Need Some Trouble Shooting Help...

[Twitch22]

Hi everyone! I originally had this posted under the General Hardware section...my bad! Figured the forum titled Computer Help in much more appropriate.

I'm trying to figure out a problem with a co-workers home PC, HP Pavilion with an AMD 64 X2 CPU. PC turns on, but no signal goes out to the monitor. Her PC has a dedicated Asus-branded nVidia PCI-Express card (not sure what model, but looks like an 8400 GS). When you turn it on, all fans spin and the hard drive begins working like it's loading the Vista. Just no video. So I figure her video card's gone bad.

So tonight, I went to Best Buy and bought a Galaxy 8400 GS. Swapped the new card in. Same problem, no video, but looks like the rest of the PC's working fine. I use an old-but-reliable Viewsonic 20" CRT Professional display as my repair/testing rig monitor and it works just fine with my test-bed rig.

Is it possible that the PCI-E slot has failed, but the rest of the M/B works just fine? I get no error beeps or anything during the start-up, so I figure her PC is making it to and past the POST with no problem. Just no damn video signal...

Thanks for any thoughts or suggestions!

Arvin

 

[rcpratt]

A failed PCIe slot would be my first guess as well.

 

[pcgeek11]

Have you reset the BIOS? If not give it a shot.

If nothing during the BIOS POST, I would also say slot...

 

[RebateMonger]

If there's a speaker somewhere (in the case or on the motherboard), you should be getting some sort of beep code. As pcgeek11 says, you can try removing the CMOS battery, jumpering it temporaily, and putting it back in. A new CMOS battery might also be in order. Other than that, or maybe a temporary PCI video card, you are running low on options.

 

[Twitch22]

Have you reset the BIOS? If not give it a shot.

If nothing during the BIOS POST, I would also say slot...

If there's a speaker somewhere (in the case or on the motherboard), you should be getting some sort of beep code. As pcgeek11 says, you can try removing the CMOS battery, jumpering it temporaily, and putting it back in. A new CMOS battery might also be in order. Other than that, or maybe a temporary PCI video card, you are running low on options.

Hey guys, thanks for the responses!

I do get one beep on start-up, which leads me to believe that the thing does indeed make it to & past the POST. After the beep, the h/d spins up like it's loading the OS.

It's looking more & more like I'm just gonna' replace the m/b. I would have done this earlier, but I never thought something major like a PCI-E slot would go bad & leave the rest of the m/b (seemingly) A-OK?

Thanks again...

Arvin