Need toubleshooting help!

[Verax]

Need troubleshooting help!

I'm trying to fix my friends computer. At first he just wanted me to reinstall Windows 98 (it's an older Dell Dimension). However, after I did this he said the computer froze up about every 2 minutes and he had to restart it. So he asked me to take a look at it again.

Here's the problem I'm getting. Once I plug my monitor into it nothing happens. The screen is just black. The computer light is on and I can hear the fans running. I plug the monitor back into my computer and everything is fine, so I know it isn't the monitor. First thing I thought was it had to be the video card.

So I got a cheap video card from ebay to see if that was the problem but still nothing. So I figured maybe the RAM was it. Tried that and still nothing. I'm running out of options. Could it be that the Motherboard or Hard drive died?

I don't know exactly what else to do. Maybe someone else with a past simular situation could enlighten me?

Any help is much appreciated!

 

[Sprooty]

does the computer beep when you start it?

does it beep like normal? does it beep at all? or are there 1-5 beeps?

 

[Trotter]

Did you happen to reinstall the drivers after the fresh install of Win98?

 

[Verax]

There is no beeps at all. It's just a black screen and my monitor power light blinks on and off.

I did reinstall the video card drivers after the fresh install of win98, but that was all. I had to download those because there is no disk for it.

Absolutely nothing is viewable on the monitor. This is frustrating because I can't even get into the BIOS.

Any ideas?

 

[Sprooty]

well if there are no beeps at all you might have a problem.

 

[RicoDirenzo]

PCIe or AGP? See if you can find a fried with an old PCI video card of any type hangin' around. If you plug that card in and get a video signal, then your AGP slot is fubared. I suspect you have a mobo AGP slot problem.

 

[brady]

If there is no beeps, It might be a mainboard issue... unfotunately thats hard to test...

 

[Ste]

well if there are no beeps at all you might have a problem.

Thats very helpful. (sarcasism)

And very obvious.


Unattach the Harddrive and try to boot up.

If that doesn't work and its still a blank screen without an error messages or beeps, clear CMOS and then try booting.

 

[Verax]

I detached the hard drive and still no beeps. I just tried to clear the CMOS by removing the jumper and still the same black screen.

Now that I look at it it doesn't have any onboard sound. There is a sound card in the PCI slot. However when I hook my speakers up to it still no beeps. But since I reinstalled win98 I don't think any drivers are installed for the card. So I may have screwed myself.

Only thing I haven't tried is the PCI video card. Unfortunately I don't know anyone who can lend me one. Guess I could purchase a cheap one.

I really really appreciate the help thus far. Any other ideas before I decide to defenestrate this comp and buy a new one for my friend [sarcasm]?

 

[brady]

Do you have the system speaker setup ?