Screen went black

[bode2011]

The screen on my P.C suddenly went black.
When I restart the computer the light on the monitor turns orange and then green. The screen is still black.
I cannot access the bios and cannot access the monitor's own display adjustments.
Could this be a problem with the graphics card, the motherboard or the monitor itself ?
I am unable to test the computer with another monitor.
Need VERY URGENT help.
Thank you.

 

[bode2011]

I have reinserted everything attached to ther motherboard, cleaned some 10 year old dust from the graphics card fan and checked for loose connections.
When I restart the P.C and tap F8 the screen flickers but stays black.

Pen II 733
Asus P3V4X
Creative GB0010
Graphics Card

Thanks for your quick reply.

 

[nukemaster]

you can try to disconnect your video cable from the computer and turn the screen on. Many screens display a message like "check video cable"

At least this way you will see if you have picture on the screen it self.

Do you have an old video card to try with? It the card went, you will get a similar issue.

 

[kilo_17]

You can pull the little coin battery out for a couple mins put it back in and try it

 

[bode2011]

I replaced the mb battery and there's a green light on the board so I'll assume that's a good thing. There's nothing on The graphics card which allows me to remove any leads. Monitor light stays orange.
OS xp with latest updates.

 

[kilo_17]

I think what nuke is saying is to disconnect the cable and see if the screen displays anything to make sure the monitor works

 

[nukemaster]

The light on most boards is a result of the board being plugged in.

The orange light on the screen is a indicator that there is no signal. What does it do if you unplug the video cable on the computer end? anything show up on the screen?

 

[bode2011]

I had removed graphics card and tried to turn monitor on. I'm quite sure I should still be able to access the monitor's own display. But since that's not happening it must be the monitor.

 

[kilo_17]

Does the PC make any beeps when you turn it on?

 

[nukemaster]

I had removed graphics card and tried to turn monitor on. I'm quite sure I should still be able to access the monitor's own display. But since that's not happening it must be the monitor.

I can not access my monitor settings with it disconnected or sleeping. It just says Samsung(Syncmaster 245T) and something about signal cable.

But i CAN NOT change settings at this time.

 

[bode2011]

Actually no beeps! IBM flat screen cost about 700 pounds eleven years ago.

 

[kilo_17]

Do you have onboard video? If so take the vid card out and try it

 

[bode2011]

No onboard video as far as I remember. But can't plug a Monitor in anyway. CAn't access f8 I assume that's where I change to pci e

I'll assume I'll need to buy sometimg urgently tomorrow. Just don't know what. Using mobile phone for internet. Got a tax submission due in two days!

 

[nukemaster]

The board has no onboard video so thats out.
The board has AGP so PCI-E is out.
The board has a P3 733 in it. So it may have just reached its end of life.

My suggestion is to ask a friend if they have an old PCI video card card kicking around to test. I always keep an old S3 card for such a occasion.

Then you can once and for all see if its the video card. Unfortunately nothing lasts forever.

 

[kilo_17]

Oh I didn't realize it was that old. Nuke's got a point, it could just be old and not working anymore

 

[bode2011]

Thanks for all the help last night. I went out and purchased a new zotack geforce 6200a agp card. With no luck, the monitor light stays green. I tried removing the video cable on the new card and the light was orange.

Can't replace the vga cable either so I'm off out to buy a pc which was long overdue.

Four power supplies, two mb batteries, and two OS upgrades later, farewell and good riddance!