No Signal To Monitor After Installing New GPU, PSU, and Mobo - Please Help!

witsend2

Honorable
Jun 5, 2013
6
0
10,510
I built my first machine a couple of years ago with the following parts:

Athlon 2 x4 640 Propus (@3GHz)
Asus Silent Knight II CPU Cooler
Asus M4A78LT-M Motherboard
Inno3d GTX 460 1Gb
G7 Power Extreme 880w PSU
8Gb Crucial DDR3 @ 1333MHz
Seagate 500Gb HDD
LG DVD Writer/Rewriter
Sony BD ROM Drive
iCute Jet Turbine ATX Case

And it worked fine for almost 2 years. A couple of months ago I stopped getting a signal to my monitor (an LG 32" HDTV) from the graphics card so, figuring it was the graphics card I tried to get an RMA. Inno3D proved absolutely useless for this, so I took it as an opportunity to order a new graphics card (a Sapphire 7870 XT). I used the motherboard's onboard graphics until it arrived - which worked absolutely fine.

When my new GPU arrived, I plugged it in and booted up and STILL couldn't get a signal from the monitor. I got the post beep, and could hear Windows starting up, but no picture.

I checked my BIOS settings, made sure it was set to boot from PCI-E first, and reset the CMOS, but still no signal. Figuring at this point that I had a faulty PCI-E connector, I ordered a new motherboard - an ASUS M5A97LE R2.0 LE.

After completely taking the machine to bits (wearing an anti-static wristband clipped to the case, which was powered off but still connected to the mains) and cleaning the case out with compressed air, I installed the new motherboard, being careful that all of the spacers matched up with the holes in the new mobo to avoid shorting it. I cleaned the CPU and heatsink and applied fresh Antec Formula 5 thermal paste in the way that their website recommended, making sure not to get any on the mobo or sides of the CPU. I checked the CPU for broken pins, but it looked fine, and made sure it fit snugly before clamping down the heatsink again. I also made sure that all the front panel and PSU connectors were plugged in correctly.

I turned the thing on again, and the fans all span up, but still no signal. I tried reseating the GPU and RAM, but that didn't help. After resetting the CMOS on the new board, I finally got a picture! I was able to install a fresh copy of Windows 7 on my HDD (after formatting the drive), install the mobo and GPU drivers, and began downloading some games to test the new machine out! Bioshock Infinite being around 30Gb in size, I fell asleep before I had a chance to play anything. When I woke up, there was a 'no signal' message on the display, and several reboots and a CMOS reset failed to fix it.

At this point, I figured that it must be a case of the generic PSU that I'd bought deteriorating to the point where it could no longer power a PCI-E card, because what else could it be?

I ordered a Corsair CX600 to replace it, and installed it earlier today. Unfortunately, IT STILL DOESN'T WORK! So now I've spent a fortune on parts and have failed to fix the problem.

Current build:
AMD Athlon 2 X4 640 Propus
ASUS Silent Knight II Cooler
ASUS M5A97LE R2.0 LE*
Sapphire 7870XT 2Gb*
Corsair Builder Series CX600*
8Gb Crucial DDR3 @ 1333MHz
Seagate 500Gb HDD
LG DVD Writer/Rewriter
Sony BD ROM Drive
iCute Jet Turbine ATX Case

*New parts

I'd greatly appreciate any advice or suggestions that anyone could give here - as I'm just about to power the thing on and take it into the bath with me...
 
Solution

witsend2

Honorable
Jun 5, 2013
6
0
10,510
I should also add that I've tried the GTX 460 in the new motherboard, and with the new power supply, but still don't get a picture from either card. The new motherboard doesn't have onboard graphics, either, so my next step would be to re-install the old motherboard and send the new one back. I'd rather not have to, though...

So, I've tried out 2 PSUs, 2 GPUs, and 2 motherboards, but am still getting the same problem. I also made sure that the PSUs were connected to the graphics cards, and that the DVI cable was connected to the cards each time.
The TV works fine, and worked fine with onboard graphics on the first motherboard, so I'm at my wits end here!
Also, the mobo speaker doesn't seem to work in the new mobo - even when it boots up. I think this is a problem with the mobo model, from what I've read, which isn't much help.

Many thanks,

Witsend!
 


Sometimes TVs make no sense, try using an actual computer monitor and see if you are still having an issue. It's the only thing left that hasn't been double checked. I know I have run into instances where a TV 'should' work but just refused, even if it worked once before.

Hope you find the answer, best of luck.
 
Solution

witsend2

Honorable
Jun 5, 2013
6
0
10,510
I can't thank you enough for this - you were spot on!

Went and got an old monitor that I'd given to a friend ages ago, and it displayed first time (with a DVI to VGA adapter). Then, when I used the same cable to connect to the TV's VGA port, it worked right away. God, I feel like such a dumbass...

Many thanks for the help with this, it's saved me a ton of hassle.
 


Glad I could help.