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Back to before you begin
You should have a
location picked out and your tools and computer components
at the ready. Go ahead and use
your utility knife to open your boxes and unpack the components,
setting aside you manual and warranty cards for later reading.
Once you have all
your components and cables sitting on the table you should
be able to match up the included cabling
with their respective ports on you computer. Most of these
cables can additional lengths added to them to increase the
flexibility of your setup. There are some however that need
to stay with the length of cable they were shipped with. A
USB device for instance is one of the items with a fixed cable
length; additional length may cause problems with the way that
the device
communicated
with your computer. There are ways to expand your USB array
but for now we should take notice of the length of
the cables and
stay
to
that constraint
for
placing
of the components.
Back in the early
days setting up a new computer was not nearly as
easy
as it
is today.
Today
all
the
different
connections are color coded, as well as only being able
to be inserted one direction. So the actual assembly should
be a fairly straight forward affair.
The standard items that
may be in your computer setup would include a monitor, keyboard,
mouse, and of course the computer CPU itself. Other additional
items that are commonly added to a package would be a printer
and a scanner. There may be other items such as joysticks and
such - their installation procedures should be covered well
with their included documentation.
Start placing your
components into their final locations, making sure that their
power cords can reach the sockets on the power strip/surge
protector. Do not plug the power strip into the wall just
yet. Some of the items may ,unbeknownst to you, have their
power buttons in an on position. Plugging some items
into a computer that is energized may cause damage to the
equipment.
Of the items to be assembled
the CPU is the one that has the drive opening in the front
and ports in the rear. The CPU should also have a power cord
included (not necessarily attached to it) this cord is plugged
into the back of the CPU as well as the power receptacle. The
monitor has two connections that need to be made. There will
be a power cord from the monitor to the power supply as well
as a cord that will go to the back of the CPU. This connection
can only be hooked up to one port on the back of the CPU and
should be labeled "mon" or "monitor". The pins that are screwed
into the back to secure it in place are sometimes difficult
to get a good grip on. If you have problems screwing them in
with your fingers you could use the screwdriver in the slots
to twist them easier. The keyboard and mouse both only have
one cord and both ports on
the back
of
the computer
will be labeled, generally with small representations of a
keyboard or a mouse. Like I said above, computer assembly has
been made
very simple these days. The printer and scanner will have two
connections each to be made. Both will have a power cord and
both will have a communications cable. There are a few different
types of cables that are available at this time, so I will
not go over them here. Both will have matching ports on the
back of the computer and will be a simple operation to plug
them in.
Once everything
has been assembled and plugged into the power strip, plug
the power
strip into the wall. Some components might come on, others
may not. Turn on those items that are not already.
Computer
fundamentals, the first look >>
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