MODULE 1: INSTALLING AND CONFIGURING

COMPUTER SYSTEMS

DESCRIPTION:
This module covers the outcomes required in installing and configuring desktop and
workstation computers systems. It consists of competencies to assemble computer
hardware, install operating system and drivers for peripherals/devices, and install application
software as well as to conduct testing and documentation

OBJECTIVES:
1. Improve his/her working habits
2. Familiarization of computer parts, cards and basic peripherals
3. Learn and practice the mechanics of computer hardware assembly
4. Understand and remedy the basic problems of computer startup

TASKS:
1. Practicing safety precautions

2. Identifying the basic computer parts and peripherals

3. Identifying materials, tools, and testing devices

4. Installing CPU and the cooling fan

5. Installing the RAM memory

6. Mounting the Motherboard

7. Installing Hard Disk drive and CD-ROM or DVD drive

8. Connecting internal wires, cords and cable (such FPC,USB, Audio, SPKR)

9. Setting up the computer

10. Reconfigure CMOS-BIOS settings

11. Installing Operating Systems

12. Install Systems device drivers

13. Installing application/utility programs

TASK 1: PRACTICING SAFETY PRECAUTIONS

1
Electrical Safety 1. Before installing the motherboard and
adding devices on it, carefully read all
1. To prevent electric shock hazard, the manuals that came with the
disconnect the power cable from package.
the electric outlet before relocating
the system.
2. Before using the product, ensure that
all cables are correctly connected
2. When adding or removing and the power cables are not
devices to or from the system, damaged. If you detect any damage,
ensure that the power cables for contact your dealer immediately.
the devices are unplugged
before the signal cables are
3. To avoid short circuits, keep paper
connected. If possible, disconnect
clips, screws and staples away from
all power cables from existing
connectors, slots, sockets and
system before you add a device.
circuitry.
3. Before connecting or removing
signal cables from the 4. Avoid dust, humidity, and
motherboard, ensure that all temperature extremes. Do not place
power cables are unplugged. the product in any area where it may
become wet.
4. Seek professional
assistance before using an 5. Place the product on a stable surface.
adaptor or extension cord.
These devices could
6. If you encounter technical problems
interrupt the grounding
with the product, contact a qualified
circuit.
service technician or your retailer.

5. Ensure that your power

Before you proceed
supply is set to the correct
voltage in your area. If you Take note of the following precautions
are not sure about the voltage before you install motherboard components
of the electrical outlet you are or change any motherboard settings
using, contact your local 1. Unplug the power cord from the wall
power company. socket before touching any component.

6. If the power supply is broken,

do not try to fix it by
yourself. Contact a qualified
service technician or your
retailer.

2. Before handling components, use a

grounded wrist strap or touch a
safety grounded object or a metal
Operation Safety object, such as power supply case, to

2
 avoid damaging them due to static
electricity.

3. Hold components by the edges to 4. Place six screws into the holes
avoid touching the ICs on them. indicated by circles to secure the
motherboard to the chassis.
4. Whenever you uninstall any
component, place it on Do not over tighten the screws!
grounded plastic pad or in the Doing so can damage the
bag that came with the motherboard.
component.

5. Before you install or remove any

component, ensure that ATX power
supply is switched off or the power
cord 3. is detached from the power
supply.
Failure to dos so may cause severe
damage to the motherboard,
peripherals, or components.

Handling Motherboard

1. Before you install the motherboard,

study the configuration of your chassis
to ensure that the motherboard fits.

2. Ensure that you unplug the power cord

before installing or removing the
motherboard. Failure to do so can cause
you physical injury and damage
motherboard components.

When installing the motherboard, ensure

that you place it into the chassis in the
correct orientation. The edge with
external ports goes to the rear part of the
chassis.

3
TASK 2: IDENTIFYING THE BASIC COMPUTER PARTS AND PERIPHERALS

4
 ATX Case Motherboard

RAM CPU

Video Card Hard Disk Drive

CD/DVD ROM Drive Sound Card

Network Interface Card Keyboard

Mouse
Monitor

Power Supply Unit Printer

Connector, Wires and Cables

5
 TASK 3: IDENTIFYING MATERIALS, TOOLS, AND TESTING DEVICES

A. MATERIALS

Cable ties – used to bundle cables neatly inside and

outside of a computer

Computers screws – are the hardware used to

secure parts of a PC to the case. Although there are
numerous manufacturers of computer cases, they
have generally used three thread sizes.

Operating System Installer-Operating systems

provide a software platform on top of which other
programs such as DOS, Linux, Windows XP,
Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10.

Motherboard Driver Installer-Motherboards are the

parts of computers that control nearly all their
functions. Motherboard drivers are the software
interface between a computer’s hardware
motherboard and the system’s software.

B. TOOLS

Anti-static wrist strap – used to prevent ESD

damage to computer equipment.

Anti-static mat – used to stand on or place

hardware on to prevent static electricity from building
up.

6
 Flat head screwdriver – used to loosen or tighten
slotted screws.

Philips head screwdriver – used to loosen or

tighten cross-head screws.

