Make use of the old computer parts from your old PC! Transition that hardware from your old computer and make use of it! You also can consider using those parts to build a new PC for your kids or anything you need. It happened to me just the other day. I was visiting an old friend from the past and we were catching up. Off the table I was sitting at I saw a CD Rom Drive and picked it up to look at it. He proceeded to tell me it was a drive that his dad had given him and he had a friend try to install it and all they got was the gateway screen and he did not know what he was going to do.
Now considering it had been many years since we had seen each other, he was not aware of my knowledge of computers and I simply said it was probably because the CD Rom drive was set to master and not slave. Of course the question was, “What do you mean?” So I simply explained how on the drive next to the slot for the data ribbon was the jumper settings and below was the engraved setting on the metal case. “What do I do then?” he said. I said, would you like me to just install this for you and proceeded with the process. All that needed to be done was to change the little plastic jumper on the pins that were set in the master position to the slave position.
Master and Slave Distinction You see it is simple to explain. The way a computer is set up is that there is a data ribbon that comes from the mother board and has all of the connections to connect to all the possible device location slots available in the tower to install additional hardware components. The main CD Rom drive and also the hard drive that is used at the computer start up are considered the masters. Then if you add an additional hard drive or add an additional CD Rom drive you need to set those additional devices as slaves. This way the computer understand which drive it should point to as the primary device on the computer system.
It turned out that I actually showed him how to set the CD Rom drive and an additional Hard drive as slaves and installed them in his computer in just five minutes. All we needed to do was reboot the computer and the necessary software installed automatically and he was ready to go. Then I simply showed him how to format the drive in my computer window explorer or selectively clean the drive and retain the information that he would like to keep. The CD Rom was fine and burning disks right from the first boot. I am currently sending some Ram memory chips that I have to see if it will work in the model of PC that he has and speed him up. That is as easy as removing the current chips and adding the new ones to increase the memory.
Observation It just amazed me how I have taken for granted the common placed knowledge I have with computers and the fact that so many people are apprehensive to look into working on their own computer. I guess that is a by product of Microsoft and the computer companies trying to make it look difficult and force people to take all kinds of training to support their products and services through out the world. I am completely self taught with assistance from friends and actually do as well if not better than trained computer technicians.
Do’ s and Don’ts
- Make sure your power is completely disconnect from the computer.
- Ground yourself from static electricity before starting any computer work.
- Be careful when working with the pins on Drives and CD Rom’s – Do not bend them.
- If something does not work make sure connections are correct and secure.
- If the changes do not work, put the computer back to the way it was originally and look for help.
- There is a great deal of information on computers on the internet. When in doubt research or chat, there are a lot of us out here willing to help you along.
- Remember! Just take your Time and Have Fun!
Happy Computing!