[DiscoStu]

Hey guys, this is my first post here, looks like you have some great minds around here and I hope I can use them to my advantage.

I left my machine running last night while some downloads finished up on Kaaza. I woke up to find a blank screen and a seemingly unresponsive system. The light on my optical mouse was still responding to movement, and my Num Lock LED was also responsive. Like I said though, blank screen. I rebooted and was greeted with, you guessed it, a blank screen. The system sounded as though it was going through it's normal routines and booting, but.........blank screen. I unhooked the monitor and the monitor showed that there was no signal. So I switched the monitor with another system and found that my monitor worked fine on the other machine. So I crossed the monitor off my potential list of causes.

Here are some of my system specs:

P3 1.13 GHz
512 SDRam

VisionTek Xtasy 6564 Geforce 3 Ti 200 w/64 MB DDR

Sounds to me like a dead card, but I would like any input you can offer. I couldn't really discover too much since I have....yeah....A blank screen.

 

[TheTechIsIn]

Welcome to the forum, I'm taking a wild guess here but it sounds like you were hit with a virus or other destructive program. /


I have a couple question for you:

1)Windows OS Ver
2)Do you have Antivirus software on a CD
3)Do/did you have a firewall on the system
4)Does the Windows splash screen come up then a blank screen? or are you just seeing a flashing cursor after the bios screen?

5)hopefully not but have to ask: Your not seeing "OS Missing" or anything similar across the top of your screen are you?

Also, if your using DSL or Cable attached to your system turn it off until we clear up this problem, if your system was compromised you could be a "zombie" or you could be giving others access to your machine whenever its powered.


WAIT:: After re-reading your post I discovered I misunderstood, I'm leaving the above message intact because it might be relevant to someone else in the future

..anyway are you not seeing anything when you reboot? (ie. no bios info or flashing cursor or anything?)

 

[DiscoStu]

Hey, here are the answers to your questions.

I see literally nothing when I boot. Screen stays as though the computer were not turned on at all. The Monitor LED flashes as though the system were on standby or hibernate.

I also noticed that the Monitor LED flashes slowly when the system is not turned on. However, when I power up the system, the monitor LED flashes faster, and then returns to the slower flash when I power down the system.

 

[Valiant]

Now we come to the Just In Case questions:
1. Do you or anyone you know have a spare graphics card that you could use to check?
2. Did you make sure the connection between your graphics card and the motherboard is tight, and secure?
3. If you hold down a key on the keyboard right after you boot up, for example the Alt key, do you get a beeping noise?
4. Can you hear your fans going?
5. Can you hear your hard drive spin when the computer starts?
6. Are all of the pins on your monitors connector in good condition? (No bent or missing pins?)

Okay, remeber to use a No.2 pencil and turn the test over when your done... just kidding.. I'm just trying to add some humor... I think it helps with the thinking process

 

[Doonz]

tested the spare monitor....so test the video card....make sure you are touching metal or have a static strip...or are not shuffeling you feet on a rug....ok swap cards...you have the right idea...just keep knocking items off your list...if the card works in another system...then move it to another pci slot...that is if it is not AGP...


is the system plugged into a decent (no $4.99 is not decent) surge strip....even a back-ups by apc is worth the $$....was there a power surge....mainly because NY is currently in a NICE thunder and Lighting storm and my backup just saved me

Simple but through this fourm I learned to see thoes trees in the forest......CHECK your
A)outlet ...switch plugs...bad power will reck havoc on your system

Chances are good that it is not since it was spontanious but...you never know



hey I turned 100 today:bandit: :cheers:

 

[DiscoStu]

Ok, here is the rundown of answers...

BTW, I run Windows XP with a P3 1.13 Ghz cpu on an Asus TUSL2-C board.

1) no, my friends systems all suck (on board graphics)
2)Yup, nice and snug
3)nope, no beeps.
4)fans are running, the system fan, cpu fan, and gpu fan are all running properly.
5)sounds like hard drive spins (just like usual)
6)all there, I acutally counted each of them....lost count about 7 times...

So, how'd I do teach? (puts pencil down)

 

[Doonz]

Most intrgrated graphics will be overridden when you insert the card into the slot (AGP/PCI)....if they are not there might be a setting in the BIOS that does it....

 

[Valiant]

Maybe I told you a bad key, but if your computer is operating properly( I know it's not right now), but if it were the system speaking should have made annoying beeping noises when you held the button down... this maybe a false alarm, but I dunno... hopefully it didn't catch a spike in the line growls at thought of power surge I'm guessing since you have one of the nicest Geforce 3s that it's agp, and then the problem with AGP is that it's not cheap, so you can't borrow a friends card, and if you go buy a "cheapie" AGP card.. which are not that cheap and it's not the card then your out money..... I am temporarily stumped!

 

[Valiant]

Most mobo's with on board vid don't have AGP, and if you looked at his card I hope it's and AGP, cuz otherwise it'd be alot of graphics processing power getting crammed through a PCI slot.

 

[DiscoStu]

Card is AGP, correct. I'm working on finding a friend with an AGP slot so that I can test my card. I have also discoverd that my system speaker isn't hooked up, so I'll be retesting for those beeps. If it isn't the card, then it's the mobo. I can get the mobo replace for free in a matter of 2 days, so that wouldn't be a bad thing at all. Thanks for all your help so far gentlemen.