Welcome.
Emerald Computers,
Basic Ownership Handbook,
by Jason Dragon

Thank you for buying an Emerald Computer. We hope this will be the start of a long and great relationship.

If you would like more information please also read our INFORMATION page.

This document contains many helpful tips to get the most out of your new Emerald Computer, we hope you will read and retain it. Please note that on your first start up of your new computer you may be asked to enter a product key for your Microsoft operating system. This key will be located either on a Microsoft sticker on your computer or on your CD for your operating system.

Packaging

It is important to keep the packaging that comes with your computer system. It is very helpful for transporting the computer. Also with the monitor you will receive a three-year warranty from the manufacture as long as you have original packaging. You will also have a kit. The kit contains all of your drivers as well as important documentation. The kit and your invoice should be kept in a safe place.

Shipping

Computers are much less fragile then they once were but still require some care when shipping. When shipping with a company such as UPS of FedEx there must be a large amount of packaging. All sides should have at least 8 inches of foam and it is best to double box the computer. When we ship computers we usually place the computer in the case box then place that box in a larger box, leaving at least 6 inches below and to each of the sides. The general rule should be to pack it so you feel safe dropping it at any angle from shoulder level.

The absolute best way to move the computer is on its right side (when looking at the front of the computer). The next best way is to stand it up. The worst way to transport the computer is on its left side. If your computer does not work after shipping, open the computer and make sure that all connections are tightly in place. Usually the computer will survive in just the case box if checked as baggage when flying.

Power

Your computer is an ATX computer with a power supply controlled by the motherboard. This means that your motherboard can turn itself on and off. There is a main power switch on the back of the computer, it has a 1 and a 0. 1 in on, 0 is off. When this switch is set to 1 then the motherboard can then turn the computer on, this is done by pressing the power switch on the front of the computer. The switch on our current generation of computers is an oddly shaped white button directly above the blue section on the front of the case. The smaller round button slightly to the right is the reset switch. Reset will turn off the power for a split second and make the memory reset, thus making your computer reload. Your software should automatically shut off the computer when you select the shutdown command. If for some reason you need to shut off the computer without using the software, holding the power button for 4 seconds.

In-order to keep the volatile memory from resetting a constant supply of power must be provided. If your power company can not provide this, we recommend you purchase an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS). A large appliance on the same circuit turning on can cause an interruption in power. Too much power is an even larger problem than too little power, this can happen when a large appliance suddenly shuts off or if a power surge hits your local grid, usually from lightning. To stop this a surge suppressor would be a good choice. Don't be fooled, most Power Strips are NOT surge suppressors. Look for ones that actually say they suppress surges, UPS also serves this function. A non-protected circuit could result in the death of your computers power supply. In most cases it will take the surge and sacrifice itself to save the rest of the computer. When this happens your computer will not turn on. If the surge is large enough the damage will be vast, usually focused on your RAM, hard drive, motherboard, CPU and video card. If you chose to have a non-protected circuit for your computer at least take the precaution of switching off your computer during all lightning storms using the 1/0 switch. This alone will protect you from most power problems.

Airflow

Your computer produces a large amount of heat. In order to remove this heat, your computer is equipped with fans that cool various parts of the computer by blowing the heat out the back. In order for this to work efficiently, your computer needs to be in a location that has good airflow. The ideal location would be non-enclosed and has at least 8 inches of open space behind the computer system along with plenty of space near the intake holes of the case.

Another cause of overheating is the accumulation of dust and other debris. This dust can insulate parts that need to be cooled and also clog up fans to the point where they stop working. The best way to deal with dust is by blowing out your computer with compressed air. Make a special point of blowing all of the fans, especially the CPU fan. The frequency of cleanings will depend upon the dust in the area where the computer will be running. Carpet fibers are one of the surprising things that have a great effect on computer systems. They are kicked up and sucked into the computer and then can not escape. Some computer systems that have been sitting on a carpet in a high traffic area can build up an inch in carpet fibers in less than a year. This clogs the CPU fan thus overheating the computer and causing $200-$300 in damage. Our computers have a temperature sensor which will simply lock or shutdown the computer if it senses that the temperature is reaching an extreme point. We recommend you do not smoke near your computer. Tobacco smoke turns in to an orange/brown tar that gums up the fans and hurts the computer. Hair is another cause of clogged up fans, this is includes both human and animal hair.

