CompBlog part 3: In the packages and Assembly

I intended on taking pics of the parts as I went to post, but I was too anxious to get the machine up and running. I'll post a few of the finished product once the computer is working (so I'll have the drive to download the photos from my camera).
Overall, I'm happy with the parts. They pretty much kick ass. The one problem: TigerDirect apparently forgot to package the RAM. So...no memory. I'll be calling them tonight to try and resolve this and let you all know how good their customer service is. I've heard it's pretty good from others, so I'm hopeful.
I DID get impatient however (the parts arrived yesterday) SO I ran out to Staples (the nearest store that sells computer memory) and bought myself another gig of ram, so my system will have 2GB of RAM when it's done.
Initial assembly took longer then I had hoped. I had worked on hardware before but this is the first time I completely assembled a computer from components.

First note: the case is excellent for building your own pc. Not only does the clear side panel come right off after removing two screws you can undo by hand, but the other side also comes off the same way giving very easy access to the screws needed to install the drives. Overall, access to everything throughout installation was as easy as it could get.

First lesson: The standoffs (little brass thingies that have a screw on one end and a threaded hole to take a screw in the other) are in fact necessary. The motherboard isn't actually supposed to TOUCH the mounting plate. I didn't know this, so I had the thing assembled (The manual that came with the motherboard did not mention this or give any guidance how to secure the motherboard properly) and had to completely take it apart and reassemble to fix this initial error. The fact that I didn't have enough screws to reach the mounting plate through the motherboard properly tipped me off. PCMechanics online guide was a big help.

Aside from this assembly's a piece of cake. The only other thing I missed was setting the jumpers on the optical drive properly, which I'll get to.

So, I installed the CPU, Heatsink and Fan first then attempted installing the motherboard in the case. Aside from the case not being entirely clear which holes were going to be used (and thus which ones to add the standoffs to) it was fairly easy. Once I figured out which holes were the right ones (They should have been labeled "A" for the ATX design, but some weren't, some were and some were labeled "C" for the mini-ATX, so IDK what happened there.

Once that was in, memory snaps in place, the PCIe graphics card slid right in and I learned that the case's back panel was not quite straight, but bulged out so that the card didn't quite reach, but it was simple to bend it back in shape and then reinstall the graphics card.

The Two drives were installed, front ports and power switches connected and...
Power UP!!!
and...
then nothing
nada.
It was ON
but the drives weren't spinning, the optical drive (DVD) wasn't lighting up, and the monitor (plugged in and turned on.... did nothing.
shit.

Ok, well I was trying to use DVI interface for the monitor. I figured maybe this is why it wasn't getting a signal so I switched over to the VGA connector. Without the drivers (and as yet no operating system) DVI doesn't work, only VGA. I'll be switching back as soon as the drivers are installed.

Lesson 2: Use VGA video output during install, until drivers for DVI are installed.

That fixed the monitor, now the drives. I realized pretty quick it was the drive causing the problem (everything else appeared to work) and looking at it I realized the jumper was set to the spot marked "Slave" which means it expects another drive to be the "Master" to work. Unplugging all three cords and removing the drive (so I could actually REACH the jumper) The little plastic piece was a cinch to slide off and put in the right position, marked "cable select" which is what you set it to if it's the only drive on that IDE channel (You'll know because it's the only one using the cable, which has three connectors, one for the motherboard and two for two devices). I'm installing 1 hard drive (250GB) and 1 optical (DVD) drive right now, with maybe a second DVD drive later, so right now the HDD and DVD are on separate channels (my mother board has 2 channels for up to 4 devices) and so both are set to "cable select". The Harddrive was set to this by default.

Also, I swapped the memory from port B1 to A1 (There are 4 labeled A1, A2, B1 and B2). The motherboard manual clearly states that if using only 1 memory chip, it should go in slot B1. This didn't work, but everything started working when I moved it to the A1 slot, which just seems more logical anyway. A second chip would go in B1 and additional ones after that could go in either A2 or B2.

Lesson 3: Follow the manual. If that doesn't work, stop following the manual, but follow the manual first.

Ok, plugged it back in, restarted and...
IT WORKS!!!
yay.

So At about 1am I had a constructed (if incomplete) system that booted and I was able to access the bios settings. Not too shabby. Set a few of the settings (boot order and devices) disabled the floppy drive, as I won't be installing one, and verified a few other settings, and that the system was recognizing the full gig of ram and the proper processor type and speed, harddrive size etc.

Now my computer has base components installed and boots.
Next we'll be installing the Operating system, drivers and the remaining components, then on to yet more fun stuff.