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Geek Culture / Monitor refuses to start up...

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Megaton Cat
21
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Joined: 24th Aug 2003
Location: Toronto, Canada
Posted: 24th Apr 2005 11:22
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Hello

I need abit of help. One day while working with a level editor my PC just mysteriously shutdown. I try to start it again. The PC seems to be running (hardrive makes noise, LEDs go on, fan starts etc) but my monitor displays the same haunting "Check signal cable" message as if it's unplugged. I've tryed several monitors so it's clearly not that.

I automaticlly assumed it's my video card but after abit of googl'ing I discovered that it could be my motherboard, or my HDD or my CPU...

Now I'm really scrwed. i'm not a big computer hardware buff so I'd appriciate any help.

Thanks for reading.

My cat! My cat is on fire! Dear god someone help!
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Osiris
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Joined: 6th Aug 2004
Location: Robbinsdale, MN
Posted: 24th Apr 2005 12:11
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If you have bought a new graphics card, you need to plug the monitor into the card, anything else and I need more info.

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Lost in Thought
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Joined: 4th Feb 2004
Location: U.S.A. : Douglas, Georgia
Posted: 24th Apr 2005 14:30
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Even if you haven't bought a new graphics card make sure it is plugged into the MB good. Sometimes you can accidently pull too hard on the cable and dislodge it a bit. I would unplug the card and plug it back in again just to make sure. The computer will usually make a series of beeps when it starts up if this is the case though.

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Megaton Cat
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Joined: 24th Aug 2003
Location: Toronto, Canada
Posted: 25th Apr 2005 04:27
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I've already tried re-inserting the video card into the AGP slot.

All I wan't to know is which one of my components is not functioning. Is there something else that could be affecting my monitor other than the video card? (A friend said that monitor will not work if HDD or motherboard is malfuntioning. Dunno if this is true or not)

Thanks in advance

My cat! My cat is on fire! Dear god someone help!
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Raven
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Joined: 23rd Mar 2005
Location: Hertfordshire, England
Posted: 25th Apr 2005 05:30
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If there is a problem with the system, then it'll bleep on boot.
Otherwise the problem lies with the Video Card.

Disconnect the Monitor
Take out the Video Card, and Ram
Use a brush (soft bristle painting brush is often best unless you have a special PC Vacuum) to dust the contacts
Put both the Ram and Video Card back, WITHOUT connecting the monitor.

Power On and reconnect the monitor.
As always, firmly check that nothing has come loose.

The problem will lie soley with the Video Card, and it happens when they get old (or overused with overclocking). They tend to have ruined capacitors that control the power relay, unfortunately it's all down to age.

Dusting often helps because transmissions get bad if your system gets dusty. In-fact your ram can loose almost 20% of it's speed if the contacts get too dusty, which happens quickly on systems where the RAM is close to the CPU. (which is most Mobo nowadays, I mean talk about a design flaw!)

If it still doesn't work, try another card in the system (it'll likely boot up and mean throwing the old one in the bin)
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Megaton Cat
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Location: Toronto, Canada
Posted: 26th Apr 2005 01:08
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Thanks for the advice Raven I'll try it.

One more question:

I tried something with my mothers computer.

I disconnected the monitor and booted. The keyboard lit up.

But on my computer, I disconnect the monitor, boot and the keyboard (or optical mouse) does NOT light up which makes me suspect the motherboard is f***d.

My cat! My cat is on fire! Dear god someone help!
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Cryptoman
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Joined: 24th Nov 2003
Location: Utah Mountains
Posted: 26th Apr 2005 01:35
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That sounds like you are missing +5v on your power supply. Your video card can't send a turn on message if the logic hasn't powered up. I'd check the voltages on your power supply. +5,+12,-5,-12


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Raven
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Joined: 23rd Mar 2005
Location: Hertfordshire, England
Posted: 26th Apr 2005 02:26
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your not going to like this, but your mobo sounds like bin fodder to me.
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Dazzag
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Location: Cyprus
Posted: 26th Apr 2005 03:08 Edited at: 26th Apr 2005 03:09
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Replug in the old graphics card just incase. If it works then is obviously the card.