Needle-nose plier – used to hold small parts.

Wire cutter –used to strip and cut wires.

Wire cutter –used to strip and cut wires.

Tweezers – used to manipulate small parts.

Part retriever – used to retrieve parts from

location that are to small for your hand to fit.

C. TESTING DEVICES

Multimeter– used to test the integrity of circuits and the

quality of electricity in computer components.

TASK 4: INSTALLING CPU AND THE COOLING FAN

To install a CPU using Intel Socket 775/115x

Steps:
1. Locate the CPU socket on the mainboard.

7
2. Press the load lever with your thumb (A), then move it to the left (B) until
it is released.

3. Lift the load lever in the direction of to a 135o angle.

4. Lift the load plate with your thumb and forefinger to a

100o angle (4A), then push the PnP cap from the
load plate window to remove (4B).

5. Position the CPU cover the socket, ensuring that the gold triangle is on the
bottom-left corner of the socket then fit the socket alignment key into the CPU
notch.

6. Apply some Thermal Interface Material to the exposed area of the CPU that
the heat-sink will be in contact with, ensuring that it is spread in an even thin
layer.

8
 7. Close the load plate (A), then push the load lever (B) until it snaps into the
retention tab.

To install the CPU heat-sink and fan:

Steps:
1. Place the heat-sink on top of the installed
CPU, ensuring that the four fasteners match
the holes on the motherboard.

2. Push down two fasteners at a time in a diagonal sequence to secure the heat-
sink and fan assembly in place.

3. Connect the CPU fan cable to the connector on the motherboard labeled
CPU_FAN.

TASK 5: INSTALLING THE RAM MEMORY

Install a Memory

9
 The motherboard comes with two Double Data Rate 3 (DDR3) Dual Inline Memory
Modules (DIMM) sockets. The figure illustrates the location of the DDR3 DIMM sockets:

Installing a DIMM
Steps:
1. Press the retaining clip outward DIMM socket.

2. Align a DIMM on the socket such as

that the notch on the DIMM slot key on
the socket.

3. Firmly insert the DIMM into the socket until the reatoning clips snap back in place and the
DIMM is properly seated.

TASK 6: MOUNTING THE MAINBOARD

Steps:
1. Removing the Cover and Prepare the Case.

10
 2. Locate all the holes on the mainboard and chassis.

3. Place all studs and spacers needed on the chassis base and have tighten them.

4. Replace the Back I/O panel plate.

5. Line up all the mainboard’s screws holes with those studs or spacers on the chassis.

11
 6. Install the mainboard with screws and have tighten them.

TASK 7: INSTALLING A HARD DISK/OPTICAL DISK DRIVE

Internal hard disks

Internal hard disks connect to your computer's motherboard using an IDE interface or
SATA interface. Most new hard drives come with either an IDE or SATA connection cable,
depending on the type of drive.

A. Using SATA cable

Steps:

1. Connect one of the SATA power cables from your power supply to the power
connector on the hard drive.

12
 2. Connect the SATA cable coming from the controller card (or your motherboard
if it has a built-in SATA controller) to the back of the hard drive.

SATA cable

SATA PORT

TASK 8: CONNECTING INTERNAL WIRES, CORDS AND CABLE

(Such as FPC,USB, Audio, SPKR)

Connect Switches and Headers

Steps:
1. Connect the Front Panel Switches

13
 2. Connect the USB headers

3. Connect the Speaker Header

4. Connect the Front Panel Audio header.

14
 TASK 9: SETTING UP THE COMPUTER

a. Reinstall Power Supply Steps:

1. Slide it into the power supply mount.

2. Screws and tighten the four-screws.

3. Connect the power supply connector respectively.

15
b. Making Exterior Connections Steps:

1. Firstly, make sure all plugs are

disconnected from the socket and
power is OFF.

6. Turn on the power of the

monitor

7. Power ON
the system
unit
2. Connect the VGA cable of the monitor
to the system unit.

3. Connect the mouse and keyboard

connector to the I/O back panel.

4. Connect the external speaker or

headphone to audio jack.

5. Connect the AC line cord of the monitor

and the system unit to the surge
protector or AVR.

16
 TASK 10: RECONFIGURE CMOS-BIOS SETTINGS

Steps:
1. Restart the Computer and Watch for the BIOS Setup Message

Changing the boot order of the "bootable" devices on your computer, like your hard drive or
bootable media in a USB port (e.g. flash drive), or optical drive, is very easy.
The BIOS setup utility is where you change boot order settings.
Turn on or restart your computer and watch for a message during the POST about a particular
key, usually Del or F2 that you'll need to press to ...enter SETUP. Press this key as soon as you
see the message.
*Note: The boot order is a BIOS setting so it's operating system independent. In other words, it
doesn't matter if you have Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP,
Linux, or any other PC operating system on your hard drive or other bootable device - these
boot sequence change instructions will still apply.*

2. Enter the BIOS Setup Utility

After pressing the correct keyboard

command from the previous step, you
will enter the BIOS Setup Utility.
All BIOS utilities are a little different so yours may look like this or it may look completely
different. No matter how your BIOS setup utility appears, they are all basically a set of menus
containing many different settings for your computer's hardware.
In this particular BIOS, the menu options are listed horizontally at the top of the screen, the
hardware options are listed in the middle of the screen (grey area), and the instructions for how
to move around the BIOS and make changes are listed at the bottom of the screen.

