A Computer is Born

Before I give you my construction steps, let me give you a disclaimer. I hate disclaimers, but I feel like I must give you a reminder that I'm no expert in this area. This is my first time building something like this. I am reconstructing the instructions from memory, so I might leave something out. Plus the manufacturers may change something in a component, so these instructions might be wrong, even if I remembered everything correctly. You have the final decision in the building of your HTPC. If something doesn't seem right, stop what you are doing until you understand well enough what you are doing, and are sure that you do the right thing. The instructions that I'm about to write here are merely to document what I did, to help people who are scratching their heads about what the component instructions, such as they are, are trying to tell them. I strongly recommend reading actual the instructions for each component.

In my instructions, I am assuming that the back of the case is facing you, and when I use the term left and right, it is relative to the back of the case.

1. Set the case on a clear table, with the back facing you, top up. Remove the two thumb screws at the top of the case and set them aside. There is a short lip on the case top at the back. Use this to pull the top toward you. Then lift the case top and remove it. Set it aside with the two knobs.
   
   
2. There is a large support bar running down the middle of the case from front to back. In the left front, attached to the support bar and the case side is a cage for a hard drive. This cage is attached to the side of the case by 2 black screws and to the support bar by two silver screws. Remove these screws and set them aside.
   
   
3. Remove the hard drive cage from the case.
   
   
4. In the side of the cage, near the corners, are four small holes. From the bag of parts, install a rubber grommet into each of the corners of the hard drive cage. (There's a good picture of this in the Lian Li Case Installation Guide. See HDD installation.)
   
   
5. Insert the hard drive into the cage, with the end that contains the connectors oriented such that the connectors will point into the case. The screw holes in the drive will line up with the rubber grommets.
   
   
6. Locate four round head screws that have threads missing near the head of the screw. Insert these screws into the grommets and secure the hard drive to the cage. Set this cage aside.
   
   
7. In the right front, there is a cage for the optical drive and another hard drive. This cage is screwed to the case by a thumb screw. Remove the thumb screw and set it aside. Slide the cage to the back of the case and remove it.
   
   
8. In the bottom of the optical drive cage is a place for a second hard drive. Insert the rubber grommets into the corner holes. If you have a second hard drive, place it in the cage with the connectors pointing into the case and secure it with four of the hard drive mounting screws.
   
   
9. In the top of the optical drive cage, insert the optical drive such that its connectors are pointing into the case. Locate four round headed screws that have threads all the way along the shaft of the screw. On one side, place two of them through the cage into the optical drive, but do not tighten them completely. Repeat this process with two screws on the opposite side, again not tightening them.
   
   
10. Insert the optical drive cage back into the case and replace the thumb screw. With you fingers, push the optical drive forward until the optical drive door on the front of the case opens. Next, push the optical drive door on the case closed, pushing the optical drive back into the case. Tighten the optical drive screws on the side of the cage that is next to the support bar. Remove the optical drive cage from the case, tighten the screws on the other side of cage. Set the optical drive cage aside.
    
    
11. Remove the support bar from the case by removing the black screws from one end, and the thumb screws from the other.
    
    
12. The case fan on the middle right hand side of the case will be in the way of the power supply. Move this case fan to the front of the case by removing the screws from the outside of the case, repositioning the fan to the right front vent on the case and replacing the screws.
    
    
13. Install the power supply. This is totally undocumented in the Lian Li installation guide. Fortunately, the power supply goes in only one way. The fan faces up, and the power switch will be in the back. On my power supply, the words on the back of the power supply are upside down (causing me quite some confusion). This could have simply been a manufacturing problem with the power supply, or just an issue with putting a full sized ATX power supply, originally intended for a tower, into a micro ATX case. Using the screws that came with the power supply, attach the power supply to the case. The holes in the case and the holes in the power supply are in a trapezoid shape and the power supply can only be installed one way.
    
    
14. There are three large cables that permanently attached to the power supply. One of them has 24 pins, one has 8 pins, and one has 4 pins. The one with 8 pins will not be used with this motherboard. Route the 4-pin cable to the left hand side of the case, leaving the connector outside of the case. This cable will be beneath the motherboard after its installation. Route the 24-pin connector to the left front side of the case. This cable should not pass under the motherboard. It should pass between the motherboard and the optical drive cage and then beneath the set of 4 cables coming from the front of the case.
    
    Unfortunately, I found the pictures in the power supply's manual to be unhelpful, as their resolution is not sufficient to tell one connector from another. In the following steps, we'll need to identify the individual cables and install them in the power supply. We'll plug them into the actual devices in a later step. In the back of the power supply, you'll find two sets of sockets. In one set the pins are in a rectangular pattern and another set with the pins in a linear pattern. The ones in a rectangular pattern are for PCI-Express cards. The ones in a linear pattern are for the drives.
    
    
15. Look for a pair of cables labeled PCI-E on one of the connectors. If the cables are unlabeled, look for a cable with 6-pin male connectors on both ends in a rectangular pattern. These are the PCI-E cables. Set these cables aside, as the Hauppauge card does not need it.
    
