my brother gave me a PC without it's hard drive

[noideaveryconfused]

hi so I've got a PC and it's a bit overwhelming because I have no idea what port I'd need to use to plug in an internal hard drive (which I don't have yet), there are no loose cables and I've not got the foggiest at how I'm going to do this, please help simply because I've no idea what most of what it all means 

[Electronics Wizardy]

You probably want m.2 drive as there much faster, and don't need any cables. You can get many options online. 

 

How much storage do you need?

 

It looks like it was setup for a m.2 setup from the pics as there are no hdd bays, or the whole bays were removed.

[mariushm]

You can either buy a M.2 SSD and install it in that connector above or below the video card,   or you can install a SATA hard drive or SSD and use the SATA cables that are going to the back of the case  (or buy an extra SATA cable and plug it in one of the 4-6 sata connectors)

 

Looks like the M.2 header at top was never used - the screw and standoff is set for M2 22120 devices ... you may have to remove the screw and standoff if any and shift it to the right for the standard M.2 22080 SSDs  (first hole is 22030, the next 22042, then 22060 and 22080)

 

[Poinkachu]

13 minutes ago, noideaveryconfused said:

hi so I've got a PC and it's a bit overwhelming because I have no idea what port I'd need to use to plug in an internal hard drive (which I don't have yet), there are no loose cables and I've not got the foggiest at how I'm going to do this, please help simply because I've no idea what most of what it all means 

Check the other side .
Your brother could've mounted his HDD / SSD on the other side
That looks like a cooler master H500, there's x2 2,5" hdd mount there.

I don't see any reason for him to plug 2 SATA data cable if he used only m.2 drives

[Chris Pratt]

Both directly below the CPU cooler and in between the two red PCIe slots, you'll notice there's 3-4 screw holes with a standoff screw installed on the left and connector on the right. That connector is an M.2. The various screw holes are for installing that standoff screw in different places depending on the length of the M.2 device you install.

 

Storage is one said type of M.2 device. You probably just want to get a 500GB-1TB PCIe 3.0 (Gen3) NVMe drive. Some good choices would be a Samsung 980 or 970 Evo Plus or a WD SN750. There's other options as well, but those are the ones I'm most familiar with.

[HQuan]

Your brother actually put a hard drive in here! It's on the otherside! Check them out! I see the SATA cable.

But I also confused why your brother use SATA instead of NVMe SSD. Faster. Cheaper (in some case)

 

 

[BiotechBen]

Welcome to the forum!

Don't sweat, we have many knowledgeable people here to help.

I would recommend an M.2 (gumstick), they are generally faster and cost about the same as a SATA 2.5in drive

Below are the cables needed for a SATA 2.5in drive

[Poinkachu]

As for the HDD side.
For modern PC, those two port on the HDD/SSD is what is used.
Don't mind the rest.

[noideaveryconfused]

8 minutes ago, Poinkachu said:

Check the other side .
Your brother could've mounted his HDD / SSD on the other side
That looks like a cooler master H500, there's x2 2,5" hdd mount on the other side.

thank you! I found it much less confused now! 

 

I can see the two SSD now, do I just attach the 2.5" HDD to the mount above? 

 

[Poinkachu]

8 minutes ago, noideaveryconfused said:

thank you! I found it much less confused now! 

 

I can see the two SSD now, do I just attach the 2.5" HDD to the mount above? 

 

Well, it's already mounted there. All cables are connected properly as far as I can see.
Even the cable management isn't too bad.

You don't have to do anything but plug the power cord to the power supply (back side, bottom), power on the PC and enjoy. Congrats for your PC
edit: and put the side panels back. Unless you like your "new" PC naked.

Now put back the baseball bat , no need to bonk your brother. (joke)

[noideaveryconfused]

4 minutes ago, Poinkachu said:

Well, it's already mounted there. All cables are connected properly as far as I can see.
Even the cable management isn't too bad.

