Pc turns on but display won't come on

[Hurley0519]

Long post warning. I tried looking through other threads but none of them seemed specific enough to help me. I have a problem where my pc shut down while I was playing a game and now I can't start it back up.

The pc itself seems to turn on, but I can't get a display to come up whether it's connected to the gpu or the integrated gpu on the motherboard. It just turns on and I can't get anything to come up.

It seems to be louder than it was before (I think it's the gpu). I tried cleaning it but that doesn't seem to have helped. The only way to turn it off is to turn off the psu.

The day before my computer was acting up where the display would lose the connection for no clear reason. I uninstalled the latest amd driver and that seemed to fix everything but now this has happened. Before that when I tried to restart it the display wouldn't come up and unplugging all the usb devices connected fixed it then, but doesn't work now. Any help would be appreciated.

Pc specs:

Mb: AsRock z77 extreme 4
Psu: corsair cx 750
Memory: 16gb (4x4gb) ddr3 1600 mghz
Cpu : intel core i5 3570k
Gpu : amd hd radeon 7970 ghz edition
Os: windows 10

 

[DavidVioMC]

It sounds like the GPU, are you sure you have the intergrated grahpics setup? Once my GPU fried it self and I couden't use intergrated graphics in my PC as it was turned off in the BIOS so I had to get another GPU. Did you check if the fans spin on the GPU?

 

[Hurley0519]

It sounds like the GPU, are you sure you have the intergrated grahpics setup? Once my GPU fried it self and I couden't use intergrated graphics in my PC as it was turned off in the BIOS so I had to get another GPU. Did you check if the fans spin on the GPU?

Yeah, when it stopped working I checked and the fans are definitely spinning. So basically you're saying it's pretty likely it's the gpu? I'd like to get some other opinions but that sounds likely. It also sounds like I'm in the same situation you were in if the integrated graphics are turned off in the BIOS I have no way to access it and turn it on, haha.

 

[Xenone]

Sounds like the GPU died, check if it's properly inserted in the PCIe incase it slipped out over the time and check all if any power connectors are inserted ect, if you have any spare GPU or a PC that has a GPU in it, you could put it in and double check if it's the GPU. When it comes to intergrated grahpics, some PCs need to ahve it enabled in the BIOS, maybe it's turned off in your BIOS and that's why it dosen't work.

 

[DavidVioMC]

It sounds like the GPU, are you sure you have the intergrated grahpics setup? Once my GPU fried it self and I couden't use intergrated graphics in my PC as it was turned off in the BIOS so I had to get another GPU. Did you check if the fans spin on the GPU?

Yeah, when it stopped working I checked and the fans are definitely spinning. So basically you're saying it's pretty likely it's the gpu? I'd like to get some other opinions but that sounds likely. It also sounds like I'm in the same situation you were in if the integrated graphics are turned off in the BIOS I have no way to access it and turn it on, haha.

Yeah, sounds like it's the GPU, did you check if your PC is giving out any error codes? Some PCs have LEDs on the front that show any errors and some beep out error codes when they're turned on.

 

[Hurley0519]

It sounds like the GPU, are you sure you have the intergrated grahpics setup? Once my GPU fried it self and I couden't use intergrated graphics in my PC as it was turned off in the BIOS so I had to get another GPU. Did you check if the fans spin on the GPU?

Yeah, when it stopped working I checked and the fans are definitely spinning. So basically you're saying it's pretty likely it's the gpu? I'd like to get some other opinions but that sounds likely. It also sounds like I'm in the same situation you were in if the integrated graphics are turned off in the BIOS I have no way to access it and turn it on, haha.

Yeah, sounds like it's the GPU, did you check if your PC is giving out any error codes? Some PCs have LEDs on the front that show any errors and some beep out error codes when they're turned on.

So when I turned the pc on to check this the pc turned off really quickly, turned on then off quickly then turned on again. That seems like it was important to mention. There was just a green blinking light that stops after a bit which I think is normal.

 

[DavidVioMC]

It sounds like the GPU, are you sure you have the intergrated grahpics setup? Once my GPU fried it self and I couden't use intergrated graphics in my PC as it was turned off in the BIOS so I had to get another GPU. Did you check if the fans spin on the GPU?

Yeah, when it stopped working I checked and the fans are definitely spinning. So basically you're saying it's pretty likely it's the gpu? I'd like to get some other opinions but that sounds likely. It also sounds like I'm in the same situation you were in if the integrated graphics are turned off in the BIOS I have no way to access it and turn it on, haha.

