PC Powers on, but no signal?

[Accutron]

I know there are countless threads on this matter, but I haven't found a definite fix yet.
I have ruled out my monitor and my psu.
The way my PC 'died' was weird. I used it last Thursday morning and it worked like any other day.
I went to work and when I returned home it still worked fine, for about an hour or two.
I started playing BF3, and when my computer was opening up the game, it crashed and my pc shut off. About five minutes before that, the video drivers crashed.
I restarted in safe mode because otherwise I would get a BSOD with some video error (I think).
I updated my GTX580 drivers and then restarted; same problem.
I was in BIOS and changed the graphics to PCI-E instead of onboard graphics, and I changed the boot order I think.
The weird thing is I had a ton of inidvidual white lines going horizontally on the screen.

I did the paper clip test on my PSU and it powered on.
I checked my mobo for any warped capacitors.
I reseated my GTX580 and my RAM.
I unplugged and replugged HDDs.
I reset BIOS with the CMOS and also the little cap thing that you move on the different pins.

I dusted out my PC and it's clean now.
Does it sound like a GPU problem?

SPECS:

Intel i5 2500k
8GB Corsair Vengeance @ ~1640MHz, I hink I put it down to ~1400MHz
Asus P8P67 Mobo
EVGA GTX580
Raidmax RX-850AE 850w PSU
WD 250GB HDD

 

[terry4536]

It sounds to me that your graphics card died. You can test it by putting it into a working computer.

 

[Accutron]

I don't have another computer. I have the only desktop in my house. Is there anyway to maybe use a multimeter or something? Could I look again at the capacitors? How could it just die? My room always sits at around 80 degrees and I have it in a Silverstone RV03.

 

[terry4536]

No. It can only be tested like this in a working computer.

Do you have a friend that can help you out? It will not hurt their PC.

 

[Accutron]

I don't. They're all console players. I think most of them have iMacs. I think I have a tower somewhere with a pcie slot. A lot of my towers had AGP.

 

[terry4536]

The best choice is to take the graphics card to a PC repair shop to test it. Or since there is a good probably the culprit just buy another card. If you remove the graphics card then set the graphics source in the BIOS to the integrated graphics, will it run?

 

[Accutron]

I can't even get to bios anymore. The monitor just stays asleep. I'm thinking of just buying a new one but that will have to be a while. :<

 

[terry4536]

That is my point. If you remove the graphics card and then move your monitor cable to the motherboard graphics, you may get your display back.

 

[Chicano]

I don't. They're all console players. I think most of them have iMacs. I think I have a tower somewhere with a pcie slot. A lot of my towers had AGP.

The GPU will fit... try testing it on that one... if it still runs.

 

[Accutron]

That is my point. If you remove the graphics card and then move your monitor cable to the motherboard graphics, you may get your display back.

Oh, my board doesn't have an actual video cable slot.

 

[Accutron]

I don't. They're all console players. I think most of them have iMacs. I think I have a tower somewhere with a pcie slot. A lot of my towers had AGP.

The GPU will fit... try testing it on that one... if it still runs.

I found it, I'm about to test it right now. Wish me luck!

 

[Chicano]

I found it, I'm about to test it right now. Wish me luck!

Sure thing... I'm sure we are all wishing you good luck on both the GPU and motherboard!.

 

[Accutron]

I found it, I'm about to test it right now. Wish me luck!

Sure thing... I'm sure we are all wishing you good luck on both the GPU and motherboard!.

Just my luck. Of course this stupid psu doesn't have an 8 pin connector. I followed someone's tip on just putting in a wire in the remaing two pin slots. So I basically have an 8 pin connector in, but no 6 pin...That means I'm going to have to buy a stupid molex converter which I really don't want to do because I'm going to have to wait a few days to a week for it to arrive at my house. And I doubt Best Buy has it so I'd have to drive all the way to a Fry's to buy one...What a hassle.

And I think my mobo is ok. All the lights turn on green (not sure if relevant) and there are no blown capacitors. I screwed in all the metal bolts to the case too, so I'm 99% sure it didn't short out.

