Build Four

STEP 12 : Install Floppy Drive

1) Choose which drive bay you want to install the drive and remove the face plate off of that bay. Save the face plate for future use. Pick a bay that will fit the drive. If you have to install a 3.5" drive in a 5.25" bay, you'll have to use a special front panel to adapt it. This panel usually comes with a new floppy drive.

2) Fit the drive into the bay without connecting anything. Just make sure it fits. Choose the best possible fit.

3) Connect the ribbon cable and the power supply to the drive. Study the available connectors. You should have a ribbon cable with a twist on one end. The end without the twist is attached to the floppy controller on the motherboard. Then, attach the connector after the twist to floppy drive A:. If you have only one floppy drive, then it is Drive A:. You may have two available connectors after the twist. Use the one that fits your drive. One is for 5.25" drives, the other is for 3.5" drives.

4) If you are using brackets to hold the drive in place, secure them now. You may need to temporarily disconnect the cables. Once in, tighten the drive in place. Double-check the connections, also checking the connections for other drives to make sure you didn't bump one out of place.

5) Now put everything back together. Plug the system in.

STEP 13 : Configure Hard Drive & CD-ROM

It is much easier to configure these drives before you actually install them in the case. If you install them first, having enough room to actually set the jumpers can be a problem.

Before doing this, you must decide what type of drives and how many you want in your system. The basic system has one hard drive and one CD-ROM. You may want more than this. In this case, configure the drives to suit your preferences.

Configuring these drives is very easy. Often the jumper settings are printed on the top of the drive itself. If not, then consult the manual for it.

In the basic system with one hard drive, make sure the jumper on the back is set to "master". This is usually labeled on the drive itself. Many drives have a setting for "single". This setting tells the drive it is alone on that particular IDE channel, and it works the same as a master. In a one HDD system, use this setting if available. CD-ROM's are very simple to configure. Their jumpers are located in different places on each drive, and are labeled differently, but they are easily found in most cases. Most systems only have one CD-ROM. So, configure this CD-ROM as a master. It is best to have this CD-ROM alone on the second IDE channel of your motherboard.

Jumpers can be set with a pair of needle-nosed pliers or tweezers. Many are capable of grabbing the jumper with their fingers or nails. This is fine, too.

If a particular drive does not need to be jumpered at all, it is best to hang the jumper over one pin. This is the same as being unjumpered, but make sure the jumper is there for future use if needed.

STEP 14 : Mount Hard Drive

Before simply following the directions below on mounting the hard drive, pay attention to where you put it. Technically, you can put the hard drive in any free bay of your case, but there are a few considerations. Hard drives generate heat, especially the newer 7200 and 10000 RPM drives. Therefore, it is best to place this drive as far from other hardware as possible. Give them room to breathe. If it is necessary to install a drive cooler, make sure you have room. Also, some cases give room under the power supply to install a hard drive. Bad idea. A power supply is like a magnet, and magnets and your data do not go together. Don't install a hard drive anywhere near the power supply. Keep your hard drive near the front of the case.

That said, move on:

1. Slide the hard drive into an available drive rail of the case. Typically, there should be part of the drive-mounting rail of the case, which is below, and face plates of the case front. Install the drive there, since you will not take up any room for drives that actually need to be seen from the front. If it is smaller than the drive bay (if you are installing a 3.5" drive into a 5.25" drive bay), you may need to add rails or a mounting bracket to make it fit. Screw the drive into place, making sure not to force anything.

2. Attach the cables to the hard drive. Just like a floppy drive, connect the ribbon cable and the power cable. The ribbon cable goes from the primary controller of the motherboard to the drive. Make sure the red edge of the ribbon cable is in line with Pin 1 on the drive. If you place the cable on backwards, you may get strange errors that make your new drive sound like it has died already. If you are adding a second drive, simply choose a connector on the same ribbon cable that is not used. Most ribbon cables come with two connectors: one on the end and one mid-way. In this case, it doesn't matter which plug goes in what drive. The computer looks at the master/slave jumpers to see which one is C. Make the second hard drive the slave. The manual should show you how to do this on your particular drive, although many drives have the jumper settings conveniently labeled on the drive itself.

SCSI Drives

If you are opting for a SCSI drive setup, then there are a few variations. First, you need to install a SCSI controller into one of your expansion slots. Then proceed:

1. You need to set any switches or jumpers that need setting on the new drive. In SCSI setups, each device gets its own SCSI ID, numbered 1-7. #7 are usually given to the adapter card. You may pick, then, any other unused address. You may need to take into account any little quirks in your adapter, such as special likings to other addresses that could cause problems a little later. You'll need the manual for this one.

2. Check for the correct termination. In SCSI setups, the adapter can hold up to seven SCSI devices. These devices are hooked up in a chain, usually with the adapter at one end and another device at the other end. This ending device must be set to be the terminating device, therefore ending the SCSI chain. Usually, SCSI devices come with a terminator plug. In some cases, the adapter is in the middle of the chain, therefore you must terminate at both ends of the chain. You may need to consult the manual for any special termination techniques particular to your brand of drive.