    
16. Look for a Y-cable that has a 4-pin male connector and two linear connectors. This is the Peripheral cable. We will not be using it, and may be set aside.
    
    
17. Look for three cables with a pair of 4-pin female connectors and one linear connector. These are the FDD (Floppy Diskette Drive) cables. The manual describes these as Y cables, but the version of the power supply that I have has the female connectors in a series. (I suppose this depends on your definition of a Y cable.) Plug the linear connector of one of these cables into the power supply and set the other two aside.
    
    
18. There should be only one set of cables left. They will have a linear power supply connector on one end and three thin linear female connectors in the cable in series. These are the SATA cables. Plug the linear power supply connector of one of the cables into the back of the power supply and set the other SATA cable aside.
    
    In the next set of steps, we'll prep and install the motherboard. The Gigabyte instructions are pretty good. There's a booklet entitled Multilingual Installation Guidebook that tells part of the story. Unfortunately, this booklet glosses over how to plug-in the drives and internal connectors to the motherboard, but there aremore instructions in the booklet entitled User's Manual that gives a better description. The following steps will assume that you have read these books. I don't plan to reproduce the many diagrams in them.
    
    
19. Either set the case aside or move to another work area. Open the box containing the motherboard and remove it and the foam insulation at the bottom of the box. Set the motherboard on top of the foam insulation on your work area, with the I/O Shield toward you. (The I/O Shield protects the external sockets on the side of the motherboard.) On the right hand side of the motherboard nearest you, look for the revision number of the board. Make a note of this, at it will be needed later for updating the BIOS.
    
    
20. Locate the socket for the CPU on the motherboard and lift the small lever until it is at 90 degrees to the board.
    
    
21. Making sure that you have grounded yourself, open the box containing the CPU. The CPU is mounted on a small printed circuit board. Being sure to handle the CPU only by the sides of the printed circuit board, rotate the CPU until you have located the small triangle on the top of the CPU printed circuit board. Examine the socket on the motherboard until you find a find a small triangle on it. Align the triangle on the CPU printed circuit board until it is over the triangle on the socket and then carefully set the CPU into the socket. To quote the Gigabyte manual, "Do not force the CPU into the CPU socket. The CPU cannot fit in if oriented incorrectly. Adjust the CPU orientation if this occurs."
    
    
22. Again, making sure that you are grounded, carefully place a finger on the top of the CPU and place light pressure on it. Then carefully close the small lever on the socket and latch it into its locked position, parallel to the motherboard.
    
    
23. OPTIONAL STEP: There must be a thin layer of heat sync compound between the CPU and the heat sync. The heat sync that comes with the CPU already has this compound applied to it, but my friend Judy recommends using a better heat sync compound like Arctic Silver. If you wish to do this, remove the stock heat sync compound from the heat sink using a Q-Tip and alcohol. Make sure that you remove it completely. Next, place a tiny bit of the heat sync compound on the top of the CPU, about the size of a grain of rice.
    
    Note: I'm using the term bracket for the metal bar that runs through the heat sink and has square holes on each end. The bracket attaches to a pair of tabs on the CPU socket and are locked in place with a small clamp. The Gigabyte User's Manual describes these as the CPU cooler clip and mounting lug.
    
    
24. Carefully align the heat sync over the top of the CPU socket such that the bracket is over the tabs in the socket. I positioned the heat sink such that the clamp on the heat sink is to the right side of the socket. I'm not sure that it is important which side the clamp is on, but I was trying to get the power lines for the CPU fan to be close to the pins on the motherboard for the CPU fan.
    
    
25. Place the heat sink on the CPU. First, slip the bracket with the clamp over its tab on the CPU socket and press the bracket slightly toward the heat sink. Then slip the bracket on the opposite side of the heat sink over its tab in the socket. Finally, close the clamp to lock the heat sink in place. (I made a real mess of this process the first time and decided to try again. If you decide do the same, use a Q-tip and alcohol to remove the heat sink compound and apply fresh compound.)
    
    Next, we install the memory.
    
    
26. The memory is installed in the two yellow memory sockets. Spread the retaining clips at both ends of a memory socket. Make sure you are grounded and handle a memory module only by the printed circuit board on the ends. Never touch the contacts on the printed circuit board. Place a memory module into the socket. The memory module will fit in the socket one way, so do not force the module into the socket. Press down on the top of the memory module until the retaining clips snap into place. (I found that there was only so far that the clips would move up. Rather than forcing the memory down until the clips snap into place, just push the clips up the remaining distance and snap them into place manually.)
    
    
27. Returning to the case, there is already one power cord running through the motherboard area, the one with the 4-pin connector. Locate the cable with the sockets labeled HD Audio and AC'97. Route this cable through the motherboard area as well, being sure not to cross the 4-pin power connector. Lay the audio connectors on the left hand outside of the case. The audio cable will be a little further to the front of the power cable. (It might be better to try to route these cables under the motherboard after the motherboard is installed, but I found that a real pain.)
    
    
28. Remove the motherboard from the foam insulation and align it with the back panel connectors toward the back of the case. Carefully set the motherboard into the case, being sure not to trap any cables between the motherboard and its mounting posts in the case.
    
