No display during bootup or after

[WesternCanadian]

I have a weird one. Inherited an older machine which was described as "dead" (okay, a challenge it is!). Turns out there's nothing displayed during bootup (empty, dark screen).

Bootup sounds normal & HDD spins up okay (altho missing lots of Win98 files, it appears). Tested 2 different known-good video cards, and monitor, and all okay.

Can power up the old HDD in a newer machine, and bootup and display are normal.

Is this a case of a file-eating virus (video drivers or Win files generally), or something worse?? Any help finding the problem, and how to FIX IT, would be most appreciated!

Thanks, Norm.

 

[coconut2]

maybe its the processor...

 

[WesternCanadian]

Wouldn't the BIOS still fire up, even if the CPU was shot? Hmmm, maybe not...

 

[Trifid]

You can't do anything without a cpu, it wouldn't do anything, but have the fans spin.


Maybe there is a problem with the motherboard, thats not letting it display anything.

 

[NeoExtreme]

Sounds like a mobo problem to me.Check it and see.

 

[Alvin.C]

Re:

Hello,

Firstly, suspect your problem to be a hardware issue. The graphics driver is not applied and utilized during post. In fact, none of the drivers are loaded until after POST.

POST is self dependant on the BIOS, nothing more. So even if you don't have a Hard Drive drive connected to the PC, meaning no Operating System, then your PC should still be able to carry out POST. It is after POST where BIOS searches for a bootable drive with an Operating System, then loads the OS and the drivers for devices.

During POST you should still get a display. The only type of virus which can cause boot problems would be a boot-sector virus.

Suspect your graphics card first. Make sure it is compatible, working and in place. Cables too. Make sure the RAM is correct and that it is seated correctly (you might want to shift them to different slots). Probably the most vital item to consider is the CPU. Check to make sure there is one . that it isn't fried, no pins bent, is in place and working. If all of this is checked, then most probably some issue with the motherboard.

It's a tricky problem, but sounds completely hardware based.