Yeah, sounds like it's the GPU, did you check if your PC is giving out any error codes? Some PCs have LEDs on the front that show any errors and some beep out error codes when they're turned on.

So when I turned the pc on to check this the pc turned off really quickly, turned on then off quickly then turned on again. That seems like it was important to mention. There was just a green blinking light that stops after a bit which I think is normal.

You're saying it's in something that is called 'restart loop'? That idicateds even more that it's the GPU, if you just turn it on, it keeps turning on and off without stopping?

 

[Hurley0519]

It sounds like the GPU, are you sure you have the intergrated grahpics setup? Once my GPU fried it self and I couden't use intergrated graphics in my PC as it was turned off in the BIOS so I had to get another GPU. Did you check if the fans spin on the GPU?

Yeah, when it stopped working I checked and the fans are definitely spinning. So basically you're saying it's pretty likely it's the gpu? I'd like to get some other opinions but that sounds likely. It also sounds like I'm in the same situation you were in if the integrated graphics are turned off in the BIOS I have no way to access it and turn it on, haha.

Yeah, sounds like it's the GPU, did you check if your PC is giving out any error codes? Some PCs have LEDs on the front that show any errors and some beep out error codes when they're turned on.

So when I turned the pc on to check this the pc turned off really quickly, turned on then off quickly then turned on again. That seems like it was important to mention. There was just a green blinking light that stops after a bit which I think is normal.

You're saying it's in something that is called 'restart loop'? That idicateds even more that it's the GPU, if you just turn it on, it keeps turning on and off without stopping?

Yes, though it eventually stops restarting and just sits idle.

 

[DavidVioMC]

It sounds like the GPU, are you sure you have the intergrated grahpics setup? Once my GPU fried it self and I couden't use intergrated graphics in my PC as it was turned off in the BIOS so I had to get another GPU. Did you check if the fans spin on the GPU?

Yeah, when it stopped working I checked and the fans are definitely spinning. So basically you're saying it's pretty likely it's the gpu? I'd like to get some other opinions but that sounds likely. It also sounds like I'm in the same situation you were in if the integrated graphics are turned off in the BIOS I have no way to access it and turn it on, haha.

Yeah, sounds like it's the GPU, did you check if your PC is giving out any error codes? Some PCs have LEDs on the front that show any errors and some beep out error codes when they're turned on.

So when I turned the pc on to check this the pc turned off really quickly, turned on then off quickly then turned on again. That seems like it was important to mention. There was just a green blinking light that stops after a bit which I think is normal.

You're saying it's in something that is called 'restart loop'? That idicateds even more that it's the GPU, if you just turn it on, it keeps turning on and off without stopping?

Yes, though it eventually stops restarting and just sits idle.

People call this 'restart loop', basically when a PC boots up, for the first 3-5 seconds, it scans all the components if they're working correctly so the PC dosen't cause any more harm or short something out, if it finds something wrong with it self, it turns it self off and turns on again, trying to scan it again incase it was a error/mistake, this restart loop normally takes any where between a minute, to hours until the PC gives up and shuts off. Since this is happening, it could mean two things, it's either the GPU or the motherboard, I think it's very unlikely to be the motherboard since it wouden't even power on if it was the motherboard, but you could check the motherboard for any bad capacitors (if a capacitor is bad, it should be yellow/black on top or a bit bubbly on the sides/top) I think this is the GPU, I had a very similar issue with my 2012 Dell Optiplex 960 SFF, it was in constant restart loop and was giving out a error code, after checking the error code in the manual, it said it was "Possible grahpics card failure" and sure it was, after changing my graphics card to a spare one, it booted right up without a restart loop or without the error code.

You could also take the GPU to a near by IT shop and ask them to check it for you, it will take them 2 minutes and in most cases it's free since all they have to do is put your GPU in one of their PC and then you can be sure if it's the GPU or not without buying a new one or trying to repair it.

 

[Hurley0519]

Well, I checked the motherboard, and nothing seems to be wrong with it. Everything talked about here and the research I've done seems to indicate it's a faulty gpu, so I think I'm just going to order a new gpu and hope I'm not wrong. It's supposed to be delivered tonight so I'll install it and check back to confirm whether or not it worked.

 

[Hurley0519]

Well, bad news. I replaced the gpu, made sure I did it properly, and it's giving me the exact same issues. The only other thing I can think of is the motherboard isn't working properly. I got the restart loop and then it shut down, and then I couldn't turn it on at al. I think I'm just going to take my pc to an it shop or something to see if they can figure out the issue. Thanks again for the help, I just wish I used better judgment and got it looked at instead of wasting money on a new gpu I didn't need.

