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 motherboard 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.
Are you getting any POST codes?
? Remember my knowledge is basic.
It doesn’t seem to turn on at all, there is no workable video output.
So the circle is where a little speaker should be attached:
Sometimes these come with the case, but in your case not apparently or the PC guy would have attached it. You can buy these pretty cheap (one or two bucks) and they look like this:
When you have one attached and start the PC the mainboard will run some tests, and if it detects a problem there will be a pattern of beeps coming out of the speaker. You can look up what this pattern means in the handbook somebody linked above.
POST means Power On Self-Test. All motherboards will run some diagnostics and detect basic problems (e.g. missing RAM, no boot media).
If the motherboard beeps, you can look up the motherboard and see what the number of beeps means.
POST codes are beeps. None of those at all?
There might not even be a speaker installed
Nope, nothing. The light on the case button doesn’t activate, there are no noises or beeping, the fans don’t spin. The only sign of electricity at all is a small light where it connects to the graphics card.