BAIT

I was having a problem with my compaq presario 5000 desktop where the monitor had a lot of discoloring I hooked up the monitor to my laptop and the monitor had a perfect image so I knew it wasn't the monitor, so I opened up the computer and took out the video card and put it back in thinking maybe it'll work I seen alot of dust in the computer so I decided to vacuum all the dust while I was at it, so then I hooked it back up and turned it on but this time got no image from the monitor so I thought probably the video card was out and I went and bought another one i just hooked up the new video card and I still got no image could somebody please tell me what else could be wrong, since I don't really know about computers.

Lectraplayer

Try to take the CMOS battery (looks like a coin with a smooth face) for awhile (often, overnight, these things tend to remember their last settings for awhile without a battery). Also, check for a "CMOS Reset" jumper. Moving it for a minute or so will speed up the process and prevent you from having to take the battery out. You can also speed up the process of clearing the CMOS when you take the battery out (if there is no jumper, or even if there is one and you don't want to fool with it) and pressing the two contacts on the battery holder together (hold for about a minute). If you get a screen back after doing this, go into CMOS Setup (you'll usually see something that says "Hit Fx for Setup" or something similar) and check everywhere for anything that looks like it may be out of place. Don't worry too much about what is what. The time will be wrong, but don't worry about it here. While you can change it here, it will be easier to change once you get your OS up.

BAIT

Where can I find the "CMOS Reset" jumper and how does it look like?

batty_professor

A small plastic piece, may be black, blue, white, yellow, or some are red. You will find it on two pins of a three pin header. On the motherboard, and next to it will say something to the effect of "norm" and "clear". It should be found on the "norm" pins. With the power disconnected, move it from norm to clear, leave it there for ten seconds, and move back to norm. That will set defaults on any system.