Changing your computer case
Listed In Hardware » Cases and Modding — Viewing Full TutorialThis tutorial will go along the basics of fitting your motherboard, hard disks, PCI cards and all the other paraphernalia your computer contains into your new case starting from square one: taking it all out.
If you've never taken a computer apart before, or never opened one up, you should be sure to take Paul's tutorial on computer safety.
IMPORTANT: MAKE SURE YOU HAVE DISCONNECTED YOUR COMPUTER FROM THE MAINS, AND REMOVED ALL EXTERNAL WIRES (MONITOR, POWER, SPEAKERS, NETWORK, USB, PRINTER, COM1/COM2 CABLES) BEFORE COMMENCING ANY MAINTENANCE ON YOUR COMPUTER AT ANY TIME.
Firstly you'll need to screw off ONE of the sides of your tower. You can identify the side quite easily, since it normally has thumb screws at the back.
If you can't tell the difference between left and right, here's a handy image to help you:
Usually it's on the left hand side of your computer, with your motherboard on the right hand side. This is typical of most computers bought from Dell, eMachines, Hewlett Packard and all the major computer companies out there. Now unscrew the thumb screws. Normally the aptly named thumb screw will enable you to use your thumb and your index finger to unscrew it, but if you need a little more force there should be a groove in there for a flat head screwdriver to do the job. Once you've taken off both screws (one at the top, the other at the bottom) there should be a groove on the panel you're about to take off. Fit your fingers in the groove firmly, and then slide it off, pulling it backwards (assuming you're pulling it away from the front panel). You might need a bit of force on this, but not too much.
Idea: If you see a lot of dust inside your computer or on your fans, I recommend cleaning it out by switching your vacuum cleaner to "blow" and blasting the dust out. Do this in a garage or somewhere where people with dust allergies don't acumulate, or you've automatically given a hell of a lot of people watering eyes and runny noses - not to mention given yourself a reason to hire a maid and do some dusting. If you don't have a vacuum cleaner which does this for you, you can get a compressed air can from a computer shop to do the same job. This is a little more precision (and safe..). And please, for christ's sake, don't use a deodorant can or compressed lighter fluid. That is stupid, and everyone will laugh at you.
Now that you've got the panel off, you should have revealed the inside of your computer. The motherboard should be mounted to the other panel with screws. Now we're going to proceed to start disconnecting your devices.
Typically, you'll have two types of cable connecting to and from your motherboard and devices. The first one is an IDE connector, this is for your drives and is for transferring data.
You'll notice they're like ribbons, and have a red dotted line on the right. Remember that red goes on the right at all times. Remove these from your floppy drive, optical drive and hard drive. Once you've done this, you can remove them from the motherboard. Remember which cable goes with which drive; if you're lucky the one for the hard drive is blue and colour coded, the one for the floppy has a twist in it and the optical one is.. normal.
The second cable is the ATX power connector.
It comes in different shapes and sizes, but they're easy to identify with the plastic insulation and colourful wiring. The one in the picture connects to your motherboard, but most ones you'll come across are one row of 4 connectors about an inch long. To remove these, you might need to put a bit of force on the devices, but remember: NOT TOO MUCH! Once you've removed these from your drives, additional fans and PCI devices, you can move onto the motherboard. There are usually 2-3 different places where your motherboard requires power. The largest connector is 20-28 pins long, and has a clip which assists removing it (see picture). If your PSU is a good brand, other connectors will have the same aid.
Just so you don't get lost, here's another picture of a different type of power connector:
If you still have any wires hanging around which jump from device to device, remove them and keep note of which goes where. There is normally a small group of wires going from your CPU fan to the motherboard. There is no need to remove this.
Now that you've removed all your wires, and hopefully stored them somewhere safe, it's time to get out your screwdriver! If you're still stuck on finding a safe place, I recommend a box away from small or stupid kids:
The main type of screw that you're going to be working with is a phillips head (cross head) screw. Any type of screwdriver will do, as long as it fits a phillips head. I wouldn't recommend using a magnetic tipped one, since it could cause damage to your electrical components. The one I used was a 6 inch non magnetic phillips head screwdriver, you can get a hold of one of these from any good DIY or hardware store. Make sure the tip is clean, we don't want any grease or dirt on screws, or anywhere else if you slip.