 

[DavidVioMC]

Did you check if the GPU gets enough power or any if anything? This has to be something GPU related, if it's not the GPU itself, it has to be something else that works together with GPU or such, it could be fried PCIE slot, power supply acting up, unless something shorted out on the motherboard and fried everything and it only delivers power to the components but dosen't actually start up, it's very unlikely to be ram or CPU. You said the PC shut down when you're gaming, it's very likely you fried something, did you have any components overclocked? It could be that something was wrongly overclocked and fried itself and what game were you playing at what settings? It could be you're pusing the PC and it could've overheated.

 

[Hurley0519]

Did you check if the GPU gets enough power or any if anything? This has to be something GPU related, if it's not the GPU itself, it has to be something else that works together with GPU or such, it could be fried PCIE slot, power supply acting up, unless something shorted out on the motherboard and fried everything and it only delivers power to the components but dosen't actually start up, it's very unlikely to be ram or CPU. You said the PC shut down when you're gaming, it's very likely you fried something, did you have any components overclocked? It could be that something was wrongly overclocked and fried itself and what game were you playing at what settings? It could be you're pusing the PC and it could've overheated.

It should be. I set it up right and I don't think it would have anything to do with the power supply since I just replaced that like a month ago and everything was fine. I never overclocked my cpu or gpu so that shouldn't be a factor. I have a bunch of fans and good air ventilation in the room so I wouldn't think it's an overheating issue. One thing I should point out is that when I tried it on when I installed the new gpu in a different pci slot it turned on for a couple of seconds and then just shut off. Then it wouldn't let me turn it on at all. Not sure if that's a power supply thing or motherboard just not working. On closer inspection I've noticed there are some spots kind of well hidden that have a white/yellowish stain to them. I don't know if I should just buy a new motherboard and hope that works.

 

[DavidVioMC]

Did you check if the GPU gets enough power or any if anything? This has to be something GPU related, if it's not the GPU itself, it has to be something else that works together with GPU or such, it could be fried PCIE slot, power supply acting up, unless something shorted out on the motherboard and fried everything and it only delivers power to the components but dosen't actually start up, it's very unlikely to be ram or CPU. You said the PC shut down when you're gaming, it's very likely you fried something, did you have any components overclocked? It could be that something was wrongly overclocked and fried itself and what game were you playing at what settings? It could be you're pusing the PC and it could've overheated.

It should be. I set it up right and I don't think it would have anything to do with the power supply since I just replaced that like a month ago and everything was fine. I never overclocked my cpu or gpu so that shouldn't be a factor. I have a bunch of fans and good air ventilation in the room so I wouldn't think it's an overheating issue. One thing I should point out is that when I tried it on when I installed the new gpu in a different pci slot it turned on for a couple of seconds and then just shut off. Then it wouldn't let me turn it on at all. Not sure if that's a power supply thing or motherboard just not working. On closer inspection I've noticed there are some spots kind of well hidden that have a white/yellowish stain to them. I don't know if I should just buy a new motherboard and hope that works.

Is it possible you could take a picture of the white/yellowish stains? Sometimes it's just from a typical use over the years from the heat which is totally normal but sometimes it could mean the motherboard has shorted out.

When it comes to fried motherboards, normally when they give up or fried themself or shorten out, they brick themselfs and you don't even get anything if you press the power button, once I had a friend who was working on his PC and has the PC lying on it's side with the side panel open while it was on and he was testing the voltages off diffrent componets when he accidently knocked a nut onto the motherboard abd few sparks came out and the PC died, after he handed it to me, if I pressed the power button, it was showing bunch of random error codes that waren't even in the manual and the PC wouden't turn on at all, just turn the power button to blue, show random error codes and that all and from time to time it would spin fans randomly for few seconds and stop. That's normally when the motherboard dies, it just bricks itself, but since it's in a restart loop, it normally means that it's scanning for components and finds a fault with one of them, but it's not sure which one it is so it turns off, turns on again and tries again, this is normally a GPU issue, and I'm sure if you Google for this, it will mostly say that it's a GPU issue. You could hand the PC to a IT shop and they can plug in a diagnostic machine that will scan the PC and says whatever is wrong with it, because normally you can do that in BIOS, most newer PCs log everything in the BIOS, but it's not possible in your case.

