Video Card problem????

My husband brought me home a home built computer he bought off a
customer of his. I am not real computer tech savvy. I have installed
upgrades to some of my 4 current computers but nothing serious.

My problem is that when I turn the computer on, it seems like the
computer is booting up but the monitor is black. The monitors do work.
I tried two from my currently used network and they work on the other
systems. Plus, when I unplug the monitor from the back of the new
computer, I get that "no device signal" error on the screen. So it
isn't the monitor.

The motherboard does not have a video card integrated on it, so I open
the case and find the attached video card. It is a Diamond Spdstr A50
AGP 8MB OEM. It is seated well and secure. I was thinking that maybe
the drivers needed to be reinstalled but how can I try that without
any display whatsoever? Then, I thought maybe the motherboard was
fried since there is no bios screen or anything. Just not sure.

I am not good at figuring out the motherboard identity. There are
numbers and letters everwhere. I did see this is bigger letters and
numbers than the others: logo KP0021 Ver. 1.0 DA4XAAKX14

What do you think?

Kathryn

"Kathryn" wrote in message
om...
My husband brought me home a home built computer he bought off a
customer of his. I am not real computer tech savvy. I have installed
upgrades to some of my 4 current computers but nothing serious.

My problem is that when I turn the computer on, it seems like the
computer is booting up but the monitor is black. The monitors do work.
I tried two from my currently used network and they work on the other
systems. Plus, when I unplug the monitor from the back of the new
computer, I get that "no device signal" error on the screen. So it
isn't the monitor.

The motherboard does not have a video card integrated on it, so I open
the case and find the attached video card. It is a Diamond Spdstr A50
AGP 8MB OEM. It is seated well and secure. I was thinking that maybe
the drivers needed to be reinstalled but how can I try that without
any display whatsoever? Then, I thought maybe the motherboard was
fried since there is no bios screen or anything. Just not sure.

I am not good at figuring out the motherboard identity. There are
numbers and letters everwhere. I did see this is bigger letters and
numbers than the others: logo KP0021 Ver. 1.0 DA4XAAKX14

What do you think?

Kathryn

Serious question . . . did your husband see this computer working before he
bought it?

IF NOT . . . Have your husband return it as not working, and get his money
back

IF SO . . . it's likely something got loosened in transport. You need to
understand that video is roughly the 4th thing a computer does as it is
booting. The sequence is roughly . . . turn "on" computer, and CPU looks
for good power. If power good, CPU looks for POST program in BIOS and
starts to run that. If system passes very basic POST tests, CPU looks for
video card and tries to initialize it. (at this point you finally should
have video, you might see a description of the video card flashed across the
top of the monitor)

So many people jump to the conclusion that their video card might be bad
because they have no video. Actually, it usually means that the POST just
never got that far . . . or in other words, there is something more "basic"
wrong with the system.

Oh, and just because a card appears to be firmly seated doesn't mean it's
making good electrical contact.

IF and ONLY IF you can confirm that the system was working when your husband
bought it (take your husband's word, not the guy who sold it), then open up
the case and check the following . . .

(with computer unplugged, take these one at a time slowly and carefully)

- physically remove video card and reinstall firmly
- physically remove CPU and reinstall
- physically remove RAM (probably more than one stick) and reinstall
- physically remove CMOS battery, but don't reinstall yet
- look for a jumper near CMOS battery holder labelled "clear CMOS" or
"reset CMOS" or "reset BIOS" or something like that. If you find it, set
that jumper to clear CMOS, leave it that way for about 30 seconds, and then
put it back the way you found it
- (after previous step complete) reinstall CMOS battery
- Find power connections to motherboard (from power supply). There might
be more than one. TAKE NOTE OF the positions of these connectors (on older
boards, reversing them can be very bad). Remove and reinstall these
connections.
- Find two connectors on back of hard drive. Remove both and reinstall.
- If there are any expansion cards besides video card, REMOVE THEM, and
don't reinstall them until after you have video

Now you can plug in and try again. But don't try any of this unless your
husband witnessed this system working before he bought it. -Dave

"Anon" wrote in message
s.com...

snip

- physically remove CMOS battery, but don't reinstall yet
- look for a jumper near CMOS battery holder labelled "clear CMOS" or
"reset CMOS" or "reset BIOS" or something like that. If you find it, set
that jumper to clear CMOS, leave it that way for about 30 seconds, and
then
put it back the way you found it
- (after previous step complete) reinstall CMOS battery

Hi Anon

Why do you say to remove the battery as well as reset with the jumper? I'm
not being critical, I just want to know. :-)

Scotoma

Hi Anon

Why do you say to remove the battery as well as reset with the jumper? I'm
not being critical, I just want to know. :-)

Scotoma



Because I've read many posts from people who have used the jumper, but
couldn't get the CMOS to actually clear until they also removed the battery
before trying to clear it. I can't confirm that removing the battery is
necessary, but I do know that it won't hurt anything. -Dave

"hawk" wrote in message
...
Well, before you start taking things apart you might try to boot to
"Safe Mode". Safe Mode boots with just the minimum, standard Windows
drivers. If you get video in safe mode, the video drivers for the card
most likely need to be re-installed.

Regards, hawk

Ummm . . . she can't get the thing to boot far enough to tell it to go to
safe mode. -Dave

"Dave C." wrote in message
...
Hi Anon

Why do you say to remove the battery as well as reset with the jumper?
I'm
not being critical, I just want to know. :-)

Scotoma



Because I've read many posts from people who have used the jumper, but
couldn't get the CMOS to actually clear until they also removed the
battery
before trying to clear it. I can't confirm that removing the battery is
necessary, but I do know that it won't hurt anything. -Dave



Cheers Dave.
Thanks for the explanation.
Good idea. :-)
Scotoma

On Sun, 11 Apr 2004 12:07:59 -0400 As truth resonates honesty "Dave
C." wrote :

Hi Anon

Why do you say to remove the battery as well as reset with the jumper? I'm
not being critical, I just want to know. :-)

Scotoma



Because I've read many posts from people who have used the jumper, but
couldn't get the CMOS to actually clear until they also removed the battery
before trying to clear it. I can't confirm that removing the battery is
necessary, but I do know that it won't hurt anything. -Dave


This is because of a common small lack of knowledge.When mother board
maker's went from,"AT" powered systems to the,"ATX" powered systems
the rules for clearing the CMOS/BIOS changed.ATX powered systems apply
a small residual current across the battery and therefore the
CMOS/BIOS so if the user does not isolate the power supply by using
the power supply switch(if it has one) or switching off at the wall(UK
outlets) or by removing the power supply cable from the back of the
system then most of the data in the BIOS is retained.

There is no need to remove the battery on ATX powered systems
and risk bending the contacts or putting finger marks(can cause
P.O.S.T failure) on the battery.Just pull the power cable out,use the
clear CMOS jumper(it's instant) and then put the power back in.


HTH



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