Installing Hardware 1-4
Installation Steps
Step 1: Prepare your
computer
1. Turn off your computer and all peripheral
devices.
2. Touch a metal plate on your computer to
ground yourself and to discharge any static
electricity, and then unplug the power cord
from the wall outlet.
3. Remove the computer cover.
4. Remove the metal brackets from two adjacent
unused PCI slots as shown in Figure 1-3. Put
the screws aside for use later.
Turn off the main power
supply and disconnect your
computer’s power cord.
Systems using an ATX power
supply unit with soft power
off may still be powering the
PCI slot. This can damage
your audio card when it is
inserted into the slot.
Remove any existing audio
card or disable the onboard
audio chipset. For more
PCI slots
Figure 1-3: Removing metal
plates
ISA slots
metal
brackets