I personally start taking the PSU out first at the back. If you go to the back panel of your computer, you'll notice there's a fan grill and a metal box with screws going through the case frame in a rectangular formation. Take out three of them, and then place your hand under the PSU and unscrew the last one. You can then slide the PSU out of its tray and get it out of the way. Put it on a table; carpets don't do it any justice. Remember that a hell of a lot of cables are going to come with it, so take it out slowly incase you didn't take them all out or you're.. er.. screwed.
Now we have enough space to operate on moving the optical and floppy drives out of the way. This can be done by looking at their trays and identifying the screws that mount them in there. Note: the metal edges around this area of the case are pretty sharp. Watch your fingers; if you're not careful, don't be surprised to take your hand out of the case dripping vampire juice. Once you've unscrewed these, you can exert some force to loosen the drives from their holdings. This is particularly true for unmodded PCs bought from companies like Dell. Depending on how your case was made, they either come outwards through the front panel or backwards towards the back panel. My case was an eMachines 190, the optical drive came out of the front and the floppy drive came out of the back. Don't put too much force on the drives, however don't be afraid if you hear some scraping.. just not too much.
Removed your drives? Put them somewhere safe. Now it's time to get working on your hard drive bays.
If your hard drive is mounted to a tray like your other drives, this should be no different to removing a floppy drive. If it's in a bay and hanging vertically, you'll need to screw the bay off, take it out, and then proceed to find the screws that mount the hard drive to the inside of the bay, and then slide it out as you did with your floppy and optical drives.
If your new case doesn't include a specific way for hard drive storage, I would advise keeping hold of your bay so you can use it on the new case. If it's got trays, use them instead.
So, you've got a pretty bare looking PC, huh? Now it's time to remove your PCI devices from their slots. You'll have a series of backing plates at the back of your PC which use the same screws as your PCI devices.
PCI devices include fans, expansion cards (like fax modems, graphics cards, WinTV cards and so on)Unscrew them, and then take two hands to the device, trying not to touch any capacitors or chips, and then apply moderate force to pull them out. I normally shake them out, pull out one side first and then "squiggle" out the other side.
If you have an AGP graphics card (a graphics card which fits into a brown slot which looks like a PCI one, normally a bit offset from the rest) you can do the same. In this case, you will have a clip on the other side of the slot which will assist you in removing it.
Keep these screws seperate from the rest, as you'll need these later.
You should now only have one part of your computer left! Your motherboard!
Before you do anything, you should notice there are a few cables going from your motherboard pins into your case. These are for the front panel controls and LEDs, such as the power button, reset button, turbo button, CPU and HD LEDs, make-me-a-god-damned-sandwich-button and i-need-a-beer LED. Take a photograph of where they're placed, or memorize where they are. Alternatively you could get artistic and draw a detailed mixed media collage of how they're connected. I don't really care, as long as you have some way of remembering. If you still have the manual for your motherboard, it should include a diagram. This will be for when you reconnect your connectors from the new case to the pins. You might have a few to remember, since some will go for the LEDs, some will go for USB ports and so on.
Scan the motherboard carefully for screws. They're the same size as the others and not hard to miss since they're surrounded by a metal or rubber ring for electrical insulation. Unscrew these as you would with any other device (perhaps taking a little extra care, since it's the heart of your computer[!]). Remember once you get to the last few screws to keep your hand somewhere to stop it from falling down, crashing and burning into a thousand little pieces; I would recommend holding onto the CPU heatsink or fan. Put the motherboard onto a table with no static charge, clean and all that. Tablecloths are a no, since they store static electricity.
As the saying in Blue Peter goes (you'll only get this if you're a Brit), here's one I made earlier:
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Part 2: Rebuilding your PC!
Remember how at the start of this tutorial we opened up your old case? We're going to do the same now. Open it up!
With a new case you sometimes get screws that are provided for you. Being a recycle-friendly guy, I decided to use the same screws since I was familiar with them from my old case, but it's up to you.
Now you have to open up the gaps for your optical and floppy drives. They normally look a little bit like this from the back.
