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This is an excerpt from "A Realistic Approach to Buying and Using I.B.M. and Compatible Computers," written by Robert A. Mace, Sysop of "The N.G.P.K. Shareware Board," in Cincinnati, Ohio. The right to reproduce this article is granted on the condition that all text, including this notice and the notice at the end of the article, remain unchanged, and that no text is added to the body of the article. Thanks! --RM Copyright (c), 1989 Robert Alan Mace All Rights Reserved Chapter 9 - Opening Your Computer Don't Be Afraid If you were to look inside your computer, you would see a maze of wires, boxes, boards (also known as "cards"), chips, screws, etc. Unless you are a computer expert, you may think that you should never try to work on your own computer; that you should always take it to a technician. If you take your computer some place to have it worked on, perhaps to have a modem installed, have an EEMS memory board put in, replace your BIOS chips, or even install a second hard drive, you have several things to consider. First, you will be without the use of your computer while it is being worked on. Second, you will have to park your hard drive heads (move your read/write heads to a spot on the disk where there is no information), pack up your computer very carefully, and take it to the repair shop. Third, you will have to pay someone (computer work is not cheap) to work on it. Now for the good news. Working on your own computer, unless something is truly wrong with it, or broken (such as a hard drive head crash, or a burnt-out motherboard), is fairly simple, and can save you a lot of time and money. What's not needed is an expensive set of tools. What is needed is a little patience. Work on your computer slowly and carefully, and you should experience little or no difficulty. The basic set of tools you will need consists of: 1 Flat-blade screwdriver 1 Phillips-head screwdriver 1 Small, flat-blade screwdriver 1 Needle-nose pliers Note: Be absolutely certain that the tools you use are non- magnetic. Magnetized tools can create havoc with your chips and data. Precautions Be certain to observe the following simple but important precautions while working inside your computer. 1. Never open your computer while it is turned on. 2. Unplug your computer before opening. 3. Close your computer before turning the power back on. 4. Do not work on your computer while standing on a rug or carpeting. Static electricity can burn out and ruin chips and other computer components. 5. Before touching a board or chip, or anything else inside your computer, ground yourself by touching a bare piece of metal such as your power supply (with the power turned off), bare metal on the back of the computer, or the anti-static plate on the front of some surge protectors. 6. Do not ever touch the gold connectors on a card or the pins on a chip. 7. Be sure that your hands are clean before opening your computer. 8. Do not smoke or allow dirt or dust to enter your computer. 9. ALWAYS be certain that your data is completely BACKED UP before working inside your computer, just in case something should happen. Opening Your Computer After following the above precautions, you are now ready to open your computer. Note: There are many different manufacturers and styles of computers, so the following instructions necessarily are generalized. After you understand the instructions in this book, apply them to your own computer. Taking care to note the positions of the connectors, remove whatever monitor cables, printer cables, etc. that would interfere with your being able to reach into your computer easily. Put the monitor aside, so that there is nothing on top of your CPU (the main box housing your computer). Using the screwdriver, remove the screws (usually in the back panel) holding the top of the case to the rest of the box. Slide the top toward you, straight off, and set it aside. You now should be able to see the inside of your system. Carefully, using a flashlight if necessary, look around inside your computer, to come to an understanding of what and where everything is. The motherboard is the flat "board" covering the bottom of the computer. It contains many different sized chips, including the main processor (8088, 8086, 80286, or 80386), the main memory (RAM) chips, located in several rows, and 3 to 8 "slots", usually located in the back left-hand corner. These slots are approximately. 4 to 8 inches long. The shortest slots are "half-card" slots. They can hold only cards designed for use with an 8088 or 8086 processor. Cards designed for use with an 8088 or 8086 can be used in a '286 or '386, however. These are 8-bit cards and slots, so- called because they access data at the rate of 8 bits at a time. The middle-length (or largest, if you have a PC, XT, or AT) (16-bit) slots are to hold cards designed for 8088, 8086, or 80286 processors. You can use the short (half) cards in the longer slots, but not vice-versa. The new 386's have even longer (32-bit) slots, plus several 16-bit and 8-bit slots. Several of the card slots may already be filled. You usually will have a disk drive controller card in one long slot. This is the card which controls the actions of your drives, and keeps your data going the proper direction. The controller card will have several "ribbon" cables coming out of it, going into the backs of your disk drives. If you have a graphics card installed, it will be located in one of the slots. You also may have (depending on your system) a modem, expanded memory card, mouse card, joystick card, scanner card, or another disk drive controller card installed in your slots. The power supply usually is located in the back right- hand corner, and is a shiny, silver color. It is approximately 4" wide, 6" long, and 4" high. The power supply also will have one or two fans with grills over them. These grills must be kept clean and open. The power supply will have several sets of wires coming out of the back, connected to your computer and disk drives. Your disk drives normally will be attached at the front of the computer by means of metal rails on which the drives rest. Installing a New Card (Board) When you decide to add a mouse, modem, etc. to your system, you will need to install a card in one of your slots. A card is simply a smaller version of the motherboard. It contains printed circuits, several different