Computer Assembly - How To Assemble A PC
Install The CD-ROM, CD-RW, DVD RW Drives
The next boot test will be done after the drives are installed, namely the floppy drive, hard drive and optical drives, such as CD-ROM, CD-RW and DVD RW drives. The steps shown on this page include the installation of the CD-RW. If you're using a CD-ROM instead then the install steps are exactly the same.
CD and DVD type drives are optical drives. If you are installing more than one optical drive, i.e., two optical drives, then they should be installed on the same IDE ribbon cable, one as the master and the other as the slave. The writable optical drive, such as a CD-RW drive or a DVD RW drive, should be installed as the master since a writable optical drive needs a continuous flow of data to reliably burn CD's or DVD's. The read-only optical drive should be installed as the slave. If you are installing two writable optical drives, like me, then the more critical, higher capacity drive should be installed as the master, so that would be the DVD RW.
An IDE ribbon cable is either an 80-wire IDE ribbon cable or a 40-wire IDE ribbon cable. The hard drive should be connected on an 80-wire IDE ribbon cable for best performance. Optical drives and Zip drives use 40-wire IDE ribbon cables. The connectors for the 40-wire IDE ribbon cable and 80-wire IDE ribbon cable are identical on both the motherboard and the back of the drive. It's fine to use an 80-wire IDE ribbon cable with an optical drive or Zip drive, but it won't improve performance.
Unplug everything from the rear of the computer, including the power cord, monitor cable, keyboard cable, and mouse cable.
Remove the left panel of the computer case. Doing so means both side panels are removed. Both side panels need to be removed in order to access the mounting screws. The left panel of the computer case is secured in place by two screws in the back. Once those are removed it's an easy matter to slide off the panel.
Carefully use a small, flat-head screwdriver to pry out the 5-inch bay face plates. Regardless of which 5-inch bay(s) are used, it's easier to install the CD-RW drive if all three face plates are removed. Notice that the second and third 5-inch bays have a metal bracket behind the face plate. These are easily hand removed by twisting them loose.
Like so.
A rear view of the Sony DVD RW looks like this. Three items are circled. The first in blue is the jumpers. The second in red is the IDE socket. The third in green is the power receptacle.
The jumper setting defaults to the "Master" setting out of the box. As a DVD RW device, it's unlikely that it would ever be best for the drive to be configured as the "Slave". The positioning of the jumper for different configurations is etched on the back of the drive above the jumper as you can see in the enlarged picture. For example, the letters running vertically over the rightmost jumper are "M" and "A" to indicate setting the jumper at that point configures the driver as the "Master". Since the jumper is black, making it difficult to pick out, I've circled the jumper pins in blue and underscored the jumper itself in blue.
A rear view of the Lite-On 40x/12x/48x CD-RW looks like this. Three items are circled. The first in blue is the jumpers. The second in red is the IDE socket. The third in green is the power receptacle.
The jumper setting defaults to the "Slave" setting out of the box. This is the setting I will be using since the CD-RW is being installed on the same IDE as the DVD RW. If the CD drive is the only optical drive and it's going to be installed on its own IDE, namely IDE 2, as it should then the jumper needs to be changed to the "Master" setting. Although the jumper is small, it's easy enough to move it as needed with just your fingers. The CD-RW manual will show the proper jumper setting for "Master", but it's also etched into the back of the Lite-On 40x/12x/48x CD-RW as you can see in the enlarged picture. Since the jumper itself is a light blue color instead of black, it's easy to make out in the picture.
| Slave setting |
Master setting |
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Here is the 40-pin IDE ribbon cable that came with the Sony DVD RW drive. The two connectors that are close together are the master and slave connectors for the optical drives. The master connector is on the end of the cable and I've circled it in red. The connector close to it is the slave connector and I've circled it in orange. The connector by itself at the other end of the cable, circled in blue, is for the motherboard. Connect the master IDE connector to the DVD RW drive and the slave IDE connector to the CD drive. The IDE connectors are keyed so they cannot be plugged in upside down. If you only have one optical drive then use the master connector.
A standard 40-pin IDE ribbon cable is 18-inches long. Although longer 40-pin IDE ribbon cables exist, it's best not to use them unless absolutely necessary. The 40-pin IDE ribbon cable has to reach from the back of the optical drives to where it connects on the motherboard. In order for the ribbon cable to reach, I found that the CD RW drive should be installed in the lowest 5-inch bay so that the IDE ribbon cable could cover the distance from the slave connector on the IDE ribbon cable to where the other end of the IDE ribbon cable connects on the motherboard. The DVD RW could be installed in either of the two 5-inch bays above the CD RW drive.
Slide the two optical drives into their corresponding 5-inch bays, leading the ribbon cable in first and running it through the bay and down toward the motherboard. Since the two drives have the IDE ribbon cable attached, both drives are being handled together. The drives will rest in the bays on mounting plates that protrude a short distance from the sides. Align the front of the drives with the front of the computer case to make a nice, smooth appearance. Locate the holes in the drives for the mounting screws on either side. Use the mounting screws that came with each drive to secure it into place. As with really anything that requires multiple screws, get all 4 screws started, but not tight. Once all four screws are started, tighten each of them in turn.
It's not important that the drives be in exactly the desired alignment with the front of the computer case except for appearance, but it is important that it be properly secured since the next step is to plug in power connectors to the back of the drives. The drives needs to be secure since some pressure is required to ensure the power connectors are fully in place.
Plug the other end of the 40-pin IDE connector into the IDE 2 socket on the motherboard. The connector is keyed so it can only be plugged in one way.
Select a 4-pin power connector for each drive from the bundle of power connectors coming out of the power supply like the one shown and connect it to the rear of each drive in the power receptacle. The connector is keyed so it can only plug in one way.
| One for each drive |
CD-RW drive |
DVD RW drive |
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Snap the face plate for the unused bay back into place. You may need to loosen the mounting screws a little to nudge an optical drive just a touch in order to give the face plate room to be reinstalled. You may want to loosen the mounting screws a little to nudge an optical drive into eye-pleasing alignment with the face plates. Of course, if you do loosen the screws to make these tiny adjustments then tighten the screws again when you're done. The computer looks like this.
You might be wondering about the MPC audio cable, shown circled in blue below, which is provided to connect the CD-RW drive to the sound card or the motherboard. This cable is not needed because the optical drives and the EPoX 8RDA+ (like most motherboards) support digital audio, so the audio is delivered over the motherboard bus rather than over the MPC audio cable. In fact, many optical drives no longer even include an MPC audio cable in the retail box. But just to be sure, once the computer is fully assembled we'll verify that the CD and DVD drives use digital audio.
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