# Graphics card not working after cleaning



## Demps (Sep 9, 2011)

Hello guys.

About 5 hours ago i decided to clean the dust from my desktop. I removed everything apart from the power unit. I didnt take my cpu out, but i did remove it as a whole (cpu, heatsink, fan). There was alot of dust inside as i havnt cleaned it for a year or two. Anyway i out everything back in, connected up the wires and powered her up. Everything started including power unit, LED's, fans, etc... apart from the graphics card which didnt even budge. The fan wasnt moving or nothing, monitor didnt come on or anything, no sounds either. Im using my work laptop atm to post this it would be brilliant if someone could help me. I shall list my specs

Processor: AMD Phenom 9750 X4 2.4GHz 
Memory: 4GB (2 x 2GB) 800MHz RAM 
HD Capacity: 640GB 
Graphics Card: Raedon HD4850 1GB GDDR3
Operating System: Windows 7
Optical Drive: DVD-SM + DVD-ROM 
Air Cooled CPU Thermal Solution 
750W Power Supply ​ 

Motherboard is a Microstar ms 7388 v1.

If anyone could help me out i would be over the moon, im absolutely gutted. Thank you.

Edit: I just got the graphics card fan working, i didnt plug the power lead into the mobo, how stupid of me.. Still nothing on monitor though


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## loda117 (Aug 6, 2010)

Hi and welcome to TSF 
First WHat Radeon Graphics card is it like manufacturer 
HAve you checked to make sure that the card is seated properly 
I would turn everything off unplug power from the computer 
Take out the Graphics card and reset it and make sure its sitting properly If it takes power connectors like 6 pin or 8 pin make sure they are plugged in properly as well 
Turn on the computer and see what you get


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## Demps (Sep 9, 2011)

Hello loda117, thank you for the advice and the quick reply.

I believe it is an ATI graphics card. I have just removed it and made sure it was seated correctly and it looks fine, turning on the pc now...and sadly still nothing. Could i have damaged the graphics card somehow? Could it be my mobo? Shame i dont have another gfx card to test it work, the monitor is fine just hooked it up to the laptop. Any other suggestions? Thanks again for the advice, appreciate it.


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## loda117 (Aug 6, 2010)

Have you tried plugging this card into another computer to see if the card responds? 
Also check to see if there are any capacitors are bent or damaged around the card


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## Demps (Sep 9, 2011)

Checked gfx card again and its definately seated correctly, took it out anyway and put back in, still nothing. No sign of damage either, could it be something to do with my ram?


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## loda117 (Aug 6, 2010)

Well if the card is not turning on then it has nothing to do with RAM 
What kind of power supply you have ? make and model I know you have posted the watts


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Do you know which Motherboard you have, MSI MS numbers are not the actual model number and often come back as may different boards both OEM(HP,Compaq etc) and retail> MSI USA ? Search


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## Demps (Sep 9, 2011)

The graphics card is working, fan spinning now. I had forgot to plug it in. Just no display on monitor, im thinking its mobo or ram problem. I dont know the motherboard make, where can i find it?

edit: think its a AMD RD780 Crossfire.


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

If it's not printed on the board, is it a OEM PC or a Custom build?


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## Demps (Sep 9, 2011)

i have an acer aspire defender gaming pc wich is about 3-5 years old


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

That will be an OEM board, does it also have integrated graphics?


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## Demps (Sep 9, 2011)

Im not 100% sure, i dont know where to find the spec of the motherboard and i dont know what im physically looking for on the motherboard to see the intergrated gfx. Any ideas what i should be looking at? I just removed and checked the cpu unit and the pins are not bent and fit in nicely so it cant be that.


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Once you remove the heatsink you have to clean off all the old thermal paste and install new, once the seal is broken it will not do it's job and the cpu can overheat in seconds.
Arctic Silver Incorporated - Route to Product Instructions for Arctic Silver 5

Look on the back of the tower for a VGA monitor port usually blue or white DVI port up in the row where the Audio, usb and PS/2 ports are, OEM machines often have a plastic cap covering them. If it has one remove the card and hook the monitor to that to test, but after you redo the paste.


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## Demps (Sep 9, 2011)

I didnt remove the heatsink i undid the screws on the base and took out the cpu, the heatsink and the cpu as a whole. I checked the back of the tower and there is another port but its a female pinned port. My male monitor cable wont fit in.


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

That looks similar but it's a serial port.

Did you get the lever to unlock and open the socket and close and latch again with the heatsink attached? 

Try clearing the CMOS, unplug the power cord from the wall, press and hold the power button several times to remove any resudial power, remove the coin cell battery from the motherboard, wait at least 30 minutes press the power button again, reinstall the battery, replug and see if it posts.


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## Demps (Sep 9, 2011)

Yeah thats correct it was a struggle. Was that a bad thing to do? Ill try that tomorrow as im about to sleep, thank you so much for the advice, ill get back to you, cheers.


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## Demps (Sep 9, 2011)

still no luck. Same symptoms, everything powering up, no display on monitor. Could i have plugged wires into wrong sockets on the mobo? would that effect it?


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Did you unplug wire to clean?

You should have a 24 pin main power connector and a 4 pin square CPU power plug over by the CPU socket connected.


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

you will still have to redo the thermal paste. If you removed the heatsink and cpu all in one there is a possibility that the heatsink didn't stay down on the cpu fully and therfore render the paste and heatsink usless.