chips, and other wiring. A card also may contain several "jumpers" which can be set according to the instructions included with the card. With your computer unpluged, and the case open, touch the power supply or other bare metal. Depending on the size of the card, decide which slot you are going to use. With the exception of a modem (see chapter on modems and COM ports), this makes little difference, except that you obviously cannot put a long card in a short slot. Nevertheless, if you plan for future expansion of your system, you should not waste a long slot with a short card. Carefully, using a flat-blade screwdriver, remove the screw (do not drop it) holding the flat metal plate which covers the slot opening at the back of your computer. Keep the screw handy, and put away the metal plate for later use. Set any jumpers according to the card directions. Holding the card by the edges, carefully and gently slide it straight into the slot. The bare metal plate on one end of the card should go in where you took the old cover out. It may be necessary to gently "rock" the card from side to side while pushing it down into the slot. The card should go into the slot approximately 3/8 of an inch. Using a flashlight, check to see that it is in the proper position in the slot. If you are unsure of this, compare it with the position of another card already installed. Reinstall the screw holding the metal plate. If you are installing a mouse, modem, joystick, or scanner card, connect the cable to the back edge of the card. If you find it necessary to remove a card, either to move it or replace it, remove any cables, remove the screw and, holding the card only by the edges, gently rock side-to- side, and pull it straight up and out. You now can put your computer back together and check out your new card. Installing Memory Chips When installing or removing memory chips, be absolutely certain that you are grounded, and that you don't use magnetic tools. To remove chips, use a chip remover if you have one. Insert the remover, and gently pull the chip straight out from its socket. Do not bend or touch the metal "legs." If you do not have a chip remover, slide a small, flat- bladed screwdriver or thin piece of plastic or wood underneath the chip and gently work it out of the socket. To install a chip using a chip installer, hold the chip in the installer and push the chip straight into the socket. Be certain that every leg on the chip goes straight into the hole in the socket. To install chips by hand, carefully and gently line up the legs and sockets, and push the chip straight into the socket. Many chips are meant to go in only one way. When replacing chips, such as a BIOS chip, pay close attention to the way the original chip went in, putting the new one in the same way. If you are in doubt, sometimes you can compare the numbers on the edge of the chip to the numbers on the board, and match these. If you do bend a leg on a chip, don't despair. Using a pair of non-magnetic needle-nosed pliers, or a good pair of tweezers, very gently bend the leg or legs back to their original position. Installing a New Floppy Disk Drive If your system came with only one floppy drive, you may want to add a second one later for copying disks, etc. Also, if your system contains only a 5.25-inch drive, you might want to add a 3.5-inch drive. Note: When installing a 3.5-inch floppy drive in an XT or AT, it may be necessary to replace the BIOS chips with newer ones programed to support the 3.5-inch drive. If you install a new 3.5-inch drive and you cannot format a disk properly in it, or if you cannot read from it or write to it, see your dealer for new BIOS chips. To add a new floppy drive, open your computer, following the previous instructions. Note the position of the current floppy drive. You will want to locate the new one next to it, or below it. Remove the screws holding the small metal tabs on both sides of the slot where the new drive is going. Carefully slide the new drive into position. On an AT, you will first need to install the two plastic "rails" on either side of the drive. These enable you to slide the drive into the drive- slot opening. Look at the already-installed drive to see where to put the rails. Reinstall the metal tabs to hold the new drive in position. Carefully connect the power supply cable to the back of the drive, and then the ribbon cable from the controller card. The ribbon cable connector should have a small tab, which lines up with a slot in the drive, on one end in order to connect it the correct way. Close your computer and turn it on. You probably will have to run your setup program to initialize (tell your computer that you have one) your new drive. A second floppy drive is always called B. Installing a New Hard Drive Installing a new hard drive is similar to installing a floppy, but with some differences. 1. Replacing a Hard Drive. You may decide to replace your old hard drive with a new one if you are running out of room, or if you experience a head crash or drive failure. Open your computer, following the previous directions. Remove the tabs holding the drive in place. Remove the cables running to the back of the drive, holding them by the connectors only, and carefully pull them straight out. Remove the drive from the drive bay. If it is necessary to remove any cards to get to the hard drive, be sure to note which slots or slots they were in. Check to see if there is a "terminating resistor" on the bottom of the drive. This should be a small, rectangular object, either yellow or blue, attached to the board, but not soldered in place. If the old drive has one the new one must have one also, and vice-versa. If you must remove a resistor, gently slide it out using a fingernail. On the back edge of the old drive, near the cable connectors, you will see a set of small gold pins, in pairs. One pair will have a small piece of plastic connecting the two. The new drive must be set in exactly the same way. If it is not, remove the plastic "jumper" with a pair of needle- nosed pliers and put it on the correct pair of pins. After attaching the plastic rails to the new drive, slide it into the drive bay and reattach the tabs. Attach the cables to the back of the new drive, being careful not to bend the pins. Double-check to see that everything is installed correctly; and close up your computer. Re-attach all cables and turn on your system. If your computer requires you to do so, perform a low-level format, following the instructions in chapter three. Partition and high-level format, and use your new drive. 