[SOLVED] GPU seems to prevent hard drive from running. What's going on?

[steam66]

UPDATE:
Solved!
It turned out to be a conflict between the main board video and NVIDIA GeForce. The system works fine now.

Hello all,

The other day I sold my old PC to some family of mine. They're having trouble getting it to work-- which is very odd considering that I had no issue with it prior, they're knowledgeable PC builders, and it was very carefully transported and handled.

Specifically: when powering on, with a VGA connection between GPU and monitor, the PC turns on (as do the fans) but the hard drive light never does, nor is there any sound from the hard drive (it's not an SSD). With the GPU removed, relying on integrated graphics, it works just fine, successfully booting to Windows without an issue. The specific message on the monitor is "Display connected to a disabled video connector." The advice given therein is to reconnect the display cable to the graphics card (not the motherboard out), but it only displays this message when the VGA cable is connected to the graphics card.

System specs: It's a mostly-stock Dell Inspiron 3847; the sole features added are a Corsair CX430 power supply and a PNY GTX 750 dual-fan graphics card. Linked here is the quick reference guide for the original system-- which should cover everything apart from these two.

Swift help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

[Lutfij]

the sole features added are a Corsair CX430 power supply
Yeah, about that, how old is the PSU in that prebuilt? The issue you're speaking of is that the PSU is incapable of delivering power to the entire system while the discrete GPU is in, provided you removed the discrete GPU and connected the panel to the rear motherboard's VGA port.

Try a donor PSU that is reliably built, not remotely close to the green labelled Corsair unit, and has at least 4450W of power for the entire system, borrowed from a friend or nieghbor.

 

[steam66]

the sole features added are a Corsair CX430 power supply
Yeah, about that, how old is the PSU in that prebuilt? The issue you're speaking of is that the PSU is incapable of delivering power to the entire system while the discrete GPU is in, provided you removed the discrete GPU and connected the panel to the rear motherboard's VGA port.

Try a donor PSU that is reliably built, not remotely close to the green labelled Corsair unit, and has at least 4450W of power for the entire system, borrowed from a friend or nieghbor.

Gotcha. So the problem is that the PSU has crapped out and can no longer power both the GPU and hard drive simultaneously? I can try switching it out.

Does the Corsair CX430 have a bad reputation regarding reliability? For the duration of the PC's life, I never once had trouble with it, nor did it struggle to power the system with GPU in.

Update: Solved, as per OP.