New system is just about ready..need advice

Hello all,

I have bought all new hardware for my new system and I am really excited about it. Being my first build with high end equipment I needed to ask a few questions. I got the Mobo preped and ready for the cpu/fan/heatsink as well as the memory. PSU is mounted, DVD drive is ready to go in as well as the hard drives and this is where I need some advise. Both drives are virgin and once installed along with the DVD I am curious if there is a particular way to go about getting the mobo drivers as well as the OS , which will be XP home into the system without messing up LOL. Will I need to go into bios and make changes seeing how there is nothing on the new HDD to read? Will I have to run the mobo disk first? The manuals I have recieved with the hardware are sketchy at best and I want to be sure.

I have set my hdd jumpers to master on one and slave on the other the dvd is set to master and will run off the secondary IDE plug by its self then of course the floppy...well the floppy is the floppy and there is only one way to put that in . I am still reading the manual and learning a Bit more about my new Asus A8V delux board but your input would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,
FIREDANCER

 

The only thing to worry about in the BIOS at this time is to make sure it is set to boot from the CD first.
Install XP, then install MB drivers, video, sound [if not onboard], and then modem in that order.
Install SP2 if you have it on CD after hardware is working.

But before you turn it on, double check all connections, make sure there is not an extra ***** rolling around or jammed under the motherboard. be sure the spacers are there between the motherboard and case, so the motherboard is not improperly grounded creating a short.
The first power up on cars or computers always makes me nervous, I am sure you are, too.

 

MarkP62,

Yes very nervous as I dont want anything going wrong but I am confident and thank you for the advise. First power up wont be till later tomorrow after work but I cant wait . Will drop a post letting you know how it goes

FIREDANCER

 

FireDancer,

I do the installation stepwise: just the mobo, one memory stick, vga and monitor, floppy drive, and keyboard; then apply power and go directly to bios, just to see if it's alive and well. Then add each disk drive one at a time and make sure it's still alive and well. You can add the OS when it's all put together, so the OS won't be confused by your adding hardware later.
I set the boot order to floppy, CD, and then HD0, and have never had a problem booting a bootable CD.