It Worked!

I admit, I have gone full geek. I have built my own computer.

Every Christmas, I buy myself something that I really enjoy. The last few years it has been buying components to my stereo system that I’ve been working on for a few years. Well, that stereo was completed last year and it sounds wonderful to me. Time to move on to something different.

For the last several months, I’ve been reading up on just how computers operate. I cannot understand it all as I’m no electronics engineer. But, these things are mesmerizing to me and how they work. Whatever is going on inside that black box is tempting for me to find out.

I’ve always been bitten by curiosity…always. If I cannot understand something I’m interested in, I have a tendency to go full-tilt learning it until I do. If you want to see someone be obsessed over something, see me when I’m focusing on some project. I’ll probably totally blow you off as I’m diving into a problem and when done, I’ll address you.

To sum it up in a nutshell, I invent projects just so that I can satiate that drive in me to know something totally new. Do I like challenges? Sure, but only those that interest me.

So, here’s a bunch of pics showing the progress of it all

Here's the empty case...now I have to fill it.

This is the power suppy with it's hydra headed wires all over the place.  They all have to find a home.

Power supply screwed into it's case.  Cut my hand a few times on those sharp sheet metal edges there.

 

The mother board installed.  I had already installed the CPU and heatsink and fan prior...

Another shot from a shallower angle. 



All the wires hooked up where they supposed to go...I was hoping...

The final build.  Everything in.  Wires, video card, DIMMS and whatnots...

Ok. I was really hoping when I put the cover in this thing, plug it in, hit the on switch the thing would fire up and not shower sparks and smoke.   I didn't turn it on for a good hour.  I went over everything about 5 times making sure it was all there.  And then I started to wonder what the hell am I going to do if nothing happened.  There is NO warranty on this build and who do I go to...the only person would be myself...augh! 

I had read when you do power it on, all fans should spin, and the computer should do something called a POST, which is a self check.  After that, it should ask me what I want to to do and that would be going into BIOS. 

Here's what happened...

It worked!  The BIOS detected the two drives, hardward and all the other thingies I put in.  Now all I have to do is get Windows 7 operating systemt and I have a new computer to play  with.

Next, perhaps I should build an MRI?