 

[Hurley0519]

Hi, sorry I haven't responded in a while. I just wanted to say that as I tinkered with the PC a little more I noticed it got into a habit of turning on the quickly off (like a reset loop) and then it turns on and stays on. For a long time too, it's been on before this and now while I'm typing it. I'm noticing the gpu doesn't seem to be getting any power though. It's a radeon rx 480 x 4gb with an 8 pin connector. I used a 6+2 pin PCI-E connector (or whatever that's called) and I'm not clear if that's an issue or not. I would appreciate any advice.

Edit: Nope, false alarm, doing the same thing it was before now. Restart loops, then shut down and can't turn it back on.

 

[DavidVioMC]

Hi, sorry I haven't responded in a while. I just wanted to say that as I tinkered with the PC a little more I noticed it got into a habit of turning on the quickly off (like a reset loop) and then it turns on and stays on. For a long time too, it's been on before this and now while I'm typing it. I'm noticing the gpu doesn't seem to be getting any power though. It's a radeon rx 480 x 4gb with an 8 pin connector. I used a 6+2 pin PCI-E connector (or whatever that's called) and I'm not clear if that's an issue or not. I would appreciate any advice.

Edit: Nope, false alarm, doing the same thing it was before now. Restart loops, then shut down and can't turn it back on.

6 + 2 GPU connector is the same as a 8 pin, it just makes it so the PSU can be used with GPU that have either 6 or 8 pin connectors so the manufacter dosen't have to make two power supplys.

Since you tried a new GPU and it still wasen't working, then it has to be a motherboard issue, if it was the 6 + 2 pin connector, the PC would still power on as the PCIE slot delivers 75W of power and rest goes thru the connectors, and the GPU only uses about 10-20W when powering on.

From doing a bit research on your motherboard, it turns out it had bunch of bad reviews such as that it has Low-quality VRM including low-quality D-PAK MOSFET which means it wears out and overheats a lot faster when under heavy loads and Under-reports voltage which is very unsafe and dangerous for CPU as it can shorten out the CPU and in some cases, if a CPU gets shorten out, the motherboard can catch fire. Since you said it turned off while you're gaming, it's very possible due to low-quality VRM, the motherboard just gave up, and the motherboard is also very old (4 years old) assuming you had it since new and depending what you used it for.

 

[Hurley0519]

Hi, sorry I haven't responded in a while. I just wanted to say that as I tinkered with the PC a little more I noticed it got into a habit of turning on the quickly off (like a reset loop) and then it turns on and stays on. For a long time too, it's been on before this and now while I'm typing it. I'm noticing the gpu doesn't seem to be getting any power though. It's a radeon rx 480 x 4gb with an 8 pin connector. I used a 6+2 pin PCI-E connector (or whatever that's called) and I'm not clear if that's an issue or not. I would appreciate any advice.

Edit: Nope, false alarm, doing the same thing it was before now. Restart loops, then shut down and can't turn it back on.

6 + 2 GPU connector is the same as a 8 pin, it just makes it so the PSU can be used with GPU that have either 6 or 8 pin connectors so the manufacter dosen't have to make two power supplys.

Since you tried a new GPU and it still wasen't working, then it has to be a motherboard issue, if it was the 6 + 2 pin connector, the PC would still power on as the PCIE slot delivers 75W of power and rest goes thru the connectors, and the GPU only uses about 10-20W when powering on.

From doing a bit research on your motherboard, it turns out it had bunch of bad reviews such as that it has Low-quality VRM including low-quality D-PAK MOSFET which means it wears out and overheats a lot faster when under heavy loads and Under-reports voltage which is very unsafe and dangerous for CPU as it can shorten out the CPU and in some cases, if a CPU gets shorten out, the motherboard can catch fire. Since you said it turned off while you're gaming, it's very possible due to low-quality VRM, the motherboard just gave up, and the motherboard is also very old (4 years old) assuming you had it since new and depending what you used it for.

That makes sense I guess. I bought it new and have had it for a little over 3 years. I guess I'll do some research and try to find a motherboard that can replace it. I appreciate you still helping me after all this time. I'll try to remember to post with an update when I install a new motherboard.

 

[Hurley0519]

Well good news! I changed the motherboard and it turned on and everything works! I thought I'd point this out in case anyone wants to try to figure out what the problem was. But after turning on the pc I didn't have to reinstall the os or anything. Everything was still there the way it was. The only thing I'm noticing is the pc might be a bit running a little more slowly. I don't know if this is because of where I plugged in the sata cables from my hard drive or what, but any input anyone wants to give would be appreciated!

