Need quick suggestions! help

[BuzzKillington]

One of our towers at work decided to quit but so far I've only had the chance to try and troubleshoot it while the club was packed so I didn't get too far. Basically I was pulled aside to see why the monitor was blacked out.

I hard reset it and still nothing. They were trying to use a mouse that was next to the computer but after tracking it down, it was actually plugged in to the server that runs our security cameras. The mouse plugged into the dead computer wasn't on. I couldn't hear anything so I'm not aware of any error beeps or even if the fans are spinning up.

My first thought would be onboard GPU went south but I don't have a pci card to test it with.

I can't seem to remember if the light on the mouse would be on if the computer didn't complete post... if it should be, perhaps the mobo or PSU dead.

Ideas?

[diluzio91]

If its a bad video card you shud get power but no video. If you unplug. Fans spin up for a second then die its probably mobo, if there's no power short the green pin on the psu with a fan plugged in and see if it will power on.

[mDust]

If its a bad video card you shud get power but no video. If you unplug. Fans spin up for a second then die its probably mobo, if there's no power short the green pin on the psu with a fan plugged in and see if it will power on.

Yep, there should be a power light on the mobo and fans should spin at least a little bit. If not, there's no power.

Trace both the power cords to the wall.:)
Trace the VGA cable from the case to the monitor.
Make sure everything is still plugged in inside as well.

[BuzzKillington]

How do you short the green pin? Paperclip?

[mDust]

How do you short the green pin? Paperclip?

Yeah, green wire to any black wire.

[xr4man]

yes that will work. just short it to a black wire.i would disconnect the atx connector from the mod first though.

[BuzzKillington]

Yep, there should be a power light on the mobo and fans should spin at least a little bit. If not, there's no power.

Trace both the power cords to the wall.:)
Trace the VGA cable from the case to the monitor.
Make sure everything is still plugged in inside as well.

The only lights I saw were the ones on the front of the tower and on the monitor. The monitor was turning "on" but to a black screen. (no check video errors on monitor)

[mDust]

The only lights I saw were the ones on the front of the tower and on the monitor. The monitor was turning "on" but to a black screen. (no check video errors on monitor)

In that case both the tower and monitor are getting power. Do the fans spin up?

[BuzzKillington]

I couldn't hear anything with the club at full roar and I didn't have any tools to open the case to look inside.

[mDust]

I couldn't hear anything with the club at full roar and I didn't have any tools to open the case to look inside.

It's likely an issue with the mobo or cpu. If you can get a spare graphics card to test with, that can tell you if the issue is only with the on board graphics or something more serious.
When you get the case open, make sure there is a system speaker hooked up. If there are no error beeps then the cpu should be fine and the problem should definitely be somewhere on the mobo.

[OvRiDe]

Bad RAM can also cause no video. When you get a chance to crack it open.. First reseat the RAM, try it. Then if that doesn't work if there are more then one stick of RAM present, try running it with one. If that doesn't work, try moving it to other slots. If it still doesn't work.. try the same thing with the other stick of RAM. Then I would try another video card.

Good luck