Bad Hard Drive Stop signal to monitor?

[Eric Clayton]

I had a custom built computer for a few years and it randomly just cut power all of a sudden, my neighbor who has a 4 year degree in computer programming and repair looked at it for me and said it was my hard drive which sounded kind of odd to me but even his buddy who is still working full time as a computer repair technician said that it could be the problem but in short my computer doesn't send signal to my monitor so I cant be sure if it is even booting and I was wondering could a bad hard drive cause this problem? I mean I've had a few hard drives fail on factory computers and still load bios to tell me there's a problem but since the computer is custom built piece by piece would that mean it would communicate with the aftermarket Graphics Card?

 

[yoji]

Your giving us mixed messages here..
You start with " just cut power all of a sudden" and then go on to talk about no signal to your monitor,,,
Which is it?
If it really is "power" then no - your HDD would not impact that..
If its a black screen..it sort of could.. so if the HDD is corrupting files - it could the graphics driver has come corrupt..
But even in that situation - you should still get your BIOS output out to screen before windows loads.
Your BIOS output does not rely on Windows (or your HDD) .

So please check and explain what you are seeing (or not, as the case seems to be)
Cheers

 

[Eric Clayton]

computer was running then the power went out on the computer waited a second and hit the power button the computer gets power and all but no signal to the monitor and the monitor just goes to sleep no hints at maybe a second of signal or anything

 

[yoji]

computer was running then the power went out on the computer waited a second and hit the power button the computer gets power and all but no signal to the monitor and the monitor just goes to sleep no hints at maybe a second of signal or anything

Sorry to appear pedantic.. but small details are really important.. you say "the monitor just goes to sleep". Does that mean it does register something (but shows nothing) .. and then goes back to sleep? Or that means it wakes up only because you turn it on.. and then it goes back to sleep? If you leave the monitor on... ( so it in sleep mode) and then turn on your comp.. does it ever come out of sleep mode (even if it shows nothing on the screen)?

I ask - because I am trying to understand if you are getting raw BIOS output to your screen.. unfortunately - if you have a fast PC... and a slow monitor -BIOS can be done before the monitor recognises it .. so if you not seeing it, it may just be a timing issues...
So to be sure...
Check your Mobo Manual.. find out the key to go into BIOS setup - and when you start your machine.. go to bios setup.. (that will hold the BIOS output for a long time and give your screen a full chance to register). See if you get any output to your screen. And let us know..

Cheers

 

[Eric Clayton]

Im getting zero signal to the monitor it doesn't register anything it doesnt wake up when the computer is turned on it remains asleep I have had the same monitor for the tower for the past almost 2 years (3 years in November) so I know it's not a slow monitor and the monitor does work as I am playing my PS3 on it currently I have already tried acessing the BIOS via the key and even by a CMOS reset but still no signal my only question is if a bad enough hard drive can keep a signal from going to the monitor.

 

[yoji]

OK - lets keep this simple.. if you not interested in what the problem is.. and are only interested in...

my only question is if a bad enough hard drive can keep a signal from going to the monitor.

The answer is "No"

Glad I could help.
Cheers

 

[Eric Clayton]

thank you and the reason I just wanted to know that is because I've done everything form reseating to reseting CMOS to even removing the cpu to make sure it was fine and still the problem continues Im just going to take it to Geek Squad when I get the extra cash

 

[yoji]

thank you and the reason I just wanted to know that is because I've done everything form reseating to reseting CMOS to even removing the cpu to make sure it was fine and still the problem continues Im just going to take it to Geek Squad when I get the extra cash

If you really want be sure.. just disconnect the HDD.. and you shoul dget the BIOS output to screen saying ,.. and the message "no bootable device found.. insert CD " or similar.

Cheers

 

[Eric Clayton]

Well I've tried that already but still no signal