Yesterday I was on my computer, and it suddenly turned itself off as if there was a power outage except my PC was the only thing effected. I turn it back on, and now there is no display on the monitor. The LED light on the monitor stays yellow, meaning "no signal". I tried a different VGA cable, and it still gets no signal. Was my video card fried? The PC still powers on though; would it power on if the video card was dead? Or did the monitor go bad?
I don't know if this is related, but I noticed that after the PC shut itself down, the LED light on the DVD drive is staying on permanently. I hit the eject button on the DVD drive, and it won't open either.
X
10-06-08, 05:14 PM
Sounds more like your power supply or motherboard.
Dr Mabuse
10-06-08, 05:25 PM
I agree.
It unfortunately sounds a little more serious than just the video card.
taffer
10-06-08, 05:32 PM
Well crap. My PC hardware knowledge is very limited, so if it involves more than taking out the old video card and putting in the new video card and installing the drivers (i.e. plug-n-play), I wouldn't know how to do it. I don't know the first thing about motherboards. Looks like it is time for a new PC for me...
If it is the power supply, the PC would not be able to get any power at all would it? It is still powering on.
ernestrp
10-06-08, 06:05 PM
Are you sure you have a video card? If you didnt put one in or know one was put in, I would guess your video card is integrated with the MB (on the MB) and not removable. When you turn the monitor does it start up and then go to sleep? Or can get something on the scrren with the control buttons on the monitor (brightness, contrast, etc)? I would say its probably the Power Supply or MB.
GHackmann
10-06-08, 06:10 PM
Broken power supplies can cause all sorts of weird things to happen, not just keeping your computer from powering on at all.
I wouldn't be so quick to junk your machine, unless it's got a funky non-standard power supply or you're looking for an excuse to get a new one. If it's really the power supply, any decent computer repair shop should be able to fix it pretty quickly. There's even a decent chance you could do it yourself, since it's basically just plugging cable A into socket B -- the plugs are even keyed so you can't accidentally plug them in upside-down or in the wrong place.
Calistoga
10-06-08, 06:25 PM
I had a similar problem with my Dell 1330 Laptop and it turned out to be the video card. Since the card was integrated into the MB, a new MB had to be installed. I still saw things on my LCD though...garbled lines and bars. If you see absolutely nothing, it makes me think it might be your monitor. Do you have another monitor you can plug into? This test would at least eliminate the chance of it only being the monitor.
taffer
10-06-08, 06:27 PM
Are you sure you have a video card? If you didnt put one in or know one was put in, I would guess your video card is integrated with the MB (on the MB) and not removable. When you turn the monitor does it start up and then go to sleep? Or can get something on the scrren with the control buttons on the monitor (brightness, contrast, etc)? I would say its probably the Power Supply or MB.
I know that it does have a video card, an ATI Radeon x800 to be exact. I don't play many modern PC games, but I do play a lot of older classic games, so I do need an actual video card instead of an integrated card. In fact, I was playing Civ 4 when the PC turned itself off.
When, I turn the monitor on, all I get is a message box saying "No signal." Then it goes dark and stays dark. I tried using the different control buttons, but I can't see them on-screen. The monitor's power button has an LED light that shows as yellow when the PC is off or when it can't get a signal. The light turns green when everything is working properly and there is a picture on the screen. Now, the light is staying yellow all the time.
Aren't there different "types" of power supplies? I know there are different wattages, but I don't know if they are a "one type fits all" kind of thing. I have no idea what the wattage of my current power supply is or what type of power supply it requires. Same thing with motherboards. I know there are a lot of different motherboards, and some have incompatibilities with different hardware. I have no idea what kind of motherboard I would need either.
If you see absolutely nothing, it makes me think it might be your monitor. Do you have another monitor you can plug into?
I see nothing except for the initial "No signal" message. When I mess with the control buttons, I don't see them displayed on screen either. I had an older monitor that hasn't been used in years, but I threw it out a month ago when I was cleaning house.... guess I tossed it prematurely. :(
fumanstan
10-06-08, 06:43 PM
Aren't there different "types" of power supplies? I know there are different wattages, but I don't know if they are a "one type fits all" kind of thing. I have no idea what the wattage of my current power supply is or what type of power supply it requires. Same thing with motherboards. I know there are a lot of different motherboards, and some have incompatibilities with different hardware. I have no idea what kind of motherboard I would need either.
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These days pretty much all power supplies are standard ATX, which fits your everyday desktop case. If you have a Dell or HP or something, some of them might use some custom sized power supply or case and won't fit a standard one off the shelf. If you have a custom build system from someone, any power supply would probably do.
Honestly, the easiest thing would be to just bring in to Best Buy's geek squad or something and have them do the work swapping and testing it out.
ernestrp
10-06-08, 07:21 PM
Well, if it says no signal and goes dark then I would think the monitor is alright. I guess the first thing to try is to open up the case and pull out the video card and put it back in and hook the cables. It is possible the video card is not making good contact. It might be the video card has gone bad but usually it is something else, in 20 plus years of computers I have never had a video card go bad.
Drexl
10-07-08, 12:24 AM
It could be RAM. A few months back, I couldn't get the computer to boot. At first I thought it was the power supply (since it would start to power up then stop), then the motherboard. I bought another motherboard and went to the trouble of redoing the CPU, heatsink/fan, etc. only to find out it was a bad stick of RAM.
UAIOE
10-07-08, 04:40 AM
I had a stick of RAM go bad and it gave me the same "no signal" on my monitor.
Before buying anything, try removing and replacing your RAM sticks to see if that is your problem.
X
10-07-08, 11:03 AM
I don't see how RAM would cause the DVD drive's light to stay on permanently or it not being able to open.
UAIOE
10-07-08, 06:24 PM
Why would bad RAM cause the video card to stop sending signals to the monitor?
I could understand one stick or one out of two...but I had four sticks and one went bad.
X
10-07-08, 06:32 PM
Bad RAM can stop the system from booting, particularly if it's in the lower memory range. If it didn't start booting you wouldn't get a video signal.
But your DVD drive would still open when the power was on.
Buy: