[mattll]

hi, I am having to save up for parts and was thinking of buying memory first but I am worried about not being able to test the memory to make sure it works. What parts do I need just to be able to boot the computer up so I can test the components I have bought.

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Hi'

You need mobo, cpu with hsf installed, 1 stick ram, psu, video card unless you have onboard video, monitor,keyboard, mouse.

You can test the ram with memtest 86, you don't need drives except a floppy to run memtest. When I build a system I always start with minimal components out side the case and check bios to see everthing is running to spec and test the ram then if everthing checks out I install in case and add drives ,cards,ect.

Rick

[Doby]

Hi'

You need mobo, cpu with hsf installed, 1 stick ram, psu, video card unless you have onboard video, monitor,keyboard, mouse.

You can test the ram with memtest 86, you don't need drives except a floppy to run memtest. When I build a system I always start with minimal components out side the case and check bios to see everthing is running to spec and test the ram then if everthing checks out I install in case and add drives ,cards,ect.

Rick

[mattll]

I am a little confussed with the memory to get either 32megx64 or 64x64. I have a Asus vintage with P4S800-MX mothboard if that helps.

Thanks

[Doby]

You should get pc 3200 ram. 512 mb but consider two 512 mb sticks for a total of 1 gig

Look hereRam

Rick

[mattll]

Thanks, when i was putting my cd-rw in, reading the manual as I was going along and it said to put P1 power cable into the cd-rw but i couldn't find this P1 cable, I have check everywhere, so I just put a normal cable into it. Is that ok?

[Doby]

yes a 4 pin connector with yellow, red, and 2 black will be fine

Rick

[mattll]

Ahh, thanks alot. Sorry for asking all the questions but i find you very helpful. If i turned the computer on with just the motherboard and a cdrw what would happen? Would it be able to run bios?

[Doby]

No,you would get some beeps if you have a case speaker pluged in or if you have voice post as some new mobo's have and speakers into the sound card you would get some sort of voice telling you of errors because you have no cpu,video card or ram installed

To get into bios you need, cpu with fan heatsink installed,mobo,ram,psu, video card or onboard video, monitor,keyboard


Questions are always welcome and I will answer as best I can.

Rick

[mattll]

So I can boot up without a hard drive?

[Doby]

Yes into bios, on any new build I don't attach any drivesI go into bios check the temps then the voltages. Then I check the cpu and ram setup. When everything checks out I add the drives, run memtest from a floppy for 3 passes for a quick check and then load the OS.

Rick

[mattll]

Thanks. A friend gave me a cd-rw drive but i think it has a pin missing from the ribbon plug in, will it still work?

[Doby]

I would not use it, cdrw are not that expensive of a part, I had a couple I pulled from computers that I used and they ended up not working after a short time and one kept freezing the computer so I don't think it is worth it.

Rick

[mattll]

I just powered it up to test the cd drive and floppy and for some reason my drive won't open.