Installing M/B and CPU

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d.roberts@insightbb.com - 26 Feb 2006 11:19 GMT

My new motherboard and processor just arrived and I was hoping to
install these items myself. But I do fear the fact that I might screw
something up having never attempted this task. I am not PC savey. I
have reinstalled my hard drive that is pretty much straight forward
(put in in the same way the old one came out) Will the reinstall of the
CPU and M/B as easy as the H/D or should I wait for my friend that is
PC savey to help me?....Many Thx.Flyback

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Jonny - 26 Feb 2006 13:07 GMT

You are in fact asking two (2) questions.
There is the tangible/physical part of swapping motherboards.
Then, there is the hardware drivers and what drivers you had on the prior 98
installation. An offshoot of that is what speed the cpu was, and the new
one's speed regarding ndis.vxd and 98, if you're using 98.

If you have the proper power supply and the motherboard manual is highly
illustrated for the installation phase for the new motherboard, you can
probably do the job. Mount the cpu and fan before installing the
motherboard. Two sets of eyes can help avoid oversights during the swap
though.

Signature

Jonny

> My new motherboard and processor just arrived and I was hoping to
> install these items myself. But I do fear the fact that I might screw
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> CPU and M/B as easy as the H/D or should I wait for my friend that is
> PC savey to help me?....Many Thx.Flyback

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d.roberts@insightbb.com - 26 Feb 2006 13:41 GMT

Thx for the reply. The old processor is a Pentuim 3/ 650 MGz. The new
M/B is the M7NCG 400 Mainboard. The CPU is the AMD Sempron 3300+ Socket
A CPU. I do have the the proper power supply and drives that I want to
install. I am running XP os on the machine. Maybe this will give you
more insight as what I have in the PC now.
OS Name    Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Version    5.1.2600 Build 2600
OS Manufacturer    Microsoft Corporation
System Name    HOME-DON
System Manufacturer    AWARD_
System Model    AWRDACPI
System Type    X86-based PC
Processor    x86 Family 6 Model 8 Stepping 3 GenuineIntel ~651 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date    Award Software International, Inc. 4.60 PGMA,
3/29/2000
SMBIOS Version    2.2
Windows Directory    C:\WINDOWS
System Directory    C:\WINDOWS\System32
Boot Device    \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Locale    United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer    Version = "5.1.2600.0
(xpclient.010817-1148)"
User Name    HOME-DON\Don Roberts
Time Zone    Eastern Standard Time
Total Physical Memory    512.00 MB
Available Physical Memory    284.45 MB
Total Virtual Memory    1.72 GB
Available Virtual Memory    1.34 GB
Page File Space    1.22 GB
Page File    C:\pagefile.sys

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Jon_Hildrum - 26 Feb 2006 16:22 GMT

I would wait for your Savvy friend. While replacing a motherboard and CPU is
a relatively simple task, I always prefer to have some aid or seen someone
else do it myself before attempting it.

(make sure you have your install media, the product key and any required
qualifying product before starting. Furthermore make sure all important data
is backed up)

The steps needed are as follows:
Please read your manual. If there are difference between what I say and the
manual follow the manual. I might have forgotten something
Remove the power connector from the case
Remove the cables and power connectors from hard drives, CD, DVD, floppies
and any device you have installed (please not which drive is C: since you
want to reconnect it the way it was). The same is true for other devices
unless you want to change jumpers.
Remove all add in cards
Remove the old motherboard (typically anywhere from 4 to 8 little screws
fastening the motherboard to the case)
Remove the old shield (the little metal plate with holes for the built in
ports)

Place the new motherboard in the case the way it will be installed to check
location of all the standoffs. You may have to adjust standoffs or move a
few (it ok to remove them). Make sure you don't have standoffs where there
is no holes in the motherboard for the screw.

Remove the new motherboard from the case and install the CPU and heat sink
fan combination. There are normally good instruction in the motherboard
manual. Make sure the CPU and fan/heatsink is installed properly.
Install the memory modules.
Install the new shield in the back of the case.
Install the motherboard - it may take a little juggling to get the screw
holes aligned with the standoffs and the ports in the proper location in the
shield.
Fasten the screws for the motherboard. I like to start with a couple of easy
ones - the one in front on the far side of the power supply and one in the
middle in the back.
At this time I typical use the CMOS reset jumper to reset CMOS. Just move
the jumper for a few seconds and then move it back.
Connect the LED wires and the power switch and the Reset switch.
Connect the audio wire (CD/DVD) to the motherboard - it may be hartd to
access the motherboard connectors after installing add in cards.
Install add in cards - Make sure they are seated properly
Attach the power connector from the power supply to the motherboard and also
the 4 pin power connector if the motherboard has one.
Attach the CPU fan connector to the CPU fan header on the motherboard.
Attach any other case fan to the motherboard or if it is connect to a 4 pin
molex then wait until you connect the power connector to the devices.
Connect the floppy cable, IDE cables and SATA cables. Make sure for floppies
and IDE that they are installed properly. The Red line on the cable installs
to pin 1 on the motherboard and closest to the power connector on the
drives. Most motherboards has guides these days to prevent reverse
installation.
Remember, the two connectors relatively close together goes to the drives
with the center connector to the slave and the end connector to the master.
Make sure the connectors is properly seated.
Next connect the power connectors to all the drives. (they will only allow
installation the proper way).
Connect the external devices - monitor, keyboard, mouse and network cable

