novice builder question

[caldera]

OK, so I built a new system that is all together (crossing fingers) but have a doubt about power to the disk drive.  The power supply has two bundles that each have 4 identical connectors.  To save some clutter, I used one bundle to hook up both the disk drive and optical drive.  Is that ok?  Also, the HDD has a sata power, data and another connector which is comprised of two rows of 4 metal pins and looks sort of old-timey.  Is that some sort of hookup for retro machines?

With regard to initial startup, I am totally lost.  Any recommendations?  I have a copy of Windows7 from a previous build, but didn't do the initial startup, which makes me a bit nervous about blowing the whole thing to smithereens. 

[FLS]

Sounds good so far. Ignore the extra connections as long as you have the HDD power and data hooked up. I would boot into BIOS and make sure the optical drive is part of the boot drive sequence. You need your Win7 product key. Now just turn it on and see what happens.

[caldera]

Never turned on a brand new system before is what I'm getting at.  What usually happens?  Never messed with bios, so basically am clueless here. 

[FLS]

Generally it starts and says it can't find an operating system or HD or it boots from the CD. You should be OK with default BIOS settings to start but you'll want to read the manual to see if you need to adjust anything. Put the Win7 CD in the optical drive and see if it loads on startup. Let us know what happens.

[mbailey]

Let us know what happens.

Yes please do.....your concerns and hesitation and exactly what you are describing is what is stopping me from building my own computer......I can put the componants together with no issue (in theory).....but as soon as i have to do anything Bios related im worried that i will get stumped as i have little to no computer experiance..... Im really curious as to how you make out to see if this old dog can learn any new tricks....

Most importantly.......fingers crossed for you sir 

[MADe]

OK, so I built a new system that is all together (crossing fingers) but have a doubt about power to the disk drive.  The power supply has two bundles that each have 4 identical connectors.  To save some clutter, I used one bundle to hook up both the disk drive and optical drive.  Is that ok?  Also, the HDD has a sata power, data and another connector which is comprised of two rows of 4 metal pins and looks sort of old-timey.  Is that some sort of hookup for retro machines?

With regard to initial startup, I am totally lost.  Any recommendations?  I have a copy of Windows7 from a previous build, but didn't do the initial startup, which makes me a bit nervous about blowing the whole thing to smithereens. 

Read that mobo manual, double check every component. Make sure you have cpu fan pluged in right, you used good thermal grease with cpu cooler, use optimized bio defaults in beginning. Is your ram in right slots and seated correctly, is vid card seated right. Make sure you have bios set right for your hardware before OS install. Do you have or know where to get the correct hardware drivers after OS install, chipset, video, sound lan. Should all be on the mobo CD but double check. Is it 32 bit or 64 bit windows...................... ...

In bios select 1st boot device as the optical drive.
Read up on all your hardware choices so you set bios correctly.
Read up on every step of a W7 clean install before you do it.

Do not rush in, keeps your forehead curved and all hair follicles in good shape. You are about to discover that there is more to it than selecting components.
luck

[Bizman]

Good advice, MADe. Double checking every cable and component is well seated is a very good starting point before the first booting attempt. Although most of the cables can't be connected wrong, some case to motherboard cables can. Triple check that your front panel USB, FireWire and sound cables are in their relevant connectors! Their connectors are often interchangeable! If in doubt, leave them unplugged. The only essential front panel connector is for the power switch. The motherboard manual has very clear pictures for the connectors and their location, so getting them right should only crave for some reading skills.

@Caldera, mbailey and other hesitants: Yes, the first boot is a thrilling moment, at least for me after having built and rebuilt dozens of computers. Triple checking the cables helps a lot. If the computer has a brand new blank hard disk, the boot order is mostly irrelevant: You'll get a message for a missing operating system and a request to insert one, then press some button. If you see that message, your build has succeeded so far! Just put the disk into the optical drive and press the desired button to continue with the installation. Changing the boot order is something you'd like to do during a reinstall or a cd based virus check. Other than that there should be no need to mess with the BIOS settings at this moment. Later with everything installed you might want to check that the BIOS version is new enough to be fully compatible with your components.

If for some reason you don't get anything on the screen simply check all the cables and components again. Just today I plugged another hard disk in and couldn't boot any more. It appeared that I had pulled off the power cord for the HDD containing Windows. Some cables are very loose.

Good luck!

[BaldEagl]

I have a copy of Windows7 from a previous build, but didn't do the initial startup, which makes me a bit nervous about blowing the whole thing to smithereens. 

   I remember feeling that way when I bought my first computer.

Nothing bad's likely to happen.  You have to work very hard to mess something up.

[Triton28]

For anyone new to building computers, check out carey holzman on Youtube.  Lots of good video tutorials.  

[caldera]

Thank you for the help so far, sirs.   

After much trepidation, I fired the new rig up today.  No fire or even smoke was seen - so far. 

There are a few issues that require your esteemed help:

............................. .............

The handbook for the motherboard suggests if only 2 memory sticks are used, they should be placed at the 2nd and 4th slots.
"Enabling Dual Channel Mode can enhance system performance." 

