Minimum components to get VGA output

Thordon

My brothers computer became unstable a few months ago, it would freeze whenever put under a lot of stress (such as in games), it would sometimes freeze for no apparent reason too. I tried loads of software solutions, 5 different OSes, but the problem persisted and eventually I gave up.

Today I decided to take it out of the box and start with minimum hardware, and see if it was still unstable, trying to identify a faulty component. My question is, what exactly is the minimum hardware for the computer to output (anything) to a moniter (through onboard graphics or a graphics card)?

Rew

Thordon wrote:

My brothers computer became unstable a few months ago, it would freeze whenever put under a lot of stress (such as in games), it would sometimes freeze for no apparent reason too. I tried loads of software solutions, 5 different OSes, but the problem persisted and eventually I gave up.

Today I decided to take it out of the box and start with minimum hardware, and see if it was still unstable, trying to identify a faulty component. My question is, what exactly is the minimum hardware for the computer to output (anything) to a moniter (through onboard graphics or a graphics card)?

Sounds like RAM to me http://www.memtest86.com/ will test ram for you (best to leave it run for 24 hours or so).

Mimimum system is normally

Motherboard
CPU
RAM
GFX card (if its not onboard)
PSU

Civilian_Target

Sounds to me like power issues or overheating. Have you checked that? If not, go to pricelessware.org and download aida32, and go to sensor, and check the voltages/temps.

Thordon

Its not RAM, after I gave up on the PC I stole the ram out of it and have been using it since with no problems.

Hmm, if thats the minimum then the computer is even worse now, I removed the heatsink and cpu, cleaned off the old thermal compound, applied new stuff, put it back on, I half thought it might have something to do with overheating. Now it wont output to the moniter, the power on switch works, the cpu fan spins, and the hard drive turns on, but nothing is output to the monitor (I tried onboard and 2 different AGP graphics cards). I plugged in the case speaker cable too, no beeps or anything.

My guess it the mobo is just gone, or possibly the cpu, I wonder what I did to cause it tho, at least it booted before I took it out of the case.

duridian

You may have static zapped something when you took out the cpu, did you earth yourself before doing it?

Thordon

I ground myself now and then, but not religously, I thought the static thing was supposed to not be much of an issue, its just made to look that way for the 1 in a million chance that static will cause damage, should I go and buy a static mat and all that, is it worth it, or mainly just for peace of mind?