Above is my sad, dead PC, about to be rejuvenated. I can work on it from where it is so I didn't pull it down.

So first I proceeded to remove the old power supply.

Off it goes.

And here's the new one.

Compared to the old one. The old one's still ok. Need to find a use for that.

Then I pull out the old mobo. As easy as it looks.

I try to remember where every cable goes to for later. These things can get tricky.

And finally, le piece de resistance. Unboxing my new Asus M2N-MX SE Plus Mobo.

There it is. Two PCI slots, two SATA slots, Socket AM2+, Nvidia chipset, DDR2 1066, 10/100, etc. etc.

And there is my PC casing, mobo - less, ready to be mobo - fied!

But first, lets slap in the new power supply.

...

...

as well as that new tin plate that goes out to the back..

I install the processor beforehand. Need to be careful with this, so better do it on my desk.

And there it is. An AMD 64 Athlon, Socket AM2, LE-1640. Pretty run of the mill these days. But I'm going for reliability and its more than adequate for my needs.

So anyway we proceed with the unboxing!

.. and the unboxing..

.. ok we got the fan..

.. and more unboxing..

.. jeez how many trees do these people cut down for their packaging?

So there it is, the processor and the fan.

A better look at the pins.

Here's the bottom of the fan, with that pasty white substance it needs for cooling. DO NOT touch that.

Ok this part you need to do quickly to avoid dust (yes I washed my hands first). There's a hinge on the side of that white area where the processor's gonna get slapped in. You'll need to pull it upwards like this.

At a corner of that white area is a place lacking a pinhole, with a triangle that stands out. The processor also has a corresponding corner with that gold triangle. You need to match the two.

So you align the two, and just slap that in there nice and tight.

Then proceed to swing the lever downwards, snapping it in.

.. like so..

.. and lock it in place.

There it is, locked in place. Kinda like a safety pin.

Now for the fan! Match it against those black locks at either end.

Here's one end. You start with this.

Here's the other, with a lever. You put this in last. Once you get the lock to go one side, get the other lock to go in this way.

After which you swing the lever from one end..

.. to the other, like this. It looks complicated, but trust me it was waaaay harder back in the day, without these levers. You had to use a flat screwdriver and lots of muscle, risking slippage and driving a gaping hole straight into your motherboard.

That big black fan needs power, so here's where you plug it in.

Tada!

Now to get it in there.

There are screw holes on the mobo and corresponding ones where the old mobo was. It's just a matter of finding them and screwing it in using the old screws.

like here..

.. and here.

There's a big black 24 pin power cable from the power supply to the mobo. Slap that in.

And now, the RAM. A Corsair 1gb. DDR2 667MHz piece. My mobo will take up to 4gb., but the farthest I forsee myself buying is 2gb. in the next year or so. Maybe not even if it's fast enough.

Slap that in Slot A1 (or something like that). It's usually the slot closest to the processor. At least for Asus mobos, dunno about others.

It's only got one PATA slot, the computer industry's attempt to get us to move to (useless) SATA. I have a PATA hard disk and DVD-RW, so I slap that in.

There's also a power cable from the power supply going to an area near it. I really don't know what it's for, but the power supply manual (yes I read the manuals), says I should or it won't even start. So I do it.

And now the tricky part (we're almost finished)! The dreaded front end power button, LED hard dish and power lights, reset button and USB connections.

Dreaded because each tiny pin cable is individual and has no relation to the other, so you can easily mix this up and FRY YOUR MOBO. I'm not kidding. The reason they're all apart is because PC Casings are all different, so they can't standardize.

I have to get these..

.. to connect here..

.. following these instructions. I get it right eventually, but it wasn't easy.

And now the finishing touches! The all - important stickers!

To prove to one and all who enter my work area (like, a nephew or two), that I am using an Asus board with an Athlon 64 Processor! Fear Me! (yes those other stickers are from other PCs I've set up. There are more on the front of the PC).

Now for a little cleaning.

Make sure everything's bright and shiny, to welcome in the new mobo. Then a deep breath... and..

It Works!

.. everything looks alright..

Everyone say hello to Kubuntu 8.04 LTS!

And we start our installation journey.

And with that, ends this picture story. Obviously its working now, since I'm using it to write this post!