drivers.
Note. The following symbols in the device manager indicates that the installed
devices are not working properly or that device drivers are missing., ! and ?
next to the name of device.