PC suddenly stopped working.....first steps to diagnose?

[iamme]

ok, here's my setup:

epox 8ra+
AMD 2100 XP
512MB x 2 DDR RAM
ATI Radeon 8500
1800FP LCD

i was fixing my uncle's computer, so i unplugged the power cable, keyboard, mouse, and montior from my desktop and hooked it up to my uncle's PC. my PC was unhooked for about 48 hours.

after working on my uncle's computer, i hooked up my PC again and i got no display.

the green LED was on my monitor comes on (organge for standy, green for "on and receiving signal"). my computer seems to be booting up (HD makes noise, fans are all on) but nothing on my monitor.

i re-hooked up my uncle's PC to see if the monitor was the problem, but his PC worked fine.

any hints on where i should start? should i reset the CMOS? remove all the cards and put them back one by one?

 

[pirred908]

Remove anything that isn't absolutly necessary for start up, such as optical drives, sound card, etc.

Clear the CMOS jumper.

I'd you check the on/off switch on the back. Sorry if that suggestion insults you. I've seen that be the case though.

What power supply do you have?

 

[iamme]

Originally posted by: pirred908
Remove anything that isn't absolutly necessary for start up, such as optical drives, sound card, etc.

Clear the CMOS jumper.

I'd you check the on/off switch on the back. Sorry if that suggestion insults you. I've seen that be the case though.

What power supply do you have?

hehe, no prob.

it's an Enermax 431W Whisper PS.

the switch is definitely on. the computer powers up (fans run, HD's spin, etc). there seems to be a signal being sent to my monitor, since the LED on the LCD turns green. however, the screen is just black.

 

[capricorn]

I take it you never see anything at all, so trying to boot into Windows safe mode isn't the answer. (I've needed to do that on the odd occasion where I set the scan rate too high for the monitor I've just attached to the box, and my normal monitor is still back home. Safe mode can get you out of that by removing the video card and letting Windows re-discover it on the next boot.) Don't happen to have onboard video that got enabled in the BIOS somehow, do you? Any other video card you can borrow for a quick test?

 

[iamme]

Originally posted by: capricorn
I take it you never see anything at all, so trying to boot into Windows safe mode isn't the answer. (I've needed to do that on the odd occasion where I set the scan rate too high for the monitor I've just attached to the box, and my normal monitor is still back home. Safe mode can get you out of that by removing the video card and letting Windows re-discover it on the next boot.) Don't happen to have onboard video that got enabled in the BIOS somehow, do you? Any other video card you can borrow for a quick test?

no onboard video and no immediate access to another video card.

i will most likely take out all PCI cards, HD's and start from scratch.