Screen not working

robert_harper_2000

My brothers computer tower turns on with the fan running very hard and loud but the screen just says no signal. Should I just replace the monitor or could it be something else?

His gf said she thinks it was last working when they had an update running but it froze so they switched it off. I imagine they have turned it off during the Windows update....

Any suggestions? I'm trying to stop them from just buying a laptop instead of sorting this out! Madness- hardly helping the environment or their pockets

Stu666

It sounds more serious than simple corruption from a failed update. It is likely to be getting stuck before the BIOS information is loaded. Hence the loud fan and lack of monitor signal. This is almost always down to hardware failure.

In my experience as a mobile PC tech, I would hazard a guess that the motherboard or power supply unit has had it. Or maybe even both.

If you have any technical knowledge, you could try resetting the BIOS, this sometimes works for me, but only rarely.

bob_man_uk

possibly a rather unlucky coincidence that the update was done at the same time as it was last working, i wouldnt say the two are related... when you switch it on if you dont see any text scrolling up the screen it sound slike a problem with the PC itself not the monitor

robert_harper_2000

hmm... so perhaps he is right the computer is .... dare I say it... dead!

awww... resetting the bios is that where you do the following

[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica] There are 2 ways you can reset your bios.

1. On the motherboard there is a small watch battery. Remove this battery along with the power cable from the power supply. Hold down the power button to fully discharge the system. Wait 2-3 minutes then reinstall the battery and plug in your system. Your reset is now complete

2. Some motherboards have a 3 pin jumper by the battery. Lets say that the jumper is on pins 2 and 3. Remove the jumper while the machine is OFF and place onto pins 1 and 2. Power on your machine for a minute. (Note: Your system will not POST). Shutdown your machine and put the jumper back to pins 2 and 3. Your reset is now complete


This is a great troubleshooting step for those of you having POST issues or no POSTing at all. Like other troubleshooting steps, this will not always work but usually will depending on the problem.
[/FONT]

albertross_2

have you checked the vga leads are connected securely at both ends. it won't be the monitor. removing the cmos battery is unlikely to fix it.

Stu666

robert_harper_2000 wrote: »

hmm... so perhaps he is right the computer is .... dare I say it... dead!

awww... resetting the bios is that where you do the following

[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica]There are 2 ways you can reset your bios. [/FONT]

[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica]1. On the motherboard there is a small watch battery. Remove this battery along with the power cable from the power supply. Hold down the power button to fully discharge the system. Wait 2-3 minutes then reinstall the battery and plug in your system. Your reset is now complete[/FONT]

[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica]2. Some motherboards have a 3 pin jumper by the battery. Lets say that the jumper is on pins 2 and 3. Remove the jumper while the machine is OFF and place onto pins 1 and 2. Power on your machine for a minute. (Note: Your system will not POST). Shutdown your machine and put the jumper back to pins 2 and 3. Your reset is now complete[/FONT]


[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica]This is a great troubleshooting step for those of you having POST issues or no POSTing at all. Like other troubleshooting steps, this will not always work but usually will depending on the problem.[/FONT]

That's exactly what I'm getting at. Give those steps a try and see how you get on.

If it fails to solve anything, then you're looking at dead motherboard and/or PSU.

albertross, I have on numerous occasions managed to get computers going again just by resetting the BIOS. I actually incorporate it as a matter of course into my troubleshooting routine now. Doesn't work everytime, but definately worth trying as it can potentially save the client hundreds.

robert_harper_2000

well the uncle came round and apparently shaked it about abit and it worked. So never got to test it out.

Thanks though

ormus

aye, you cant beat them pcworld service engineers.:)