Installing Internal Hardware

Of course all internal hardware should be installed by someone who knows what he/she is doing. If you feel unsure about working on the inside of your computer, then please do not work on it. All hardware should be installed only when the computer is off, though it is best to install hardware while the computer is plugged in making it grounded. Before touching the inside of the computer or the parts you are installing be sure to ground yourself by touching part of the metal case. If you move, then be sure to touch the case again before resuming work. When opening the case one panel will have three screws and the other will have four. On the panel with four do not remove the second one, this screw is not holding the panel on but is holding the motherboard plate in place.

Installing RAM is one of the easiest things to install. Be sure you are installing the correct type of RAM for your computer as there are many types and more come out all of the time. Locate an open RAM socket, and firmly press the RAM into the socket, making sure that the plastic clips on either end attach fully. Do not force the RAM in or bend the motherboard too much. Ram has notches along the bottom, be sure to match these up with those on the motherboard. The next common item that a user would install is an additional CD device. To install one of these simply remove the plastic and metal barriers in the front of the case then slide in the device. The device should come with screws, two on each side will do. Now locate a 40-wire IDE cable and a power node. Hook these up to the new device. The red wire on the 40-wire IDE cable must be closest to the power node. If there is already another device on the same 40 wire IDE cable, then one device must be set to slave and one to master. This is usually done by moving a small plastic piece that has an internal metal strip that connects two specific metal pins, this is called a jumper block. On most CD devices the middle pair or no pair at all is the slave setting and the one directly to the right of that would be the master setting. This is also usually labeled with MA or SL. The CD device should install itself on your next boot. A hard drive is installed the same way as a CD device except that it is installed on one of the smaller bays at the bottom. You must partition and format any new hard drive before it will work in the computer system. Please look this up in the help section of your operating system. If a device is set to master, then it will have priority over the other device on the same chain and also have a better drive letter. For the install of PCI cards please read all instructions that come with that PCI card. The most common error installation error with PCI cards is not having them pressed in all of the way.

Installing External Hardware

Printers and USB devices are the hardest external hardware to install. With most USB devices you MUST install the provided software before plugging in the device. With a USB device you are actually supposed to plug it in while the computer is on and fully loaded. With printers, again they will usually not work unless the software is installed correctly. In addition, there are many different protocols, or languages, that printers can speak. Your computer can use any of them but must be set up to do this. If your printer does not connect correctly then you may need to change the protocol of your printer port. To do this you need to work in the BIOS. The BIOS is a menu that sets all of the basic settings for your computer upon boot. To get into the BIOS keep, tap the delete button when you turn on the computer. In there you will find a setting to select the language of your printer port. Please refer to the BOIS section of your mainboard owner's manual to get the exact section.

Proper care of Software

The most easily changed part of your computer is the software. Feel free to experiment, adding most things can easily be reversed. In most cases the only effect a change in software will have is to make your computer slower. If you would like a list of all of the software that loads on startup you can run a program called MSCONFIG. From there you can deselect programs you no longer wish to load which will make your computer faster. If you don't know what the program does it may be an important part of Windows so do not deselect it. If you do anything here to mess up the setting it can be reversed. If you install something you can usually remove it by going to the Add/Remove menu of the Control Panel. If your problem is larger than one program you can also use the roll back feature provided in Windows too. The most damaging thing that can be done to your computer is to be attacked by a virus. A virus is a program that is designed to spread itself and then destroy your computer. If you have a computer virus it can be hard to remove. It is necessary to frequently download off the Internet the newest virus definitions to protect your computer from this threat.

Drivers are small programs that tell your operating system how to use a piece of hardware. Each piece of hardware must have a driver. Some hardware drivers are included with Windows and some are included on CDs located in your kit. If you reload your operating system some drivers will need to be installed again. Please refer to the documentation accompanying the driver in your kit for instructions for that driver. Many times even newer and better drivers become available on the Internet. Emerald Computer uses many products from Amptron, you can refer to their website, www.amptron.com, if you wish to check for updated drivers. All of our GeForce series of cards have drivers located at www.nvidia.com. If you need more web sites please refer to the documentation that comes in your kit for that specific hardware.