I'd advise on putting your new box sideways on a table with plenty of light to see what you're doing.
IMPORTANT: New cases bite. No, really, they do, this is what became of my finger when taking one of these slots out:
You can make a gap by clicking the front bit out on one side, and doing the same with a screwdriver on the other side. Then you just need to poke it forward with your screwdriver and you've made a gap!
Do the same for both drives, and fit them in the same way you did when you took them out, e.g. you took your optical drive out by sliding it out of the front panel, you put it back in by sliding it in from there. If this doesn't work, do it from the back.
Now re-fit your motherboard. Put it against the side, and then align the holes. Screw it in, make sure it's the right way and the ports at the back are lined up with the ones on the back panel. If they're not, you can remove the generic back panel and use the one you did with your old case. It's a simple click-in click-out job, and doesn't require many brain cells.
Once you've got the motherboard done, screw out the backing plates for your PCI/expansion card devices and insert them into the motherboard. When doing this, make sure that they're the right way up. Don't use any more force than you need to, or else you will damage the connectors. Screw the devices in tightly when you've finished up. For graphics cards, double check everything is in correctly or you might have to end up going back later and having to refit it. (A tell tale sign of this is when you turn your PC on, and nothing is displayed on the monitor.
Stick your IDE cables back in your drives. Remember: red on the right.
Now it's time to refit your PSU. If you've got fans sticking out of your PSU which make fitting it harder, try putting it in upside down so the fan is facing downwards - this also helps airflow to a certain degree. Refit the power cables. I noticed for system blowers and extra fans which come with new cases that you might need to push them in with more force than usual. This is fine.
If a PSU came with your new case, in some cases the main motherboard connector (around 24 pins) might be larger than usual (28 pins). There's normally a clip which means you can detach the extra 4 pins from the main cable and insert it into the motherboard. If you're unlucky, go back to using your old PSU.
We've almost got everything complete. Now we have to consult those pictures we took earlier for the front panel connectors. They should be clearly labelled which goes where, all you have to do is make sure the configuration is correct. It varies from motherboard to motherboard, but from experience you should be looking for "FP1" or "Front Panel" on your motherboard to help you find where everything else was. You might find it useful to consult your motherboard manual, which came with your computer and tells you which goes where. You can normally find them online in .PDF format as well from your supplier.
I must point out at this stage that if you get the connectors wrong, you can cause serious damage to your computer. Luckily, nobody I know has been stupid enough to put a USB connector onto their power switch pins, but it's an accident waiting to happen.
Once this has been completed, you've now reassembled all of your computer. All you have to do now is close the case, and plug the cables in at the back!
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Part 3: Troubleshooting[!]
Here are a few problems you could experience:
P) I turn the computer on, but my monitor doesn't activate.
R) Is your monitor in the right port? There's two with most ATX motherboards: the integrated one, and your graphics card. If you're using a graphics card and you don't have onboard graphics chips, you should plug it into your graphics card's port. This is at the bottom of the computer, and is part of your graphics card in your PCI slot.
Still not working? Try refitting your graphics card. If this still doesn't work, take your monitor out, put it into the integrated graphics port and use your monitor's onboard graphics system. This will give you a display, and you'll be able to consult the device manager/appropriate sources for fixes. (Your graphics driver might have messed up.)
P) I get an error while I boot up that a drive/device was not found.
R) Refit the device. If you purposely meant to remove the drive or device from your computer, before your computer boots up, hit "DEL" and enter the BIOS. Look around for the boot sequence, and then remove the device or drive from your boot sequence. Save it to the CMOS, and then reboot (it should reboot automatically).
If this doesn't solve the problem, or if the device that wasn't found was critical (er, like your hard drive), make sure that your IDE and power cables are in properly.
P) I press the power switch, and nothing happens.
R) Make sure you've put the front panel connectors in the right place. Sometimes I get the reset switch and the power switch muddled up - this is fine, only that you've changed the switches purposes around. I'd recommend opening your computer up again, and arranging them correctly.
In the highly unlikely event you heard a hissing or frying sound, disconnect your computer from the mains and seek professional assistance. Chances are you mucked something up.
