| Caution!
Caution! Caution! Caution! Caution! Caution!
You are about to be working on
the inside of your computer. Make sure that you have
carried out the following before proceeding :-
- Shut Down and switch off you computer.
- Unplug the power cord from the wall
socket or rear of the computer.
- Give yourself room to move around,
remove the PC case from the floor and put it on a
table, or at least pull it out where you can easily
work on it - Do not be tempted to crawl under your
desk, inside your cupboard or squeeze into any other
small area that your computer case lives in - You
will simply make it more difficult and frustrating
for yourself. Believe me I have tried it and it doesn't
save you time at all, not to mention the effect it
can have on your health.
Computer chips and hardware such as
motherboards and hardware cards, are sensitive to static
electricity. Before handling any hardware or working
on the inside of your computer you should make sure
that you have discharged the static electricity from
your body.
At the very least you should make sure you unplug your
computer from the mains and touch the BARE metal case
with your hand to discharge any static that may have
built up in your body.
Ideally you should wear a
grounding strap and/or use an anti-static mat to
reduce the risk of any components being 'zapped' by
static.
These can be purchased cheaply from most computer or
electronics stores and could save you a fortune in damaged
hardware.
Always unplug your computer from the mains before poking
around inside it - otherwise you could not only damage
your computer - you could personally find out why dead
components are commonly referred to as 'fried'!
Thereby ends lesson one!
|
Physically Installing New Hardware