Computer Assembly - How To Assemble A PC
Second Boot
We now have the minimum set of core components installed to have a real, live, working computer so it will be very exciting if everything checks out ok.
This page describes the second boot using a single hard drive where the hard drive is a standard IDE PATA hard drive. If instead you are using a SATA hard drive then use the corresponding page SATA Second Boot since the steps are a little different.
Connect the monitor, mouse, keyboard, and power cord to the back of the computer (if you haven't done so already from following the previous Connect The Speaker page). As with the first boot, turn the monitor on and give it 10 seconds to warm up. And still leave the computer case off.
What we'll do is enter the BIOS and verify the drives have been detected. The EPoX 8RDA+ BIOS is entered by pressing the DEL key while the BIOS header screen is displayed. To make sure that my pressing of the key does not go undetected by the computer, I typically tap the DEL key at the rate of about twice a second while the BIOS header screen is displayed until the "CMOS Utility Menu" with its striking blue background is displayed. Recall that the BIOS header screen is displayed immediately after the computer emits the single beep, so you can start tapping the "Delete" key as soon as you hear the beep. Note that different motherboards may use different keys to enter the BIOS.
Flip the power switch in back of the computer to the on position (set to 1 - one). This is it! Press the power button on the front of the computer case.
The computer should boot just as it did for the first boot. Enter the CMOS Utility Menu by pressing, or in my case tapping, the DEL key after the single beep is emitted and the BIOS header screen appears. The "Standard CMOS Features" menu option is already highlighted on entering the CMOS Utility Menu. Press the "Enter" key.
The "Standard CMOS Features" menu is displayed. Notice that "IDE Primary Master" shows the value for the Western Digital 120GB hard drive, "IDE Secondary Master" shows the value for the Sony DVD RW and "IDE Secondary Slave" shows the value for the Lite-On 40x CD-RW. Very good. The values for the date and time can be set. Use the arrow keys to navigate to the different values for the date and time. Use the numeric keypad plus "+" and minus "-" keys to change the values.
Now the date and time are correct. Check that the setting for "Drive A" shows a value for the floppy drive. If it shows a value of "None" when you actually do have a floppy drive installed then don't worry, this will be covered in the next section on this page.
Now use the arrow keys to cursor up and highlight the value for "IDE Primary Master". Press the "Enter" key.
The "IDE Primary Master" menu should show the characteristics of the hard drive. If they don't look right then press the "Enter" key to invoke the "IDE HDD Auto-Detection". Or press the "Enter" key even if they do look right just to be sure.
Pressing the "Escape" key once gets back to the "Standard CMOS Features" menu. Press the "Escape" key again to return to the main menu, the "CMOS Utility Menu".
Recognize The Floppy Drive
If the "Standard CMOS Features" menu included a value for "Drive A", indicating that the floppy drive was recognized then you're ok and you can skip this section. But if it showed a value of "None" indicating that the floppy drive was not recognized then here's what you do. The pictures in this section are taken from a time when this happened to me with a slightly different set of drives installed.
Use the arrow keys to cursor down and highlight the value for "Drive A".
Hit the Enter key and you are presented with a selection menu for the type of floppy drive.
Use the Down Arrow key to select the value "1.44M, 3.5 in.".
Hit the "Enter" key and - Voila! - it's recognized.
Common Problems
As I mentioned under first boot common problems, if something goes wrong with any installation of hardware then first you should double-check your install and verify that you did what you meant to do. In this case that means checking that you set the jumpers the right way, plugged the ribbon cables in the right way around, and even actually remembered to connect the power cables and ribbon cables in the first place. Verify that the First Boot setup, meaning without any of the drive devices connected, still works.
If the computer is getting power, meaning that the fans are spinning, but it's not getting to the BIOS header screen then the most likely cause is the ribbon cables. Either they are not connected the right way around or they are improper. Try a Second Boot again, but having only one drive device connected at a time. In each case you should reach the BIOS header screen. If you don't with a device connected then you know it's the one introducing the problem. The most likely cause is the ribbon cable is bad, although it's possible that the device or even the motherboard is faulty. Verify the ribbon cable is the right type for the device. IDE ribbon cables should be 18 inches in length, not 19 inches or 24 inches or any other inches. And they should be of high quality. If it's the ribbon cable that came in the retail box of a quality motherboard then it should be ok. Or if it's a Belkin ribbon cable then it should be ok. If it's from Radio Shack then you might want to try a different ribbon cable.
If the First Boot setup works, but now with the Second Boot configuration the LED for a drive becomes lit and stays lit then this is for sure a bad or improperly installed ribbon cable. This happens particularly frequently with the floppy drive since the ends are not color-coded and it's easy to plug the connector for the floppy drive into the motherboard and vice versa.
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© 2001-2008, Rob Williams, all rights reserved.
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