MSI Computer Hardware Installation Guide

Question

COMPUTER HARDWARE SETUP GUIDE FOR NEW SYSTEM BUILDERS(or those having problems)
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Table of Contents
Posts 1-4: Complete Hardware Installation Overview
Post 5: Connecting a MSI KT3 Ultra to USB ports on the front of a computer case.  Plus, a link to AMD's Heatsink and Fan Installation Guide
*** Moderators: Please feel free to edit and add to this post as new or better information becomes avaialble.  I know some people get upset if their posts are edited.  I just wanted you folks to know I dont mind ***
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Complete Hardware Installation Overview
- written by: Mr Steveo
Before I begin: Many experienced users have their own methods and tricks of the trade. This Guide is not intended to say other methods are not as good. Some experienced users may have better methods or find some steps unnecessary. This guide is simply based on a method that has worked many times for me.
If at any point you get errors or encounter a problem. Stop what you¡¦re dong, call your vendor or come into the forum and ask for help.
This guide also assumes you have done some preliminary research. Please be sure you have verified your hardware is compatible with the operating system you intend to install. Also be sure that ONE of the following exists:
A. Your Power Supply is approved for your CPU by AMD.  Your vendor certifies your RAM will work with the motherboard. If uncertain, visit http://www.amd.com and contact your vendor
B. Your vendor certifies your Power Supply and RAM will work with your CPU and motherboard
C. An experienced forum user can tell you from personal experience that he has a stable system using the exact brand and model number of your power supply and RAM

