# Computer won't display anything on the monitor when turned on



## daletron3030

Okay well I'm trying to fix a computer for a friend and well the computer will start, but nothing will be displayed on the monitor. (except for the monitor message that shows it's working)

No beep is heard either (i don't know if there ever was a beep?) 

So i tried 3 different monitors, I tried a different video card, I tried replacing the RAM, I also tried a different hard drive- but neither of those solved the problem. 

Any other ideas of what it may be? I was thinking maybe it's the power supply (it's 300W) but i unplugged the two cd-rom's and just left the hard drive and video card plugged in and that's it, but that didn't work either. 

Maybe the motherboard is just messed up? I just wanted to see if there's any other things I can try because I really don't want to buy a new mobo and re-do the whole computer unless that's the only real solution. I don't have a mobo laying around where I can just try one out either =\ the computer used to work, but my friend is very computer illiterate and can't explain anything to me.

the computer doesn't look that old and it looks like it was built by somebody

hope soemone can help me! =\


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## willmon18

Well the only thing I can think of is that the bios has a few out of wack settings. If you were trying to have the screen get displayed when pluging it into a graphic card that was just put there it is not going to display anything. Your monitor should at least display all startup things untill it gets to the desktop where it is not going to show anything because of settings are not set right. Now if possible find the monitor port that was with the computer It could be a graphics card that came with the computer or a port that is connected to the motherboard which would be close to either side of the tower where the motherboard is inside. I really think this has to be the problem but if any of you other techs here think it could be something else please correct me. Also if you think I have haven't described this good enough just edit the post please. I am not really good at describing things anyway.


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## daletron3030

thx for replying willmon, i'm trying hard to make out what you're trying to say but i can't figure it out.

"Your monitor should at least display all startup things untill it gets to the desktop where it is not going to show anything because of settings are not set right."

it doesn't even do that. usually when you boot up the computer, you can see it loading up, then windows loading up etc. it doesn't do that at all. i jus get a blank screen.

"Now if possible find the monitor port that was with the computer It could be a graphics card that came with the computer or a port that is connected to the motherboard which would be close to either side of the tower where the motherboard is inside."

the computer was self-made so there was no integrated video card or nothing. it had a regular geforce4 mx something plugged into the motherboards AGP port. i replaced the geforce with another geforce 4 something and still nothing


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## willmon18

Well then I really think something was put together incorrectly. Because no matter what you are suppose to be able to see the bios booting the computer and the windows loading. If you don't then I don't know what the problem is. If you can hook up the monitor to the original graphics port that the computer came with then it should work if not then something was altered like settings on the computer or the bios. On the computer and the desktop settings it could be set with a different graphics card as well as in the bios and set with a different graphics card. Just keep trying to figure out what is what and plug it in and see if it is the correct thing it is missing. For example. Your computer could be set to the nVidia Geforce instead of the current card you have in if this is so then nothing will display on your monitor. It is most likely that your bios is set with a certain graphics card that you have taken out that might of been broken and changed with a different card. Try to get a new card that is the same as your last one that may of been broke when you taken it out.


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## Doby

Hi,

If possible list all the system specs you can, the motherboard manufactuer and model is usually printed on the board, we already know the video card.

You did good by trying another video card and ram so the next step would be to try another power supply if you have or can barrow one but I would not run out and purchase one because it could be other things.

I would also disconnect all cards except video and drives to see if you can get it to post.


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## daletron3030

My friend said that I need a blank HD - do you think this is the case? because i believe the OS on the computer is WinXP, but the HD i plugged in is Windows2k.

i dont want to buy a new HD jus for it to be a waste of money though......that would suck =\


i'll post the specs as soon as i get home, i don't think i'll be able to figure out what kind of motherboard it is though


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## Doby

just pluging in a hdd with a operating system on it from a differnt computer don't always work, what your friend means is you need to reinsall windows and he is right.

However before doing so it is important that the computer shows a post screen, in other words some video of some sort when you first power on. If you have no video then there is another problem besides windows or the hard drive.

For now make sure the hardrive is connected properly and make sure the video card is seated correctly. Make sure all psu connections are tight.

If this don't work post back and we will try some other things


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## daletron3030

i tried another monitor, checked all the wiring, sigh still can't figure it out, it's really frustrating =\


well i can't seem to find where it says what kind of motherboard it is, all i can find is a MSI DDR.

the PSU is a CODEGEN 300W

the vid card is a evga gf4 ti4200

the memory is a Samsung DDR 266 256MB, one stick

someone help me!! heh


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## Doby

MSI is a motherboard manufactuer are there any numbers by the Msi logo?

Is there any way you can try another power supply? It could possibly be it.

Have you removed all the drives and cards except video?

These are important steps to try and find the bad component. If you remove all the drives and cards, have already tried a known working video card and ram all thats left that can be bad would be the cpu, motherboard or power supply that is why you should try another psu before anything else


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## Bartender

daletron -
There's some confusion going on here. You said, 
"the computer was self-made so there was no integrated video card or nothing"

We need to clear that up. It doesn't matter if it's a home-brew or a name-brand PC. It's entirely possible that the motherboard has a video chipset built right into it. That's what we mean when we say "onboard video", and that's why the guys are asking for the exact mb model. Gamers ignore the onboard video chipset because it's not powerful enuf for gaming. In your case, we need to find out if your mb has onboard video or not because if it does you're going to be asked to bypass the video card that you added and plug the monitor into the onboard video. Take a close look at the back of the PC. Do you see the cluster of ports that comes right off the motherboard? Is there a standard SVGA port in that cluster? If so, then you've got onboard video. You should turn off the PC, plug the monitor into that motherboard port, and restart the PC. Then tell us if you get anything at the monitor. In the BIOS there's a setting to ask the PC to use "onboard", "PCI", "AGP" , or maybe even "PCI-X" for its default video but that will have to wait until you can see the BIOS settings!

It is a bit troubling that you're seeing absolutely nothing but let's not panic

Another issue where there seems to be some confusion...you should see something displayed on the monitor even if there was no HDD at all. None. The BIOS screen you see when the PC is first booting up is coming from the motherboard's stored data. This is displayed before (or as) your PC goes looking for a HDD. So let's figure out why you're not seeing _anything on the monitor before you start worrying about buying another HDD._


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