Preparing the Motherboard for Installation

05.05 Hasyim Asyari 0 Comments

• A motherboard location map shows where the hardware and major components are located on the motherboard.
• Typically, everything listed in the specifications section of the motherboard manual is depicted and labeled on the location map.
• The main memory is subdivided into slots, and the slots are identified and numbered in sequence DIMM bank 1, DIMM bank 2, and DIMM bank 3.

• Configuring the motherboard typically means the taking the following steps:
• Installing the CPU, installing the heat sink and fan, installing RAM, connecting the power supply cables to the motherboard power connectors, connecting miscellaneous connectors to the correct switches and status lights, and setting the system BIOS.
• Location maps allow the correct configuration of the motherboard for the case controls and monitor lights on the front case panel .
• For the disk controllers, always remember that a colored stripe on the data cable is pin 1.
• The BIOS interface can be keyboard driven, or it can be graphical and mouse driven.
• When drives are replaced, memory upgraded, or adapter boards added, the BIOS setup will need to be updated to reflect the configuration changes and saved to the CMOS chip.
• The motherboard must be configured for the frequency of the installed processor.

• A jumper is a pair of prongs that are electrical contact points set into the computer motherboard or an adapter card.
• When setting a jumper, place a plug on the prongs that completes or closes the contact.
• Closing or opening the circuits establishes logic levels to select functions for the operation of the board.
• Typically, motherboard jumpers are configured by using a jumper to bridge a pair of pins that are to be connected together (to complete a circuit) on the board.
• Removing or inserting jumpers on a set of pins will enable or clear a given option, as specified in the motherboard manual.
• There are several additional jumper settings that may have to be set along with the general motherboard configurations:

1. BIOS Recovery
2. Clear CMOS
3. Password Clear
4. BIOS Setup Access
5. Processor Voltage

• Most problems occur when the chip is hastily installed or installed backwards, which causes the chip pins to break.
• There are two main types of CPU interfaces.

1. Socket type
2. Slot type

• Most microprocessors can produce a lot of heat, which if not efficiently dissipated can cause the system to operate intermittently or fail completely.
• One way to dissipate heat from processors is to use the heat sink and cooling fan.
• Processors that come with the fan and heat sink already attached to them are more convenient.
• These are called boxed processors.
• Boxed processors cost a bit more but are safer to install since it lessens the chance of breaking the pins.
• They also have better warranty coverage than those without the fan and heat sink attached.
• Boxed processors are referred to as original equipment manufacturer (OEM) processors.

• There are two types of memory modules used on most PCs: 168-pin Dual In-line Memory Module (DIMM) cards and 72-pin Single In-line Memory Module (SIMM) cards.
• Cover the four step Installation of RAM.

• New motherboards do not use SIMMs. It may be found, for example, that the DIMM sockets on the motherboard map are grouped into three or four banks of one slot each.
• DIMM1 and DIMM 2 are Bank 0 and Bank 1.
• In some cases, motherboards have more than two slots for RAM. These slots would be DIMM3 and DIMM4.
• Cover the four step Installation of RAM.