You don't have to do anything but power on the PC and enjoy. Congrats for your PC

Now put back the baseball bat , no need to bonk your brother. (joke)

I've tried that but it doesn't seem to work? any ideas on changing that 

 

 

and I'm definitely going to smack him when I next see him for leaving me with this haha

[Poinkachu]

12 minutes ago, noideaveryconfused said:

I've tried that but it doesn't seem to work? any ideas on changing that 

 

 

and I'm definitely going to smack him when I next see him for leaving me with this haha

There's a switch near the power cord plug on the power supply.
Back side, bottom, small switch. try flicking that before you press power on.

And, I know this one should be obvious but who knows you're so excited that you forgot.
Plug the power cord to power outlet.

if there's an "ECO" switch, it's up to you to turn it on or not. ECO on = less powerful PSU, uses less electricity or something, environment friendly stuffs.

Note : Don't smack him, building a PC with a GPU right now costs a LOT of money and/or Luck.

[GuiltySpark_]

1 hour ago, Poinkachu said:

if there's an "ECO" switch, it's up to you to turn it on or not. ECO on = less powerful PSU, uses less electricity or something, environment friendly stuffs.

To be clear, the ECO mode switch, at least on EVGA PSU's just affects whether or not the fan will turn completely off under low load situations, the PSU does not in any way become less powerful. 

[noideaveryconfused]

1 hour ago, Poinkachu said:

There's a switch near the power cord plug on the power supply.
Back side, bottom, small switch. try flicking that before you press power on.

And, I know this one should be obvious but who knows you're so excited that you forgot.
Plug the power cord to power outlet.

if there's an "ECO" switch, it's up to you to turn it on or not. ECO on = less powerful PSU, uses less electricity or something, environment friendly stuffs.

Note : Don't smack him, building a PC with a GPU right now costs a LOT of money and/or Luck.

I have done that, I'm not sure what the issue is but I know it only has SSD and no HDD so could that be it?

[mariushm]

So basic things dude .

 

Make sure the power supply button is on the ON position (I)

 

Make sure there's the power cable plugged in all the way

 

Make sure the 24 pin connector (right side, center, to the right of the ram sticks )  is plugged properly, push your finger a bit between the motherboard and the case right there where the 24 pin connector is, so that your finger will act as a cushion and your motherboard won't bend much, and then gently press on the big 24 pin connector.

 

Make sure the 8 pin CPU connector (top left corner) is inserted all the way.

 

Make sure the ram sticks are seated properly, press the clips on the sides to eject them, then insert them again ... one at a time, directly perpendicular, slide the stick in the slot channels on both ends and then press down from both corners of the ram at the same time. The clips on the sides should kinda snap into place and lock the ram in the slot. 

From the picture, it looks like the ram stick closest to cpu socket may not be seated properly.

 

Now ideally, as soon as you inserted the AC cable into the power supply and you switched the on/off switch in the back, there should be a led on the motherboard telling you the motherboard receives 5v stand-by and is ready to work.  Some motherboards don't have that led so you can't tell if the power supply sends 5v stand-by.

You could try to see if the power supply actually works with a trick, but involves disconnecting the 24 pin and the 8 pin connectors, so only if you can't figure things out you can ask and we'll tell you how.

 

The buttons (ON button and RESET button if it exists) and the ON led and HDD activity led (if it exists) all go to a header on the motherboard, usually in the bottom right corner..  You should make sure those wires are inserted properly in that header.

 

Ideally, you should look for the motherboard model (it's printed somewhere, usually under the first pci-e x16 slot so it's hidden by the video card in the picture, or it's printed between the cpu socket and the ram slots.  Maybe it's printed under the barcode on that white label between the cpu socket and the ram slots.

Basically, figure out the motherboard model, go to msi.com to your motherboard, download the manual and you can look at that connector to see if the wires are inserted there correctly.  If the computer worked before, they should be correct, unless he wants to prank you.

 

 

If it still doesn't work, try disconnecting anything that's not necessary to start the pc ... disconnect the SSDs, remove the video card (there's a retention clip at the end of the pci-e x16 slot, you have to press that and unscrew the bracket) , basically you don't even care about getting image on screen, you want to see the fan on the cpu spinning (provided you didn't mess with the cpu fan cable and it's plugged in a fan header) which will tell you the bios was loaded and the system tries to start.

