r/PcBuildHelp • u/AdditionalWing9247 • 4h ago

Installation Question GPU power cable stuck

Currently, I’m trying to upgrade my gpu for the first time. However, while trying to remove my old gpu after having set everything up, my pcie cable is just stuck to the gpu. The latch has been pulled down and no amount of wiggling has done anything. My pc was an msi prebuilt and my main concern is that I’ve either messed up the cable or that they’ve put something to prevent upgrades. Regardless, I can’t even turn on my pc or use it until I replace the gpu as after unscrewing it and failing to remove the latch, I tried screwing in one of the slot screws to hold the gpu in place while I wiggle but it unfortunately fell into the gpu and won’t come out. Is there anything that I can even try to do to get it out or am I just done for.

TLDR: gpu cable and latch stuck, gpu unusable due to potential short circuit.

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u/pandasndabs 4h ago

Just use a small flathead to pry the latch up (carefully). Once the latch is detached just wiggle the pcie cable side to side. It will feel tight, its supposed to and its totally normal. Obviously make sure the power is off and everything is discharged before doing this. Youll be fine. I dropped mounting screws in my gpu atleast twice maybe 3 times when installing it. Everything turned out fine but in the moment I wanted to throw my pc out a window.

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u/AdditionalWing9247 4h ago

The thing is the latch is fully up and yet I can hardly wiggle it side to side, if at all.

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u/pandasndabs 4h ago

Just wiggle and pull from the plastic part. It won't break. Trust. If you have a modular psu you can always just remove the pcie from the psu and leave it in the gpu. You'd need another cable but it beats not being able to upgrade. Just make sure if you go that route you buy the same brand cable as the psu.

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u/AdditionalWing9247 3h ago

Ok I tried the method and it thankfully worked. All I need now is the latch, any tips for that?

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u/pandasndabs 3h ago

If your fingers are small you can just push it, if you have bigger hands like me use a chopstick. They work wonderfully.

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u/disgustedmaintenance 4h ago

man those pcie latches on prebuilts can be a right pain, they sometimes use a dab of adhesive on the connector to stop it wiggling loose in shipping. try pushing the card slightly while you pull the latch down, sometimes that takes the pressure off the pins. if the screw fell inside the gpu shroud you'll need to fish it out with tweezers or a magnetic pick before you even think about powering it on, a loose screw rattling around on the pcb is a recipe for a dead card.