How do I set jumpers on HD & DVD drives?

[soarwitheagles]

Hi everyone! How are you?

It is my first time here and was just hoping someone could give me some clues in regards to building my first computer......

I seem to be a little confused as to how to set the jumpers on the harddrive and the DVD Burner...

Here is what I am trying to put together...

ECS Mother board P4M800PRO-M v.2 + Intel 805D chip [came as a package deal from fry's for only $78]

Ultra Microfly Clear case

Ultra 500 watt power supply

Maxtor Harddrive 120 GB Ultra ATA

Maxtor Harddrive 200 GB SATA

Pioneer DVR-710

e-GeForce 6200 LE

4 Port IEEE 1394 PCI card by PPA

I am not sure if anyone can help me...

Here are my questions...

1. What is the best way to hook up my drives? [I thought about using the 120GB ATA as the boot drive. There is a primary and secondary IDE slot on the mother board but I am not sure how to set the hardrive and the Pioneer DVD up. Example: do I set both as cable select? Or is the hardrive to be the master and the DVD burner as slave? Would it be best to set one drive in primary IDE slot and the other in the secondary IDE or run both on the same cable? Etc.

2. Must I plug in a 12 volt plug into the IEEE PCI Card? If yes, will these extra plugs from my power supply work? [I see a four pin plug on the PCI card], Will the card work without power? The diagram of it can be found here:

http://www.ppa-usa.com/DOWNLOAD/1202-PinDiagram.pdf

3. Should I install all hardware and then boot the system or should I install certain items in a sequential order?

4. Which harddrive would be best to use for the Operating system [I plan on using XP PRO but the disk has no service packs]. I am not sure if the 200GB SATA or the 120GB Ultra ATA would work best. Someone told me they are almost the same. [both are 8MB cache].

5. How can I be sure I hooked up the correct wires from the front of the computer case to the correct pins on the mother board [some of it was not so clear], and am I at risk of frying something or making loud sounds and smoke at the first boot up?

6. I only found one pin on the MOBO for the system cooling fan but the case has a front and a rear cooling fan...how can I make both of them work? What is best, a "Y" with a sensor or an adaptor for an extra molex connector.

7. Am I over my head in my attempt to put together a new computer system? Someone told me it is quite easy and I should have no problems...

Ok, I hope I did not over do it on my first post.

Hope someone can help me.

Take care everyone!

It's me,

Fred

handiconstruction@yahoo.com

 

[Nitestick]

1. attach the HDD and DVD-ROM on seperate channels as masters, put the HDD on the primary channel and the DVD-ROM on the secondary.

2. don't know and i don't have time to check

3. there is no real order of components when building a pc. my recommendation though is to build the "guts" of the pc on an anti-static bag to test it. basically sit the motherboard on the bag (helps if it's raised or has the back edge of the motherboard next to the edge of a desk) install the graphics card so that the edge of the card hangs over the edge of the desk or whatever the motherboard is sitting on, install the processor and heatsink, install the memory and connect the power. now do a test power up with your monitor attached so you can make sure it works. if you like you can connect the drives and install your operating system now and then install the components in the case once you know everything is running.

4. it doesn't really matter which is used as the boot drive, generally better performance comes from a faster boot drive though. however there won't be a very significant performance difference between the two. i have a habit, almost a compulsion of using the smallest drive in any particular computer as the boot drive.

5. all you can do is trust in yourself and any documentation you have.

6. connect them to molex connectors

7. you shouldn't be over your head . it doesn't take a degree or any formal education to do. most people on this forum are "amateurs". don't confuse the meaning though, that doesn't mean they don't know what they're talking about. just that they haven't had training. any more problems and we can help you out.