How to build a Time Machine...

...Well, maybe not, but it's just about as complicated!

So, we start with a box full of bits! Everything we need to build a PC! In theory? Yep, in practice too... And off we went, with the expert help of our Brother-In-Law, who whilst not yet out of school has already built several computers, upgraded no end and knows more than either of us! OK, so we were going to use this guy more than a little...



The new tower looked plain, empty and sad! Out went the power supply unit and in with the new one we'd bought offering more oomph!


Motherboard secured, several times (having missed out the metal supports first time and then having to remove it again to add the processor fan!) and a brand spanking new, Dual Core, AMD 64 Thingy Whatsit processor... Heck, it's fast and powerful! What else do we need to know! Surprisingly small compared to the Pentium IV we satisfyingly ripped from the heart of the previous computer though!

The fans... Well, just those used to cool the processor! There're three others installed in the final model - one on the side, one on the back and one with the PSU. Nothing like a cool computer! (We think BIL is mildly obsessed with fans!)


250GB hard drive screwed into place... We also added the pathetic but vaguely useful 40GB drive from the old PC in case we ever need the extra storage! We also have 80GB on the laptop and a 500GB external hard drive! It's like moving into a bigger home!


Lots of wires... Have we got them all in the right place?*


Memory... BIL claims to have suggested I buy two lots... One for each channel! I didn't get the email... Honest!

Another fan... Just before we attached the side panel, ready for first test! I didn't pick it up and knock this panel off within moments, forcibly disconnecting the fan in the process! Erm...


The BIG switch on! We allowed D to do this... What could possibly go wrong?*

...

...

*BANG!

There was a lot of smoke in a very short space of time but BIL again flew to the rescue - the power cord was whipped out and we sheepishly smelt the burnt plastic aroma!


No pointing fingers but I didn't attached the floppy drive cabling! With the heavens looking down on us, only the floppy drive was knackered in this little lesson learned! It only cost £3.50, a drop in the ocean compared with any number of other components that may have gone boom!


The burnt cables were cut, removed and spliced onto those from the old machine again, by this time, the old PC had donated most of it's working parts... We'd even used the graphics card temporarily whilst we sourced a new one that was actually compatible with the new system (my bad!)


And before we knew it... We had a BIOS! Bloody Marvellous what?


And a new Windows PC is born... We had considered Linux but we need compatibility with work (NHS) which is Windows based and rather than exposing ourselves to endless trauma's of not only a new PC, bare of all our usual familiar functionality and software, but also the integration of programmes that would allow us to carry work from home to office, we opted to stick with Microsoft's nightmare!

And it's still working several weeks later!

OK, so we've got a new graphics card installed, and a new Floppy drive courtesy of Ben & Graham so we're firing on all cylinders again, bar a blip with video playback that's just teasing us! Do we love the new PC? Oh, yes... Faster than a speeding bullet, smoother than a babies bottom, Cooler than an iceberg (probably due to all those fans) it's a little mechanical miracle!

Cheers to Ben! Jxx