What do I need to trouble shoot second hand desktop computer? And how? ( sh.itjust.works )

[Resolved!]

I traded my cousin some really expensive RAM that I happened accross for his old desktop, that he put his graphics card into that he swapped from his newer computer. If I plug the desktop into the wall and try to turn it on nothing happens. If I open it up I can see that the where the wire from the power supply plugs into the graphics card there Is a little light on. So clearly some power is getting somewhere...

How do I go about trouble shooting this, and what tools do I need? I assume at minimum a multi meter? Not really sure what to do, it's been decades the last time I built a computer.

Board says "Asrock H110M-HDS"

Edit: Attached a Pic and noticed the light is actually on the graphics card, not motherboard. Added addtl info.

Update: So now all of the sudden the fan spins. I am at a loss as to why it spins now, as I haven't actually really done anything. I ordered a speaker for the mobo, so waiting for that.

Final update: It works! I apparently had either a bad monitor or bad display port cable. But using another monitor with DVI I was able to finally get it to fully boot!

I am not sure what got the fans to eventually work, maybe just a cable was jostled.

I really appreciate all the advice! I definitely know a lot more and feel better equipped to do things with it now.

BigMikeInAustin ,

Is the light on the motherboard or inside the metal box for the power supply?

More of the old, old ones would not do anything if any component was not properly seated. So maybe unplug and replug everything?

And if that doesn't work, I would start systematically removing components to see if I could get a different response from the computer.

Corkyskog OP ,

Sorry, I hadn't had it fully opened on the other side... it's actually the graphics card that has a light. I got tricked when I was looking in from the other side.

https://sh.itjust.works/pictrs/image/165ae9db-0009-445a-add6-97a9fae60d71.jpeg

viking ,
@viking@infosec.pub avatar

That power connector is not supposed to hang loose in the air. Check the handbook for the mainboard to find out where it's supposed to connect to.

Bezier ,
@Bezier@suppo.fi avatar

The 6-pin connector? That very much looks OK to me. I don't see where it would go.

However there's disconnected 2 pins on the graphics card.

Successful_Try543 ,

Looking at the Asrock product page, there is only an additional 8-pin-connector at the top left, no 4 6-pin.

GladiusB ,
@GladiusB@lemmy.world avatar

The MB probably doesn't jive with the GPU. Look up online for the MB manufacturer if it supports that sort of GPU.

If your RAM is seated as 1 and 2, make it 1 and 3 or 2 and 4.

Fans usually means the BIOS is recognizing some hardware as funky. I had this same issue when I bought RAM that was incompatible with my MB.

pivot_root ,

Unless the GPU is an Arc, compatibility between the motherboard and GPU shouldn't affect much more than the maximum performance you can squeeze out of the GPU. As a protocol, PCIe is backwards compatible.

If your RAM is seated as 1 and 2, make it 1 and 3 or 2 and 4.

Never assume. RTFM when trying to use dual channel memory.

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