CTS-120: Chapter 5 Project 5-1

This week’s Blog is a mixture of the hands on part of our class and project 5-1 form chapter 5.

I’ll start with Project 5-1.

1. Look at the back of your computer. Without opening the case, list the ports that you believe come from the motherboard.
1 x PS/2 Mouse, 1 x PS/2 Keyboard, 4 x USB 2.0 Port, 1 x serial Port, 1 x Parallel Port, 1 x VGA video Port, 1 x RJ-45 Port, 3 x Audio Connector. (See photo 1 below)

2. Remove the cover of the case, which you learned to do in chapter 4. List the different expansion cards in the expansion slots. Was your guess correct about which ports come from the motherboard?
1 x PCI & 1 PCI-E 2.0(16x) Yes I was right about the ports but to be honest I was the one who installed that MB.

3. Remove all the expansion cards to get a good look at the motherboard.
The MB is new so there were no cards on it.

4. Draw a diagram of the motherboard and label the parts.

5. Draw a rectangle on the diagram to represent each back of jumpers on the board.
I have a photo of the new MB so I’ll just label that for 4 & 5. (See photo 2 below)

6. What is the brand and model of the motherboard?
The MB is a Biostar Viotech 3100+

7. Locate the manufacturer’s Web site.
http://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/mb/content.php?S_ID=470#

8. Locate and label the CMOS clear and startup password reset jumpers on your diagram.
I’ll just do this on the photo. (See photo 2 below)

9. Reassemble the computer.
This will have to happen over the next few weeks, as Brad will be giving us only One part for the build per week.

Photo1

Photo 2

The Lab for this week was to install a Motherboard.

Each week will be installing one part for our PC builds. The case I got was an old min mid- ATX, ATX micro-tower. I was one of the lucky ones to get the new Biostar Viotech 3100+ Micro ATX motherboards.

The first thing I did was to “dry” fit the motherboard to check if the mounting studs lined up with the screw holes on the MB. Since this was a used case I only had to move one stud to accommodate the new MB.

The next thing that I did was to install the “real I/O panel”. This is just a plate with holes for the ports.

Now I was ready to place the MB in its new home and screw it down. So I did.

The only thing left to do at this point was to hook up all the wires that came from the case. (USB, Start, reset switch, and Hard drive LEDs) This is not hard but you must have good eyes to read the small letters on the MB so your sure to get the wires in the right place. Most of the time everything lines up so that each wire’s label would face out, and that was the case here. There was 4 sets of wires for the buttons in the case & 8 for the USB ports in the front of the case.

That was it there’s not a lot to putting just a motherboard into a case.

Below is a few photos from the MB install. Enjoy! :)

Check out them mounting studs!