Computer's display not working; switching from analog to HDMI

[emlekyl]

Hi, I've seen threads about this before but I'm not very computer literate and have tried most of the solutions without success, so I thought I'd make a new thread.

I'm using a home-built, pre owned PC that my friend gave to me. I tried to turn it on after moving it to a different room yesterday, and it wouldn't display anything. Here's what I tried:
- Pulled out and cleaned the front fan.
- Cleaned the CPU.
- Switched HDMI cables and tried a VGA.
- Used Xbox to confirm that the monitor wasn't the issue and was still displaying things.
- Cleaned the graphics card and HDMI/VGA ports.
I'm a little nervous to pull anything else out of the computer since I don't want to accidentally destroy it. I would give the specs but I don't know where to start (will happily give them if someone can point out where I'd be able to see them!)

I'm guessing this is an issue with the graphics card since I can use caps lock and numlock. Any advice would be hugely appreciated!

 

[hang-the-9]

Take out the video card and test things on the onboard video ports. If you don't have any, need to test with another card or test your card in another system.

 

[gogi]

Try using different hdmi ports if your monitor has 2 or your gpu. If you have another hdmi cable at hand try that aswell. Sounds like its either the gpu, monitor or the cable. Could also be the power supply. Dont worry about breaking anything aslong as you are a bit gentle and are not pulling/ripping things apart. Make sure you touch the metal on the case first to get ridd of any static and maybe start by removing and re-sitting the gpu.