    
29. Snap the motherboard's I/O Shield into place in the case.
    
    
30. Check the alignment of the screw holes in the motherboard and the mounting posts in the case. There are seven screw holes and posts. (The Lian Li installation guide only shows six.) Using the rounded headed screws, the same type used to secure the optical drive, partially screw in the seven screws. When all seven have been partially screwed in, tighten all of them remaining way.
    
    Now it is time to plug in the remaining cables.
    
    
31. Plug in the 24-pin power connector to the 24-pin socket in the left front part of the motherboard.
    
    
32. Plug in the 4-pin power connector to the 4-pin socket labeled ATX_12V in the left back part of the motherboard.
    
    
33. Plug in the CPU fan into the socket labeled CPU_FAN in the back center part of the motherboard.
    
    
34. Take the power cable for the fan on the left hand side of the case, route it along the front edge of the motherboard and plug it into the socket labeled SYS_FAN on the right front side of the motherboard.
    
    
35. There is a socket on the right back portion of the motherboard labeled NB_FAN. This is for the North Bridge Fan. As far as I can tell, the North Bridge chip has only a heat sink, so this socket will not be used.
    
    
36. Locate a ribbon cable with an light green connector and plug light green into the light green socket on the front central edge of the motherboard labeled IDE. Leave the other end of this ribbon cable disconnected at this time.
    
    
37. Locate a yellow cable labeled Serial ATA on a connector and plug the straight connector into the socket labeled SATA2_0 on the right front of the motherboard.
    
    
38. In the left front of the case, locate a cable labeled Power LED on the connector. Locate the header (a set of pins coming out of the motherboard) labeled PWR_LED. Both the connector and the header have 3-pins, although there are only two wires in the connector. Insert the connector with the non-white wire toward the back of the motherboard.
    
    On the front right of the motherboard is a header labeled F_PANEL. This is the most complicated portion of the electrical wiring so proceed carefully.
    
    
39. In the left front of the case, locate a cable labeled Power SW on its connector. This connector is plugged into pins 6 and 8 of F_PANEL. These pins are on the left hand side of the header and are the second pair from the back of the case in the header. The printed circuit board is brown beneath these two pins.
    
    
40. In the left front of the case, locate a cable labeled H.D.D. LED on its connector. This connector is plugged into pins 1 and 3 of F_PANEL. These pins are on the right hand side of the header and are closest to the back of the case. The printed circuit board is blue beneath these two pins. Insert the connector with the non-white wire toward the back of the motherboard.
    
    
41. In the left front of the case, locate a cable labeled Reset SW on its connector. This connector is plugged into pins 5 and 7 of F_PANEL. The pins are on the right hand side of the header and are the second pair from the back of the case in the header. The printed circuit board is green beneath these two pins.
    
    
42. In the case's bag of small parts, locate a short pair of wires with a small electronic component on one end and a connector labeled Speaker on the other. Plug this connector into pins 14, 16, 18, and 20 of F_PANEL. These are the remaining 4 pins on the left hand side of the header, closest to the front of the case.
    
    
43. Locate the connector labeled AC'97. Its cable should be running under the motherboard and the connector should be outside the case on the left hand side. Plug this connector into the header labeled F_AUDIO on the center back of the motherboard. (Note, the pins for the connector labeled HD Audio, according to the case's Installation Guide, do not match the pins of the F_AUDIO header, but the AC'97 does, so I'm assuming that AC'97 is the right connector to use.)
    
    
44. My DVD drive did not come with a CD audio cable, so I did not connect anything to the CD_IN socket on the right back of the motherboard.
    
    
45. I did not connect anything to the header labeled SPDIF_IO on the right back of the motherboard.
    
    
46. In the center front of the case, locate the cable with the connector labeled USB. Plug this connector to the header labeled F_USB1 on the right front of the motherboard.
    
    
47. In the center front of the case, locate the cable with the connector labeled 1394. Plug this connector to the socket labeled F_1394_1 on the right center of the motherboard.
    
    
48. I did not plug anything into the LPT, COM or CI headers.
    
    Almost done!
    
    
49. Install the optical drive cage into the case. Take the ribbon cable plugged into the IDE socket and plug it into the back of the DVD drive. Take the end of the 4-pin power cable and plug it into the back of the DVD drive.
    
    
50. The fan on the right hand side of the case has two connectors, one of which has a 4 pins. Plug this connector into the middle connector of the 4-pin power cable.
    
    
51. Take the end of the SATA power cable and plug it into the hard drive. Take the right angled connector at the end of the yellow Serial ATA cable and plug it into the hard drive. Install it such that the cable points down.
    
    
52. Reinstall the support bar, replacing the thumb screws and black screws.
    
    
53. Reinstall the hard drive cage, replacing the black screws in the case and silver screws in the support bar.
    
    
54. Reinstall the case top, replacing the thumb screws.
    
    
55. This is a most important step, resist the urge to plug the machine in and turn it on. As hard as it is, I strongly suggest putting the machine aside for a few hours or overnight and come back to it later, double checking that the cables are all plugged in in the right place.

Congratulations, you're completed the most complicated part of this operation. There will further steps, but they're child's play compared to this.