Unsure what is wrong - monitor is not receiving a signal

CelticBorealis

Honorable
Aug 3, 2014
20
0
10,510
Hi all,

I'm new to the forums but I've been browsing for a while now. I've learnt a lot from the community here so thanks - it's been invaluable in my pursuit of learning more about how technology works.

I've been building a new computer. It's my first build and all was going smoothly until it came to switching it on. I was originally intending on using an older VGA monitor until I saved up some more money to buy a decent DVI monitor. The GPU came with the VGA-DVI adapter so I didn't think that was going to be an issue.

I switched the computer on and everything seemed to be working fine - all the motherboard LEDs were on, the hard drive was moving, the optical drive opened and closed, all fans were spinning (including the two on the GPU) and there was nothing to suggest anything was wrong. However, no image was displaying on my monitor. I tried two other VGA monitors belonging to other family members and the problem was the same.

I assumed that something must have been wrong with the adapter as I'd read that they were prone to breaking (though it had remained in the box and sealed in its packet until about five minutes before I switched everything on.

I went out and brought a decent monitor with DVI (and the cable - I just about had the funds in my account!) and the problem is the same. The monitor is saying that there is no signal. Unfortunately, the motherboard doesn't have on board graphics so I've been unable to test whether it's the motherboard or the graphics card that is the problem. However, a more experienced friend came and checked my computer over and said that everything was wired up fine and suggested that I had a faulty graphics card because there was nothing to suggest anything was wrong with the motherboard. However, he was unable to provide advice beyond getting a replacement GPU from Amazon.

If anyone has any further ideas about what might be wrong, I'd be keen to hear them. It's rather gutting having got this far and enjoyed the process and having now hit a wall!

The GPU is a Sapphire Radeon R9 270x. The motherboard is an MSI 970A-G46 Socket AM3+ 8 Channel Audio ATX.

Many thanks for taking the time to read this,

CB

UPDATE:

Thanks for the response, sorry for the delay in replying...I was on holiday and just got back.

I double and triple checked the Pci slot but it wasn't working. I got a new graphics card from Amazon fairly painlessly. Unfortunately, I have exactly the same problem. The monitor is responding with no signal. Again, mother board has all the lights on, optical drive is fine, fans are spinning (on the case, processor and graphics card) I can feel the hard drive moving and I've checked again that everything is wired up fine.

Any idea what could be wrong? Everything is brand new - no second hand parts and I'm confident everything is compatible as I checked on PC Parts Picker. Other people had used the same mother board, processor, graphics card combination I have. There's nothing in the manuals to suggest otherwise.
 

Littlesackninja

Reputable
Jun 15, 2014
841
0
5,160
Your friend is right, Either you Dvi port is broken or your card is faulty, It should be under warranty so you can request a new card.
These things happen, Faulty cards are inevitable with cunsumer grade graphics cards.
 

CelticBorealis

Honorable
Aug 3, 2014
20
0
10,510
Thanks for the response, sorry for the delay in replying...I was on holiday and just got back.

I double and triple checked the Pci slot but it wasn't working. I got a new graphics card from Amazon fairly painlessly. Unfortunately, I have exactly the same problem. The monitor is responding with no signal. Again, mother board has all the lights on, optical drive is fine, fans are spinning (on the case, processor and graphics card) I can feel the hard drive moving and I've checked again that everything is wired up fine.

Any idea what could be wrong? Everything is brand new - no second hand parts and I'm confident everything is compatible as I checked on PC Parts Picker. Other people had used the same mother board, processor, graphics card combination I have. There's nothing in the manuals to suggest otherwise.