Really frustrating problem

[SirChick]

I turn my pc on but the monitor doesn't kick in... just stays on standby.

Drives me insane.

I replaced the psu and the motherboard and the monitor is still standby. What could cause this frustrating problem ? And how can i diagnose the issue.

The monitor works on a different computer so its not the monitor itself.

[Tonka777]

Is this with onboard graphics or with a graphics card?

It might be a refresh rate problem.

[SirChick]

with my 8800 GTS 320mb nvidia, my monitor only has a DVI cable which fits my gpu .... the gpu and monitor once worked before i replaced mother board and psu.

But before replacing the psu and mobo the entire computer would not turn on which is why i replaced the two

[jim]

I've had this before on a few rigs.

Could be any one (or more!) of:

Broken cpu (or incompatible CPU)
Broken motherboard
Broken RAM (or incompatible RAM)
Broken PSU (or insufficient PSU)
Broken graphics card

Hard to say really. I've tended to find that the only accurate way to work things out is to swap each component out with a spare.

[SirChick]

Well i got 950watt corsair psu TX series ... more than enough juice. (been used at most about 60 minutes)

P5N-D sli mobo (less than a week old)

i removed all ram and swapped them around they didn't change much i also took them all out n the beeper went off so they are detected when plugged in.

My gpu is 4 / 5 years old i dunno if that died along with my old PSU/mobo =/

Thing is i ain't got spares and can't afford to second guess what replacement is needed either gpu/ram/cpu ...those are the only 3 parts of the pc left that are old.

[jim]

I know... it's a right pain in the neck and there's not much you can do about it.

I would advise either trying to find somebody local who's willing you to help test the stuff, buying some really cheap spares to test with, or speaking to a firm you've bought some of the components from and asking them if they'd be kind enough to test out your entire rig and find out which bits are faulty. Or ask a local PC shop if they'd do it.

Of course, you could just buy a new graphics card and hope for the best, but I wouldn't personally want to do that if it might be something else at fault.

[SirChick]

Well i want to get a new gpu anyway but Uk has sod all available for a 285 geforce and i don't ATI before any ATI fans turn up.

[jim]

You'd probably be better off going for a 4** range GPU anyway. There's a decent spread now with the 460 having been released.

Why the ATI hate?

[ManniX]

Have you got any POST codes?

Does the computer beep when you turn it on at all?

What motherboard is it? Some have LED readouts which change depending on what phase the boot is at, and these can give clues as to why it's not passing POST. Sometimes this is on an expansion card too.


Your friendly local independant shop might diagnose for free if they're nice...