# Solved: Turn on computer, no video feed



## Yellowman (Feb 15, 2005)

Hello,

I have a very strange and periodic question that I was hoping someone could lend some guidance on. I have a computer that when I turn it on, I can see the power turn on, all the fans and hard drive turn on but there is just no video feed/signal to turn the monitor on. Now, this is very periodic. There are times when I turn it on and there is no problem, it will boot up and all. This lack of video feed is right from the beginning even in the post, I cannot even get into the cmos. Could the video card be acting up?
Yet, once it is on, there seems to be no problems. I have even left the computer on and played some video games for 3-4 hours and still no problems.
I look forward to your advice.
Thanks!


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## neil21stirling (Sep 12, 2007)

2 things to check really, 
1 yes being the video card and 2 being the ram!
Check that both are properly seated in the motherboard.

Another thing is to make sure you have all the up2date drivers for your video card, check manufacturers website.

I hope its not, but this could relate to a motherboard problem. In which case you'd be better buying a new motherboard.


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## Yellowman (Feb 15, 2005)

Hey thanks neil21stirling, you still think it could be the video card? I mean this is just on the post??!!
You are right about the ram though. I will try unplugging and plugging them back in.
I have all the up to date drivers for the video card but again, not sure if that may be it as I don't believe the drivers are even loaded at that point, only during the o/s boot up no?
I too, was also shaking in my pants that it could be a motherboard problem but not sure how to identify... that would be a bigger problem 
Let me try the ram and update the drivers on the motherboard and see if that helps. Thanks!!


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## fincher (Sep 14, 2007)

Tell the ful configure of your system


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## fincher (Sep 14, 2007)

*neil21stirling* Also it can be a PS, overclock, CPU compatibility, wrong BIOS, peripherials, monitor bug, iQST and so on


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## Yellowman (Feb 15, 2005)

fincher, not sure what help the configuration will be but here goes:
asus a7v, ati 9800 all in wonder pro, 2gb ram, amd cpu, antec power supply, 2 WD hard drives, 4 case fans. I apologize I don't have the specifics of the kind of ram and the amd cpu (I think it is 3500?) No overclocking. I will check in a little bit but I hope that helps out. Fincher, the reason I am a little questioning is this setup has been working for over a year with no issues. This has only occurred in the past 2 weeks of which no updates were installed except for those lovely windows updates.


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## brite750 (Mar 16, 2002)

any post beeps with the lack of video?


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## brite750 (Mar 16, 2002)

asus a7v is a socket A, could not be a 3500+ maybe a 3200+ barton core


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## brite750 (Mar 16, 2002)

from what youre descibing it almost sounds like a bad video cord or bad or bent pins, not card ...CORD


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## Yellowman (Feb 15, 2005)

thanks for the ideas brite. Good point, I will check if there are any beeps. I believe when it is working there are 2 quick beeps, if I get no video, then there is no beep period but let me confirm. I will also try to change the vid cord to see if that will make a diff.


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## brite750 (Mar 16, 2002)

Yellowman said:


> thanks for the ideas brite. Good point, I will check if there are any beeps. I believe when it is working there are 2 quick beeps, if I get no video, then there is no beep period but let me confirm. I will also try to change the vid cord to see if that will make a diff.


if its posting 2 quick beeps then pc then probably not gfx card itself. when monitor is blank is there a message that comes up on it like NO VIDEO SIGNAL or similar?


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## Yellowman (Feb 15, 2005)

ok so here is the latest on this ridiculous moving target.
I reset the memory, vacuumed etc. Now I get a consistent video feed. Now, the issue seems to lie in the bios seeing the hard drives (IDE). Sometimes it is able to find the primary IDE, sometimes it cannot. Sometimes it can only see the primary slave IDE and not the master. I actually have 2 IDE drives on one ribbon and 2 dvd roms on the other. So far, no problems picking up the 2 dvd roms. I then switched the cables around to see if it may be a cable issue, now, I seem to be able to pick up the primary master but not the primary slave. I then played around with some of the jumpers and still no go. The closest I got it to how it was before is if I unplug one of the dvd roms and put in the secondary IDE, then it sometimes works. I also updated the bios version on the motherboard just in case. Any ideas? This is rather frustrating...


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## brite750 (Mar 16, 2002)

Yellowman said:


> ok so here is the latest on this ridiculous moving target.
> I reset the memory, vacuumed etc. Now I get a consistent video feed. Now, the issue seems to lie in the bios seeing the hard drives (IDE). Sometimes it is able to find the primary IDE, sometimes it cannot. Sometimes it can only see the primary slave IDE and not the master. I actually have 2 IDE drives on one ribbon and 2 dvd roms on the other. So far, no problems picking up the 2 dvd roms. I then switched the cables around to see if it may be a cable issue, now, I seem to be able to pick up the primary master but not the primary slave. I then played around with some of the jumpers and still no go. The closest I got it to how it was before is if I unplug one of the dvd roms and put in the secondary IDE, then it sometimes works. I also updated the bios version on the motherboard just in case. Any ideas? This is rather frustrating...


its starting to sound like the MB is going, time for an upgrade. I had a A7V133 did the same thing, lost one of the ide channels all together in the end


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## brite750 (Mar 16, 2002)

before it totally dies you may want to back up any important data , just in case, and run a BelArc Advisor on the pc and print a report. My daughters Socket A died recently and I was able to upgrade her to a 754 MB and still use her ram and gfx card, the MB + cpu was only about $100


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## brite750 (Mar 16, 2002)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819104249
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138271

that would be the cheap way to go, if you want to keep all your other stuff, you may be able to go 939 socket also for more money, just keep in mind you will need to get a MB that has agp8x, and 2 ide channels for all the ide drives, also dont know what your ram is, hope its DDR-400, pc3200


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## Yellowman (Feb 15, 2005)

thanks brite...
I really hope it is not the motherboard so I will keep on testing. I will back up all important information first though.


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## Yellowman (Feb 15, 2005)

well... I was a little impatient and getting frustrated so I decided that it most likely is a problem with the motherboard and had it replaced, in other words bought another one. Unfortunately I was not QUITE paying attention and didn't realize that this new motherboard did not support agp cards so I had to buy a pci-e vid card. So, needless to say less than amused by all this.
Anyhow, it has been about 2 days and so far so good. Hopefully it will hold out for now.
Any advice etc to prevent problems with motherboard etc? I already have a ups and surge protector.


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## brite750 (Mar 16, 2002)

Yellowman said:


> well... I was a little impatient and getting frustrated so I decided that it most likely is a problem with the motherboard and had it replaced, in other words bought another one. Unfortunately I was not QUITE paying attention and didn't realize that this new motherboard did not support agp cards so I had to buy a pci-e vid card. So, needless to say less than amused by all this.
> Anyhow, it has been about 2 days and so far so good. Hopefully it will hold out for now.
> Any advice etc to prevent problems with motherboard etc? I already have a ups and surge protector.


wow what did you buy? actually agp MBz are getting hard to find.


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## Yellowman (Feb 15, 2005)

so I noticed... got an asus a8ve deluxe... 
sigh... talked too soon, now encountering other issues brite... got ideas?
http://forums.techguy.org/all-other-software/625767-cannot-log-after-install-raxco.html


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