 

[Chicano]

What if you use the Raidmax RX-850AE PSU on the old PC?

 

[Accutron]

What if you use the Raidmax RX-850AE PSU on the old PC?

XD Yeah, I was just really lazy lol. I'll just do it instead of buying the molex adapter. I should be back in a few.

 

[Accutron]

What if you use the Raidmax RX-850AE PSU on the old PC?

OK, so my GTX580 works. I just plugged in my psu into the old computer and it booted and everything and the display was showing. So then it must be my mobo then? Maybe HDD? I ran the memory diagnostic test and they passed all 3 tests. I even reseated them and also moved them.

So if my GTX580 works, then why does my monitor show no display when I turn the computer on?

 

[Chicano]

The white lines on the display are said to be caused caused by bad video cable, monitor, or static interference... so the chances are your motherboard is not the cause. Did you use the same monitor and cable on the old PC?.. do you have a spare video cable and/or monitor you can try?

 

[Accutron]

The white lines on the display are said to be caused caused by bad video cable, monitor, or static interference... so the chances are your motherboard is not the cause. Did you use the same monitor and cable on the old PC?.. do you have a spare video cable and/or monitor you can try?

Yeah same monitor and cable. Odd...
I have an HDMI cable I could use, but the DVI cable I used seemed to work fine when in the other pc.

 

[Chicano]

Well... any chance the cable was lose on the GPU or monitor?... if both monitor and cable work fine on the old computer, they should also on the affected computer, and if not, try the HDMI cable if the monitor has HDMI.. if not, a HDMI to DVI adapter may help.

 

[Accutron]

Well... any chance the cable was lose on the GPU or monitor?... if both monitor and cable work fine on the old computer, they should also on the affected computer, and if not, try the HDMI cable if the monitor has HDMI.. if not, a HDMI to DVI adapter may help.

That was actually my first guess. I figured the connection was loose. I unplugged out of gpu but not from monitor, but it's screwed in so it should be fine. I tried the other DVI port on the 580 but still the same problem? Could it maybe be CPU?

 

[Chicano]

I don't think it's the CPU.. they are tough and the least likely to fail under normal temperatures.. and if overheating they throttle down and even shutdown for self protection, but as soon as they cool down they run normally... and if the cooler had failed and CPU had overheated, the computer would keep rebooting in a few second loops. It's not doing that right?... One other possibility is the PCIe slot... they sometimes fail. You have a second PCIe slot right, try the GPU there.

 

[terry4536]

The motherboard and CPU are both possibilities

The lines on your monitor is a good indication of a graphics card error.

Do you have a case speaker? That would help diagnose the motherboard.

 

[Accutron]

I don't think it's the CPU.. they are tough and the least likely to fail under normal temperatures.. and if overheating they throttle down and even shutdown for self protection, but as soon as they cool down they run normally... and if the cooler had failed and CPU had overheated, the computer would keep rebooting in a few second loops. It's not doing that right?... One other possibility is the PCIe slot... they sometimes fail. You have a second PCIe slot right, try the GPU there.

The motherboard and CPU are both possibilities

The lines on your monitor is a good indication of a graphics card error.

Do you have a case speaker? That would help diagnose the motherboard.

I don't, I should have bought one today at Radio Shack.

 

[Accutron]

I don't think it's the CPU.. they are tough and the least likely to fail under normal temperatures.. and if overheating they throttle down and even shutdown for self protection, but as soon as they cool down they run normally... and if the cooler had failed and CPU had overheated, the computer would keep rebooting in a few second loops. It's not doing that right?... One other possibility is the PCIe slot... they sometimes fail. You have a second PCIe slot right, try the GPU there.

I moved it over one slot but still no display. I'm guessing it's the motherboard.
If my pc passes the memory diagnostic test, that means my ram is not the culprit, right?

 

[Chicano]

I moved it over one slot but still no display. I'm guessing it's the motherboard.
If my pc passes the memory diagnostic test, that means my ram is not the culprit, right?

Right... but it also means the motherboard is working or the RAM test could not be done... But did you do the RAM test before the display went out?