Breath deeply and connect the power to the case and turn the system on using
the front power on button. If everything was accomplished properly it should
start.
Enter bios by using the delete key (most common) and check to see that the
drives are detected. Load optimized defaults and make whatever minor changes
you want. (like numerical lock on/off etc)
DO NOT ATTEMPT ANY OVERCLOCKING OR PERFORMANCE ADJUSTMENTS AT THIS TIME.
Save and Exit.
Let the computer try to boot. It will probably fail since the previous
system was quite different. However, you want to check to see that the
system appears to work, the LEDs are installed the proper way (look at the
lights PWR LED and Hardrive LED). Try booting a floppy and a CD.
If everything appears to work you should be done with the physical
installation.

Next your choice is a clean install of winXP or a repair install. I always
recommend a clean install but a repair install saves all data and
application installed on the harddrive and is certainly the better approach
for some.
Try this link on information on how to do a repair install

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

Signature

Jon Hildrum
DTS MVP
Jon_Hildrum@msn.com
www.hildrum.com

> Thx for the reply. The old processor is a Pentuim 3/ 650 MGz. The new
> M/B is the M7NCG 400 Mainboard. The CPU is the AMD Sempron 3300+ Socket
[quoted text clipped - 26 lines]
> Page File Space 1.22 GB
> Page File C:\pagefile.sys

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mdp - 27 Feb 2006 04:24 GMT

Be aware that you may have to re-activate XP if it's been less than 120 days
since you last activated and/or if XP determines several items have changed
in addition to the MB and CPU such as new or different amount of RAM,
added/deleted NIC(s), video card, etc. You can learn more here but that's
really another subject.

http://aumha.org/win5/a/wpa.php

While the individual steps to replace a MB/CPU on a machine with XP are not
particularly complex, the procedure has many steps thus can be complicated.
I recommend waiting for your friend. If you can, make an image of your
current system so you can "start over" (re-image) if while building it back
up XP wants to re-activate more than once.

>I would wait for your Savvy friend. While replacing a motherboard and CPU
>is a relatively simple task, I always prefer to have some aid or seen
[quoted text clipped - 110 lines]
>> Page File Space 1.22 GB
>> Page File C:\pagefile.sys

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Alan - 27 Feb 2006 07:58 GMT

Make a note of how all the straps (links) are featured on the existing
motherboard and use its manual to understand the results it gives. Also run
the BIOS of the existing to see what features are enabled/enabled. The new
board will not be identical but at least you will know what was successfully
running before any changes. You may find that the external case controls
like start-up/reset and hard drive activity that connect to the motherboard
by cables/connectors may not be exactly the same. Locate all of these and
ensure they are compatible.
Your new power supply may have additional power and fan monitoring
facilities that are different/new to what exists. Understand what the setup
is before attempting to connect. The motherboard may have additional
software to monitor the power supply/fans and heat from windows. Once this
is loaded it will take awhile to adjust the values to ensure they are
correctly set.
In my case the worst thing I had to deal with was mounting the heatsink on
the AMD processor - you have to get it right first time ensuring the
heatsink is correctly located using the glue etc. Once it is done, you will
wonder why you were worried in the first place but remember second or
multiple attempts of this operation require the old glue to be removed and
replaced! If I remember correctly the AMD website had extremely
useful/helpful information laid out in step by step stages of how to do all
this. Print this off first and understand what it is saying before
attempting anything. Best of luck.
Alan

> Be aware that you may have to re-activate XP if it's been less than 120 days
> since you last activated and/or if XP determines several items have changed
[quoted text clipped - 124 lines]
> >> Page File Space 1.22 GB
> >> Page File C:\pagefile.sys

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Jonny - 27 Feb 2006 03:31 GMT

Wait for your friend as Jon stated for the hardware part.

The software part, you will need to do either a repair install of XP at
best. Stand by for a wipe, new partition/format (I prefer NTFS vice FAT32
format) and clean install is my opinion considering the difference in base
hardware.
Check this newsgroup for help regarding XP:
microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
They will ask what kind of XP installation CD you have for starters.
(Retail, generic OEM, or computer maker OEM). If you have the last one,
check with them first before doing anything.

If you have hardware problems in XP:
microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware

Signature

Jonny

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philo - 26 Feb 2006 15:43 GMT

If you don't feel comfortable with the task...
then YES wait for your friend to come over

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***** charles - 26 Feb 2006 18:00 GMT

And although I am sure this group is XP knowledgable, you should
be posting to an XP related group, this is 98 oriented.

later...

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sumukh001@gmail.com - 27 Feb 2006 10:53 GMT

Hi d.roberts,
It is better to take care at the start itself. Here
are few articles which will help you for motherboard and CPU
installation.

http://www.cheapest-computer-hardware-software.com/install_motherboard.html

http://www.cheapest-computer-hardware-software.com/build-pc2.html

Also you can check motherboard and cpu tips.

http://www.cheapest-computer-hardware-software.com/motherboard_tips.html

http://www.cheapest-computer-hardware-software.com/cpu_tips.html

Thanks & regards

Sumukh

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