So I get a used CUP, A dell GX260 older but okay computer. I went out and bought some RAM and installed it myself no problem, worked fine. Next I wanted a new video card, so I get a VGA Geforce 6600 pluged in into the AGP slot start CPU and download drivers. On re start it said I needed to plug in supplemental power supply for the card to work properly. I turn off computer, open case and the only power plug available is to far to reach and the other end of it is attached to hard drive. I had the bright idea of unplugging hard drive and moving it down to a lower slot in the case so I could also plug in video card. I plug CPU in again and nothing works. It wont boot to the hard drive or to any of the CD/DVD drives. I checked bios and everything should have been fine, alos double checked that everything was connected. It seemed to be. Well I had another great idea to take everything apart and put it back together, and now if I plug in computer it turns on but wont turn off unless I unplug it and there is no video at all. No self test no error message not even a black screen. I dont know how this happened and I fear the worst. any suggestion would be helpful. Thanks.
Hello,
It is possible you may have knocked a cable loose or maybe damaged a component. Check to see if there are any wires loose or any burn/scorch marks on the motherboard.
Did you have a graphics card installed before or was it on board?
I suggest disconnecting any Hard drives, CD/DVD drives and removing the graphics card. You should ideally were a ESD strap or at least touch a piece of unpainted metal that is earthed say a radiator pipe to discharge any static.
Once you have disconnected the drives turn the PC on again.
- Let us know how it goes.
It had an internal factory installed Intel graphics controller, I wanted to upgrade to a Geforce, so no the Geforce I installed was not on-board. I tried taking out the battery from the mother board and taking everything out of the CPU and putting it back together,per another troubleshooting guide. I was careful to keep touching the power supply every few minutes to stay grounded. This has seemed to make it worse. As far as I can tell everything is connected correctly, and I see no visible damage to the mother board or any other component. None the less, at this point, the system is totally dead. After I plug in the power supply, the power turns on without pushing power button, but no video, or power on self test. Nothing, not even a black screen. Does that mean I am pretty much F***ed? Best I can gather is that the mother board has been fried some how. I well try to disconnect all of the drives and see if I can at least get it to boot to BIOS. Thanks.
so you did try booting without the graphics card? you may have overloaded a power supply rail and now the computer is not getting enough power.
Hi friend,
may i suggest to you put back all the original parts before you started messing about with it then boot up your BIOS CPU if its all ok like before then your mother board is working ok.
then start to replace your ram, video card and so on one by one, if then when you replaced the part you know where the problem is.
take your time in replacing the parts and give alttle tap on your HDD it could be stuck and needs releasing.
GOOD LUCK :)
We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.