Solved MOBO_HDD Cable Connection on Motherboard and GPU installation, Radeon card using NVIDIA Drivers

[Sherri is a Cat]

I did something I never do...



When I disassemble anything and if I have the slightest fear I might not remember how to put things back, I always, ALWAYS take pictures. This time, my dumb derriere thought I would remember so I didn't take pictures. If I didn't have to step away from my project, I probably would have.I disconnected both HDDs from the motherboard. Because there are two of them, I especially confused. The diagram in the manual is different than what is in my tower and it is shifted clockwise.

I do have the correct manual. The model number on my MOBO is the same as the manual's title.

Here is a link to my manual.

This is the diagram in the manual.

This is the MOBO in my tower.

The diagram has a row of 4 SATA ports

My MOBO has 2 stacks with 2 ports in each one, total 4 ports.

I'm not sure how they should be put back now. And I also don't remember if I took any of these out or not. They may not be in the right place now.

Please don't laugh! Im under an incredible amount of stress right now. If not, I might be able to figure this out on my own. Right now I need some help.

Thank you!

 

[Sherri is a Cat]

Also...

The unplugged cable wasn't unplugged. I don't remember which hardrive it was plugged into. I put the rubber band on it for pictures.

 

[Sherri is a Cat]

I'm going to post information as I find it in case this might be helpful to someone in the future.

The top stack on my MOBO is two 3Gb/s connectors. (SATA II)
The bottom stack is two 6Gb/s connectors (SATA III)

Unless I take it out, I'm not positive if which connector I should use with my 2 TB HDD. I'm guessing that it would be the SATA III.
As for the other HDD, I got it in 2008 and it has 500GB. Probably SATA II. I don't know why I have something plugged into each connector. I have 2 HDD and CD/DVD drive. I  think one of the connectors would be used for tthe CD/DVD drive. I'll worry about that later.
It looks like it doesn’t matter which connector the hardrive is connected to if it's a SATA III drive. From what I understand they are backward compatible.

I'm getting really tired so I'm going to check this in the morning with a fresh brain.

 

[Condobloke]

does this make sense:

HD from 2008 definitely sata II.....so, one of the connections from the top stack....the other to the cd/dvd?
The other HD (2tb) has to be sata III....can you put another drive in there ?....hook it to the remaining sata III.....6gb/sec...a SSD wouold be the go......you do not have to secure a ssd....just let it sit somewhere. (They have no moving parts, therefore they dont move)

(The cd drive is just a sata (data) connection and a power connection. sata (data connectors are small...may 1/2" wide......whereas a power connection has far more wires entering and is approx 1" wide.....maybe a bit more)

If I put it this way....if you were to hook up the wrong sata connectors to either of those hard drives you would not do any harm?....all it controls is the speed of data input/output from the that drive ?

 

[CaffeineAddict]

If those 2 come out of PSU then one of them (larger one) is likely for DVD drive.
If your DVD drive isn't connected to PSU then that's it.

 

[atanere]

My MOBO has 2 stacks with 2 ports in each one, total 4 ports.

The top stack on my MOBO is two 3Gb/s connectors. (SATA II)
The bottom stack is two 6Gb/s connectors (SATA III)

Yes, from the printing on the mobo, it looks like the yellow stacked SATA ports are your faster ones, 6 GB/s, and the black stacked ones are the slower ones, 3 GB/s.

Any of them will work to plug in your CD/DVD/HDD/SSD drives... there is no "correct" order necessary. In general, I would use the slower ones for your CD/DVD drives first, and use the faster ones for SSD (or HDD).

Every drive needs power (red, black, yellow wires) and data (SATA) cables to be securely attached. In your photo, it looks like the upper hard drive does not have the power attached, but I may be mistaken... its connection may be hidden by the bundle of wires, but it looks to me like an unplugged "in-line"' connector just behind the lower HDD.

It looks like it doesn’t matter which connector the hardrive is connected to if it's a SATA III drive. From what I understand they are backward compatible.

Yes, all the ports will work, but you don't want to put a fast SSD on your slower ports. Even a slower HDD should be on the faster ports unless/until you replace with SSD.

 

[Sherri is a Cat]

does this make sense:

..can you put another drive in there ?... SSD wouold be the go

I keep hearing you say how great SSDs are.

Now, Condobloke I just have to ask you this...

If I had one, dont'cha think you would see one in the pictures?

If those 2 come out of PSU then one of them (larger one) is likely for DVD drive.
If your DVD drive isn't connected to PSU then that's it.

...In your photo, it looks like the upper hard drive does not have the power attached...

I quit plugging things back in when I started getting confused.

Any of them will work to plug in your CD/DVD/HDD/SSD drives... there is no "correct" order necessary

all the ports will work

When I started getting confused, I began wondering if they should be in a certain order.
THEN..
I started thinking about spark plugs and firing order.
THEN...
I started thinking about what happens when the firing order is wrong.
THEN...
I remembered hearing what an engine sounds like when it backfires.
THEN...
I had visions of what my MOBO might look like in a similar scenario.
THEN...
I thought to myself, "I'm poor as F#!K right now and this the last computer I have! I just dropped a chunk on a used graphics/video card. It wasn't much, but again I'm poor as F#!K right now! Maybe I should have waited to hear back about that used gaming computer I found online. It was posted on Craigslist almost 2 months ago. I could probably talk him down on the price if he still has it."

AND THEN...

Right about then I hear the sound of my phone alerting me that I have a new message. It's my bank. Amazon just charged me for a phone I returned 3 1/2 months ago. I already talked to Amazon about this 5 ttimes. They assured me 5 times they had their s=!t together and I wouldn't be charged for a phone I returned 3 /2 months ago.