CD-ROM Care

Your CD drive is now the main way of software distribution. It is good for reading many types of discs as well as being a great audio CD player.
If you have bought a computer with a CD Burner (also called Read/Write, CDRW, CDR or writer) you will have been given software to burn CDs. With this you can place data from your hard drive, from the Internet, from music CD or from any other CD onto a blank CD. This makes the data or music portable. There are two types of discs that can be written to. One can be written to only once (CDR) and one that you can write to many times (CDRW). The CDR discs are cheaper and can be read in any other CD drive. When you burn to a CDR disc it is permanent, anything added cannot be replaced, only covered up. If you turn off your computer while burning or some other error happens that disc is now useless. You can place any data you like on a CD, even music and software. You can also make a copy of another CD you already have. Once you burn a CD you will then be able to read it in any appropriate reader. If you burn music in a CD audio format you will then be able to play it in any normal CD player. Your drive is also able to write to CDRW (Rewriteable) media. This is a non-permanent format that can be erased and used again. The cost of these discs is about $1 more than CDR, they also can usually only be read by other burners and not by normal readers.
If you have received a CD drive that also can read DVDs now you can use this new exciting format to watch movies on your computer and also programs that come out on DVD. The software to play DVD movies is provided with your system. DVD movies are much higher quality than that of VHS and watching a DVD on your computer monitor will result in a much better picture than watching a DVD on a TV. When loading software from a DVD disc you can read at speeds 3-4 times faster than that of a CD-ROM. All DVD drives also read CDs.
Your CD drive will spin CDs at a very fast rate. Doing this can sometimes cause discs that have a crack in them to shatter and destroy the inside of your CD drive. Please be weary of CDs with cracks, as this is not covered under your warranty. The most common CDs that shatter are the low quality mass-produced ones that AOL and CompuServe send out. Also it is more common with CDs that have been through the mail. CDs work with optical technology and it is often necessary to clean the clear surface of the CD with water and a soft cloth in order to make them ready perfectly.

The Internet

The Internet is a large network of computer systems. You access this network by connecting to a computer that is also connected to the network. You can connect in one of two main ways, via your modem going over phone lines, or via your Network Interface Card (NIC). Your NIC will simply connect you to the next device and usually will connect you at a speed many times faster than a modem. Common ways to connect a NIC are a cable modem (COX) or a DSL connection. With a DSL connection you usually will have to pay two fees, one to the company providing you with the connection (Qwest) and then another fee to the company you actually connect two. With a modem, also called dial-up, you will usually have to pay the company whose computer you are connecting to. Their are many ISP which you can connect with, one that we recommend is Voidnet Communications (480-855-1333), they give great support and also will waive the activation fee and first month's fee if you mention Emerald Computers. Another great way to get a good ISP is by looking in the Internet section of your local yellow pages.
If you are looking to build a web site for yourself we can suggest a few places to start. It is best to get a domain for your web site, even if you are hosting it on your ISP's server. You can get information about getting a domain at domain.emeraldco.com. For making your website we suggest www.siteaid.com. They make a very good piece of software that we use to make all of our web sites. Of course if you would like us to help you create your web site call us, we have people who specialize in them.

Warranty Issues

If you have a warranty issue with the hardware or another question please call Emerald Computers at 623-463-3422 for assistance. Our main tech is here from 10am-4pm M-F, for best results call during that time. Most problems can be fixed over the phone. If you need to bring your computer in for work please call and schedule an appointment so that your wait will be minimal. Your computer will be handled in accordance with the warranty plan you selected when you bought your computer.

If you have more questions about your new computer you can e-mail us at support@emeraldcomputers.com.

Referrals

We are very thankful for referrals. If an existing customer refers a friend who buys a computer and you accompany them to buy the computer you will receive, for free, 128MB of RAM for your computer. Again, thanks for your purchase and we hope to see you again soon.

Copyright© 2003 Emerald Computers Inc,
4494 W Peoria #114
Glendale, Az 85302
623.463.3422, 800.467.3105
Last Updated - 6/19/2003