Resurect old PC

[_Al_]

Hi
hoping someone can help

I’ve got an old win 7 PC which seems to start fine - but the monitor is dead (says “AGING” in red letters on white background when I try to start the PC and flicks between that and a black screen).

I have no other monitors with the old VGA connection so bought a DVI-HDMI cable and plugged it into a current monitor. That says “no signal”.

Stuck for ideas now. Could buy a monitor with a VGA but that seems wasteful if the PC is the issue.

Is there a way to network into it from a current laptop via wired connection and see what it’s doing?

Thanks!


Edited to correct “DVI” where I meant “VGA”

Edited by _Al_ on Wednesday 23 March 16:07

[eltawater]

Does it only have DVI? Does it not have a VGA connector and does your lounge TV have a VGA connector?

There must be dozens of people in your local area (judging by Facebook marketplace) with an old 17-19" monitor which they're desperate to shift for a fiver? I myself have two sitting in the garage because no one wants them and I can't bear to tip them.

[ArsE82]

You could try:

- plug it in to your home network
- find out the IP it has been allocated
- see if you can Remote Desktop to that ip, or:
- use windows explorer to get to \\ip\c$

If you can’t RDP to it but can get to the c$ share you might be able to enable RDP remotely.

[David_M]

eltawater said:

Does it only have DVI? Does it not have a VGA connector and does your lounge TV have a VGA connector?

I started typing this and then saw that Eltawater had beaten me to it.

Follow on question is - what do you want to do with it / use it for? If all you want to know is what is on the drives, you can connect them up to another PC and have a look.

[Arnold Cunningham]

This PC I'm on now is only connected to DVI & VGA monitors. They're ridiculously old dell monitors that still have a better resolution than modern ones - so I continue using them. So if you need to genuinely resurrect the PC - this'd do : https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/324912894333

[Mr Pointy]

Gumtree is possibly better than ebay for a monitor - there are 2,835 of them advertised. Filter by your location & there's probably someone nearby selling one for peanuts.

https://www.gumtree.com/computer-monitors

[Arnold Cunningham]

Yes....but....I'm calling out the Dell 2007 WFP I linked to just because I know it has VGA & DVI and is a decent usable monitor for not much money.

[Mr Pointy]

Arnold Cunningham said:

Yes....but....I'm calling out the Dell 2007 WFP I linked to just because I know it has VGA & DVI and is a decent usable monitor for not much money.

True, but it's Collect in Person from Batley. For this sort of thing Gumtree can be a better bet.

[Arnold Cunningham]

Did I really do that. Damn. Yes.

Anyway, my point wasn't specifically that vendor or platform, but the make & spec of monitor that might be helpful to the OP.
But for completeness sake, here's one with free delivery https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/185194538495

[Ransoman]

Do you not have a TV with HDMI in the house you could plug it into?

[_Al_]

Thanks for the suggestions and apologies for my confusion earlier. I don’t have a TV with the correct VGA connection. I did find a laptop with the same connector as the old monitor and it behaves the same as the PC so maybe a monitor is a worthy investment.

Will update soon.

Edited by _Al_ on Wednesday 23 March 17:51

[Nimby]

Back to basics OP - when you say "it starts fine" do you mean you hear a single beep (which yes, suggests some sort of video problem), or that one or more fans start (which just means the PSU is working)?

Many monitors display a logo when powered on even if the PC isn't, so seeing something on the screen doesn't mean much.

[_Al_]

The PC has a video card with both VGA and DVI. When the only VGA monitor I had refused to power up with it I bought a cheap DVI-HDMI cable. I plugged that into my work monitor but it says no signal.

So now I can’t tell if the problem is the PC. There is a £15 monitor just down the road so I’ve dropped him a message.

I’m resurrecting the machine mainly to mess about with so finding out what’s happening without buying new bits is part of the challenge….

[_Al_]

Nimby said:

Back to basics OP - when you say "it starts fine" do you mean you hear a single beep (which yes, suggests some sort of video problem), or that one or more fans start (which just means the PSU is working)?

Many monitors display a logo when powered on even if the PC isn't, so seeing something on the screen doesn't mean much.

I get a beep and I can hear the HDD doing something. There’s really no way to know if / how far it’s getting through the boot sequence..

[_Al_]

I think it’s dead now. Wired it up again, PSU spools up but no beep, no HDD noises and no power to the keyboard or mouse.


Question to those that know - in these days of semiconductor shortages and rocketing prices for everything is it feasible to source bits to put it back together or is the case (HP Pavillion a6525) / PSU (3a) etc just too old?

Again - it’s just for fun. Don’t mind raiding ebay to source parts etc but don’t want to end up spending ££££ for something I’m only likely to drop Linux on as a faster alternative to my raspberry pi!

Edited by _Al_ on Wednesday 23 March 22:37

[ARHarh]

Start with the basics, are all the cables, memory cards, graphics cards or anything else plugged in correctly, Try connecting it to a TV next. Without a monitor it will be difficult to load a remote desktop type system, so as suggested try and see if remote desktop has already been activated on it.

[Baldchap]

Has it got onboard video? If so, remove the graphics card. Also remove any nonessential items.

Check the RAM and CPU are seated correctly. Often a refusal to do anything is RAM or CPU related. You may also decide do remove all but one memory sticks and perhaps swap them if that doesn't boot.

CMOS battery will be flat, possibly necessitating interaction before the PC does anything, so a video output would be needed.