3. Slide the drive in and connect the cables. Make sure that pin #1 on the ribbon matches up with pin #1 on the drive.

When performing this physical installation, you'll find that it differs from case to case. With some cases, the drive rack is simply part of the case. With this setup, you simply push the drive into the case and screw it in. In other cases, the drive rack may be removable. Some have many separate racks, and some have one removable rack that can hold many drives. With this setup, remove the drive rack. This is usually done by squeezing two metal tabs to together to release it. Then slide the rack out. Screw the drive into the rack. Then, slide the rack back into place where it was.

When you are done, you should have a hard drive properly screwed into the case.

STEP 15 : Install the CD-ROM

Now, you need to install the CD-ROM drive into one of your drive bays.

If you have not yet removed the drive bay cover, do so now. This is usually done by pushing two tabs together and pushing the plate out from the front of the case. Once the cover is removed, you can slide the drive in from the front.

You can now screw the drive into place. You might want to just place the screws in but not tighten them. This is done so that you can slide the drive out again later. When installing the cables later, you may need to slide the drive out a few inches so that you have enough room to work behind the drive. In many cases, especially mini-towers, one can have a hard time working behind the CD-ROM because it is pinned up against the front of the power supply.

Just like in the previous step, the physical installation depends on the case. Some cases come with a bunch of drive rails. What you do is screw a drive rail in the correct direction to each side of the CD-ROM drive. Then, you slide the CD-ROM into the case from the front and the drive rails follow a guide until they click into place. This design, one you get used to it, it really much easier, and leads to very quick installations in the future.

When tightened into place, make sure the front of the drive is flush with the front of the case. Also make sure it appears straight. While this doesn't really affect functionality, it’s a matter of aesthetics.

STEP 16 : Connect the Floppy Drive

Assuming you have already installed the floppy drive into the case, it is now time to actually connect it to the motherboard and power supply.

1) Connect the power supply to the floppy drive. On the 3.5" drives, the plug is very small...the smallest coming out of the power supply. On the larger 5.25" drives, the connector is a large 4-wire connector, just like the hard drive power connectors. These are a little harder to plug in, and may take some rocking. The mini-plugs are much easier to plug in to the 3.5" drives.

2) Attach the Ribbon Cable.

Floppy cables have a twist in the cable. A: drive goes after the twist. If you have a second B: drive, this goes before the twist. You do not need to mess with master/slave jumpers. If you choose not to mess with the twist, you can, with later BIOS versions, swap the order of the drives in the BIOS. 3.5" drives use a set of pins for the connection to the ribbon cable. 5.25" drives use a card-edge connector, just like the typical edge of an expansion card. You need to use a cable with the proper connectors for each type you use. Many floppy cables come with connectors for each type on each side of the twist. Always check Pin 1 on the ribbon cable connector. The red edge of the cable is connected to Pin 1. If you accidentally reverse this, your drive won't be damaged, it just won't work, and the floppy drive light will stay on all the time until fixed. The connector on the far end of the ribbon cable connects to the floppy controller on the motherboard or I/O card. Consult your motherboard's manual to determine which is your floppy controller.

STEP 17 : Connect the Hard Drive

Assuming your hard drive has already been physically installed in the system cases, you must now connect it up to the power supply and motherboard.

1) Connect it to the power supply. This works just like any other drive. Find a spare 4-wire connector from your power supply and plug it in to the back of the drive. The plug is keyed, so it will only go in the correct way.

2) Attach the Ribbon cable. Attach one end of the cable to the drive and the other end to the IDE controller #1, or primary IDE, on your motherboard. Usually, Pin 1 is labeled on the back of the hard drive, so line up the red edge of the cable with pin 1. Pin 1 on the motherboard controller is probably not labeled, so you'll have to check your manual.

3) If you are installing a second hard drive in this system, you must connect the cable to this. Find a third connector on the same ribbon cable and attach this to the second drive. If you must switch which connector goes to which drive, this is fine, since the master/slave jumpers determine relationship. If you only have two connectors on your cable, you will need to replace this cable with one boasting three connectors.

STEP 18 : Connect the CD-ROM

Assuming your CD-ROM is already installed in the case, you can now connect it to the motherboard and power supply.

1) Attach the power supply to the drive. Just like a hard drive, just find a free 4-wire power plug and plug it into the power connector on the CD-ROM.

2) Attach the ribbon cable. Connect one end to the CD-ROM, paying attention to Pin 1, and the other end to IDE controller #2, or secondary IDE, on the motherboard. It is best to have the CD-ROM on its own IDE channel from the hard drive instead of as a slave to the hard drive.

3) Attach the Audio Cable. This small 3-wire connector goes from a plug on the back of the CD-ROM to a 3-pin plug on the sound card. You can connect it to the sound card now, or wait until after you actually install a sound card in the system. In any case, you might as well connect it up to the CD-ROM now.