Old computer - nothing showing up on monitor

[XA04]

Basically I've got my hands on an old computer, and am going to set it up for my brother... however.....

The monitor is just blank - tested the monitor, and power cables - both work fine.

Thought it might be the graphics card, swapped it with another - still blank screen.

Resetting CMOS - couldn't locate the jumper so took the battery out for a while, popped it back in, same problem.

PSU fan is running fine, HDD powers up fine, CD drive powers up fine, CPU fan is spinning.



Any suggestions on what to try now?

[streetster]

any beeps?

[XA04]

Oh forgot to say, nope. No beeps.

It pretty much seems as if everything is fine, the big flaw though is even though you can hear the HDD powering up, you can't hear any HDD activity (and I highly doubt it will be a formatted HDD).

[Splash]

no beeps generally=no POST - try powering up without any RAM or VGA and see if you get anything.

Any idea what mobo it has?

[XA04]

OK, will try that.

Not sure what MOBO it is, all I saw was it had VIA on it..

Will look to see if I can find a model number and will let you know.


Cheers

[XA04]

OK, I've tried no ram. It didn't display anything on the screen, but made repeative beeping noises (same patern).

Tried using one stick (looks like these are 2x sticks of 64mb RAM), same problem. Other stick, same problem.

Tried using different slots, same problem.

I've tried removing the network card and sound card, same problem.


I can't find any info on the motherboard, can't find a model number or anything. Two pictures of the via thing here.. not sure if it will help though.






Cheers

[GDVS]

What's the beep pattern?

[Splash]

well it's a Via MVP3 chipset - possibly an Epox EP-MVP3G2M. if you're getting beeps with no RAM it at least means that the PC speaker is working, which means that something is amiss that is stopping POST completing, rather than just a duff VGA card.

If it is the board I suspect it uses an Award BIOS - check out http://www.bioscentral.com/beepcodes/awardbeep.htm for the relevant code.

[XA04]

Hmm, well it looks like it's either a RAM or CPU issue then..... doesn't seem to be RAM but I'll take off the HSF and clean it all up from dust to see if it's overheating.

[XA04]

Cleaned CPU, checked that connections were clear, and no pins bent, etc etc. Still same problem.

Tried some RAM from my dads old computer in it... same problem. So it really doesn't look like a RAM issue.


I just get about 2 beeps a second... not much of a high pitch, but repeative, same tone, same length of time between each beep.

[XA04]

OK I got my hands on an old Socket 7 200mhz CPU...... and the post screen shows now (hooray!). However, after the post... nothing, just a black screen just like before. I can access the bios and everything.

It detects the HDD, CD drive. Everything seems perfectly fine. But I can't boot off a CD, can't boot off the HDD... nothing.


Ideas?


Edit: Btw I took the battery out and replaced it again to reset the CMOS.

[ultimate]

I dont know if you have tried this but is the onboard video enabled or disabled as if it is enabled then your pci card wont work as there is a conflict so just boot up without the vga card installed but make sure that the onboard video is enabled, just a suggestion

[XA04]

I'll have a look but I'm 99.9% sure there isn't an onboard video card.

Edit: Yep, no onboard. Just an AGP card. I've got an old 2mb PCI card somewhere I could test though. Will try that soon.


Keep the suggestions coming!

[XA04]

OK I tried the PCI card, it shows more.... but I can see where it freezes.

AFTER the post... you get the white boxes giving information. But text has gone over the screen... but it's not very readable as it's mixed up. I could take a picture if it would help.

Cheers


Edit: So basically it doesn't look like it is a GFX problem, but the AGP card was hiding that part of the booting sequence for some reason..

[XA04]

I've tried 3 more computers since (which all previously worked as far as I know), and I get the exact same problem.

This is extremly confusing!