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macaonghusa
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No display on monitor. Not sure how to proceed?

Sun Aug 26, 2012 12:15 pm

This week I got a shock when my PC, that has been running perfectly for over a year, suddenly broke.
The screen went black. It's definitely not a monitor fault or DVI cable issue as I tried alternatives and issue still remained.

Below are the specifications of the PC:
----------------
Case/PSU: Lian Li PC-A05NB / OCZ Mod-X-Stream Pro 500W (modular)
Motherboard: Asrock P55M-Pro LGA1156 Socket
Processor: Intel Core i5 660 Retail, 3.33GHz (3.6GHz in Turbo mode)
Cooler: Thermaltake Contac 29
Memory: Gskill RipJaws 4Gb 1600MHz 7-8-7-24 DDR3
Fans: 4x quiet 120mm fans (2 on Thermaltake controller; 2 in Lian Li enclosure)
Fan Control: Zalman MFC1 Plus 6-channel controller
Graphics: Asus GeForce GTX285 1Gb
Optical Drive: Samsung DVD-RW Black
Storage #1: Intel X25-M 160GB SSD
Storage #2: Samsung 1.5TB F2 Eco Green 32MB S300
Misc: Dell USB quiet keyboard & Microsoft IntelliMouse Explorer 4.0
Display: BenQ 24" G2400W, Black, 1920x1200, 5ms, 1000:1, VGA/DVI/HDMI
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
----------------

I made no changes to the hardware in over 6 months (then it was just installing the SSD). However I did recently move the PC to another location. A few days after the move the video signal from my GPU failed to reach the monitor. I thought something may have become loose durng the transit so I opened the case and ensured all connections were secure. Still no luck.

When I turn on the PC it sounds just like it did when it worked fine i.e. no beeps & I can hear the fans and the mechanical harddrive. However I don't see the fan on the GPU moving at all despite the light on the GPU indicating that it is receiving power. I even tried two other GPU's this week but neither were sucessful. I heard RAM placement may be an issue so I tried powering on the PC with only one RAM stick at a time. Still no display.

Now I'm really not sure what to do? Are there more steps I can take to determine the fault? At first I thought it would be a faulty GPU but now I think motherboard may be more likely?

Any suggestions in this case would be greatly appreciated.
 
00-Evan
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Re: No display on monitor. Not sure how to proceed?

Sun Aug 26, 2012 1:15 pm

Consider trying the card in your motherboard's other PCI-E slot. From my experience GPU fans spin up when the card is only receiving power from the PCI-E slot, so the inverse (the fan won't spin when receiving no power over PCI-E, but is still getting power from PSU conenctors) may be true.

Fans spinning is only relating to power, not POSTing, so you can have all parts spin up and the PC is still failing to POST. Unfortunately if switching slots doesn't help then the only thing left is to start switching other parts such as the CPU.

If your motherboard doesn't have an internal motherboard speaker attached to it, consider buying one from your local PC shop (they're very cheap) and see if your motherboard will send you a beep-code error message through it.

If all else fails, or if you don't have the spare components to do a full error test, most PC shops charge $50 or less for testing and diagnosis, though you should avoid that of possible.
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ryko
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Re: No display on monitor. Not sure how to proceed?

Sun Aug 26, 2012 11:48 pm

I wouldn't start swapping CPU or ram just yet. The problem most likely is somewhere in the video path. Need some more info like how is your video card connected to your monitor? VGA, dvi, or hdmi? Have you tried another method beside what it currently is? Make sure the monitor is working. Can you get any signal to it? Another pc or game console maybe?

What were the other video cards you tried? You would need to boot into safe mode and remove the old video drivers first if they where amd instead of nvidia as you would have a driver conflict which could cause the black screen. Good idea to do this anyway to get a clean install but you can usually get things up and running if the gpu swap is of the same brand and a close enough gpu family that the driver would support it.

A dead gpu fan could have easily lead to a premature death for your original gpu though. That is where I would start looking. Try all outputs on it. Then try to boot into safe mode with the other gpus. Then look at monitor...got another one you can try? LCD tv would work in a pinch for testing.
 
macaonghusa
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Re: No display on monitor. Not sure how to proceed?

Mon Aug 27, 2012 3:21 am

00-Evan wrote:
Consider trying the card in your motherboard's other PCI-E slot. From my experience GPU fans spin up when the card is only receiving power from the PCI-E slot, so the inverse (the fan won't spin when receiving no power over PCI-E, but is still getting power from PSU conenctors) may be true.


Thanks. Never even thought of this. Will try this evening.

ryko wrote:
I wouldn't start swapping CPU or ram just yet. The problem most likely is somewhere in the video path. Need some more info like how is your video card connected to your monitor? VGA, dvi, or hdmi? Have you tried another method beside what it currently is? Make sure the monitor is working. Can you get any signal to it? Another pc or game console maybe?

What were the other video cards you tried? You would need to boot into safe mode and remove the old video drivers first if they where amd instead of nvidia as you would have a driver conflict which could cause the black screen. Good idea to do this anyway to get a clean install but you can usually get things up and running if the gpu swap is of the same brand and a close enough gpu family that the driver would support it.

A dead gpu fan could have easily lead to a premature death for your original gpu though. That is where I would start looking. Try all outputs on it. Then try to boot into safe mode with the other gpus. Then look at monitor...got another one you can try? LCD tv would work in a pinch for testing.


