no video signal

[palominon00b]

I setup a computer today that had just been sitting idle on the floor for a couple days and all of a sudden it will not receive a video signal when booting up. I have already tried three different video cards (2 agp and 1 pci) and three different monitors. Any others idea as to what could have caused this problem?

 

[sinthon]

Did you plug the monitor into the videocard output section.

 

[palominon00b]

of course i did silly

 

[Nebor]

dead board. I feel for you, mine is RMAing right now...

 

[palominon00b]

why would the board just die on me like that?

 

[Nebor]

because you hurt the board when you were 'setting it up'... although I don't know what that entails.

 

[palominon00b]

all i did was move the computer from one to another and it sat in the other room for a couple days before i plugged it back in and what not .. are you saying i could have possibly damaged it somehow?

 

[Booty]

I'd say strip it down to the minimum... CPU, RAM, Video, Motherboard, PSU... make sure all connections are secure, then give it a shot. If you moved it, something could have come loose. I highly doubt the board just 'went bad'. I suppose something could have been damaged moving the box around, but I really doubt it, unless of course you kicked it from location to location.

 

[palominon00b]

ive tried like everything i can think of .. nothing is making it give any kind of video signal though, the monitor still sits in standby mode while the computer posts

 

[hjo3]

If the board is bad, it could have been caused by ESD. Most times, you won't even notice. Good reason to use grounding straps and anti-static stuff in your work space.

Did you try flashing the BIOS? It's worth a try if you want to be really thorough.

 

[palominon00b]

its just weird how the board seems to be working properly beside the fact that i cant get a video signal out of it

 

[BoomAM]

My system sometimes loses the video sigal while booting up, or when changing resolutions(going into games/video). Sometimes though, not all the while.
Dunno why it does it to be honest. It just ignore and reboot and it works again.

 

[nick1985]

you set your resolution to high. boot into safe mode and lower it

 

[nick1985]

^

 

[fell8]

Did the monitors have their own cables, or did you use the same VGA cable in all your tests?

 

[kingofbongo]

Did you try a different monitor? Perhaps the monitor is bad. If you can, try the video card and ram in other systems if they are good then conclude that the board is bad. Probably ESD is what caused it. Sorry man, I know it sucks... best of luck with it =)

 

[AMCRambler]

I had a problem similar to this on my girlfriends families pc. I put a spare 32mb stick of crucial ram I had in there computer to help speed it up a little. It worked and the machine ran noticeably quicker. About a week later they called and told me they were having the same problems you just described, no video, but the computer would boot up. I assumed it was the ram I had added, but even without that stick in there, stil nothing. I tried everything but in the end I ended up buying them another mobo because they thought it was my fault. I don't think the ram I added had caused the problem, I think the crappy compaq board just gave up the ghost, but since it was my girlfriend of 4 years, I figured having her family mad at me was not worth the cost of a motherboard. I was able to find a used one on Ebay for their exact model, but it cost me $140. Lesson learned: don't upgrade anybodies computer without their express permission.

 

[palominon00b]

the three different monitors all had different video cables

 

[nick1985]

did you not see what i said?

 

[palominon00b]

how would the resolution have anything to do with the monitor never even coming on?

 

[BoomAM]

Originally posted by: nick1985
did you not see what i said?

We heard (saw) what you said, but we`ve all decided that we`ll ignore you, cos we know it`ll annoy you. lol.
Seriously though, he has`nt specified wether its the initial boot (read, BIOS screen), or the windows boot (read, annoying windows logo)

 

[palominon00b]

ok well let me clear that up for you .. the initial boot read never happens, i never seen any bios screen or anything

i do however hear 1 very short beep just like a normal POST

 

[BoomAM]

Originally posted by: palominon00b
how would the resolution have anything to do with the monitor never even coming on?

Cos if the monitor doesnt support the resolution or refresh rate that your trying to make it do, then it wont do it, it`ll just go blank.
Hav`nt you ever wondered why when you change resolution in windows it comes up with a dialogue box that says "in 10 second the screen will revert to its previous state", its cos if the monitor doesnt do the resolution/refresh rate that you selected and it goes blank, it`ll allow you to go back to the desktop normally without having to go into safemode and having to reset all the display options.

 

[palominon00b]

yea but if that were the case, the monitor would show the boot screen then maybe turn off when the resolution that is too high was loaded in windows

 

[palominon00b]

any other suggestions?