this was a minor crisis because the motherboard has a 20-pin connector, and where can you find that kind of power supply today?
the answer is in a pc i found in the apartment when i moved in. yeah. what are the chances, right? in fact, they had the 20 pin psu plugged into a 24-pin board, so that had to be swapped out, anyways.
this is admittedly an old power supply. it's from 1999. it's visibly rusting. looking at it, the cables might have fallen out, just due to decomposition. i admit a new psu was a good idea, and it actually looks like the psu i found in the apartment (i asked and was told nobody owns it) is relatively new and unused. i was going to use this pc i found as a replacement for the 90s laptop, because the specs are almost identical and that's what i wanted to do anyways. i can buy a new 24-pin power supply for this pc for $20 or something; the 20-pin power supply would have been difficult to locate.
i swapped it out and it turned on and i pulled the gparted cd out. however, i still have to put it back together, which requires plugging it in and turning it on.
in addition to the psu being non-responsive, the cmos was apparently cleared and the hard drive wouldn't initially spin, although i got it to spin after a few tries. now, clearing this cmos is actually relatively difficult, as you have to take the battery out and short it with a screwdriver. no wonder the psu got damaged.
it's relatively clear that the machine was tampered with when i was out.
this ancient computer is extremely fragile and needs extreme care to continue to last. they already broke my old vintage laptop, which was sad but not catastrophic. if my windows 98 pc was lost, i would be shattered. it's my oldest friend. i love it dearly.
what do these barbaric idiots want from me?
it's just constant senseless destruction, with no purpose.