Disassembling the System Unit & Identifying

Internal Components and Connections

Procedure
Step 1: Before disassembling the components, first we need to shut off the power to your system
and unplug the power cord from the PC and from the wall socket before continuing to prevent any
injuries and damage of the PC from Electrostatic Discharge (ESD).
Step 2: Use the proper anti-static procedures while opening the case. Then remove the cover of the
system unit and lay the system down so that the open side faces the ceiling. If it’s not facing the
ceiling, therefore you can’t see the components so just flip it around.
Step 3: When you open the system case, you will see lots of cables and wires connecting to each
component. Those wires and cables are what make the system function. If one of the cable or wires
is not connected properly or connected in the wrong place, the computer might malfunction such as
not turning on or error pops up on the screen. Some cables might be a single colored wire and some
multiple colored wires.
Step 4: To ensure that you don’t forget where the cables are connected, take some pictures so you
don’t need to troubleshoot at the end which takes more time than taking pictures. It will help you
extremely when you’re putting the system back together.
Step 5: Remove the modem cards, sound cards, network cards or video cards, fans (might be more
than one) carefully and any other extra cards. Place them into an anti-static bag to protect it from
ESD (Electrostatic Discharge) damage. Disassemble every component in the case leaving only an
empty case.
Step 6: Don’t forget to disassemble the power supply wires, the power supply and the data cables
from the components and motherboard. Also the hard drives floppy disk.
Step 7: Identify every components and take pictures of them.
Step 8: After you identified every component, put all components back in their place and ensure
that all cables and wired is connected at the right place, therefore we don’t need to troubleshoot
later on. Close the case and put the screws back in their place. Lastly, connect every external device
such as the keyboards, mouse, monitor, etc. and turn it on to see everything is working fine after
you disassembled.
 Schematic Diagram

The setup of the Desktop with every cable plugged to the back of tower.

This is the exact visual of how the front PC/Tower looks like.
 This the back view of the front PC/Tower with cables still
plugged.

The back panel view of a PC and the name of each part.

After unscrewing and opening the case this is what the inside look like with labeled of the visible
inside content.

Close view of theCD/DVDDrive.

 Close view of the hard drive.

The labeled view of some components and name on the motherboard.

The left side indicate the front view of the power supply & the right is the back view of the power
supply where you’ll see multiple colors of cables.

This is the graphic chip with labeled components within the chip.
 The left picture showed
the top view of the fan and the right picture showed the bottom of the fan which has heat sink to
protect the processor from getting hot. The circle thermo paste is where we put this fan on top of
the CPU socket.

The left side shows the top view of where the

bottom of the fan going to be place. The right picture shows the bottom of the processor which will
be place inside a CPU socket. The thermo paste prevents the processor to get heated very quickly.
 The left picture is how aRAM(Random
Access Memory) looks like; the right side is the Network Interface Card (NIC).

These are the view of graphic

card (left) and motherboard (right) opposite side (back). It contains numerous of circuits. If you look
at it very closely like I did, you’ll see lines everywhere and pin being solder in place very neatly
without touching or making contact with another pin.
 List of
Components
These are the list we had encounter when we open disassemble each components.
 Case
 CD/DVDROM
 CPU or Processor
 Case Fan
 CPU Fan
 Hard Drive
 Keyboard Mouse
 Memory (RAM)
 Modem/Network Interface Card (NIC)
 Monitor
 Motherboard
 Power Supply
 Sound Card
 Video Card
 Speakers
 Floppy Drive
 Conclusion
In this lab, I have learned so many useful tips on how to open and disassemble the case of a
computer. I saw components that I never seen before up close. I examined every components and
their appearance and what their function in the system. There are over 15 components. These
components are what make the computer turned on the way it is. Damaging or improperly working
components may end up with the computer not turning on the way it is. So caution is a must when
taking parts of these components. Overall, the components are shaped very nice and color up close.
Finally, now I know how RAM looks like.