Computer Turns on but no screen?

[Neublet]

Ok so my brothers computer will turn on but there is no screen, it says "no Signal".

heres the story. When I unplug the computer from the wall then plug it back in, it will turn on automatically. The computer will also not show anything on the screen..I've tried changing out power supplies, video cards (the current video card he is using is on board, I switched to after market) I also tried changing all power cords and display cords. I'm not sure what else it could be other than maybe the motherboard or harddrive? Its a Dell with windows xp I don't know much more about it other than its not a pavilion is a custom build from a local dealer. Any and all insight/advice would be helpful, thank you.

-Dan

 

[RichM499]

Try clearing the CMOS. There should be a jumper on the motherboard labeled "CMOS CLEAR". If you can't find this jumper, then remove the battery, unplug the computer from the wall, and push the power button. After this it should boot. If it does not boot make sure that the PC Speaker is plugged in to the appropriate jumper and pay attention to the code coming from it.

Report back with your findings as clear and concise as possible.

 

[MindoverMaster]

Really, just take out the battery for a few minutes.. This will clear the BIOS to defaults.

Next, I would suspect that you do not have a speaker connected onboard. This should beep, giving you the problem.

Lastly, try reseating your RAM and trying each one by itself, see if anything changes.

 

[RichM499]

Really, just take out the battery for a few minutes.. This will clear the BIOS to defaults.

Next, I would suspect that you do not have a speaker connected onboard. This should beep, giving you the problem.

Lastly, try reseating your RAM and trying each one by itself, see if anything changes.

That's what I said...

Also, some motherboards will sip power from the PSU, meaning if you don't unplug the PSU and discharge the motherboard it could power the CMOS enough to keep the data. The capacitors on the motherboard will hold this charge for a while as well, which is why it's quicker just to remove the battery, unplug the PSU, and press the power button.

 

[Neublet]

Ok so I couldnt find the clear cmos jumper. But I took the battery out, unplugged the computer from the wall clicked the power button and then kept the battery out for a few minutes. I then hooked up some speakers before i hooked the computer back up. I put the battery back in, plugged the computer back in and it turned on by itself, there were absolutely no sounds coming from the speakers and it was still saying No Signal when I turn on the monitor.

I tried taking the battery out a few different times. 1 time I managed to get the speakers to make a noise when I turned the computer on and all it did was make 2 clicks and a pop sound..I took that as its just the speakers powering up. I also took out the ram chips one at a time.

 

[MindoverMaster]

RichM499 - It's easier to remove the battery than try finding the cmos reset pins.

Did you try reinserting or taking some RAM out of your motherboard?

 

[Neublet]

Ok so I took the ram out and I booted it up. It worked, heres what it said..keep in mind I couldnt read everything because the screen was messed up I will put exactly what I saw I wont add letters just incase Im wrong or something.

kette drive 0 seek failure
alid configuration information please run setup program
ert! system battery voltage low
ert! previous shut down due to thermal event

Then I shut the computer off, unplugged it and put the ram back in. I turned it back on and it worked again this time I just got

kette drive 0 seek failure f1 to continue f2 to enter setup. I did enter setup and tried looking around in there but I didnt wanna mess with too much stuff. I did look to see what diskette 0 was and what I found was SATA 0 I remember seing SATA 1 on the motherboard so I looked there to see if I could find SATA 0 and follow the cord...but I couldnt find it. I found SATA 1, 2, 3. 1 and 3 are cd & dvd drives. there is another plug in that doesnt say SATA 0 on the motherboard the cord runs into the harddrive...
When I look under the HDD Boot Sequence section it says
"This list specifies the order that the BIOS searches hard drives in the system"
1) Bootable add-in cards.
2) SATA-0 : HDS728080PLA380

However if i press f1 rather than f2 it will continue and seems to be working fine..but when the computer is shut off and then turned back on it goes right back to the kette drive 0 seek failure..thoughts? and thank you very much for all the help

 

[MindoverMaster]

Try removing everything but your PSU, GFX, RAM, and mouse/kb. Add everything back on one by one until you get an error.

 

[joelm3103]

You can try out what MoM said above ^. Also do you have a diskette drive? If not, you can go into the BIOS and disable it. Then restart and see if your having the issue.

 

[ET/IT]

That's what I said...

Also, some motherboards will sip power from the PSU, meaning if you don't unplug the PSU and discharge the motherboard it could power the CMOS enough to keep the data. The capacitors on the motherboard will hold this charge for a while as well, which is why it's quicker just to remove the battery, unplug the PSU, and press the power button.

I would strongly recommend caution discharging any form of capacitor. Why? I'm studying in ET primarily. a Capacitor in a motherboard can hold a charge strong enough to send you to the other side of the room. If not pump you with enough amps to stop your heart. Strongly recommend caution. If you attempt to do it manually, wear THICK industrial grade rubber gloves, and a screw driver with a plastic/non-conductant handle. Think I'm kidding? I'm not. TV Capacitor, like that in a regular monitor, can kill you almost immediately. Capacitors are not items to play with. Strongly recommend caution.

It's not the volts that will kill you when you're dealing with electricity, it's the AMPs. If you're going to discharge any kind of electronic circuitry, strongly recommend serious caution.

Also, be sure to wear an anti-static armband.

That said, pressing the power button without the Battery etc. can surge the unit. It happened to my grandmothers comp.