This item pulls the MCLR pin low on the main PICMICRO© chip in the programmer for about 200mS. This causes it to be reset.
You should see “Board connected” appear if the reset function succeeded.
Some programmer boards have opposite reset voltage levels applied to them. The software will try to find out what programmer it is talking to when the board is powered up but may fail if it is connecting while trying to use the wrong level. The software may even report that the board is connected, but in fact it isn’t.
If you can’t get the board to program or read chips and you have seen “Board connected”, then make sure the Programmer Style is correctly set.