Pc wont power on monitor (not gfx or mon) ?

jozi

Parents pc is acting up a little.

Monitor comes on, gfx are displayed but only for a second or 2 before it goes black again.

So far i've tried safe mode, a different monitor, different gfx card and a different cable all of them give the same behaviour.

It's an old Dell with a P4 and agp gfx card.

Anyone any idea what it could be?

Jozi

Diver79

Could be the processor overheating. Id say its new PC time.. :mad::eek:

Lazarus2.0

Does the PC power down or is it just the monitor signal being lost ? If fans are still spinning , HD activity , etc , it might be worth looking in BIOS to see if AGP is set as default video output (I presume you meant AGP gfx card and not ATX) .
Have you installed the correct driver for the gfx card ?

jozi

LOL - AGP not atx

I cant see how a over heating cpu would cause the gfx to cut out?

Pc seems to work fine except for the monitor.

Unless something went to default in bios no one has touched it.

If i turn the monitor of and back on i can see what ever the card should display for about 2-3 seconds before it cuts out again.

I'm affraid that a new pc aint gona happen.

IT-Guy

Hey Jozi. I had an HP PC that wouldn't display anything on screen even though the PC had fully booted (could hear the Windows theme etc). Tried a different monitor, cable and graphics card but no joy. Ended up removing the CMOS battery on the motherboard, left it out for approx 30 secs, put it back in, rebooted the PC and the graphics card was working normally. Something for you to try at least, best of luck.

jozi

Tried taking the battery out, pc wont even get past post now :P

Monitor still doesn't get a signal long enough

Anyone else have some idea's?

Lazarus2.0

Still cant see past a BIOS setting or driver problem - dont suppose there's onboard gfx as you'd have tried it . Can you get your hands on a PCI gfx card ? Possibly but unlikely , the AGP slot on the mobo is damaged/dirty . What Dell model is it , btw ?

jozi

No on-board gfx.

I blew into the agp slot when I was swapping the cards. Whats a better way of cleaning this.

I wonder if it's the psu. It's like the gfx works for a second but then can't function because it cant draw enough power from the main board. On that basis would it be worth while trying a agp card which requires additional power from the psu?

IT-Guy

jozi wrote: »

Tried taking the battery out, pc wont even get past post now :P

Monitor still doesn't get a signal long enough

Anyone else have some idea's?

Sorry to hear that, I'm hoping it's not indicative of a failing motherboard. If you have another graphics card to test with then give it a try though normally you'd have to uninstall the existing diplay adapter in Device Manager first, which obviously you can't If you can get a can of compressed air then try cleaning out the PCI and AGP slots. If you're familiar enough with PCs (which I'd say you are!) then try removing the heatsink over the CPU and clean out any dust from the fan and heatsink itself. Be careful not to remove the thermal compound on the CPU side of the heatsink. Hope this helps

jozi

I'm beggining to think maybe a failing mobo alright. Won't be home till next weekend to give it another go. I'll try compressed air then, can't really see how dirt could have gotten in the agp slot, pc hasn't been moved in ages. Gave it a bit of a hover when i had the case open.

I'm familair with pc but i cba taking the hsf of

I think there's an old pc here in work which i might ask for.

IT-Guy

jozi wrote: »

I'm beggining to think maybe a failing mobo alright. Won't be home till next weekend to give it another go. I'll try compressed air then, can't really see how dirt could have gotten in the agp slot, pc hasn't been moved in ages. Gave it a bit of a hover when i had the case open.

I'm familair with pc but i cba taking the hsf of

I think there's an old pc here in work which i might ask for.

Sounds like the ideal solution as long as it doesn't have a wind up handle on the front or Model T stamped anywhere :P