Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
the motherboard by inserting screws into all the standoffs and tightening
them. Don't put excessive force on the screws, or you may crack the mother-
board. Finger-tight is plenty, plus at most a quarter turn.
Screwed
Although the problem is more common with cheap motherboards and cases, even
if you're using high-quality components it can be difficult, if not impossible, to get
all of the mounting holes aligned with the standoffs. There simply isn't much slack
to work with. With high-quality components, everything usually lines up perfectly
(although it may take some pressure). But if you find yourself unable to insert all
of the motherboard mounting screws, don't despair. We like to get all the screws
installed, both for physical support and to make sure all of the grounding points on
the motherboard are grounded, but getting most of them installed—say six or seven
of the eight—is normally good enough.
If you are unable to install all of the screws, take the time to remove the brass stand-
offs where no screw will be installed. A misaligned standoff may short something
out. In situations where we couldn't use all of the brass standoffs because of align-
ment issues, we have been known to trim double chopsticks to length and install
them as substitute standoffs. They're the right thickness to support the motherboard
and are made of non-conducting wood.
It's particularly important to provide some support for the motherboard near the
expansion slots, where significant pressure may be applied when installing cards. If
the motherboard is unsupported, pressing down on it may crack it.
Playing Both Ends Against
the Middle
Both ends of a SATA cable are
identical in terms of pin assignments
and keying, so it usually doesn't
matter which end you connect to
the motherboard and which to the
drive. Many SATA cables have simple
plastic connectors on both ends,
but some, including those supplied
with some Intel motherboards, have
metal latching connectors on one or
both ends that are designed to lock
the cable to the connector.
ConnectingSATAdatacables
The next step is to connect the SATA data cables for the hard drives and the
optical drive. The Intel DH55TC motherboard provides a cluster of six SATA
connectors near the left front corner of the motherboard. Four of these, color-
coded black, are standard SATA data connectors. Two, color-coded red, are
eSATA connectors, which may be used to connect standard SATA devices as
well as eSATA devices. Intel properly labels the four standard connectors SATA
0 through SATA 3. (Some motherboards begin numbering at SATA 1.) We'll
connect our two hard drives to SATA ports 0 and 1, and our optical drive to
SATA port 2.
Locate three SATA data cables, which may be supplied with the motherboard,
the drives, or both. Connect those SATA data cables to SATA ports 0, 1, and 2,
as shown in Figure 6-26. Align the cable connector with the motherboard con-
nector, making sure that the L-shaped keys on both connectors are oriented
properly, and then press the cable connector straight down until it seats in the
motherboard connector. (As a close examination of Figure 6-26 shows, we ac-
tually used three different SATA cables; they just happened to be the first three
we pulled from our supplies closet.)
If you subsequently remove such a
cable, make sure to press the latch to
disconnect it before you pull the cable,
or you may damage the motherboard
connector and/or the cable. Back in
the days when latching SATA con-
nectors were still very uncommon,
we once pulled a SATA cable from
a motherboard without watching
what we were doing. We heard a
loud cracking noise. Fortunately, it
was the cable we damaged rather
than the motherboard, but it might
easily have been otherwise.
The two hard drive SATA data cables can remain in the motherboard chamber
for now, but we need to route the optical drive SATA data cable through the
bulkhead and into the chamber that contains the power supply and optical
drive. To do so, loosen the screw that secures the sliding access panel in the
bulkhead, as shown in Figure 6-27, and slide the panel fully open.
