No signal on monitor, but PC boots up fine.

[mjhammerub2]

Hello - First time poster, long time reader.

We have a self assembled desktop that's about 4 years old now, and over the years we've had an on/off problem with graphics. The PC boots up fine, all the lights come up, ALL the fans come on (including the graphics card fan) but the monitor displays "no signal" and nothing happens on the screen. Previously this problem has simply passed, but now it appears to have stuck.

We've tried multiple monitors, still no signal.

We've also tried using a VGA, DVI and HDMI cable, but still nothing.

We've tried a different graphics card, still no signal.

We've tried putting the graphics card in a different PCI slot, still no signal.

We're using a i7 processor, 8GB RAM and an intel dx5750 motherboard with a 700W PSU. The motherboard has no on board graphics either.

Any suggestions?

 

[Darkbreeze]

What is the brand and model number of your power supply? Cheap power supplies usually don't deliver advertised specs and are the #1 reason for intermittent or hard errors with new or self built systems. You also don't provide any information on what card you are using?

 

[mjhammerub2]

What is the brand and model number of your power supply? Cheap power supplies usually don't deliver advertised specs and are the #1 reason for intermittent or hard errors with new or self built systems. You also don't provide any information on what card you are using?

Thanks for the reply! Our PSU is a 'cooler master silent pro 700w' and the graphics card is an 'Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX'.

Issues with the power supply seems to be a recurring suggestion...

 

[Darkbreeze]

Yeah, read this thread and you'll see why.

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2281165/asus-x99-mobo-boot-black-screen-overclocking-level.html

That aside, is it a Silent pro M2 / Gold / Platinum series or a different silent pro model? I'm pretty sure that's a tier three unit which is considered OK but not real great. Tier 3 units are generally not considered to be good for overclocking of any kind, high end graphics cards and often don't actually have specifications in real world use that match the specs listed for the unit. More often than not they barely make it past the warranty period but can also last for years depending on the system they are installed in and the demands placed on them by components.

I'd say there's a good chance it's had it's last hurrah but here's a good tutorial on testing it to be sure. I've also included a link to the Tom's power supply tier list and an article on picking a power supply. These are all good reads and should be considered before purchasing any replacement psu.

PSU tier list:
http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1804779/power-supply-unit-tier-list.html

Picking the right PSU:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/power-supply-psu-review,2916.html

Testing a PSU with multimeter:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ac7YMUcMjbw

And a basic test of the PSU with paper clip. (Do not consider the unit good just because it passes this test. This is only to determine at the most basic level if the unit is positively bad.):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixcWCrYpw3Y

 

[Darkbreeze]

It is possible that the motherboard or CPU has taken a powder though so after testing the power supply, if it turns out to be ok we can move on to figuring which of those is the culprit. It could be RAM as well. Are you getting any beep codes at all?

 

[mjhammerub2]

This is the PSU: http://www.coolermaster.com/service/support/model/RS-700-AMBA-D3/

So we've tried the voltage test and this appears it be working fine...

During our troubleshoot process we did get beep codes, one related to RAM (3 beeps) which we found to be a faulty module and took out. And then one related to graphics (2 beeps) which eventually disappeared...

With the PSU seemingly working fine.. looks like we're back to square one...

 

[Darkbreeze]

Take a look at the manual for your motherboard and determine where they recommend placement of RAM modules when only one is installed. Remove all the RAM modules and install one at a time in that location and try to boot with only one module installed. If it fails to boot with any of them then go ahead and put them back into the configuration detailed in the manual. In most cases, it matter where the RAM is installed according to how many modules you are using.

 

[mjhammerub2]

Tried booting systematically with one module of RAM in each. Problem still persists, no signal each time.

 

[Darkbreeze]

When you push the power button, are the power supply, case and cpu cooler fans ALL coming on? Make sure all fans are working?

 

[mjhammerub2]

When you push the power button, are the power supply, case and cpu cooler fans ALL coming on? Make sure all fans are working?

Yes all the fans come on -everything seems to come on as normal other than the no signal error on the monitor

 

[Darkbreeze]

Have you tried a different monitor cable? Did you test power on the PCIe connector to the card? If you did both of those things then it's either the motherboard or the cpu. Any chance of swapping another I series cpu in there to see if that's the issue? If not, dunno. That motherboard model number you posted does not return ANY results except for a whole bunch of HP small form factor PC's, but no motherboards.

 

[mjhammerub2]

Just for closure on this thread. The problem seems to have resolved itself for now and it looks like it was to do with the HDD.

The computer was able boot up into recovery and configuration mode using the BIOS jumper on the mobo. We assumed from this it may be a HDD error. After putting a new HDD in and installing a fresh copy of windows onto this, we are able to boot up normally.

Thanks darkbreeze for the help, at least I can stop blaming the poor old graphics card and PSU for our problems !!