Also, is the monitor LCD with DVI? If so then a lot of them work in 2 different ways. When I got my monitor it didn't work with the the normal settings and had to be tweaked.

But my money would be the PSU. Is your old card a bag of pants compared to the new one? I mean highly likely the new uses up serious power, which may put the PSU over the edge. My main PC has a fair few peripherals and a pretty poxy PSU. After I upgraded my GPU and monitor to something a bit more hefty it started freezing and rebooting. Turned out the PSU wasn't good enough, and they can either cause rebooting or even complete shutdown (like you). Got a meaty gold plated 3 fan 650 watt effort and everything runs fine now. Bit louder (not that much though), but all good.

Oh, and I had a complete freeze like yours a while back because I tried increasing the FSB on the motherboard. Really didn't like that one. Reset the whole motherboard (should be in the manual, but basically is normally a jumper) and everything was fine.

Cheers

I am 99% probably lying in bed right now... so don't blame me for crappy typing
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mm0zct
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Location: scotland-uk
Posted: 26th Apr 2005 04:02 Edited at: 26th Apr 2005 04:04
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edit: if your video card has multiple outputs then try using the other options like the dvi to vga converter or the tv-out and use a tv as a monitor


it sounds like a mobo issue but it could be any critical boot features of the mobo. check the ram, if you have two modules then take out one and try it, if it doesn't boot swap them and try again, if it still doesn't boot try another slot, if it still doesn't work it's not the ram so put it back.
clearing the cmos is another possibility, if you can't find the jumper then take out the mobo battery for a few mins without it plugged in an put the batery back, this will mke the bios loose its saved settings.

not many people have a spare cpu but if you do then the last option (after swapping graphics cards and all the above) is to try a different processor. it's possibly the psu so find the switch to turn on the psu (short out 2 of the wires on the main block) i think it's the green one shorted to a black ground. if the psu comes on like this then it's unlikely to be the psu.

http://www.larinar.tk
AMD athlon 64 3000+, 512mb ddr400, abit kv8, 160gb hdd, gigabit lan, ati radeon 9800se 128mb.
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Jimmy
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Joined: 20th Aug 2003
Location: Back in the USA
Posted: 26th Apr 2005 04:44
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Quote: "If you have bought a new graphics card, you need to plug the monitor into the card"


Why thank you, Mr. Wizard.

mega: If your hard drive is cranking when you turn it on and the computer stays on, then it's not the HDD, RAM or CPU. It's probably not your motherboard or power supply either, so I'd say there's a 95% chance that it's your video card. Try a card from another computer or an old one lying around, you could also try putting your card in a different computer.

Get back to us with the results and we'll surely have another experiment for you.


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mm0zct
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Joined: 18th Nov 2003
Location: scotland-uk
Posted: 26th Apr 2005 07:41
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the hard drive will spin if power if applied even if it not booting so it still leaves some parts of the mobo as an option eg the agp port may have a bent pin.
inspect the pins on the graphics card and check that no foil pins have come off or bent, this happened to one of my dad's old cards. if it has then try and get the card replaced under warranty.
(if they won't replace it there's always the soldering iron but i really advise you not to try this as you risk shorting something out and frying the whole pc)

http://www.larinar.tk
AMD athlon 64 3000+, 512mb ddr400, abit kv8, 160gb hdd, gigabit lan, ati radeon 9800se 128mb.
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Megaton Cat
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Joined: 24th Aug 2003
Location: Toronto, Canada
Posted: 28th Apr 2005 01:25
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Well I tried all the suggestions above. I re-attached the card and ram. I dusted. I tried a replacement video card (didn't work)

So now I am really lost. Will prob take it to the shop.

My cat! My cat is on fire! Dear god someone help!
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