| Now it's time to get connected. Position your system unit so that you easily can access all the connections on the back, and carefully run the cables from each of the other components so that they're hanging loose at the rear of the system unit. Connect in Order It's important that you connect the cables in a particular order. To make sure that the most critical devices are connected first, follow the instructions in Table 2.1. Table 2.1. Connecting Your System ComponentsOrder | Connection | Looks Like |
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1. | Connect your mouse to the mouse connector. | | 2. | Connect your keyboard to the keyboard connector. | | 3. | Connect your video monitor to the video connector.. | | 4. | Connect your printer to the parallel connector. This connector is sometimes labeled "printer" or "LPT1." (Note that some printers connect to a USB port instead of the parallel port.) | | 5. | Connect a cable from your telephone line to the "line in" connector on your modem or modem board. Connect a cable from the "line out" connector on your modem to your telephone. (You can skip this step if you're using a cable modem or DSL modem to connect to the Internet; wait until you have the rest of your system up and running, then follow the instructions you were given by your Internet service provider.) | | 6. | Connect the phono jack from your speaker system to the "audio out" or "sound out" connector. | | 7. | Connect any other devices to the appropriate USB, FireWire, parallel, or serial connector. | | 8. | Plug the power cable of your video monitor into a power outlet. | | 9. | If your system includes powered speakers, plug theminto a power outlet. | | 10. | Plug any other powered external component into a power outlet. | | 11. | Plug the power cable of your system unit into a power outlet. | |
Connect by Color Most PC manufacturers color-code the cables and connectors to make the connection even easier just plug the blue cable into the blue connector, and so on. If you're not sure what color cable goes to what device, take a look at the standard cable color coding in Table 2.2. caution | Before you connect anything to your system unit, make sure that it's turned off. |
Table 2.2. Connector Color CodesConnector | Color |
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VGA (analog) monitor | Blue | Digital monitor | White | Video out | Yellow | Mouse | Green | Keyboard | Purple | Serial | Teal or turquoise | Parallel (printer) | Burgundy | USB | Black | FireWire (IEEE 1394) | Grey | Audio line out (left) | Red | Audio line out (right) | White | Audio line out (headphones) | Lime | Speaker out/subwoofer | Orange | Right-to-left speaker | Brown | Audio line in | Light blue | Microphone | Pink | Gameport/MIDI | Gold |
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