My monitor only receives signal in a very specific configuration, I've tried everything on the web to fix the problem.

adaaamm

Commendable
Aug 4, 2016
3
0
1,510
Yesterday I attempted to build a £600 PC at home with parts I bought from Amazon. Here are the specs:
GPU - EVGA GeForce GTX 960 SSC 4GB
CPU - Intel Core i5 processor (previous model)
PSU - EVGA 600W
Cooler - CoolerMaster Hyper 212X
Mobo - ASRock micro ATX, LGA1150 Socket, Intel B85 Express
RAM - Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2*4GB) DDR3 1600Mhz

Now, when I plug everything in and power it up, everything seems to work perfectly except my monitor gets no signal. The mouse and keyboard do though.
I've spent hours reseating RAM sticks, resetting the CMOS battery, pretty much any solution I could find on the web. Out of the many times that I tried powering it up to test if it was working, it worked 3 times. Each of the times that the monitor received a signal was when my GPU was seated in the motherboard but not plugged into the power supply. With the exact same configuration that made it work, I shutdown and turn it on again to see no signal.
The conclusion I found was it only seemed to work on the first time after reseating and replugging everything in and while the GPU was unplugged from the PSU.
On the third time the monitor received signal, I took the opportunity to install windows, which in the process, made the system restart many multiple times with no problem at all. When I arrive at my desktop, I restart the PC manually, and it's fine. However, when I manually shutdown the PC, the monitor receives no signal once again when turning it back on.

I can't rule out that the problem is with the PSU being plugged into the GPU, because it doesn't work even when it isn't, only after reseating everything.
One thing I can kinda rule out is that it never worked while the PSU was plugged into the GPU. It seems that all the other components are fine, just something between the graphics card and the power supply causes the problem.

Sorry for the long post but I had to cover everything.
 
Solution

Jayhawker32

Distinguished
Do you have your HDMI or VGA cable plugged into the GPU? If you plug it into the motherboard and install a graphics card you won't get a signal because the motherboard will automatically switch to the GPU as the primary display adapter instead of the onboard graphics.
 

adaaamm

Commendable
Aug 4, 2016
3
0
1,510


I have a HDMI cable from the monitor itself, to the motherboard. The graphics card doesn't seem to have a port for the HDMI cable to plug into, but it does have a slightly 'smaller in width' port, this could be the port for a VGA cable which I don't have. I should note I was following a build guide, this one here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOTzIc6jADw
I'm using almost the same components as in the video, only difference is that I chose some newer models/higher spec parts.
 

Jayhawker32

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That's your problem, it has to be plugged into the GPU otherwise you won't get signal. Looking at the 960 SSC there should be an HDMI port on the back. Otherwise you're going to need to get a different cable or an adapter.
 
Solution

adaaamm

Commendable
Aug 4, 2016
3
0
1,510


I will definitely try this, thank you for responding - means a lot.

Party unrelated, but my PCI-E cable has a separate 2-pin connector next to it, and where it plugs into the graphics card there is an 8-pin slot. In the video I watched, he plugged in the 6-pin PCI-E cable into a 6-pin slot, and left the 2-pin one hanging around. As mine has an 8-pin slot, should I be plugging in the 2-pin next to it?

Edit: I'll try out the solution you suggested, but I'm curious as to how it was working some of the times I tried to make it work. If I was using the completely wrong connection method, then surely it wouldn't be working any of the times?
 

Jayhawker32

Distinguished


Yes, if your 960 has an 8-pin connector then go ahead and plug the 8-pin in.