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## Demps (Sep 9, 2011)

I did indeed unplug the wires on the mobo, they are all connected up again, dont think thats the issue as everything on mobo is powering up, including graphics card. The heatsink is definately set properly, im not an expert but its pretty secure. If you think that is a real posibility i could quickly nip into town and buy some, what do you think? how could that stop anything showing on the monitor? Monitor is working btw, hooked it up to my laptop.


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

a cpu can overheat past 100 degrees c in the time it takes for your power button to come back out after you have pressed it in.

did you plug both power connectors back in from the PSU?


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## Demps (Sep 9, 2011)

i didnt remove the psu so they should still be plugged in


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## Demps (Sep 9, 2011)

Just an update. My keyboard and mouse do not light up either when i power up the pc, trying to give as much info as possible. About to try with 1 2gb ram to check if one of them is faulty.

Edit: Still nothing.


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

go over each connection again.

did you remove the I/O shield at all?


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## ras kamaa (Aug 19, 2011)

Hello there,

If it was the RAM having the problem you could have heard some beeps during the booting process--
You could still remove the RAM from their slots and try interchanging them --


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

ras kamaa said:


> Hello there,
> 
> If it was the RAM having the problem you could have heard some beeps during the booting process--
> You could still remove the RAM from their slots and try interchanging them --


unless his board doesn't have a speaker.


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## Demps (Sep 9, 2011)

greenbrucelee said:


> go over each connection again.
> 
> did you remove the I/O shield at all?


I didnt remove it.



> If it was the RAM having the problem you could have heard some beeps during the booting process--
> You could still remove the RAM from their slots and try interchanging them


No beeps heard, tried interchanging them with 1 stick in each of the 4 slots, then the other stick, then both sticks.

Just went to my local computer shop, the guy thinks its my video card by the sound of it, he said the keyboard and mouse light up via the gfx card, just sucks i dont have a spair one to check it, he said if its not the gfx card its the ram, if its not the ram its the psu. The psu is fine though in my eyes. :4-dontkno


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## Demps (Sep 9, 2011)

sry double post


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

the keyboard and mouse light up because of the graphics card?

Thats a new one on me.


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## Demps (Sep 9, 2011)

Thats what the guy told me, i have no idea personally. What part functions them?


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

The keyboard and mouse are powered by the Mobo. Ask that "tech" what powers a keyboard and mouse if a PC uses Onboard Graphics.


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## Demps (Sep 9, 2011)

So if my mouse and keyboard dont light up, surely my mobo has had its last day? Would it be possible that i put the cpu back in incorrectly? Is there anyway i can check the cpu is working without taking it out? i bought some thermal paste btw, so if i must take it out then so be it.


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

Your motherboard could be damaged. Check the capacitors on the motherboard, if any are leaking or bulgin then the motherboard is damaged.

what is the make of the psu?


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## Demps (Sep 9, 2011)

the psu is a Delta GPS 750AB A 750W 
Capacitors look fine, no signs of leaks or buldging.
Would it make a difference if my SATA cables where plugged in incorrectly (i mean correct socket), im not sure if they are, i couldnt remember where they all went. Should i check if my CPU is waming up, how can i do this?


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

it doesn't matter what SATA port you use.

Second Delta power supplies are prone to failure and well know for it. Can you get into the BIOS and post the voltages for 3.3v,5v and 12v also please post your temps. If you cant see this info in the bios download CPUID hardware monitor and post a screenshot of it.


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## Demps (Sep 9, 2011)

my monitor doesnt even boot, not even into bios, thats my problem.


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

Demps said:


> my monitor doesnt even boot, not even into bios, thats my problem.


can you connect to another monitor?

if not you first port of call is to replace the psu with a good make, you are good with 750w. Good makes are:corsair,seasonic,xfx,CWT, PC power & cooling and thermaltake toughpower units only. The first three are the best makes of psu as they are all made by seasonic.


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## Demps (Sep 9, 2011)

What about a cooler master gx series 650w? Could get one tomorrow. No, cant connect to another monitor, only have one here. Its definately not the monitor though, i dont see how it would work with a different monitor.


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

coolermaster are ok (about 10 times better than delta but the ones I mentioned even better) but I suggest you stick with 750w


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## Demps (Sep 9, 2011)

Ok ill take that in mind. Im tempted just to scrap this pc, its about 4 years old anyway, had some great gaming out of it, might start my own build, but i think ill buy some cheap ram just to check if its that because i have a funny feeling it is.


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Did the KB and mouse light up before you removed the CPU?
trying get it out and in with the heatsink attached could have certainly damaged some pins or the socket.


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## Demps (Sep 9, 2011)

Guys ive done it!!! I cant believe it. My mistake was the cpu wasnt in correctly each time. I prized the cpu from the heatsink after heating up via a hairdryer. Re-applyed some thermal paste after cleaning off the new stuff and refit the whole thing. BINGO ITS WORKING. Cant thank you guys enough for helping me out and giving me all the advice you gave me, i appreciate it fully!! Legends!


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## Amd_Man (Jan 27, 2009)

I'm glad you got it working. I just hope you take greebrucelee's advice on the PSU. Delta power supplies are not good at all and when it goes it will take hardware with it. The PSU's mentioned all come with a 5 year warranty and can be used in your new build.


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## Demps (Sep 9, 2011)

Adive taken, i think after the worry and realising if i hadnt fixed it id be out of a machine for sometime... I will start thinking of a new machine, a custom one this time, because ive realised over the years custom machines can be alot more powerfull and alot more cheaper. Thanks again for the advice fella's.


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Lesson learned you don't have to remove the CPU or heatsink to clean them, best to use a can of compressed air. Glad you have it up and running.


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