AND

Three DAYS AGO, I called my bank to explain what's been going on with Amazon. I told them to block ANYTHING Amazon tried charged me. I was assured all charges would be declined.

I called my bank again. I thought about all hoops I would have to jump through before I can actually talk to live human because the AI WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO SOLVE MY PROBLEM. My bank closed before I could get through ALL OF THE HOOPS.

I would have to talk Amazon about this for the 6th time. To do that I had to go through another chat bot before talking to a live person. I told them them order number I was calling about, look at the history in my in my account, get their s#$t straightened out and send me something in writing this time saying I won't be charged. If they didn't do that I would go to the Better Business Bureau and I would never do business with them again.

THEN

I went back to my computer. I couldn't figure things after playing whack-a-mole with issues for 2 years now that all have to do money and all have roots in the doo-doo my ex left me with.

And with that0...

Thank you so much for your help. You have no idea how much I appreciate it.

 

[atanere]

Hang in there! You'll get through all of it!

 

[Brickwizard]

I called my bank again. I thought about all hoops I would have to jump through before I can actually talk to live human because the AI WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO SOLVE MY PROBLEM.

If your bank is anything like mine, when you phone you get the automated switch board, press 1 for this, 2 for that, 3 for the other try pushing hash star hash star several time as fast as you can. in many cases it will confuse the system enough to put you to a person

 

[atanere]

Sometimes you can hit 0 (zero) to get a person/operator too. Good luck!

 

[Condobloke]

Now, Condobloke I just have to ask you this...

If I had one, dont'cha think you would see one in the pictures?

Absolutely !...I know it would be photographed in living colour !

I am also aware that the state of the Chancellor of the Exchequer is a tad parlous at the moment. I know that feeling well. It is a constant state, here
When the occasion arises that funds etc allow it, and always providing that the asus is running as it should....a ssd would be a good investment for the sata III 6gb/sec. It would give you a bit more screwing around to do, (I can explain that later) so leave it until the timing is right for you.

Seeing you like analogies to engines, because a ssd has no moving parts there is no noise, and very little heat to overcome. Result?...efficiency. Speed, usually an enormous uptick

 

[Sherri is a Cat]

Absolutely !...I know it would be photographed in living colour !

I am also aware that the state of the Chancellor of the Exchequer is a tad parlous at the moment. I know that feeling well. It is a constant state, here
When the occasion arises that funds etc allow it, and always providing that the asus is running as it should....a ssd would be a good investment for the sata III 6gb/sec. It would give you a bit more screwing around to do, (I can explain that later) so leave it until the timing is right for you.

Seeing you like analogies to engines, because a ssd has no moving parts there is no noise, and very little heat to overcome. Result?...efficiency. Speed, usually an enormous uptick

There you go again about the SSD's.

 

[Sherri is a Cat]

I'm rigging the one of the connectors on my heat sink. The little tab part broke off. I hope I can buy just the connector thing, because I refuse to buy an entire heat because of this one little piece of plastic. Does anyone know of I can buy just that one little thing? I look for one...

I'm almost finished figuring out a good way to rig it.

Then fresh thermal paste, put all the SATA cables back, put in the new video card and then start praying.

 

[Condobloke]

The likely easiest place to find one might be a repairer.....it would be second hand, but you would get it for a song

Buy two.

 

[Sherri is a Cat]

I'm putting the GPU in now. This one has something my other one doesn't have. I assume it needs to be plugged into the PSU. I want to make sure I've got this right.

The GPU

I don't have a 6 pin plug from my PSU. So I guess this is an adapter?

WOW! My hands are dry, I need lotion after I'm done with this!

And the 3 pin plugs into this?

And look like this

And then this

 

[Condobloke]

Not my bowl of fruit at all....graphics cards and I have no history

The guys below will hopefully swing by as they come online

@Brickwizard
@atanere
@dos2unix
@APTI

 

[bob466]

Might be time to take it to someone who can put it back together for you.

 

[Sherri is a Cat]

Might be time to take it to someone who can put it back together for you.

Are you kidding me?

I haven't even had someone fix any vehicle I've owned since 1996. Last year I changed the CV axles on my car.

I built the computer I had before the ASUS.

 

[atanere]

I'm putting the GPU in now. This one has something my other one doesn't have. I assume it needs to be plugged into the PSU. I want to make sure I've got this right.

Not my bowl of fruit at all....graphics cards and I have no history

I'm pretty much with Brian... I've seldom used discreet graphics cards, and like you... never one that needed extra power before. But the best way to be sure you've got this right is to read the documentation that came with the card! Or tell us the brand and model so that maybe we could help you look it up.

If the power cable adapter came with the card, it seems obvious that it should be plugged into power... but I have made "obvious" mistakes before, and some were not very forgiving. Is that power required? Perhaps that extra power is needed for an option that your mobo doesn't support? Read the docs!

One thing I have experienced using a separate graphics card.... if it is not automatically detected when you boot the computer using it, sometimes a BIOS/UEFI setting needs to be changed to switch from the onboard video. So if your new card doesn't work correctly right away, you might consider this possibility.

You might also consider starting a new topic, if needed. The GPU is veering off from the HDD cable connections. Or maybe a more generic title, "motherboard connections," to cover both?

 

[Brickwizard]

Its been a while since I used a discrete GPU, with modern on CPU graphics for general computing I find them unnecessary, now on older motherboards in particular they had a bypass voltage of 12V but only a low current, so many of the higher GPU's needed an additional connection to give the card sufficient current this was often drawn direct from the HDD loop from the PSU