Installing Drivers and Software
Let’s start installing the drivers for our computer. Insert the CD that came with the motherboard that is labeled “Drivers & Utilities.” We will make sure our devices have adequate drivers installed to be functional. When the CD loads, the setup screen appears and offers us a few drivers to install. We want to install, in any order: VIA Chipset Driver, VIA VGA Driver, VIA LAN Driver, Realtek AC97 Audio Driver. We can install most of them by clicking the yellow, “One Touch Setup” button. If we click “One Touch Setup” first, a dialogue box appears to let us know we need to install the VIA Chipset Driver first, so let’s do that. Clicking the Chipset installer button brings up the setup wizard. Follow the on-screen instructions to install the driver. We should finish the installation by letting it restart our computer.
When the computer is finished rebooting, we can now install the remainder of the drivers. Open up “My Computer” by clicking Start -> My Computer, and double-click the MSI logo on the D: drive. Clicking the “One Touch Setup” will now install 3 of the other drivers for us. Let’s click “Continue” and watch the magic happen. At the end of the installation, it will want to restart our computer again, so go ahead. It does this so that it can load the latest drivers into the system and get a fresh start. We can now load the final driver from the CD – the VGA driver to improve the screen resolution, since it is set at 800x600 now. When the installation completes, the screen resolution is automatically adjusted to 1024x768. I feel better already. Now let’s install the utilities that came with the CD. Click the Utilities tab in the top-left corner of the setup window, and start with installing the MSI utilities. Install the programs one at a time by following the on-screen directions. I installed Live Update and PC Alert from the MSI Utility menu, as well as DirectX 9.0c and Acrobat Reader from the Utility menu. The computer may require a restart or two, and the best plan is to simply allow it. The next priority is to install anti-virus software on the computer. The MSI CD comes with Norton Internet Security 2005, if you would like to install that program. If you have a spare copy of your favorite anti-virus lying around, go right ahead and use it, but since I don’t, I’m going to download the free AVG anti-virus software from http://free.grisoft.com. Before I can access this web page, however, I need to establish an Internet connection. I’ll do this by borrowing the LAN cable that’s plugged into my main computer (which is now missing a monitor, keyboard, mouse, and also an Internet connection). This cable plugs in next to the USB ports on the back panel. I can verify my Internet connection by opening Internet Explorer in the Start menu. Sure enough, the default msn.com home page appears, and I can navigate to Grisoft’s website for the anti-virus software. As soon as your anti-virus software is done installing, make sure that its virus definitions are up-to-date by running the update manager. When the software is up-to-date, I always like to run a system scan, even though I’ve only been connected to the Internet for less than 10 minutes. It only takes a couple minutes and, to me, is worth the peace of mind. With virus protection now in full force, we can continue to update the rest of our computer. Let’s start by first activating Windows so the annoying balloon pop-up will go away. To activate Windows, simply click Start -> Activate Windows (at the very top of the list) and follow the on-screen instructions. The next step in the setup process is to install Windows Updates. Double click the yellow shield in the system tray (in the bottom-right corner by the clock) to begin. Express installation is obviously the easiest way to go, and it will let you know when it’s done and needs your attention. During this process you’ll have to restart your computer at least once. At some point you may also have to install an ActiveX controller for a program called Microsoft Genuine Advantage. The ActiveX bar will drop down from the main toolbars in Internet Explorer to let you know. This tool checks to ensure you have a legal version of the Windows software. You may choose to flash (update) your BIOS at some point. This is not necessary if you’re not having any problems and you will have to reconfigure the settings we established earlier, but on the other hand, it’s a very simple process with the MSI Live Update. In fact, MSI Live Update handles all the driver updates for everything on the motherboard. I recommend updating all your drivers using this utility, at least in the initial setup process, if not once a month. Don’t forget to re-attach you computer’s side panel when you’re done configuring it. Now that we won’t need to be inside anymore, we can cover it up to keep the dust out and reduce the noise from the fans. Now that you’ve installed and updated all the drivers and vital programs on your computer, it’s time to install any additional software you would like, such as a productivity suite (a free suite is available from www.openoffice.org), and enjoy your new computer! Remember that this configuration is not near as powerful as most of the new systems on the market, and you can take the skills you learned and confidence you built during this tutorial to build your fully customized PC. Check out the BuildYourCustomPC forums and configurations to go further. You can also read the Buyer’s Guide to determine which components you would like to have in your system. Of course, if you have any questions about this tutorial or assembling another set of components, please don’t hesitate to contact me by posting your question in the forum. Happy Building! |
