My sister's computer died today and I can't troubleshoot it. System powers up and the monitor works fine on other computers. I think the video card died but how do I tell? I pulled it out and it doesn't have any scorched areas or anything. Maybe the video card is fine and the motherboard is hosed. How do I diagnose it?

 

Easiest thing to do (if you've got one) is to swap the video card to see if a new video card works. If you don't have the ability to do that I would try a couple of the following:

1) Watch the hard drive light. If it blinks on and off for a couple of minutes or so then it's probably booting up to the Operating System so the m/b may be ok.

2) Watch the lights on the keyboard. Normally the num lock and scroll lock lights will turn on and off once or twice during the boot process. If you notice that then the m/b is probably doing something.

3) Many bios'es will emit beep codes if they detect an error that results in video not being able to be displayed. If you hear a series of beeps when the system is booting up then you are probably getting beep codes. Find the manual on the m/b and look for an appendix for beep codes that tell you what the sequence you're hearing means.

Suggestions 1 and 2 are not conclusive. They may indicate the m/b is working to some extent but it could still be the problem. Swapping the video card will help in this respect. If you're getting the beep codes mentioned in (3) you should be able to tell exactly what the problem is if you have the manual to the m/b and can look the beep code up.

 

This happened to my recent computer.

What happened was that a quarter fell on my video card while my case was open and basically short circuited my computer.

The video card was fine but there wasn't any Video when I turned on the computer. I believe the AGP Port of the Motherboard Died, or whichever PCI slot the Vid card was in. Too lazy to send the motherboard back to company.


1. Try using the vid card on another computer.

2. Try testing your other vid cards on your computer.

Basically, if your computer doesn't boot up with any Vid card then it's your motherboard or the slot that the Vid card was in (AGP or PCI), I highly doubt you have a Vid Card that uses an ISA slot.

You should also try to check your other components just to be safe such as your CPU, RAM, Sound Card, etc.

 

Ok, tried Strike's Ideas.

Results.

No lights on Keyboard
No hard drive access so I could tell. (Light on tower didn't flicker or anything and I didn't hear any thing coming from the drive.)

The computer I am working on now is my laptop so I can't yank the vid card out and swap.

Vid card is AGP slot.

Any other ideas?

 

When you power up the system and monitor, do you hear 3 beeps and nothing shows on the screen? if so then your video card is dead.

Otherwise I would need some more info as to what happens after power up.

Of course as Integrate and Strike suggested, if you have access to another video card, it would be a quick way to verify the problem. Just make sure its of the same type (PCI or AGP, etc.)

Sami

 

1. no activity lite for the HD could mean your HD is trashed

2. no activity lite for the HD could also mean your ram memory has taken a hit. Some BIOS will not continue the powerup sequence if any SIMMS or DIMMS are shorted out or even loose in their sockets.

3. Have you had the covers off recently? Any changes made to the PC?

4. Do you see anything on the screen at all? Like even the BIOS statement when you first turn it on?

 

No beeps of any sort. RAM chip is securely seated. Absolutely nothing on monitor. In fact, after a few seconds on, the monitor light changes from green to yellow standby.

 

If you got no lights on the keyboard and no HD activity this is a sign of a M/B issue but again not conclusive. I would try reseating all cards, memory, and ribbon cables. I would also unplug keyboard and mouse cables and replug them into back of PC. If still not working I would definitely try to get a hold of a video card to try swapping. Otherwise, the next question is is the computer under warranty?

 

Computer is a few years old so it is out of warranty. I'm afraid that if something is shot i won't be able to replace it as the old stuff will no longer be available. Ok, gonna pull all the cards and reseat them and try again now.

 

I tried throwing a floppy in to see if it would at least try to boot it first and get the HD out of the loop. Still no activity. Seems to me to be a motherboard issue? I pulled and reinstalled the RAM chip and that didn't do anything.