How To Connect Your Home Computer
This video shows the average user how to connect their computer to all their external components such as keyboard, mouse and monitor, etc. Learn how to connect your home computer with VideoJug's help.
Step 1: Computer Basics
Hi, this is Mr. Ford from MrFordsClass.com, and in this video, I'm going to show you how to connect your computer to all of these external components. The first thing you need to do is not panic. If you've ever seen the back of the computer, maybe its been near your desk for a couple of years and you probably need to go back there to disconnect stuff, you're going to see this spaghetti-mess of wires.
It might be a little intimidating but, in fact, it's very simple to do if you do it the way that I'm going to show you. You do one step at a time, you keep your cool, and it's very easy.
Step 2: Power Connector
So let's start with the power. On the back of this computer, you can see that there is this opening. This opening is built specifically for the power connector, and it's very simple. What you do is you just take it and you plug it in. You are now connected, assuming of course you plug the other end into the wall or your sure suppressor or your UPS or whatever else you plug it into.
Step 3: Monitor
The next thing you're going to want to connect is your monitor. This is not a TV; it's called a monitor. So we're going to plug it in. Now, notice something, and this is going to be the common theme for most of this little video. That is there is a color to this plug. The color is kind of a rich blue.
If you look on the back of the computer, we see a port that is also a similar, if not the same, color as this, and it is right here. This blue area is for the monitor. Now here is something to be careful about.
Now here is something to be careful about. On more than one occasion, I've had calls from clients who have said their video isn't working. I asked them "did they plug it in?" They addively say that they did in fact plug it in, but what they didn't do is plug it into the right opening. They have a blue one here, and further down here, someone has installed another video card that allows them to get video signal onto the monitor.
That one down here is the newer one, which takes priority over this one. So in other words, you just bought a really expensive video card. You want that one to work over the one that's built into the computer, which is the cheap one. So that one down here is going to work, it's not going to work from this one, and people have plugged it into the wrong opening. So when you plug in your monitor cable, make sure that there's only one place that you can plug it into. If in doubt, plug it into the one further down the computer. So I'm going to take it and I'm going to plug it in.
Step 4: Computer Plugging
Now here's a common mistake people make when they're plugging their computers in. When they plug everything in, they use these little thumb screws and they screw it in. Murphy's law dictates that if you screw anything in before you test it, it will not work.
I can't explain it to you, it's a universal law. If you screw something in before you turn it on, it won't work, quaranteed 100% of the time. So plug it in, don't screw it in yet. Once you turn on the computer and make sure everything works, then you can come back here and tighten it all up.
Step 5: Computer Accessories
So we have our monitor plugged in. Now lets say we'll plug in our mouse. I'm going to grab this mouse, and I know this doesn't look very professional, but the reality is this is probably what you're going to be connecting.
You're probably going to have this mess of wires somewhere, it's going to be all tangled, and this is what you're going to have to work with. So you grab your device and you fish out your connector.
Now notice again we have this color thing here, this color plug. It's kind of a greenish color. Look on the back of the computer for the matching color. Up here we find two ports. One is purple and one is greenish. We want the green port. Now we're going to plug it in.
Now the nice thing about these is you can't plug them in backwards. All of these plugs are keyed or made in a special way so that you cannot plug them in backwards, unless you really try. That usually involves a hammer. If you have to use a hammer, you're doing something wrong, please stop, okay? So we're going to plug this into the green opening, and it should fit, and it does. So that's in there now; we have our mouse connected.
Step 6: Keyboard Connection
Let's connect our keyboard. We're fishing through the wires and we have the connection; kind of a purplish color. We go again, we look in the back of the computer, and there's the purple plug, and you plug it in. Again, these things are keyed, so you can't put them in backwards. If you're meeting a lot of resistance, double-check to make sure you're plugging it in the right way.
Step 7: Other Plugs
Now from here we can plug in anything else we want. Let's plug in our recorder. We want to do web conferencing, we want to be able to talk to the grandchildren, the parents, or friends, so we want to plug in our recorder. Now, this is part of a webcam, maybe $20, and we're going to plug it in. Now notice again the color: it's kind of a pinkish color. We're going to look for the pink opening that matches and here it is right here, so plug that in.
Step 8: Speakers
A lot of monitors come with built-in speakers, as you can see, here is a speaker grill. On the back of it, we have a speaker plug. Again, notice the color: it's a lime green. I'm going to look for the lime green opening right here, and we're going to plug it in.
Step 9: Telephone Cable
This is an RJ-11 connector, and we've got RJ-11 jacks. What I'm saying is this is a telephone cord. This is a simple telephone cord, you find it in everyone's house, you plug it in to your telephone.
This goes into a modem. On this computer, I do not have a modem set-up, this computer was not built for a modem, but I do have a similar opening right here, which is kind of like a telephone jack but it's a lot bigger. I'm going to show you the difference.
The blue cable is called an RJ-45 connector. Basically, it's a network connector. If you have high-speed internet at home, you have cable or DSL or satellite or something like that, you have a high-speed conector. It's most likely going to use the blue connector.
The telephone cable is the one on my right which has got the greyish connector. So we're going to use this for the network connector, and you simply find the opening and plug it in.
Step 10: Final Connection
So, we have connected everything and now we need to connect to this computer to get it up and running. Here is a troubleshooting technique. Mr. Ford's Computer Repair Rule #1: If it's not working, always check your connections first.
Before you go through all of the troubleshooting procedures, before you open up a computer, before you go diving into anything else, if a piece of hardware is not working, if your internet connection is not working, if your printer's not working, if your monitor's not working, keyboard, mouse, anything's not working, check your connections first.
