No video signal from system - appears to power up fine???

[DJCnut]

Situation: I shut down my PC to hook it up to a new monitor, but when I did, there was no video output. So I put it back on the original monitor, and still no video output. (my video card is agp)

Troubleshooting: I have tested the system with spare AGP and PCI slot video cards with the same results. I have removed all of my other pci cards and removed the power to my hard drives to take them out of the picture.
I tried booting the system after taking the RAM out (assuming I would get a beep/error), but I did not get any beeps. I boot the system with no video card at all, and again no beeps.

I tested the system with a spare PSU and again the same results. Nothing on the board appears fried and I do not smell any strange smells. The CPU and chipset both appear clean and burn free.

Is my mobo dead?

 

[DJCnut]

the next question is, if I replace my motherboard with a different model, will I have to reinstall everything, or is it possible to keep my current OS/software?

 

[pkme2]

If you get no lights, no fans moving, no nothing, then another is required. IMO, get the identical mobo or be prepared to reinstall.

It's hard to diagnose over the Internet. I have a few things that can check your mobo if I had it here, better hands on. Very strange, only a power surge could be that fast.

 

[DJCnut]

Originally posted by: pkme2
If you get no lights, no fans moving, no nothing, then another is required. IMO, get the identical mobo or be prepared to reinstall.

It's hard to diagnose over the Internet. I have a few things that can check your mobo if I had it here, better hands on. Very strange, only a power surge could be that fast.

all lights and fans are working correctly.

 

[pkme2]

My only advice now would be to haul it down to your friendly neighborhood computer shop and get a diagnostic exam.

No video, no beeps and lites and fans work; well I stumped. Maybe somebody can look into another perspective.

 

[DJCnut]

Originally posted by: pkme2
My only advice now would be to haul it down to your friendly neighborhood computer shop and get a diagnostic exam.

No video, no beeps and lites and fans work; well I stumped. Maybe somebody can look into another perspective.

never have i gone to a computer shop for help, and never will i

 

[DJCnut]

Someone was telling me that if you replace your mobo and you use the repair option on the windows boot cd it will allow you to boot to your oroginal OS installation without reinstalling a new one. can anyone confirm this?

 

[corkyg]

The lack of beeps, etc., would suggest to me that the computer doesn't know there is no video. So - from that perspective - what could cause the described problem? My first hunch is the cable and both connections. Can you try a different one?

Secondly, ifyou replace the mobo with a different type, chances are you will have to reinstall the OS etc. Too many hash changes.

 

[hagi607]

Sounds like you know your stuff, but try clearing the cmos. After the computer starts wait a few seconds then hit the reset button, then maybe it will post. I had a computer that was acting like you described, and when i reset it after booting it would work. Also double check that nothing is shorting out the motherboard or other components.

 

[DJCnut]

copying my post from another forum...

"weird stuff is goin on...

i decided to take out all my ram again except 1 stick (out of 4), powered on the machine, and BAM it worked. so I go ahead adding one more stick of ram at a time and each time the computer POST's correctly. so at that point I had all of the ram back in and POSTing.

so I put my wireless card and sound card back in and again, it POST's. weird...

i finish hooking all my drives back up, and now i'm back to before where nothing shows up on the screen. ok, so i end up removing power from 3 drives and the computer finally POST's again....bad drive? no.

i hook a drive back up and remove 2 of the PCI cards, and it finally POST's again...

so whoever said it was the PSU, i'm back to that assumption again. somehow it has lost it's 480 watt capacity and is magically weaker than before. so i jumped on newegg and bought a 500watt PSU. hopefully this solves my problems. oh yeah my chipset fan is acting screwy too, so i need to replace that.

and on top of all of this, i come home and my refrigerator/freezer is no longer working and all my food is bad. good times."

 

[hagi607]

you probably had a power surge, dont be suprised if other stuff starts dieing. The PSU being the problems sounds right.