Switch On and Install Windows

Power up and install Windows
The "Build Your Own Computer" section left you with the hardware assembled - one hard drive, a CD drive, a floppy drive and a graphic card installed in one of the PCI slots. The hard drive set as Master on the primary IDE cable whilst the CD drive set as Master on the secondary IDE cable. This was accomplished by adjusting the links on the back of the hard drive and CD drive (see the instructions supplied with each of these).

Note – although I have not come across this my self, some computers use "cable select" instead of the master slave links on the drives. Again if this system is in use set the drive links as indicated by their instructions. The upshot of this is that all is well if the BIOS recognises all of the drives in the correct positions.

The steps of the process are as follows
1. Build the computer installing a hard drive, CD drive, floppy drive and graphic card.
2. Set up the hard drive as Master on the primary IDE cable and the CD drive as Master on the secondary IDE cable, as indicated above.
3. Connect monitor, keyboard and mouse.
4. Power the computer. A basic display should be displayed on the monitor.
5. Enter the BIOS to make certain that the computer knows about the hard drive, CD drive and floppy drive.
6. Partition the hard drive.
7. Format the hard drive.
8. Load windows.

Ok let's start. Now is the time for that first power up and for you to install Windows. Make a quick final check in the computer case.

• No loose screws left inside?
• Are all cables as they should be?
• Is the power connector the correct way around on the floppy drive?

It is time to power up the computer.
The power lead and interface cables are connected to each device and the control and indication wires are connected to the motherboard - press the start button on the front of the computer case.

If all goes well the fans will start to run and immediately you will see some black and white graphics on the screen as the computer starts to initially boot up. You should also see the hard drive and CD drive detected at this stage, and as the boot progresses the floppy drive should be accessed, indicated by the lamp on its front, flashing briefly.

The computer will do little, at this stage, as the hard drive has no data on it.

The next step is to enter the Bios of the motherboard. Press the reset on the front panel of the computer and then keep pressing the DEL or F1 key (the data on the monitor will tell you what you need to do to enter the BIOS). When you have entered the BIOS you will be presented with a menu what you are looking for here is data on the drives to see if everything has been detected correctly. Most modern motherboards auto-detect the drives. Older motherboards had to be told what drives that it had been given.

ALERT-ALERT - you have entered the BIOS and can cause terrible disruption to the operation of the computer - WARNING – WARNING This is the area where you can make adjustments as to how the computer functions – BEWARE WHAT YOU CHANGE IN THE BIOS. You will have to make some changes in here at some stage, but my advice is to make only a few changes at a time, take notes and then let the computer run up to make certain that all is still working properly. If it is not go back and change back anything that you previously changed in the BIOS.

But for now all that you need check is that the hard drive and CD drive have been picked up as Master devices on each of the primary and secondary IDE cables.

Also set the bootable device up as the floppy drive (assuming that your Windows was supplied with a bootable floppy – if not set it up or the CD) followed by the Master hard drive on the primary IDE cable. If these are not set properly, your computer may not see the disk containing your windows start program.

Save and exit the BIOS. The computer runs through ready for the next step.

Note - The best way of seeing how the BIOS works is to look through all of its pages, but exiting without changing any thing.

Generally the BIOS setting, as left by the manufacture, is such that the computer will run. But this is getting ahead of the game. The computer should now be in a state where it can boot up to the DOS command line from a bootable floppy.

The next step is set up the hard drive and install Windows.

Partitioning the hard drive
A hard drive must be prepared in three stages.
1. Low-level format – this is done by the hard disk manufacturer.
2. Partition the drive into one or a number of drives – accomplished by you with FDISK or software supplied by the drive manufacturer.
3. High-level format – accomplished by you with the program FORMAT.

WARNING Both of the programs FDISK and FORMAT will destroy any data held on the hard drive if it had previously been used.

Partitioning
This is where the drive is set up as a single drive or multiple drives. The systems use for partitioning are referred to as FAT16, FAT 32 and, if you are installing Windows XP, NTFS.

A Primary partition is set up for the initial drive and Extended partitions are used to set up extra drives on the hard drive. Older versions of Widows had limits to the hard drive size. FAT16 only allowed up to a 2.1Gb partition size, FAT32 up to 2048Gb whilst NTFS is, to all intended purposes, unlimited.

Once Windows is loaded a program such as Partition Magic would have to be used to adjust the partitioning on the hard drive. This program accomplishes this task without destroying the existing data.

As I mentioned earlier the hard disk maybe provide with some software to initially partition the hard drive. If not you will require FDISK and FORMAT available on CD or floppy disk. This will normally have been provided with the Windows software. These are very powerful programs and the writer cannot be held responsible for any damage caused by them. This is an area where the help from your computer expert would be most welcome on using these programs for the first time.

Next Step - FDISK

• Insert a DOS/Windows bootable floppy disk into the floppy disk drive. Reset the computer and allow it to boot up to a DOS prompt.
• When the DOS prompt is displayed, insert a floppy disk containing the programs FDISK and FORMAT. You may have used a bootable floppy disk containing these programs, in which case it can all be done from the one disk.
• The computer should be displaying the prompt "A:". This means that the computer is looking at the A drive, that is the floppy disk. If this is not the case you will have to type the command "CD A:". This makes the computer look at the A drive.
• Type the command "FDISK" and press enter. Let me again warn you that this innocuous looking program is very powerful and will destroy any information previously held on the hard drive. Be very care what you do with this program.
• FDISK displays a menu with four options. If you have two drives fitted FDISK will give you a fifth option, that is the ability to choose which hard drive that you want FDISK to operate on. If you followed my previous section on building a computer, then only one drive will be connected at this stage.
• Choose option 1 – Create DOS partition or Logical DOS Drive and press enter.
• FDISK displays another menu asking if you require to make, the primary partition the maximum size possible or a smaller size. If you choose to make the partition smaller, then you will have to make an extended DOS partition. This is how you generate a number of drives on one hard disk. I generally favour splitting the drive in two equal sizes such that the computer sees the hard disk as drives C: and D:.
• At this stage it is easiest to make one DOS partition, so choose the option to Create Primary DOS Partition.
• Choose the option to make the Primary DOS Partition Active.
• Exit FDISK.

During this process if you are not happy with the set up, use the options to delete the partitions and start again.

However once you have FORMATED the partition or partitions and especially after you have loaded Windows do not run FDISK again. The only time that FDISK should be run is when you are setting a hard drive up from new or you have wiped all of the information from your hard drive and are again starting from scratch.

Next Step - FORMAT

The FORMAT that you will be undertaking here is the high level format. This is accomplished using the FORMAT program. This is the last step before you install Windows. Format sets the hard drive up as a usable drive ready to accept Windows and other programs.

After setting up the partitions using FDISK, with a disk in the floppy drive containing the program FORMAT, from the A: prompt type FORMAT C:. Another warning – if you have more than one hard disk on the system be certain that you are formatting the correct drive. In this case the command FORMAT C: refers to the C drive. I am sorry for spelling this out but if you ever format a drive all data will be lost from that drive.

FORMAT will ask you if you wish to continue. Press the Y key and the formatting will start.

After formatting the program will ask you if you wish type a label (name) for that disk. You can if you wish, but pressing enter will assign a number automatically and the process will be finished.