The moment of truth now approaches, time to take a deep breath, exhale slowly,
then take a moment to check one more time that everything is as it should be.
Make sure you’ve removed your wrist strap, turn on the monitor, then press the
power button, and observe the inside of the open machine. (Do not touch any
part of the inside of the machine while it is powered up you will die and more
importantly your computer will break.) The first thing to look for is that the
CPU cooler fan spins up, if it does not, cut the power immediately. This fan
should start up right away; something is wrong if it doesnt and your CPU is in
danger of overheating so stop now and troubleshoot.
If the CPU fan spins up, check that all the other fans that should be spinning
case fans and fans on the power supply and video card (if installed) are also
spinning. Some of these fans may not spin up until a temperature threshold is
passed, check your documentation if anything is not spinning.
If the fans spin, you can turn your attention to the monitor, what you are
hoping to see is the motherboards splashscreen, usually featuring the manufacturers
logo. If you see this, take a moment to bask in the glow, youve built a
computer!
If this happy event does not occur, if smoke appears, or if the computer
doesn’t do anything, unplug the power cord immediately and check the steps
above to make sure you haven’t missed anything. Give special attention to
the cables and power connections. If the computer does appear to come on,
but, you hear beeps, listen carefully to the beeps, turn the computer off, and
refer to your motherboard’s manual for the meaning of the beeps. Some boards
have an optional diagnostic device, usually a collection of LEDs, which when
properly plugged in will inform you of the nature of the problem. Instructions
for installing this as well as the meaning of its display should be in the manual
for the motherboard. If the computer turns on but the only thing that comes
on is your power supply, turn it off. This probably means something is shorted,
and leaving it on could damage the parts.
If all is well it's time to turn the computer off, and close it up. Then you
may want to turn it on again and set certain options in the Computer’s BIOS
(usually by pressing 'F1' or 'Del' a few seconds after boot.) These options will
be explained in the motherboard manual. In general, the default options are
OK, but you may wish to set the computer’s hardware clock to the correct time
and date. The BIOS is also where you determine the default boot order of the
system, typically Floppy, then CD-ROM, then Hard Disc.
If you want a further quick test, before you install an operating system, you
may find a bootable CD-ROM such as Knoppix extremely useful.