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I have just bought a used Dell OptiPlex 5060 mini tower and after unpacking it, if I remember correctly, it started up as soon as I connected the power cable (but I could be wrong about that). It ran perfectly, and later I tried to see if a GTX 1050 TI graphics card would fit. I wasn’t intending to fit the graphics card with the computer running but I wanted to see if there was enough room from front to back. I tried to get the card near the PCI E slot but there wasn’t a lot of room. Before the card even touched the PCIe slot I noticed it was touching some wires near its back end. Suddenly the fans on the computer stopped.
Some hours later, I returned to it and reconnected the power cable and – immediately (before I touched the on/off switch) the computer started up – there was a screen message saying it hadn’t started properly and offering suggestions. The first was a reboot and I chose that one. It then started perfectly and ran perfectly. After some time, I shut down the computer in the proper fashion.
Some hours later still I returned to the computer and pressed the power button but it wouldn’t start. The fans wouldn’t run and nothing was working. The power supply unit LED was solid green at the back of the case. There is no self-test button.
As an experiment to detect a loose connection, I again put the graphics card near the PCIe slot and wiggled it around. While I was moving it around, the fans started up for a few seconds and then stopped. This made me think there was a loose connection and I had disturbed it by moving the card but I have checked all the wired connections to the motherboard and they all appear to be sound.
As I write this post, the computer is still not working and the power supply unit LED on the back is still solid green. I have checked the output from the PSU with a multimeter and it is delivering power to the motherboard. The wires from the back lead to 2 connectors: a 6-pin (system power connector ATX) and a 4-pin (CPU power connector). I've tested both with my multimeter and the 6-pin connector reads about 4.3 V between the green wire and earth and the 4-pin connector reads 12 V. between green and earth
Any suggestions would be most welcome
Some hours later, I returned to it and reconnected the power cable and – immediately (before I touched the on/off switch) the computer started up – there was a screen message saying it hadn’t started properly and offering suggestions. The first was a reboot and I chose that one. It then started perfectly and ran perfectly. After some time, I shut down the computer in the proper fashion.
Some hours later still I returned to the computer and pressed the power button but it wouldn’t start. The fans wouldn’t run and nothing was working. The power supply unit LED was solid green at the back of the case. There is no self-test button.
As an experiment to detect a loose connection, I again put the graphics card near the PCIe slot and wiggled it around. While I was moving it around, the fans started up for a few seconds and then stopped. This made me think there was a loose connection and I had disturbed it by moving the card but I have checked all the wired connections to the motherboard and they all appear to be sound.
As I write this post, the computer is still not working and the power supply unit LED on the back is still solid green. I have checked the output from the PSU with a multimeter and it is delivering power to the motherboard. The wires from the back lead to 2 connectors: a 6-pin (system power connector ATX) and a 4-pin (CPU power connector). I've tested both with my multimeter and the 6-pin connector reads about 4.3 V between the green wire and earth and the 4-pin connector reads 12 V. between green and earth
Any suggestions would be most welcome