Ok just so that you know I'm not very good with computers :-|
I own a 1998 Dell Dimension with a P2 350 and 128 RAM. Recently my niece's PC got blown by lightning so her motherboard got fried. She bought a new PC so i took her old PC and see if i could salvage any parts. These are the parts i took and swap it in my PC:
1. PC power supply box
2. Graphics card (from old ATI Rage Pro 8MB to some no-brand 32MB)
3. CD-rom
With that i started the PC, and here's what happened:
1. PC turned on automatically without having to press ON-OFF switch. Never happened before.
2. The PC started, lights came on, but monitor failed to show anything. Motherboard made some weird noises at first.
3. Pressed the CD-rom eject keys, and acknowledge by tray opening and closing. No problems.
4. Pressed the PC reset button, and acknowledge with blinking lights as normal when PC resets. No problems.
5. Tried to turn PC off, but the On-Off button does not acknowledge. As though jammed. Had to turn off main wall switch to shut it off.
Another observation: my optical mouse, which normally will light up at the bottom even when starting, failed to light up.
Thinking that the power supply box was not compatible, i switch it back to my old one. Started the PC and the same things as mentioned above from 1 to 5 repeated. Then I switch the graphic card back, but no different, same thing as above repeated.
Now I begining to think i may have friend my motherboard, my question is:
1. what are the chances i fried the motherboard?
2. did the supply box fried the motherboard? I checked and the voltage was the same though
3. or was it the graphic card?
Please advise on what to do? Thanks!