Being a support technician, I am frequently asked to upgrade customers’ PCs. However, my most perplexing issue is with installing the motherboards, particularly older “Socket 5” & “Socket 7” boards.
While the manufacturers’ documentation (booklets) are reasonably accurate and complete, some questions are just never answered. When installing a motherboard, how can you tell if the board must be:
a.) insulated from case grounding
b.) grounded through the printed circuits on the bottom of the board at the mount points
c.) grounded through the printed circuits on the top of the board at the mount points
This has always been a trial-and-error process for me that I have never been able to have satisfactorily answered. This applies to both the AT and ATX format of power supply/case/motherboard combinations.
If you could offer some guidelines, this would greatly reduce the risk of “fried” components and wasted time.
Thanks