[jnoosh]

Hey guys,

My friend has given me their PC to have a look at, but it's something I havent came across before!

It has a video card in the AGP slot, I presume it's gone dodgey as their account of events was that the screen went all fuzzy then died.

Obviously I first tried another monitor, not the problem.

I have a PCI-e graphics card lying around, but the question is, how to I install it without being able to see anything?

This is my first guess at what happened, the second guess is maybe the CPU died.

When the PC is turned on, all fans spin (including graphics) no beeps are made but a red light does appear on the front of the machine which I have been told is not normal.

The CPU has clearly been removed and reseated as when I did it, I noticed three pins bent completely flat where it had been put in the wrong way.

My friend says they havent had a look around inside, but there clearly are signs of it being opened, could a software issue of caused the crash, and then ferreting around inside/static caused further damage?

So far I have:

Reseated all boards inc. graphics, cpu & RAM.
Checked PSU.
Reset bios by removing cmos.
Removed each component one by one and tried starting machine, all giving same results (all fans running, hdd running, cd drives spinning up, etc. and the red light still on, no beeps)

Basically I am stumped.

Anyone know of anything else I can try?

Thanks in advance,

Cheers,

Josh

 

[pip22]

When you fit a replacement graphics card (whether it be agp or pci) you will still get a signal to the screen because Windows will initially use it's own basic VGA driver. It will only be low resolution and low colour-depth but you'll be able to install the proper driver for the new card.

If none of that was possible how do you think anyone manages to install a new graphics card?

 

[jnoosh]

I assumed you installed drivers before removing the old one.

Tried a agp and a pci-e card now, still no signal, worth checking the CPU or is it more likely to be the mobo?

 

[gcavan]

Tried a agp and a pci-e card now

You should confirm which slot the motherboard has. It will not support both.

 

[emosun]

It will not support both.

There are boards that's have both agp and pci-e slots. Although he might mean pci and not pci-e.

If those pins on the cpu were bent and it was installed backwards then there is no way of telling if that cpu is not fried.

 

[Tyree]

Same thoughts as emosun. Did you get the bent pins straightened out?

 

[jnoosh]

Managed to straighten the pins out and get it back in, it's only an AMD athalon 64, can get one for a tenner on eBay so maybe worth a try.
It has both AGP and a PCI-E.
Thanks for the help!