PC suddenly stopped outputting any video signal

[MichaelKettle17]

My PC has been working fine til recently, but all of a sudden it stopped outputting any video signal. When turned on all the lights and fans work as usual, but no signal is sent to the monitor. I've tried re-seating the graphics card, and trying an old one, but the problem stays the same. I either think there is a problem with the PCI-E slot or the CPU. Any advice?

Specs
Intel q6600 GO @ 3.6GHz
8gb DDR2-6400
Asus P5QL Pro Motherboard
Sapphire hd7870 2gb (beta drivers installed)
ASUS hd4850 (old card)
OCZ StealthXStream 500W PSU
Monitor - BenQ G2420HD

 

[Shaneoh]

Delete all gfx card drivers, then see if you can get a signal, also boot in vga mode or safe mode and see if you get a signal

 

[MichaelKettle17]

Would I be able to do these without being able to see anything on the monitor? There is no signal at all from boot, no POST or anything

 

[Gee Bee]

You can test with your 4850 card and if that works it almost eliminates any thing else as the problem. The 7870 will use more juice however.

 

[MichaelKettle17]

Delete all gfx card drivers, then see if you can get a signal, also boot in vga mode or safe mode and see if you get a signal

Would I be able to do these without being able to see anything on the monitor? There is no signal at all from boot, no POST or anything

 

[Shaneoh]

Ah i was confused if it was just when windows loads, so now i understand, you cant even enter bios or anything... Your motherboard doesnt have onboard vga does it?

 

[MichaelKettle17]

You can test with your 4850 card and if that works it almost eliminates any thing else as the problem. The 7870 will use more juice however.

I've tried both the 4850 and 7870 and neither has worked, however the 7870 has been working fine for around three months before this happened, so it doesn't seem like the PSU is an issue

 

[MichaelKettle17]

Ah i was confused if it was just when windows loads, so now i understand, you cant even enter bios or anything... Your motherboard doesnt have onboard vga does it?

No onboard vga unfortunately. I'm thinking its most likely the PCI-E slot, but the CPU is old so that could have gone. Would the computer still start up normally (albeit without video) if the cpu was dead, or would it fail to turn on at all?

 

[Gee Bee]

ok, did you try another dvi/hdmi cable, and do a reset of cmos. If so remove your ram and re-seat one stick and only populate one slot. The one nearest the cpu. If still nothing it can really only leave one of the main components as potential problem area.

 

[Gee Bee]

ie mobo, cpu or possibly even failing psu

it wouldnt turn on. The fan would spin on both cpu and gpu, some lights like power led and thats about it.

 

[Gee Bee]

If all the above fails you could possible pinpoint the problem as follows

Your mobo does not have internal speaker, but if you could hook one up, it is most likely beeping AMI bios code


1 short DRAM refresh failure
2 short Parity circuit failure
3 short Base 64K RAM failure
4 short System timer failure
5 short Process failure
6 short Keyboard controller Gate A20 error
7 short Virtual mode exception error
8 short Display memory Read/Write test failure
9 short ROM BIOS checksum failure
10 short CMOS shutdown Read/Write error
11 short Cache Memory error
1 long, 3 short Conventional/Extended memory failure
1 long, 8 short Display/Retrace test failed

 

[MichaelKettle17]

ok, did you try another dvi/hdmi cable, and do a reset of cmos. If so remove your ram and re-seat one stick and only populate one slot. The one nearest the cpu. If still nothing it can really only leave one of the main components as potential problem area.

Resetting the CMOS seemed to do the trick. Thanks a lot!

 

[Gee Bee]

awesome