Computer turns on then off...

[Siducky]

Thanks. May i ask if the hard drive has an OS on it and i'd like to take files off it but when i plug it into a laptop via usb dock and it says i need to format it, can i use the checkdisk to bypass that? And will it keep the files + Os in shape?

[mdklassen]

> I found this ... but on amazon the measurements are wrong but the same product?

That web-page lists:

Expension Slots:

• (x2) PCIe 3.0 x16 slots (support x16/x4 mode)
• (x2) PCIe 3.0 x1 slots

Bad spelling! 

Check the back-panel on your current motherboard, to see if the external slot for a PCI-E video-card is compatible with the new motherboard.

In this picture, there are 4 "filler" tabs to the right of the yellow-black-triangle marker.

Remove one, to make room for the "spine" of your PCI-E video-card.

[mdklassen]

> If the hard drive has an OS on it and i'd like to take files off it but when i plug it into a laptop via usb dock and it says i need to format it?

First, disconnect the disk-drive from that dock, and then try again to connect it.

Otherwise, when the laptop reads the first few records from the disk-drive it has determined that what it read is *NOT* correctly structured to match what the layout of bytes should be present in a properly "formatted" disk-drive.

CHKDSK cannot fix that problem.

Instead, you will need a "recovery" program, that reads the entire disk-drive, sector by sector, and like a box-full of loose jigsaw puzzle pieces, will try to join & merge those sectors into "files" and "folders" that can selectively be copied onto the laptop's disk-drive.

[Siducky]

I see so the OS would be fine as it was before my mobo decided to break..? And i havent made any changes to the hard drive, I only plugged and unplugged it in to the dock then bk in the main pc

[mdklassen]

>  so the OS would be fine as it was before my mobo decided to break..?

Hopefully, the short answer is YES.

It is unlikely that you somehow damaged the disk-drive when removing it from the computer -- but still possible.

Compare to a cook-book full of recipes, but you have damaged the Table Of Contents at the front of the book.

While the book now is less than 100% readable, you may flip through it, slowly, page-by-page, to find a recipe,

even when "direct-access" to the specific page, via the Table Of Contents, no longer is possible.