PC Building

[chuckcouples]

Who's got experience building their own PCs?

I have bought all the parts to build myself a new computer. I have then put them all into the box and attached all the necessary cords. I attached the new computer to a monitor and a keyboard and when I powered it up, I saw the BIOS screen. My question is, what do I have to do next?

It was lots of fun putting all the parts together and it gave me a much better understanding of the actual parts of a computer. It was not hard at all even for my first time.

[Bubba55]

Have you loaded an Operating System (OS) onto the machine?

If not, your next step is to do that. Without an OS the machine booting into the BIOS is a good thing. Sounds like you put things together properly, time to load the OS.

[Bubba55]

Just to add to my last, when you are in the BIOS it should show you all of the devices connected to the PC. Most Mother Boards today have graphics, network interface etc integrated onto the mother board so what you are primarily looking for are the peripheral devices, Hard Drive, an Optical Drive if you have one and USB ports. However, this is not really necessary as any hardware problem will become obvious when you load the OS. If you do have those kinds of problems then you can dive into the BIOS a little deeper to figure out what is going on, but before you do that, simply double check all the wiring connections, that often solves the problem, a cable may not be seated properly.

[Rylant]

I have built many. It’s always the most exciting and nerve wracking part of the build; the turning it on and seeing what happens. You hold your breath as you wait to see if everything works. I always sloppily put the pc together with little care for cable management and turn it on. First, see if it posts. If it does, install the operating system and do a quick system check to ensure all of your parts are being read. Update all your drivers and install your software. Optimize everything and clean up your cables and tidy up the system.

It sounds like you are posting and able to get to your bios. Set your device boot order and install the operating system?

If you run into issues during post, it complicates things. You re-seat all of your hardware. Re-seat the RAM and video card and M.2 SSD if you have one in the system. I wouldn’t re-seat the processor yet, as it tends to be a bigger job. Disconnect and reconnect all cables. See if it posts. If it doesn’t you have to start eliminating possibilities to narrow down what’s wrong. Remove the video card and RAM sticks to see if it posts. Is there power? If not you may be looking at a power supply or MOBO issue.

Bubba55 did give some great info too.

To be honest though, I am not sure exactly what issue you are having. Is something not working?

Rylant

[chuckcouples]

Everything seems to be working correctly so far. I am building a brand new replacement for my 8 year old computer so I am still using that. I was just seeing if I was missing anything.

I love your advice of just turn it on, make sure everything is working perfectly then clean up the cables and make it look pretty. I will definitely do that.

[Bubba55]

Back in the pioneer days you typically didn't bother making things pretty, at least I didn't, in fact, I seldom put the case back together, two reasons, in a month or so you would be pulling things apart again and upgrading to the latest greatest of whatever and heat was always an issue, the open box ran cooler. I was once told an 850 Meg HD was all you could possibly need. I bought that sucker right away. 4 Megs of RAM was totally totally awesome, that cost almost 300 beans, had to have that too! Man how things have changed!

Get the OS loaded and your off to the races. Good Luck!

[chuckcouples]

I remember buying a desktop computer in my first year of university. I got a big upgrade and put in a 10 megabyte hard drive (which my roommate and I then proceeded to fill up almost completely with songs from Napster).