 

 

 

 

[Poinkachu]

1 hour ago, noideaveryconfused said:

I have done that, I'm not sure what the issue is but I know it only has SSD and no HDD so could that be it?

SSD is basically the same like HDD, a drive. just that it is waay faster and less prone to data loss caused by mishandling such as bumping and the likes.
SSD = Solid State Drive
HDD = Hard Disk Drive

Simplest way to say it : HDD is like a truck, SSD is like a Ferrari, you can load a ton of stuffs into a truck and it's cheaper than Ferrari. But a Ferrari can go faster.

[noideaveryconfused]

On 1/21/2022 at 7:16 PM, mariushm said:

So basic things dude .

 

Make sure the power supply button is on the ON position (I)

 

Make sure there's the power cable plugged in all the way

 

Make sure the 24 pin connector (right side, center, to the right of the ram sticks )  is plugged properly, push your finger a bit between the motherboard and the case right there where the 24 pin connector is, so that your finger will act as a cushion and your motherboard won't bend much, and then gently press on the big 24 pin connector.

 

Make sure the 8 pin CPU connector (top left corner) is inserted all the way.

 

Make sure the ram sticks are seated properly, press the clips on the sides to eject them, then insert them again ... one at a time, directly perpendicular, slide the stick in the slot channels on both ends and then press down from both corners of the ram at the same time. The clips on the sides should kinda snap into place and lock the ram in the slot. 

From the picture, it looks like the ram stick closest to cpu socket may not be seated properly.

 

Now ideally, as soon as you inserted the AC cable into the power supply and you switched the on/off switch in the back, there should be a led on the motherboard telling you the motherboard receives 5v stand-by and is ready to work.  Some motherboards don't have that led so you can't tell if the power supply sends 5v stand-by.

You could try to see if the power supply actually works with a trick, but involves disconnecting the 24 pin and the 8 pin connectors, so only if you can't figure things out you can ask and we'll tell you how.

 

The buttons (ON button and RESET button if it exists) and the ON led and HDD activity led (if it exists) all go to a header on the motherboard, usually in the bottom right corner..  You should make sure those wires are inserted properly in that header.

 

Ideally, you should look for the motherboard model (it's printed somewhere, usually under the first pci-e x16 slot so it's hidden by the video card in the picture, or it's printed between the cpu socket and the ram slots.  Maybe it's printed under the barcode on that white label between the cpu socket and the ram slots.

Basically, figure out the motherboard model, go to msi.com to your motherboard, download the manual and you can look at that connector to see if the wires are inserted there correctly.  If the computer worked before, they should be correct, unless he wants to prank you.

 

 

If it still doesn't work, try disconnecting anything that's not necessary to start the pc ... disconnect the SSDs, remove the video card (there's a retention clip at the end of the pci-e x16 slot, you have to press that and unscrew the bracket) , basically you don't even care about getting image on screen, you want to see the fan on the cpu spinning (provided you didn't mess with the cpu fan cable and it's plugged in a fan header) which will tell you the bios was loaded and the system tries to start.

 

 

 

 

okay so I think I've done all that, and nothings changed, it still turns on because the RGB comes on but other than that I'm quite lost 

[helpmeplspls]

46 minutes ago, noideaveryconfused said:

okay so I think I've done all that, and nothings changed, it still turns on because the RGB comes on but other than that I'm quite lost 

but whats the issue, no signal from monitor?

[noideaveryconfused]

2 hours ago, helpmeplspls said:

but whats the issue, no signal from monitor?

yeah no signal from monitor, not sure of there's a deeper issue you see since I can't solve this one, I've plugged the HDMI in tot he graphics card port btw 

[helpmeplspls]

9 minutes ago, noideaveryconfused said:

yeah no signal from monitor, not sure of there's a deeper issue you see since I can't solve this one, I've plugged the HDMI in tot he graphics card port btw 

meaby u have not selected HDMI input on the monitor...try doing that

[noideaveryconfused]

2 hours ago, helpmeplspls said:

meaby u have not selected HDMI input on the monitor...try doing that

I have, I'm very stuck here haha