2. Adding a Second Hard Drive You might want to add a second hard drive to your present system in order to increase your disk space. If your original system came with a 20 mb drive, for instance, you may find that you need more room to store large programs. If you do a lot of work with graphics it is likely that you will need room to store your graphics libraries, which can run into several megabytes each. Note: Be sure you have read the rest of this chapter, particularly the last section, "Installing a New Hard Drive," before reading this section or attempting to install a second drive. Let's say, for example, that you have a 20 mb drive and you want to add a 40 mb drive to it. Before starting, check to be sure that you have 1) a separate 20-pin ribbon cable with female pin connectors at each end, for the new drive, 2) a 34-pin ribbon cable with female pin connector at one end and two female edge connectors at the other end (probably already attached to your controller board and first hard drive), 3) a power cable y-adapter, unless your present system already has one available, and 4) a power supply rated at least 130 watts. First, "park" your heads at a safe spot on the disk, using a head-parking program, if yours doesn't have automatic head parking. Next, turn off and unplug your computer, and open it following the previous directions. For purposes of this part of the chapter we are going to assume that your present hard drive is drive C and that the new one will be partitioned as drives D and E. Locate the place where you plan to put the new drive. You may need to move your present hard drive to put in the new one. You will need to slide out the present hard drive in order to remove the terminating resistor. You must remove the terminating resistor from the C drive. The new drive should have a terminating resistor already. If it does not, put in the one you remove from the present drive. Remove the tabs and insert the new drive into the drive slot. Examine your 34-pin ribbon cable for any cuts or twists. If the cable has no cuts or twists, then follow the directions included with the drive for setting the jumper for drive D. If the cable has a cut in it, and if part of the cable is twisted, the cable already is set up to handle two hard drives. If so, be sure that both drives are jumpered in the same way. Connect the end connector to the new drive D and the middle connector to the existing drive. Carefully attach the power supply and the 20-pin ribbon cable. Your particular system may require you to put drive C on the end connector and drive D on the middle connector. If so, be sure that you put the terminating resistor on drive C. The terminating resistor has to be on whichever drive is attached to the end connector. Attach the tabs to hold the new drive in place. Be certain that everything is attached (cables, cards, etc.). Close your computer, do a low-level format, partition the drive as drives D and E, and format each one. See chapter 5 for formatting information. Installing an Internal Modem One of the more common additions to a computer system is the internal modem. It also is one of the easiest to install. As you will read in the next chapter, a modem enables your computer to communicate and share files with other computers, either in the same city or around the world. To install an internal modem you will need a modem card, phone cord with modular plug at each end, flat-blade or Phillips screwdriver, and a pair of needle-nose pliers. Follow the above instructions on opening your computer. Following the instructions on installing a card, insert the modem card into an open slot, and secure it. There should be one or two modular phone jack outlets on the back of the modem. If there are two, one should be labeled "phone" and the other one "line." The phone cord that connects to the wall jack goes into the outlet marked "line." The cord that goes to the existing telephone (if there is one) fits into the outlet marked "phone." Check the telephone to be sure that it works normally. Close the computer, after first making sure that everything is properly attached. Turn on your computer and run your communications program (see Chapter 10). After checking all of the settings, try dialing a number. Your modem should dial the number and should show a "connect" when it connects with another computer. If the modem seems to do nothing, double-check the COM port setting, and change it if necessary. Some communications programs will recognize only COM 2, even if you have only one serial port. When installing an external modem, there are two considerations. If you have a serial port on the back of your computer, simply connect the modem to it by means of the included cable. If not, you must add an internal serial card, and attach the cable to it. Thinking about buying a computer? Just bought one? Have a friend who is going to buy one? "A Realistic Approach to Buying and Using I.B.M. and Compatible Computers" is the book you need! Written in easy-to-understand language, by the Sysop of "The N.G.P.K. Shareware Board", in Cincinnati, Ohio, this book will guide you through all phases of computer ownership, from deciding what kind of computer you need (I.B.M. or clones, of course--no Apples!) and where to buy it, to selecting software (both commercial and Shareware), understanding and using DOS, setting up a hard drive, using printers, programs, modems, mice, etc. This book will even help you open up your computer and add modems, hard drives, memory chips, etc. All of the little "tricks" are in here. It will explain the difference between commercial, public domain and Shareware programs, how to log on to a BBS and use it, file transfer protocols, how to use graphics programs, the difference between EGA and VGA, etc. This is the only book you will need for the first 6 months with your computer! The Author says "This is the book I wish I had before I bought MY first computer!" Just send you name and address to: Computer Book Robert A. Mace, Publisher 1668 Trillium Court Cincinnati, Ohio 45215 Enclose $19.95 for each copy, $1.05 tax (if in the state of Ohio) along with $3.00 for postage and handling. Quantity discounts are available for class use or wholesale pricing. Inquire at above address.