17
 Using the instructions given for navigating around your BIOS utility, locate the option for
changing the boot order.
Note: Since every BIOS setup utility is different, the specifics on where the boot order options
are located varies from computer to computer. The menu option or configuration item might be
called Boot Options, Boot, Boot Order, etc. The boot order option may even be located within a
general menu option like Advanced Options, Advanced BIOS Features, or Other Options.
In the example BIOS above, the boot order changes are made under the Boot menu.
3. Locate and Navigate to the Boot Order Options in BIOS

The boot order options in most BIOS setup utilities will look something like the screenshot
above.
Any hardware connected to your motherboard that is able to be booted from - like your hard
drive, floppy drive, USB ports, and optical drive - will be listed here.
The order in which the devices are listed is the order in which your computer will look for
operating system information - in other words, the "boot order."

With the boot order shown above, BIOS will first try to boot from any devices it considers "hard
drives" which usually means the integrated hard drive that's in the computer.
Note: If no hard drives are bootable, BIOS will next look for bootable media in the CD-ROM
drive, next for bootable media that's attached (like a flash drive), and finally it will look on the
network.

To change which device to boot from first, follow the directions on the BIOS setup utility screen
to change the boot order. In this example BIOS, the boot order can be changed using
the + and - keys.
Remember, your BIOS may have different instructions!

4. Make Changes to the Boot Order

18
 As you can see above, we've changed the boot order from Hard Drive shown in the previous
step to the CD-ROM Drive as an example.
BIOS will now look for a bootable disc in the optical disc drive first, before trying to boot from the
hard drive, and also before trying to boot from any removable media like a floppy drive or flash
drive, or a network resource.
Make whatever boot order changes you need and then proceed to the next step to save your
settings.
5. Save Changes to the BIOS Setup Utility

Before your boot order changes take effect, you will need to save the BIOS changes you made.
To save your changes, follow the instructions given to you in your BIOS utility to navigate to
the Exit or Save and Exit menu.
Locate and choose the Exit Saving Changes (or similarly worded) option to save the changes
you made to the boot order.

6. Confirm Boot Order Changes and Exit BIOS

Choose Yes w hen prompted

to save
your BIOS configuration changes and exit.
Note: This Setup Confirmation message can sometimes be cryptic. The example above is
pretty clear but I've seen many BIOS change confirmation questions that are so "wordy" that
they're often difficult to understand. Read the message carefully to be sure that you're actually
saving your changes and not exiting without saving changes.

19
 Your boot order changes, and any other changes you may have made while in BIOS, are now
saved and your computer will restart automatically.

7. Start the Computer With the New Boot Order

When your computer restarts, BIOS will attempt to boot from the first device in the boot order
you specified. If the first device is not bootable, your computer will try to boot from the second
device in the boot order, and so on.
Note: In Step 4, we set the first boot device to the CD-ROM Drive as an example. As you can
see in the screenshot above, the computer is attempting to boot from the CD but is asking for a
confirmation first.
This only happens on some bootable CDs and will not show up when booting to Windows or
other operating systems on a hard drive. Configuring the boot order to boot from a disc like a
CD, DVD, or BD is the most common reason for making boot order changes so I wanted to
include this screenshot as an example.

TASK 11: INSTALLING WINDOWS 7 OPERATING SYSTEM

Steps:
1. Insert Windows 7 (Pro/Ultimate) installer disc or USB flash drive..
2. Restart your PC unit.
3. Press F2 or DEL-key
4. Choose SETTINGS menu.
5. Choose :USBXXXXXX in boot option 1 or ATAPI_XXXX for DVD disc installer
6. Press F10 to save/exit
7. Wait until reboot completed
8. Press any key…when Windows prompt appear
9. Create partitions (see next steps)*
10. Follow the on-screen steps/procedures.
11. Wait until it will Windows desktop completely installed
*Create At Least 2-Partitions:

Steps:

1. Delete all existing partition from bottom to above.

20
 2. Click Partition 1, enter the size: Example : 40-GB-(40 x 1024= 40960)
3. Click Partition 2, apply the remaining size
4. To add more partitions proceed: Disk Management.

TASK 12: INSTALL SYSTEM DEVICE DRIVERS USING DRIVERPACK

Steps:

1. Insert the DriversPackSolution disc.

2. Click Install-button to start installation.
3. Follow the on-screen instruction
4. Click Restart when prompt.

TASK 13: INSTALL NEEDED PROGRAM/UTILITY

Steps:

1. Insert the Utility Tool disc or ToolBox disc.

2. Browse the CD-DVD installer disc.
3. Locate all the folder or the utility program on the disc
4. Install the following application or utility manually -winrar, google chrome,
antivirus, office ,others

21