pbowne
asked on
PC Not Working - No Video
My PC is not booting up at all. This started as a slight problem with the screen freezing, where I would need to reboot, quickly became a problem where I lost the video on my PC (except for safe-mode) and now does not show any video at all.
My equipment:
AMD 1700+ CPU
Shuttle Mainboard
ELSA GladiacMX GeForce 2 nVidia 32 Mg video adaptot
Loaded with Win98
The PC worked fine on my previous CPU, a Pentium II 300mhz chip with the ELSA adaptor until my CPU was fried. I always used 1078x784 or 1280x1074 settings. I purchased the new AMD CPU along with the Shuttle mainboard and used the ELSA adaptor with it with great results. No problem at all until recently when my PC would freeze up at times and I would have to reboot. Even then, when I rebooted - no problem.
Then, I started having a problem with the video a couple of days ago. When the PC froze and I rebooted, I would get the Windows98 startup screen but instead of showing anything afterward, I would get a plain black screen. Instead of the login/password screen, it would be totally black. If I hit escape or typed in my password, I would hear the Windows startup music, but still no video.
On the suggestion of a local computer store, I started it up in Safe Mode (video worked at 640x480.) Then I deleted the video adaptor. When I restarted the PC, no change.
Then, in safe-mode, I went into properties for the video adaptor and changed to Adaptor Default properties. I was now able to restart and go into Win98 at 640x480. When in Windows98, I could change the settings to 800x600 and High Color. I was unable to get the PC to work when I changed to True Bit (32-bit) color, not could I get it to work in higher resolution than 800x600.
Every time I changed to the higher resolution, the screen would go black after the Win logo.
I tried reloading Win98, reloading the video adaptor software, reloading the mainboard & bios software. At one time the only thing that would help was taking out the ELSA video card and reseating it. Now when I boot up, there is no video at all. The PC starts but I cannot even turn it off unless I hit the power button.
Any ideas what the problem is and what to do about it?
Please be patient, because I have to use another computer to send this question, and I may not have access for a day or two at a time.
Thanks,
Peter
My equipment:
AMD 1700+ CPU
Shuttle Mainboard
ELSA GladiacMX GeForce 2 nVidia 32 Mg video adaptot
Loaded with Win98
The PC worked fine on my previous CPU, a Pentium II 300mhz chip with the ELSA adaptor until my CPU was fried. I always used 1078x784 or 1280x1074 settings. I purchased the new AMD CPU along with the Shuttle mainboard and used the ELSA adaptor with it with great results. No problem at all until recently when my PC would freeze up at times and I would have to reboot. Even then, when I rebooted - no problem.
Then, I started having a problem with the video a couple of days ago. When the PC froze and I rebooted, I would get the Windows98 startup screen but instead of showing anything afterward, I would get a plain black screen. Instead of the login/password screen, it would be totally black. If I hit escape or typed in my password, I would hear the Windows startup music, but still no video.
On the suggestion of a local computer store, I started it up in Safe Mode (video worked at 640x480.) Then I deleted the video adaptor. When I restarted the PC, no change.
Then, in safe-mode, I went into properties for the video adaptor and changed to Adaptor Default properties. I was now able to restart and go into Win98 at 640x480. When in Windows98, I could change the settings to 800x600 and High Color. I was unable to get the PC to work when I changed to True Bit (32-bit) color, not could I get it to work in higher resolution than 800x600.
Every time I changed to the higher resolution, the screen would go black after the Win logo.
I tried reloading Win98, reloading the video adaptor software, reloading the mainboard & bios software. At one time the only thing that would help was taking out the ELSA video card and reseating it. Now when I boot up, there is no video at all. The PC starts but I cannot even turn it off unless I hit the power button.
Any ideas what the problem is and what to do about it?
Please be patient, because I have to use another computer to send this question, and I may not have access for a day or two at a time.
Thanks,
Peter
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You might want to check the refresh rate, set it to default, just for testing this. If you still can't get any higher resolutions, I think your videocard died.