Now, how do I enable dual channel mode or is it automatic?  The alternating slot placement works for me because the memory sticks have large heat spreaders, which prohibit me from using slot 1 anyway. The CPU cooler partially blocks the first slot.
............................. ............

Again regarding the memory, how do I go about changing the settings or at least confirming the motherboard is running them at the manufacturer's recommended timing?

............................. .............

Tested the "rate system performance" thingy in the control panel but the graphics came up rated 1.0.  How do I make sure the video card is running the graphics and not the onboard chip?

............................. ..........

The system has 5 fans: CPU, front, front, top and back.  The top fan and lower front fan do not turn on.  I tried to find out why but the MSI motherboard utility only lists three fans.  The utility says sys1 fan and sys2 fan are on auto settings and working fine but those numbers don't correspond with the fan numbers on the motherboard:

Sys1 fan - hooked to top fan (not working)
Sys2 fan - hooked to bottom front fan (not working)
Sys3 fan - hooked to top front fan (working)
Sys4 fan - hooked to back fan (working)
CPU fan - hooked to cpu fan (working -thank God)

............................. .........

Finally a question on temperatures.  The CPU temp goes from 32 celcius to 34 celcius and the motherboard seems steady at 26 celcius.  Are these normal ballpark numbers?  I assume the non-functioning fans would help a little bit, but these temps are without any programs running.

My system is an i-5 3570k  in an Antec900 case with a Hyper212 cpu cooler.

[Bizman]

Now, how do I enable dual channel mode or is it automatic?

It may be automatic and done by choosing the recommended slots. Your handbook should tell about possible bios options in the "installing ram" section. If nothing else is mentioned than to use the 2nd and 4th, then that's it. The ram sticks should have identical values for Dual Channel to work and yours do.

how do I go about changing the settings or at least confirming the motherboard is running them at the manufacturer's recommended timing?

Again, the handbook is your friend. Usually in the first part is about the mechanic install of components and the second explains the bios settings. Most often they are automatically set to right values by SPD.

The CPU temp goes from 32 celcius to 34 celcius and the motherboard seems steady at 26 celcius.  Are these normal ballpark numbers?

Yes, they look good. I suppose your room temperature is above 20 celsius, so you can't go below that inside your case with any number of fans. Since the CPU delivers its excess heat inside the case, the motherboard temperature naturally is a little higher than your room temp.

Have you connected your monitor to the onboard connector? If not, there's something fishy going on with your video card. Have you installed the drivers for it? And before that, have you installed the motherboard drivers? Motherboards will disable the built-in video chip if a pci-e card is installed. Only some laptops and brand name desktops may have a dual video card system which should swap between the cards depending on need. In such case the performance thingy may not trigger the more powerful card automatically on, causing a low performance digit. In the dual card situations there should be a checkbox in the video settings.

[guncrasher]

on a lot of mobos you need to manually set correct speed and or timings for ram to work Art their top speed.

it is done in BIOS by overclocking.  look at your mobos box find the speed for your ram and if it says oc next to it then you need to overclock.



semp

[MrRiplEy[H]]

on a lot of mobos you need to manually set correct speed and or timings for ram to work Art their top speed.

it is done in BIOS by overclocking.  look at your mobos box find the speed for your ram and if it says oc next to it then you need to overclock.



semp

And remember that in some cases running ram at sync with FSB is actually faster than slightly overclocking it.

[caldera]

Things are progressing nicely now.  My graphic card is now in control, sending the performance rating from the minimum 1.0 to the maximum 7.9. 

The non-working fans seem to be the only problem left.  Nothing in the motherboard book or any paperwork from the case or anything else gives a clue.  Bios changed when the motherboard drivers were installed, so now only the cpu fan and sys1 fan are listed.  As mentioned previously, my non-working top fan is hooked to the motherboard sysfan1 terminal but bios seems to think a different fan is sysfan1.   


Anyone else have this issue, either with the Antec 900 case or MSI Z77A-G43 motherboard? 

[TequilaChaser]

Anyone else have this issue, either with the Antec 900 case or MSI Z77A-G43 motherboard?  

caldera,

on my old Antec 900 case ( 1st version model ),for the front intake 120mm fans, I use the 2 4 pin Molex connectors to power them up.... I dothe same for the top 200 mm exhaust fan

for the back exhaust 120mm fan  I use a 4pin molex to a 3 pin small plug Adapter for the mother board connection ( I think it is a 3 pin, might be a 4, I'd have to open it up a visually check )

I get my VC card Temp, my CPU Temp, my MB Temp, and my Case Temp ........

here is a Google shopping list linkto give you an idea of all the connector types ( I have a saved bookmark for a more descriptive Fan connector types  website, but can't seem to locate it quickly )

https://www.google.com/search?q=Computer+Cooling+Fan+connector+types&biw=1920&bih=1047&source=univ&tbm=shop&tbo=u&sa=X&ei=JDMQU8TsOsTw0wHUkoGIBg&ved=0CCUQsxg

One other thing I recommend is, I would go to the MotherBoard Manufacturer website, Videocard website, and any other components websites you might be using , for instance a programmable USB keyboard, etc  and download all the most current drivers for all your components , this are almost always newer than what comes on the CD-Rom that comes with the individual PC components...

I hope this helps

Best of Luck

TC