When you plug the little riser adapter in backwards on the PCIE slot you will send unwanted voltage down the wrong likes into the GPU. The result 9 out of 10 times is that you send 12V into the GPU where it's expecting a very low voltage (<1v).
I only know this because I did the same thing once.
Now I use riserless boards like the BTC-S37 or I put a zip tie through that tiny hole on the riser adapter so I don't repeat the same mistake.
Hopefully it wasn't a super expensive card.
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