LucF
LucF
Hi,
It seems the issue is with the video card as suggested by experts above,
try doing the beep code testing as well,remove the video card and restart
the system,check how many beeps ur getting,if ur not getting any beeps
then ur motherboard might have some problem( as u said ur system keeps
on freezing as well) so i would suggest to give ur mobo a check as well
Regards,
arunec
It seems the issue is with the video card as suggested by experts above,
try doing the beep code testing as well,remove the video card and restart
the system,check how many beeps ur getting,if ur not getting any beeps
then ur motherboard might have some problem( as u said ur system keeps
on freezing as well) so i would suggest to give ur mobo a check as well
Regards,
arunec
THERE Are three posible reasons :
1. if your PC boot's but u don't see a thing it should be the monitor
2. if your PC does not boot at all it clearly the Video card or
3. the motherboard
there is also a possibility that your power supply is broke, could take a look at that to
try following :
try starting the computer with a verified monitor
if it does not work try booting up with another video card (that u know for shore that it works)
if it still not boot your motherboard is gone
b. reg.
Roby
1. if your PC boot's but u don't see a thing it should be the monitor
2. if your PC does not boot at all it clearly the Video card or
3. the motherboard
there is also a possibility that your power supply is broke, could take a look at that to
try following :
try starting the computer with a verified monitor
if it does not work try booting up with another video card (that u know for shore that it works)
if it still not boot your motherboard is gone
b. reg.
Roby
Did you upgrade the power supply along with the new MB and CPU?
The AMD CPU will require more power then your PII 300 did.
IF not you probably are way under powered.
You should be running at the bare minimum a 300W AMD approved PSU.
I know the PSU was mentioned by rsandor I am adding to why it could be the PSU.
The AMD CPU will require more power then your PII 300 did.
IF not you probably are way under powered.
You should be running at the bare minimum a 300W AMD approved PSU.
I know the PSU was mentioned by rsandor I am adding to why it could be the PSU.
OKay PBOWNE,
all of the above suggestions are cool...first, make sure that your PSU is up to par, if it is not, lke Snowguy mentioned you may be underpowered. this may cause you to freeze up it might even cause you to fry your chip....again.... second, do the switch test... test your monitor on another PC to make sure that is not the problem...which I doubt it is the problem..... third, test the video card....I would venture to say that you need to replace it completely..... this should resolve your video and freezing problems..... make sure your cooling fan over the heatsink is working too.... that could cause havoc on your system as well. That might need replacing.
Have a good day.
DL
all of the above suggestions are cool...first, make sure that your PSU is up to par, if it is not, lke Snowguy mentioned you may be underpowered. this may cause you to freeze up it might even cause you to fry your chip....again.... second, do the switch test... test your monitor on another PC to make sure that is not the problem...which I doubt it is the problem..... third, test the video card....I would venture to say that you need to replace it completely..... this should resolve your video and freezing problems..... make sure your cooling fan over the heatsink is working too.... that could cause havoc on your system as well. That might need replacing.
Have a good day.
DL
ASKER
Sorry to take so long to get back to all of you, but I've been without the aforementioned PC. Regarding one of the suggestions, I do already have a 300W power supply.
I was able to borrow an S3 Trio64v2 video card, and the PC worked fine on the first try, so I'm pretty sure it's the grphics adaptor that I had.
However, while the S3 card worked fine for the first few hours, now I am getting vertical - broken lines all over the screen. It gets worse when I scroll on a page, but clears up if I pass over links or highlight an area of the screen page I am on. I will award the points to Crazy One and I'll open another question to resolve this latest problem.
p.s. I will be purchasing a new video card in the next couple of days anyway.
I was able to borrow an S3 Trio64v2 video card, and the PC worked fine on the first try, so I'm pretty sure it's the grphics adaptor that I had.
However, while the S3 card worked fine for the first few hours, now I am getting vertical - broken lines all over the screen. It gets worse when I scroll on a page, but clears up if I pass over links or highlight an area of the screen page I am on. I will award the points to Crazy One and I'll open another question to resolve this latest problem.
p.s. I will be purchasing a new video card in the next couple of days anyway.
If the monitor acts up on the other computer, then you know it's the problem.