Computer starts but no display

Shabla

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Nov 10, 2008
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Hi. I've recently had a problem with my computer, the computer started fine but the graphic card fan didn't and I didn't get any display on screen. I triple-checked everything in the computer, cables, power, monitor, dust, etc, nothing worked.
The graphic card was 7 months old, I should have been able to RMA it, but Diamond (company from which my GC was from, and from which I will never buy anything from again) never answered my ticket on their support center for over 1 month (and they still haven't), so I got pissed and bough another one from Sapphire (HD4870 1GB, last one was the same but 512Mb).

It's been a week or so and my computer was running fine with this new graphic card, but yesterday, while playing a game (WoW, not anything hard on the graphic card) my computer just shut down itself, and the old problem got back; I can turn it on, but I have no display. Every fans is working (even the graphic card's), HDD are working too.

Now the bizzare thing. Sometimes it works, sometime (most of the time) it doesn't. I once removed the graphic card (the older one) to remove dust, the put it back and it worked. I resetted the bios (removing the battery) and then it worked. Both of those worked only once though, it looks completely random. When I managed to get it working after removing the battery (and putting it back of course) I went in the bios to re-set somethings (disable floppy, hd audio and express gate), the comp turn off for a moment (this is normal I think), and reboot, but then I had no display again.

So if I ever get it worked, I can reboot as long as the comp don't turn off. If it turns off, then i'm "/$?*/ and it doesn't work anymore.

Here's my comp (copy paste from receipts, not even 1 year old):
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Dual Core Processor LGA775 3.0GHZ Wolfdale 1333FSB 6MB Retail
Asus P5Q Pro Atx LGA775 P45 DDR2 2PCI-E16 Crossfire 3PCI-E1 2PCI SATA2 Sound Gblan Esata Motherboard
OCZ GameXStream 600W ATX12V 24PIN SLI Ready Active PFC ATX Power Supply 120MM Fan Black
Samsung SH-S223F/BEBS 22X Speed Plus Black SATA DVD Writer OEM
G.SKILL F2-6400CL4D-4GBPK PC2-6400 4GB 2X2GB DDR2-800 CL4-4-4-12 240PIN Dual Channel Memory Kit
Antec Three Hundred Mini Tower Gaming Case 300 ATX 3X5.25 6X3.5INT No PS Front USB & Audio
Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB 7200RPM 32MB Dual Proc 3.5IN SATA Hard Drive OEM 5YR Mfg Warranty
SAPPHIRE 100279-1GL Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
and a Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Value

Random Facts:
- I use Windows XP 64bit edition
- My cpu was overclocked, but very slightlty (from 3.0ghz to 3.2ghz), now it's not anymore since I resetted the bios
- I never had any heat problems (when I manage to see something, in the bios I get ~35C)
- I tryed removing the HDD, the soundcard, the ram, nothings changed anything.
- My computer never did any beep sounds (even when it worked fine)
- P5Q Pro doesn't have onboard video (or so I assume since there's no vga nor dvi entry)
- My case is designed to have the power supply at the bottom, my psu is designed to be at the top, so my psu is upside down, fan toward the top (no ideas if it's a problem)
- I tryed with another monitor, no change

So now I absolutely can't see what's wrong. I need help :cry:, thanks for reading, and hopefully for helping!
 

I just tryed, not working. Thanks for reply though.


I though it might be that or the motherboard, is there a way I can test my psu ? I don't have any other on hand...
 
I agree that it's either the PSU or the Motherboard.

You have little choice but to replace the PSU or the motherboard. It's best to start with the PSU as you can keep it as a backup and use it in the future when your current PSU eventually fails.

The motherboard's the biggest pain to replace and if you have an OEM version of Windows, your copy of Windows is "tied" to the motherboard. You can sometimes re-activate with a different motherboard with the same chipset and explain this to Microsoft; they'll likely re-activate your OEM copy of Windows for this situation.

It's impossible to troubleshoot without replacing one of these two components.
 
Hi Shabla,

I have the EXACT same problem, what makes mines worst is that I have sold (small business) 10 PCs with the only common denominator being:
1) Power supply has been below 500Watts on all systems
2) All Asus Motherboards (different ones though)
3) Most important --> All the cases have been Antec three hundred cases!
4) All Quad Core AMD Phenom CPUs
So far 4 people have called me saying there computer turns on and no display. like you my only resolve was to reset the BIOS reset any cards (most of them do not have video cards but using internal video), hit the reset button a lot of times (weird) before it would fix.

I am thinking the problem will be a power supply issue but I am not sure. For the most part my configurations are the same (minus the over clocking and CPU).
HELP!!! 🙁 I am afraid that I will be getting g a lot of calls soon 🙁

Appreciate your time for reading.
 



Hey Shabla

Hey Did you ever resolve your issue?
 


Ok Cool thanks for the fast reply..Last question - what powers upply (watts) you went with? Over 600W?