Dead PC - any ideas?

[Ribol]

My desktop PC has been alive and well working a treat for ages. I have just cranked it up and there is nothing coming up on the monitor. By nothing I mean exactly the same as if the signal cable was not connected. It comes up "no signal" from time to time but nothing else at all, no Windows screens, blue screens, desktops - nothing. Looking at the led on the front of the PC it does the usual lighting up and flickering until it stops, as if Windows is up and running but you cannot see it(if that makes any sense).
I have a spare monitor so I swapped it - no change. I have a spare graphics card so I swapped it - no change.

Any suggestions what else I can try?

[mr_yogi]

Does it beep at all?

If so you should be able to find out what the beeps mean and thus find out where the problem lies.

Does your Motherboard have onboard video, if so check if the BIOS has reverted to using it over you video card.

Sorry, can't think of anything else.

[Ribol]

mr_yogi said:

Does it beep at all?

Until you asked I had not thought of that, no beeps at all.

It has a separate graphics card, which I have swapped for another one(no change)

[Plotloss]

Sounds like the VGA card has come unseated...

[Ribol]

Plotloss said:

Sounds like the VGA card has come unseated...

Go easy with me here but do you mean a bad connection where it slots in? I have swapped it for another card and then put the original back as it was - no change.

[pdV6]

Plotloss said:

Sounds like the VGA card has come unseated...

Would expect a beep code for that

[Plotloss]

Ahh didnt see the bit that you had swapped it...

Have you added any other peripherals, usb powered or directly connected?

Sounding like the mobo is hosed...

[Ribol]

Plotloss said:

Ahh didnt see the bit that you had swapped it... Have you added any other peripherals, usb powered or directly connected? Sounding like the mobo is hosed...

Was working fine untouched for months on end then just didn't work when I cranked it up.
Nothing added, nothing taken away, not been moved, touched, spoken to or even looked at.

I suspect this is not looking too good

[greenv8s]

See if you can get it to respond to the keyboard, for example shut it down using the start menu. That would confirm that it is basically alive and just lost its head.

[SlidingSideways]

Is it on a home network? Can you see it (ping, network shares etc....) from another machine?

[Ribol]

SlidingSideways said:

Is it on a home network? Can you see it (ping, network shares etc....) from another machine?

Not on a home network(and no card fitted).

[Ribol]

greenv8s said:

See if you can get it to respond to the keyboard, for example shut it down using the start menu. That would confirm that it is basically alive and just lost its head.

How can you shutdown without the screen up then?

[SS2.]

HDD light flickers as if Windoze is loading...

Duff monitor cable ? Unlikely I know, but this is fault finding by elimination

Have you tried stuffing the graphics card into another slot ?

[Ribol]

SS2. said:

HDD light flickers as if Windoze is loading... Duff monitor cable ? Unlikely I know, but this is fault finding by elimination Have you tried stuffing the graphics card into another slot ?

Swapped for another monitor with another cable. Only one slot for the graphics card but did try another card in it.

[_dobbo_]

My old PC did this with a dead power supply.

Would power on, appear to start but nothing would happen on screen.

Went out and spent £1200 on a new PC, then just to see if it would work spent £12 on a new power supply. Guess what?

Not sorry though, the new PC was/is a beast!

[chris watton]

I would try another PSU (power supply unit) first, I have had no less than 2 PSU's die on me in the space of 2 years.
Failing that, dead battery on the motherboard, or motherboard itself dead?
I say this because you say you hear no beeps whatsoever, now, if it were GPU/Memory or CPU related, it would beep, and you would still see info on the monitor screen...

[Ribol]

Ben/Chris:

Sounds like you both are going down the PSU road, not something I had even considered. Not suggesting you are wrong(just asking), the LED on the front of the PC lights up and flickers as it always has. Are we saying the PSU is working below par and therefore will not allow graphics? It is not dead as the fans are all working fine, LEDS working etc. Could it still be the PSU?

[chris watton]

Ribol said:

Ben/Chris: Sounds like you both are going down the PSU road, not something I had even considered. Not suggesting you are wrong(just asking), the LED on the front of the PC lights up and flickers as it always has. Are we saying the PSU is working below par and therefore will not allow graphics? It is not dead as the fans are all working fine, LEDS working etc. Could it still be the PSU?

Yes, it could still be the PSU, I built a system for a colleague last year, and the PC started, but only the fans came on, and the red light did flicker on the case. I replaced the PSU for a JeanTech (PC World, don't buy anything from there as a rule, but these are perfect for both price/build quality, plus you can take it back if it doesn't work!) 400W PSU, all was fine. As I have said, that wasn't the first time.

[Ribol]

chris watton said:

Yes, it could still be the PSU, I built a system for a colleague last year, and the PC started, but only the fans came on, and the red light did flicker on the case. I replaced the PSU for a JeanTech (PC World, don't buy anything from there as a rule, but these are perfect for both price/build quality, plus you can take it back if it doesn't work!) 400W PSU, all was fine. As I have said, that wasn't the first time.

OK, sounds fair enough. Have had car stuff where the voltage reading was correct but the current wasn't high enough so it might well be a similar problem. Will get one and see how I go.

Thanks to you and all for your input

[aldi]

It hasn't got two graphics cards has it? i.e. on board and add-in? (I take it you can see where I'm going with this)