help!

[wcmich16]

my computer recently died, and ive been trying to ressurect it from the dead, but every time i hook a monitor up to it (doesent matter what monitor) the monitor shows blank, both on the vid card and on the on-board, any ideas on whats wrong????

[hos1981]

I'm no expert but I would remove the video card and try starting it up in safe mode.

[Wraith]

You need to give us more information. What happens when you press the power button? Do the fans spin up -- does it turn on at all? Is there a beep code (a series of short and long beeps)? If so, what is the pattern, and what is motherboard model number?

[wcmich16]

You need to give us more information. What happens when you press the power button? Do the fans spin up -- does it turn on at all? Is there a beep code (a series of short and long beeps)? If so, what is the pattern, and what is motherboard model number?
fans turn on and everything, no beeping occurs, im beginning to think i need a new HD, i think mine got corrupted, too much video/music.. about 250 gigs worth... lol

[Ayce]

No beeps at all? That's not good. Could be mobo or maybe the PSU. It may be going down. :trytofly:

I found my vid card problem was PSU related, (450W Delta Power) not enough amps to run the vid card properly. I put in my wifes older 300W Sparkle and it's running stable, as long as I don't push it too hard. :D

[Wraith]

The harddrive cannot prevent the POST screen from showing. Your system isn't posting. Did you build the PC yourself? If you did and forgot to connect the speaker you would not hear beep codes. However, if you do have a speaker and you hear no beep codes, it is more likely the PSU or motherboard. A faulty CPU, RAM, or GPU should trigger a beep code telling you which is at fault.

Can you open the case and see if the CPU fan spins up (that is, if it is connected to the motherboard for power; if it's connected through a molex directly to the PSU, then it won't help)? You can also see if the keyboard lights come on.

Other than that, it is extremely hard to diagnose hardware remotely, so see if you can borrow a PSU from someone. You'll need to be sure the PSU you borrow is appropriate for your system.

[xnutt]

sounds like you have a Comcrap (compaq). they have a problem with the power supplies only powering half the MOBO. i just got rid of 1 that had the same problem your haveing.........power supply was junk.

[wcmich16]

sounds like you have a Comcrap (compaq). they have a problem with the power supplies only powering half the MOBO. i just got rid of 1 that had the same problem your haveing.........power supply was junk.
its a dell, i bought it a year ago for around 200 bucks, and now i regret it. i recently saw a nice HP at a pawn shop, but it was wayy too expensive.

[Wraith]

If you plan on buying used systems you should do it through reputable forums (AnandTech, Hardforums, etc). Simple guidelines would be to make sure the user you are buying from has good "heat" (heatware is a user supplied evaluation system similar to ratings on ebay). Usually you want to look for people with "high heat" and with very few or no negative evals; these should be recent evals and, in your case, should be buyer evals. Do some searching os post a WTB (want to buy) with a price range and see what kind of offers you get. Since you have no heat (unless you already know about this), you will almost certainly need to pay first (that's why you need to do your research the seller you are interested in buying from). I use that all the time to get cheap stuff and haven't been scammed, but you never know so be careful if you go this route.