PC Assembling and Troubleshooting TIPS

P.RAMASUBRAMANIANB-17 Sri Krishna Nagar,

Manakkadu Road, MelaTiruchendur – 628205.Mobile: +91 - 9994848764

What is PC?

• Personal Computer – used only one person at a time

• Variation depends upon– Size – Memory– Speed of the CPU – Number and type of peripheral devices

connected to the computer systems.

Functional Blocks

• Made of several components (units).  

1. Power Supply unit 2. Motherboard

3. Processors 4. Memory

5. Hard disk 6. Floppy drive

7. CDROM drive 8. Monitor

9. Keyboard 10. Mouse

11. Printer 12. Other Devices 

PARTS OF PC

1. System Unit (Box)

2. Monitor

3. Keyboard

4. Printer

5. UPS

PARTS OF SYSTEM UNIT

PARTS OF SYSTEM MACHINE

1. Motherboard

2. FDD 3. HDD

4. Power Supply Unit

5. Display Card

6. IDE card

7. RAM Package

8. Cables

9. Speaker 10. Cabinet

What is a Motherboard ?

- It Consists of CPU,

Display Card,

IDE Card, I/O slots, BIOS ROM,

CMOS Battery,

Ports etc.

Floppy Disk Drive (FDD)

STORAGE CAPACITY FORMULAStorage capacity = No. of sides or Surface x

Tracks per side or Cylinder x

Sectors per track x Bytes per Sector360 KB = 40 Track, 9 Sectors per Track

1.2 MB = 80 Tracks, 15 Sectors per Track

1.44 MB = 80 Tracks, 18 Sectors per Track

2.88 MB = 80 Tracks, 26 Sectors per Track

Bytes per Sector 512 (common)

HARD DISK DRIVE

- Also called Fixed Disk Drive or Non- Removable Disk

- Identification- Type Number (Shows

No. of Cylinder and Sector).

SMPS

- Convert AC – DC

- +5, -5, +12, -12V

- Red (+5V)

- Orange (+5V)

(Power Good)

- Yellow (+12V)

- White (-5V)

- Blue (-12V)

- Block (Ground)

COMPUTER CABLES

1. FDD Cable

2. HDD Cable

3. Mouse Cable

4. Printer Cable

5. Power Cable

CABINETS

1. Mini Tower (Vertical)

2. Desk Top (Horizontal)

STEP BY STEP ASSEMBLING OF

COMPUTER

Step 1: To Fit SMPS in Cabinet• Check all DC

voltages• Screw the PSU in

Cabinet

Step 2: Wiring of Panel ON/OFF switch and Fit into the Cabinet

- Four Wires (2 are Red and 2 are White Color)

- RED wires - Heads of first switch

- WHITE wires – Heads of Second switch

Step 3: FIT RAM CHIPS IN MOTHERBOARD

• Fitted in the direction of lock

• Fit from Bank 0 , Bank 1 and so on.

Step 4: Fit Motherboard in the cabinet & Supply connector

in Motherboard• Note that the black wires of

both socket should be close to each other.

Step 5: Fit Hard Disk in Cabinet

- Component should be down side and Label should be top side.

- Sockets available on the Hard disk should be at the side of the Motherboard.

Step 6: Fit IDE and Power Cable in Hard disk

• 40 Wires. Pin No. 1 should be RHS.

• If one fit the cable reversely, then it will not fit in the Hard Disk.

• For Power cable connector, the corner should be matched with the corner of the power supply connector of Hard Disk.

Step 7: Fit FDD and FDD cable

• Cover side – Up

• Component side – Down

• For Power cord, end of RED wire should come at Right Side.

• 34 Pin Female Connector used and RED wire (Pin No.1) must be towards pin No. 1 of Floppy Drive Socket.

Step 8: To Fit Add-on Cards in Motherboard

• The card should be fitted into the appropriate I/O slot.

Step 9: Connection

- is a 3 pin Female socket- 15 pin signal cable is

connected to Display adapter card.

- 5/6 Pin Keyboard connector should be connected.

- A printer cable of 25 pin (male) should be connected on the MB and 36 pin (female) should be connected with printer.

Step 10: To fit Back Cover of the System Box

• After fitting all the connectors to the CPU, Monitor, UPS and Printer and fit the back cover of the cabinet.

• While fixing if one should remember that the wires of ON/OFF switch should properly get inside the cabinet.

TROUBLESHOOTING STEPS

Before trouble shooting the computer under test, the following checks may properly practiced.

  1.  Check whether the SMPS main power cable and DC

voltage cables are connected properly.2. Check whether the keyboard cable is connected

properly.3. Check whether the monitor power cable and signal

cables are connected properly.

TROUBLESHOOTING STEPS (Contd…)

4. Check whether the DIP switch setting or BIOS settings in the motherboards are set for proper configuration.

5. Check whether the floppy drive power cable and data cable or connected properly.

6. Check whether all the daughter boards are inserted in the I/O slot properly.

7. Check whether the RESET switch is connected properly.

TROUBLESHOOTING STEPS (Contd…)

8. Check whether the keyboard lock is positioned properly.

9. Check whether all the IC’s are inserted in the bases properly.

10. Check whether a good boot disk is available in drive A or HDD.

11. Check whether the speaker connector is connected properly.

 

TROUBLESHOOTING STEPS (Contd…)

After all the above checks are carried out, switch ON the system and observe the POST error messages. From the POST message localize the area of problem and troubleshoot it. When POST itself is not started, the problem will be the motherboard and related circuits.