Disassembly and
Assembly of a System Unit
To Disassemble
1. Prepare all your tools.
Long
Philip Screw Driver
Rubber
Eraser
Soft Wide
Bristle Brush
Paper
and Pen for documentation
2. Before opening the system case, be sure to turn
off the system unit. Turn off and unplug the AVR from the wall socket as well.
After that, unplug all the cables connecting to the back of the system unit.
After clearing all the connected cables, put the system unit on an empty working
table.
3. Touch the unpainted part of your system unit
with your bare hands to remove the ESD of your body. This is an important part
before opening your system case. You might destroy your RAM, Chipsets and other
components of your motherboard.
4. Remove the screws of the side cover opposite to
the side where the ports are. By most system cases, if you are facing the back
of the system unit the right side cover is to be removed. Return the screws
back to the screw holes to avoid losing them.
5. Once the side cover is removed, turn your
system side down where the opened side of the system unit should be facing
upward where you can comfortably look down on the inside of your system case.
6. We are now ready to remove the components
inside of the computer. The first thing we need to do is remove the power
supply. To be able to remove the power supply, remove first the molex
connectors (the white plastic connector at the tip of the wires of the power
supply) or the motherboard power connector, drive power connectors, the floppy
drive power connector, the sata power connectors and the four pin 12-volt
motherboard connector. With all power connectosr are removed from the
motherboard and drives, the power supply is now ok to be removed as well.
Always have the removed components placed in a remote and safe place away from
where you are performing computer disassembly.
7. With the power supply removed, the data cable
should be removed next. This includes IDE, SATA, and floppy drive cables.
Secure the removed data cables.
8. Next to remove are the RAM, Video Card and
other card peripheral components. Again have them secured in a safe place and
put the screws back. Clean the connector edges of the card peripherals by
rubbing the gold colored edge moderately with a rubber eraser then brushing off
the shredding. Do not attempt to clean the edge by blowing or brushing it off
with your fingers. Our body is acidic and you might only cause the edges to
tarnish faster.
9. Remove all drives. This will include your hard
drive, cd/dvd drives, and the floppy drive.
10. Since all peripherals where removed, the next
thing to do is to remove the front panel connectors. This will include the USB,
Front Panel (FP) and Audio header. If you are not sure of which connector is
being match to, write down or document the connections and orientation of the
connectors before removing them from the headers. Remember that not all
motherboards have the same header configuration so be careful and watchful
while documenting.
11. After removing the header connectors, we are
now ready to remove the motherboard. To remove the motherboard, locate first
all the screws and lightly unscrew all screws alternately. With this technique,
we are reducing the risk of warping or bending our motherboard. It may not have
a large impact on the bending of the motherboard but still it does have even a
little. Upon lightly loosening all screws, remove all screws then. Remove the
motherboard by carefully and lightly pulling it away from the I/O shield. Why?
because we need to free the ports that are fitted from the holes in the I/O
shield. After freeing the motherboard ports from the I/O shield holes, lift up
the motherboard and put it on the safe place.
12. Clean the system unit chassis with your brush,
also clean your motherboard and the rest of the peripherals being removed.
To Assemble
1. Provided that all peripherals are clean and
ready. We are now going to assemble your computer. In assembling back your
computer, what we have done during disassembling is just doing the reverse
order to assemble it. Since the motherboard was last to be removed, it should
then be the first to put back. Remove the retaining screws from the standoff
screws of the motherboard and let the motherboard seat on it with the ports facing
out towards the I/O shield. Lightly push the motherboard to set its ports to
the holes of the I/O shield. Put the retaining screws on the motherboard screw
holes but do not tighten it yet. Now be careful in doing this one and if this
is your first time doing it, it is best if you lend a hand for assistance.
Lightly push the motherboard towards to I/O shield and lightly tighten the
motherboard retaining screws alternately until all screws are tight enough but
not too tight. This is to ensure that your ports are protruding correctly out
of the I/O shield.
2. Once the motherboard is secured, put back the
FP, Audio, and USB header connectors as you will be using your documentation
for reference.
3. Put back the drives to the correct drive bays.
4. Connect back the RAM, Video Card and other card
peripherals to its proper slot inserting it properly and some cards will
require screws to be secured.
5. The data cables (IDE, SATA, floppy cable)
should be connected to its proper headers and drives. Remember the proper
configuration of the placement of the cables specially if you are dealing with
the IDE cables.
6. After the data cables are properly connected,
put back the power supply and secure it with the screws you removed earlier.
After securing the PSU to the chassis, connect the power connectors to the
drives and the motherboard.
7. Once all peripherals are connected properly,
have a final inspection by visually checking for loose connection or improper
connection. Once the system unit connections are thoroughly checked and
verified, connect the keyboard; the monitor, and the power connector then power
up the computer. This initial powering up of the computer while the side cover
is open ensures us that everything is ok before putting back the side cover. In
case something goes wrong, we can accessibly correct the problem right away. If
everything is fine shutdown the computer, unplugged the AVR and remove the
cables connected to the back of your computer. Put the side cover back.
8. Put the assembled computer back to its place
and connect the rest of the cables and connectors. Power it up and see if there
are unusual effects of your disassembling/assembling procedure done earlier.
Remember LAST OUT, FIRST IN!!!
