Post-Assembly

Your new PC is now pretty much ready to roll for the first time. The PC is rather bare-bone at this point and lacks a lot of the hardware you will eventually want to put in it. It is generally best to keep the PC as simple as possible during initial setup and operating system installation, which is why this tutorial has stopped with only the video card installed. Some may choose to install the sound card at this point, and this is fine. If you want to install a network card, you can do this now as well, as your OS will probably do a great job of sensing and automatically setting this up during installation. Just follow the same procedure you would for any expansion card. But, I would keep the system at that point until after the operating system is installed. If you want to install TV tuners or any other optional hardware, I would do so afterward.

Before jumping right into booting, though, I recommend taking a minute, and with a flashlight, check all of your work. It is better to "waste" the time than to engage in wasted time trying to track down why the system will not boot.

Pay attention to the following list:

Drives properly connected to power
CPU fan attached to power
If an AT machine, P8 and P9 are connected properly, with black wires in middle.
The 110/220 volt switch is configured properly for your area
Ribbon cables attached correctly, red edge on pin 1
All connections tight, no connectors off by one set of pins
CPU settings correct for bus speed, voltage, and multipliers. If you have jumperless motherboard, you can forget this, since you will take care of it when you turn the thing on.
Cards fully in slots
No wires or ribbon cablesprotruding into fans.