Interesting problem...need outside of the box opinions!

[BoysNightOut]

Okay I am a systems analyst for a living. I know PC's...at least I thought I did.

My parents PC broke the other day. The monitor is essentially not being recognized by the PC anymore. The PC was powered on, but no monitor signal, it was in "power save mode" as in system stand-by basically. So I rebooted and got the same thing. So to make sure my new dell 17" LCD I gave them wasn't dead I tried another known working screen, still the same issue.

So- the PC runs a video card and onboard graphics...neither will pick up the monitor. Wierd...so I take out the HD and clean it off to see if OS got corrupted or a virus perhaps is stopping something from working properly. Turns out...nope, not the HD, it works perfect still. So I check video card, nah it works fine. Then I noticed the PSU fan stopped spinning. So I said okay, easy-fix, and replaced the PSU with an identical one from one of my parts machines that happens to be the same model HP tower.

Still no luck after new power supply. So...then I figure what the ****, perhaps the motherboard fired itself or something...but the machine still powers on normally...still no idea why. So I change the tower and mix 2 towers into a new one with a DIFFERENT motherboard, different hard drive, different optical drives and everything.

I plug up the tower and the SAME ISSUE happens. ON A DIFF MOBO!?!? So now I'm perplexed...2 "known" working monitors will not get a signal and turn on for either tower, which have different motherboards. Either through graphics card or onboard neither work.

Can someone please tell me perhaps what in the **** is going on here? It seems close to impossible that this would happen on 2 different machines with different internals at the same time...alongside having 2 monitors which both work properly split second before hooking them up to these towers...

Please someone have another idea that I'm not thinking of, I'm exhausted with options on how to solve the problem. I'm to the point where ****...buy a new PC maybe Mom and Dad!?!!

Any help or advice is greatly appreciated!

-Chris

 

[S0ULphIRE]

Thats funny. I had that happen to me too, everything seems to power on normally, but monitor doesnt wanna work. I had to replace the mobo. I blew it by overclocking too far, I dont no what you would have done. You could try totally disconnecting power, clearing cmos, and waiting for a while (bout 10-20 mins). then plug power back in, boot with a different hard drive, and (if you have one) a different video card.

 

[andrewsvalesen]

uhm..this is happening to me too...

I hope I didn't blow my mobo = /

 

[BoysNightOut]

Thing is though...I've tried onboard setting and video card connection on 2 DIFFERENT motherboards...so now I have no clue as to what it is. It really seems impossible. Everything is operating normally...I just can't get 2 different working monitors to work now on 2 different motherboarded towers...and it makes completely no sense at all.

 

[Apokalipse]

Try resetting the BIOS. It's possible it is not configured correctly for the onboard video.

 

[BoysNightOut]

I have not yet reset the BIOS yet yeah. I was thinking of clearing the mobo and rejumping it and seeing what happened.

Isn't it just wierd it happened on 2 different mobos though...with 2 diff monitors...just seems so unlikely that it's **** near impossible.

 

[BoysNightOut]

Anyone else have a clue? Thx.

 

[atomic tofu]

could be a simple thing as not having the monitor hooked up correctly ;p

you said you tried everything swapped but the monitor? I just skimmed...could be the connection on the back of the monitor is loose.

take out video card....work from on board video, make sure connection of cable on monitor are good, make sure monitor connection to pc is good....test.

maybe cmos battery needs replacement.

 

[Apokalipse]

you said you tried everything swapped but the monitor? I just skimmed...could be the connection on the back of the monitor is loose.

or it might be possible the monitor cable itself is faulty (if he's used the same cable for both PC's)

 

[BoysNightOut]

No and no lol. Monitor cables are secured on both screens. One's a Dell LCD, other is an older HP CRT. CMOS battery is dead at same time on both mobo's seems highly unlikely...but I'll check anyways.

2 different monitors, with different VGA cables. Both known to be working.

2 different motherboards, with 2 different video cards and 2 different onboard video connectors as well.

None of those combinations work in any order.

So it really seems improbable that this is happening still. I just can't figure out how a working PC started doing this. Then a amchine I replace it with has the exact same issue right after, when I know the monitors work fine and the replacement PC works fine as well. It makes no sense.