Been looking around for step by step detailed instructions for building my system and came across a really good guide that is very "noob" friendly. Before reading from this guide i was thinking what the hell im getting myself into. After readin i am more confident i can do it RIGHT http://www.pcguide.com/byop/ Anyway, Ive been reading around about something called "BIOS", depending on where or what i was reading, it seemed kinda difficult for a "noob" like me. Ive read that you need a win98 boot disk, have to set a bunch of settings etc.. Well at this pcguide site it says to plug in all your hardware, turn the system on for the initial fan check then reboot, then it says to put in the winxp CD, the motherboard will detect your HD, then proceed to go to the HD format, you partition your HD, then winxp installs and viola' you're all done! http://www.pcguide.com/byop/byop_Chapter9InstallingWindowsXP.htm Either im not reading something right or is it that easy? Thanks! BTW, i will be using this mobo - ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail with this CPU - AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Venice Integrated into Chip FSB Socket 939 Processor Model
installing windows XP is very easy. You just read and follow the instructions on the screen, format the hard drive or make a partition, then install it onto whatever partition you like. A BIOS is a Basic Input Output System. Basically tells your computer initally when you press the power button what to do, and how to do it. I would take your motherboard, set it on a flat non-conductive surface like cardboard, the motherboard box is good. Connect the minimal parts to POST. Motherboard, CPU, Video Card, RAM, Power Supply, and go ahead and connect the hard drive. Make sure that everything works. If you get a signal to your monitor and the motherboard recognizes your hard drive everything is essentially in working order then put it all in your case, connect it all, plug in your cd-rom and put the windowd insall disc. Turn on, should start up and possibly ask to configure bios which you would enter the bios, set your CPU speeds, ram speeds, clock, and anything else you want. It's pretty simple, just read what's on the screen and save. the windows installer should start up after motherboard runs a post. Make sure you have atleast a 420watt MAJOR name brand power supply for that system, have fun and if I didn't mention something, ask
You have to load the drivers at the start of the installation by pressing F6 when asked to (this will be displayed at the bottom of the screen)