 

[DavidVioMC]

The OS is installed on the hardrive, by changing the motherboard you don't lose any data, the only things you can lose when changing the motherboard is CPU overclock settings as their are stored inside the BIOS of the motherboard.

On the motherboard you normally have multiple SATA ports that you can plugin hardrives/cd-drives in, make sure that your main hardrive is plugged in either to SATA 0 if you have it or SATA 1, some motherboard even have diffrent colored SATA ports that tell you what is best what to plugin in to them, normally blue indicates main hardrive but every motherboard varys, you can check online or your manual that came with your motherboard that will tell you where should go what but every SATA is the same so you can't damage anything. But if you plugin your hardrive to SATA 0 or 1, then it should be fine, SATA 0 is recommended if you have it.

 

[Hurley0519]

The OS is installed on the hardrive, by changing the motherboard you don't lose any data, the only things you can lose when changing the motherboard is CPU overclock settings as their are stored inside the BIOS of the motherboard.

On the motherboard you normally have multiple SATA ports that you can plugin hardrives/cd-drives in, make sure that your main hardrive is plugged in either to SATA 0 if you have it or SATA 1, some motherboard even have diffrent colored SATA ports that tell you what is best what to plugin in to them, normally blue indicates main hardrive but every motherboard varys, you can check online or your manual that came with your motherboard that will tell you where should go what but every SATA is the same so you can't damage anything. But if you plugin your hardrive to SATA 0 or 1, then it should be fine, SATA 0 is recommended if you have it.

Well I checked to make sure they're in the right slots and they are. I think the slow performance may just be in my head. I am unfortunately still having a problem where I exit a game and sometimes my monitor loses the signal, the orignal problem I was having in the first place. The difference now is that I can get it back if I turn the monitor off and on with the power switch. Any ideas how to fix that? I appreciate you coming back to help me after all this time by the way.

 

[DavidVioMC]

The OS is installed on the hardrive, by changing the motherboard you don't lose any data, the only things you can lose when changing the motherboard is CPU overclock settings as their are stored inside the BIOS of the motherboard.

On the motherboard you normally have multiple SATA ports that you can plugin hardrives/cd-drives in, make sure that your main hardrive is plugged in either to SATA 0 if you have it or SATA 1, some motherboard even have diffrent colored SATA ports that tell you what is best what to plugin in to them, normally blue indicates main hardrive but every motherboard varys, you can check online or your manual that came with your motherboard that will tell you where should go what but every SATA is the same so you can't damage anything. But if you plugin your hardrive to SATA 0 or 1, then it should be fine, SATA 0 is recommended if you have it.

Well I checked to make sure they're in the right slots and they are. I think the slow performance may just be in my head. I am unfortunately still having a problem where I exit a game and sometimes my monitor loses the signal, the orignal problem I was having in the first place. The difference now is that I can get it back if I turn the monitor off and on with the power switch. Any ideas how to fix that? I appreciate you coming back to help me after all this time by the way.

Did you check if you have the latest GPU drivers installed?

 

[Johnneh22]

Did u try a Bios Reset..?

 

[DavidVioMC]

Did u try a Bios Reset..?

He has been having this issue even with his old motherboard from my understanding so it's not the motherboard at fault.

 

[Hurley0519]

The OS is installed on the hardrive, by changing the motherboard you don't lose any data, the only things you can lose when changing the motherboard is CPU overclock settings as their are stored inside the BIOS of the motherboard.

On the motherboard you normally have multiple SATA ports that you can plugin hardrives/cd-drives in, make sure that your main hardrive is plugged in either to SATA 0 if you have it or SATA 1, some motherboard even have diffrent colored SATA ports that tell you what is best what to plugin in to them, normally blue indicates main hardrive but every motherboard varys, you can check online or your manual that came with your motherboard that will tell you where should go what but every SATA is the same so you can't damage anything. But if you plugin your hardrive to SATA 0 or 1, then it should be fine, SATA 0 is recommended if you have it.

Well I checked to make sure they're in the right slots and they are. I think the slow performance may just be in my head. I am unfortunately still having a problem where I exit a game and sometimes my monitor loses the signal, the orignal problem I was having in the first place. The difference now is that I can get it back if I turn the monitor off and on with the power switch. Any ideas how to fix that? I appreciate you coming back to help me after all this time by the way.

Did you check if you have the latest GPU drivers installed?

Yep, the latest gpu driver is installed for sure.