Posted on 07/20/2024 4:25:06 PM PDT by Paul R.
Geez, is there some requirement an OP must repost / reply in under an hour? Some of us actually have lives!! And I needed to look at the computer again to get info. for replies, and it was, ya' know, not right at my fingertips.
Anyway, here goes AGAIN:
I've inherited a huge gaming computer from my brother. It seems to turn on ok, except that there is no video from either the Motherboard or the dedicated graphics card. Once the computer is on, the CPU gets warm, the RAM gets warm, the dedicated graphics card gets warm, controls for fan speed (four fans!) appear to work, but there is no indication from either the VGA output or HDMI output on the motherboard, and none from the dedicated graphics card. I even tried the MB video outputs with the dedicated graphics card pulled out of the machine. The monitor I'm using for this runs fine off my laptop (both HDMI and VGA.)
The CMOS battery was dead, but I replaced it. The HD seems to be spinning, but doesn't seem to do searches across the disk, etc. (It is a 1 TB HD, not a SSD.) I'd still think I should see an initial BIOS message on the monitor even if the HD is defective? Oh, BTW, RAM is 32 GB of DDR3, 4 sticks of 8 GB. The DVD player / writer "ejects" and "loads" (no disc in there) but I can't get much further than that without an OS.
Circa 1992, it only took me ~6 months to realize I needed at least 2 PCs so I could efficiently trouble shoot either using the unperturbed one.
And then we were off to the races....
The 1st thread got deleted because I took a bit under an hour to post replies to replies to me...
Thanks to all (except a couple snarks)!
A minor emergency has cropped up, so I’ll probably be “away” from this for a few days. (Fire dousing, and then catching up, and dousing the other fires that spring up while preoccupied.) Most likely I’ll start a new thread then, and reference this one.
:-)
I don’t remember seeing that happen in 26 years.
Okay, count me curious. Why do you have all those computers?
The green light does not mean that all of the power supply voltages are OK. But did you ever check them?
Ok, that’s kinda what I thought: A system to check that all power supply rails are working properly and then display a green LED if “yes” (sort of like NOT having your check engine light on) would require a separate bit of circuitry and perhaps a little logic circuitry, plus an independent almost fail safe power supply of it’s own.
Quite doable - heck, with a little “refresher study” and / or a little help from people over at All Circuits, I could probably whomp up such a module myself. But I’ve not seen it in any computer I could afford.... Besides, as a diagnostic tool it’d be better to have separate LED’s for each rail.
Anyway, I’ve not had a chance to put a multimeter to the supply rails, as I’m still not back home, and in the meantime, wifey heard from a friend who’s in a tight spot and needs to sell their car — and wifey wants it, and it looks like she has enough savings to pull it off, but she want me to check it out and handle a lot of the stuff involved with such a purchase. So the computer will have to wait a couple more days...
Yeah, it definitely startled me! :-(
Right. Had done, and with respect to the video: Same VGA cable, same VGA monitor, swapped to VGA output of my ol' laptop, works fine. For the HDMI output, using a 2nd monitor with a HDMI input, same HDMI cable, same (2nd) monitor, swapped to VGA output of my ol' laptop, works fine. The one thing I haven't tried is the DVI outputs. I'll have to borrow a monitor for that.
But initially the VGA output would be working, right?
I’m wondering if DVI is enabled and can’t be switched to VGA or HDMI if an actual connection to a DVI monitor is missing? But for both the MB video and the monstrous graphics card?
Sometimes the resolutions are pretty good, with much learned (and hopefully not forgotten!) :-)
The power supply voltages all check out ok under modest load (operation = idling due to lack of boot up), at the connectors on the far end (such as the back of the plug into the MB). An exception is the supply cable to the DVD drive and the HD, where I had to check at the rear of the connector @ the power supply, but the HD and DVD drive were still connected to that supply cable. The DVD will eject and load, and the HD appears to be spinning (both after power on, obviously).
For years all I had were discards and computers I found in the alley, so while I had to figure out what was wrong with them or why they were discarded, I also had little to lose by switching out parts and components and playing around with them until I could get some use from one.
DOS drove me nuts and I never understood it but after days or weeks of looking at a garage sale DOS book and playing with a junked computer I could sometimes temporarily grasp DOS enough to fix something.
One thing I accomplished was not being afraid to open up a computer, which is a great start for everyone.
One other oddity about this machine is that it has a SINGLE small round multipin connector color coded purple that appears to serve both the keyboard and mouse. (Usually with those older connectors, one is purple and the other a light green, for the keyboard and mouse to be separately plugged in to.)
Here I plugged my keyboard’s purple plug into the purple connector and used a (confirmed working on my laptop) USB wireless mouse. Surely that would not prevent the initial screen display and/or a successful POST beep upon power-up??
Why bother? Toss the computer unless you think there is financial information that is not in the will. Take the hard drive out and send or take it to a data recovery business and see if they can do anything with it.
Well, for one thing, this machine would make the basis of a very nice computer-sourced 7.1 surround sound system. And, yes, there is a VERY good chance there is some of my brother’s financial info on it. Granted, I should be able to plug the HD into another tower I have, as a 2nd HD, to view it, IF this machine is actually a Windows machine.
Yikes.. Why are you wasting everybody’s time if you don’t know what operating system the computer was running. As I suggested, send the HD off for a possible recovery..
My ability to pm seems to be blocked. But I did get yours. Thanks.
:-)
The choice of OS does not affect ability to get to an initial power up screen.
If others would like to help, that’s great. If you don’t like helping solve a mystery, fine.
Have a good day.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.