Answer 1

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INSTALLING THE VIDEO CARD, FLOPPY AND POWERING UP
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31. Now its time to install your AGP or PCI video card. If you’re using an AGP card be sure the grey retention pin that sits at the end of the AGP slot is in the bent down position where it almost touches the motherboard. When moving this retention clip, be careful not to bump that capacitor right near the clip. Ya don’t want to damage it
32. Firmly insert the AGP card into the slot until it’s fully inserted and the retention clip has popped up. If using a PCI video card be sure to install it in the “top” PCI slot (PCI slot1) Be sure the card is standing straight up in the case and then screw the card firmly into the case
33. Stand the case up vertically and using a plastic twist tie or rubber bands be sure the remaining PSU power connectors are not going to fall into the case and dangle against the motherboard
34. Attach your monitor, mouse (PS/2 preferably), and keyboard. Then plug in the power to your monitor and the power cord to the computer.
35. Cross your fingers and press the power button to start it up
36. As soon as the computer powers up, immediately start pressing the delete key to enter the BIOS set up
37. Now that you’re in the BIOS set up, go to hardware monitor and watch the CPU temp. While sitting at the BIOS screen the temp should never exceed the mid 40 degrees worst case with an Athlon XP. Your temps probably will be lower.
38. Now as frustrating as this step is just let the computer sit there for 20 minutes and do nothing. Many users feel this step is unnecessary but it’s a personal preference of mine. The idea is to let the CPU get sufficiently warm and make a firm bond and seal with the thermal compound or grease. Plus since it's the first time these components have been exposed to an electrical current, 20 minutes of settling in isn’t a bad idea before shutting down or rebooting. Go grab a cup of coffee, look inside the case and be sure your CPU fan is spinning etc Whatever floats your boat.
39. If at any point in that 20 minutes your CPU temps exceed say 50 degrees for an Athlon XP or 60 degrees for a regular Athlon, shut down immediately and inspect your HSF and thermal compound installation. If unsure take the board in to your vendor for testing
40. If after 20 minutes everything is ok, you now have a few choices to make. Now is an excellent time to flash your BIOS before you get all your components installed. Also if you plan on using a CPU fan that does not attach to the motherboard this is the best time to flash to the latest BIOS. If you’re not familiar with how to flash your BIOS – don’t. Either wait until you get help from people in the forum, or take the board to your vendor and they should be happy to flash it for you. I can tell you firmly that the BIOS v3.2, while not perfect, is quite stable and adequate for most set ups
41. Now regardless of how you proceed now is a good time to make some settings in the BIOS. Go to the main page and load the letup defaults. Then go in and set your date and time. Also be sure that BIOS Flash protection is set to “Disabled” Also be sure “Clear NVRAM is set to Yes” Finally if you have an Athlon XP or any other processor that supports a 266 FSB, then you also want to go into Hardware monitor and set CPU/FSB to 133 BE SURE THIS IS SET PROPERLY PRIOR TO ANY BIOS FLASH
42. Now choose to Exit saving changes
43. The computer will reboot and stop at a prompt telling you to insert a floppy disk
44. You can now power down wait 60 seconds and pop in the BIOS flash disk. Or if you’re not flashing, proceed to the next step
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ATTATCHING DRIVES
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Assuming everything has gone smoothly so far, you¡¦re ready to attach your hardware
If you¡¦re planning on setting up RAID this will be covered in a later setup guide in a few days. If you need to set it up now, look for me or any experienced user in the forum and ask for help in setting up your jumpers drives, cables and the RAID BIOS If you're not setting up RAID, proceed with this guide
45. Using either a regular IDE cable or one of the ATA/100 IDE cables that came with your motherboard, locate the end of the cable with the black connector. Plug this into your DVD or CDROM drive. On the back of your CDROM or DVD drive be sure the jumper is in the Master position.
46. If you also have a CDRW drive or another CDROM drive attach this to the middle grey connector on the IDE cable. Be sure this drive has its jumper set as Slave. NOTE: if in your configuration you are planning on having a ZIP Drive. You will want to attach the zip drive to this connector, not the CDRW drive. Because ZIP drives are slowly being phased out and because ZIP drives are known to have problems with some operating systems and with some VIA chipsets, I try to avoid using these types of drives. CDRW drives work just fine. However if you must have a ZIP drive place it on this grey connector and jumper the ZIP drive as slave
47. ONLY AFTER the ribbons are attached to the drives should you attach the cable to the motherboard. Take the remaining blue connector on the IDE cable and attach it to the White (Secondary IDE) connector on the motherboard. Be sure to use the method you used with your fingers and thumbs when installing the floppy cable to the motherboard to avoid bending the board
48. Find the other ATA/100 cable that came with your motherboard and locate the black connector on that cable. Attach the black connector to your main hard drive. Set the jumper on the hard drive as Master if you¡¦re going to install a second slave hard drive. Jumper it as Master or Cable Select if it¡¦s a stand alone drive. The only exception is if you have a Western Digital Hard Drive. If you have a WD and its going to be a stand alone drive, the proper jumper setting is Single Refer to the drives owners manual for how to jumper the drive as Single for a Western Digital
49. If you have a slave hard drive, jumper it as slave and attach the middle grey IDE connector. If because of a Zip drive you also have a CDRW drive still to install you can put it as the slave drive on this cable. But be warned that having the hard drive share the cable with an optical or ZIP drive will drastically reduce your hard drives performance (another reason to avoid ZIP drives in a standard configuration)
50. Attach the remaining blue connector to the motherboards blue, non RAID IDE connector (Primary IDE) Remember to use your fingers and thumbs to avoid bending the board
51. ONLY AFTER all the IDE cables are attached should you attach the power cables from the power supply. Now that all the drives are attached go ahead and pop in those power cables.
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INSTALLING THE PCI CARDS
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52. For your very first full boot up and first attempt installing the operating system, it¡¦s recommended to start with the least PCI cards necessary to avoid any errors. There is an exception to this. Because of how the Windows 2000 and Windows XP operating systems heavily depend on networking components, you might want to install any Ethernet (NIC) card you have now.
53. Network cards work best and will install fine in either PCI Slot 2, Slot3 or Slot 4 on this particular motherboard. For many reasons here¡¦s what I suggest for now. If you have a Sound Blaster series sound card then install the NIC in Slot 2 or Slot 4. If you have no sound card or a non Sound Blaster card, install your NIC in Slot 3
54. For now do not install any other PCI cards.
55. Now its time to close up the case, power up and install your operating system
NOTE: Assuming you have no problems installing your operating system you can then add in the remaining PCI cards one at a time. Please refer to my Guide on PCI SLOTs which is after my GUIDE on BIOS settings
Also note that many people have been asking for help on the proper way to install their operating systems, critical updates, VIA drivers, and video and sound card drivers. For now if you need help ask in the forum. I will try to have a guide for Win 9X/ME and another for Windows 2000 and a third for Windows XP available in the forum soon.
CONRATULATIONS!!!!!