Here are my GPU specs. I tried both DVI outputs. Didn't try other output as can't find suitable cable.
My monitor is fine as I tried another PC on it. I also tried a different DVI cable. The two other GPU's I tried were much older (and smaller) nVidia card's (no idea of the model's unfortunately).
 
macaonghusa
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Re: No display on monitor. Not sure how to proceed?

Tue Aug 28, 2012 11:58 am

Tried GPU in the other PCI-Express slot. Unfortunately got the same result - no display. GPU light on but no fan spinning.
Will try to get a friend to test the GPU in their PC if possible.
 
notfred
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Re: No display on monitor. Not sure how to proceed?

Tue Aug 28, 2012 12:08 pm

Do you have an old PCI video card you can try?
 
absurdity
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Re: No display on monitor. Not sure how to proceed?

Tue Aug 28, 2012 10:19 pm

Did you try a BIOS reset?
 
vargis14
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Re: No display on monitor. Not sure how to proceed?

Tue Aug 28, 2012 11:02 pm

Did you try removing the dedicated card and use the integrated graphics on the CPU?
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phileasfogg
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Re: No display on monitor. Not sure how to proceed?

Wed Aug 29, 2012 1:38 am

vargis14 wrote:
Did you try removing the dedicated card and use the integrated graphics on the CPU?


vargis14's idea is exactly right. If you try that approach, you should hopefully be able to get to the 'CMOS' screens (hit Del or F2) and switch your preferred Init Display to "on board graphics" rather than "PCIe graphics". Then you can (at the very least) go to Safe Mode and ensure you can boot to Windows desktop.

Oh, and a couple more things to check:

a) if you have access to a PCI "Port 80" card you can check if it fires up when you power on your machine. It has 2 LED digits which display (very rapidly, so you may not see all the codes flash by ;-) all of the codes that the BIOS sends out to I/O port 80 as it executes. If it always halts at the same point, you could write down the port-80 code and report the code either to this forum or Google the entire list of codes for your motherboard (if available)

b) if you have a voltmeter, check if you are getting +12V power on your graphics card(s) when you insert them in the PCIe slots. It's possible that you have no 12V power going to the PCIe slots on your board.

Good luck!
 
just brew it!
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Re: No display on monitor. Not sure how to proceed?

Wed Aug 29, 2012 1:57 am

Got another PSU you can try?
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macaonghusa
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Re: No display on monitor. Not sure how to proceed?

Wed Aug 29, 2012 3:31 am

notfred wrote:
Do you have an old PCI video card you can try?


Not anymore unfortunately but I will see if I can borrow one.

absurdity wrote:
Did you try a BIOS reset?


I think I did a CMOS reset. i.e. no power attached to motherboard.. temp changed cmos jumpers.. also temp removed cmos battery.

vargis14 wrote:
Did you try removing the dedicated card and use the integrated graphics on the CPU?


Until you said this I had no idea the CPU had integrated graphics! Unfortunately I don't think this motherboard supports them i.e. I can't see any graphic outputs.

phileasfogg wrote:
Oh, and a couple more things to check:


Those are great points but I hope I won't need to go that far. Voltmeter will be the easier of the two to get.

just brew it! wrote:
Got another PSU you can try?


Turns out I do. I could try it on my Corsair CMPSU-400CXUK 400W. It's rated 100W lower but I think it should have enough power.

Also thank you everybody for all the prompt responses. It makes the situation so much easier to deal with. :-)
 
macaonghusa
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Re: No display on monitor. Not sure how to proceed?

Sat Oct 20, 2012 9:53 am

Sorry about delay in replying to this thread. Basically had to put it on hold for a while.

phileasfogg wrote:
a) if you have access to a PCI "Port 80" card you can check if it fires up when you power on your machine. It has 2 LED digits which display (very rapidly, so you may not see all the codes flash by ;-) all of the codes that the BIOS sends out to I/O port 80 as it executes. If it always halts at the same point, you could write down the port-80 code and report the code either to this forum or Google the entire list of codes for your motherboard (if available)


I managed to get a hold of a PCI POST card. When I place it in PC and power it on the code remains at "00".
The D1 LED turns on --> RESET PASS
The D2 LED stays off --> CLK ERROR

So I guess this means motherboard is the problem?
 
notfred
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Re: No display on monitor. Not sure how to proceed?

Sat Oct 20, 2012 5:05 pm

Yup, no clock signal means the motherboard is faulty.
 
esc_in_ks
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Re: No display on monitor. Not sure how to proceed?

Sat Oct 20, 2012 7:39 pm

One thing to check would be the motherboard stand offs. Make sure you've installed only the necessary stand offs so as to not accidentally be causing a short. After moving the PC, something could have flexed and shorted out with an unnecessary stand off. I've certainly heard of this happening before. (Okay, maybe I've even been known to have done this on a PC I built a very long time ago.)

If you're going to tear the machine apart anyway (as you will probably be doing), you can run the motherboard on a bench outside of the case and see if it's any better.
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macaonghusa
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Re: No display on monitor. Not sure how to proceed?

Tue Oct 23, 2012 4:00 am

Now I have a much better idea of issue and how to resolve. Thanks for all the assistance in this thread. I knew I had asked in the right place! :-)
 
macaonghusa
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Re: No display on monitor. Not sure how to proceed?

Wed Nov 14, 2012 9:42 am

The issue turned out to be the PSU. Even though fans were running fine something must have degraded within the PSU. Apparently those OCZ's can be very weak on the +12V rail. Thanks for all the help in this thread.

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