Computer Died. Please Help

[Fenris]

Ok Tech gurus,
I am in a bind. I was on our desktop computer (HP computer, running Windows XP SP2), surfing the web when it just died.

The screen went black and the monitor said it was going to sleep. I tried restarting the computer nothing. I unplugged everthing nothing. The monitor juts says "No input". I tried another monitor, nothing. The computer starts up normally, or sounds like it does, but I can't see anything.

Please help me find a solution, or offer some suggestions. All out family photos are on this computer (I backed them up last year, but have some that aren't on cds).

I don't recall installing any new software lately, certainly not that day. This is the last straw in a long string of really bad events, so if we could fix this quickly and easily I'd be so grateful.

Thanks all.

 

[JDragon]

My first guess would be your video card has died based on the description you gave of what happened and how its responding.

You should be able to get a replacement at a reasonable price and they are easy to install.

JD

 

[fba827]

I know you said some of this, but I'm just emphasizing some points

* You can hear the computer turn on (what is probably the fan and/or harddrive spinning)
* The monitor appears to be "on" (maybe a light by the power switch) but it's getting no input

1) The monitor has two wires, one for it's power and one for it's connection to the computer -- double check the connection to the computer.

2) may be the video card -- do you have another video card around and experience in swapping them? -- though it is rare for a video card to just poop out on it's own...

Those are the two quickest things that I can think of off the top of my head.

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

before you do anything else check your wiring. If the wiring looks good then try pulling your graphics card and shifting to the OE monitor bus. You can always revert from an aftermarket card to the original onboard graphics. If it still doesn't work the issue is deeper than just a bad wire or card and will take some figuring out.

 

[azhrei_fje]

This is difficult to diagnose over the 'net! You really need to find a friend with some computer hardware experience and have them take a look at it.

Some up-front questions: do the keyboard LEDs work (capslock, numlock)? If so, then there is some sort of BIOS or OS running that is responding to keyboard events.

Power on the computer and then start the auto-picture sync function on the monitor. This probably won't help based on your description, but it couldn't hurt either (!) and it might help the monitor find a video signal. You'l need your monitor's manual for this, most likely.

Are there any beeps during the bootup process that are not the same as usual? Some video cards will return failure codes to the BIOS when it provides for them and those failure codes in turn cause the BIOS to beep. If so, right down the pattern (beep-beep-beep, pause, beep-beep, for example, would be code number "32") then go to the video card manufacturer's web site and look up the code to determine the problem. Of course, if you have this issue, you know you'll be replacing the video card ("No user-serviceable parts inside" is an accurate assessment!).

Swap out components to narrow down the failed part. For example, put a different monitor in place. Try a different computer with the same monitor. And so on.

I agree with the other posters that it's probably the video card. However, it could also be the power supply. I've seen weird things happen in a machine when the power supply starts to go wacky!

 

[Thanee]

Power Supply would be my first guess, if the board doesn't beep during startup.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Fenris]

I put a different monitor with the computer no luck. I put a different computer with the monitor and it worked fine.

I opend the case up and it looks like the video card is a part of the mother board, The small blue connection is directly connected to the mother board.

If I got a seperate PCI video card and hooked the monitor through that would it work?

How can I check if the power supply is the problem?

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

You'd be hard-pressed to FIND a pci video card anymore. For a few years now AGP and PCI-E have been the standard. Do you have any brown ports? A brown bus will be either an AGP or PCI-E and those are easy to find a card for.


If you've got it open check your wiring, if that all seems good, nothing loose or crossed. And you're getting lights on your keyboard and a drive that's spinning up, that kind of narrows things down. If you've still got keyboard lights responding you've probably still got bios. Unfortunately it means the problems are the sort that aren't easy to diagnose over the internet, they really need somebody who understands hardware to take a look in person. It does sound like it's in your video card though. If you have a network and another computer have you tried just leaving it running and accessing it via the network?

 

[TwistedBishop]

If the problem was your power supply or an overheating CPU, you'd likely have seen warning signs before this. Did your computer have a habit of rebooting by itself? Did it use to freeze up a lot?

It would help if you could describe exactly what sounds come from the PC as it boots up.

 

[Fenris]

Power Supply would be my first guess, if the board doesn't beep during startup.

Bye
Thanee

It would help if you could describe exactly what sounds come from the PC as it boots up.

I don't hear a beep during start up.

The keyboard lights do light up (num lock, caps lock) and the opitcal mouse light is on.

When I start the computer up I hear a loud whiring noise that is usual, then the computer makes the normal clinking and whiring that I normally hear when it is on.