Hi, I'm new to this community so I would like to begin by saying hello and thanking everyone in advance for their advice. I have encountered a problem with my pc. Well it began when my usually quiet CPU fan started making a loud noise and I also noticed that my computer programs were running a little slower than ususal. I disconnected everything (i.e.- monitor, mouse, keyboard...etc.) and open up the case and I could tell that noise was indeed coming from my CPU fan. I figured it was giving out so I went out and purchases a new one and installed it. I only connected power supply and powered on the cpu. The fan was still making the same noise and now it was louder, I then turned it off and made sure everything was connect properly. I then connected my monitor to the cpu and started the computer. At this time the computer would turn on, the fan was still making alot of noise, and now nothing was appearing on my screen as if the monitor wasn't connected. Is it possible that my card my monitor is connected to burned out or something or is it my processor that when bad. Any ideas? Thanks again for any assisstance.

Are you certain that you connected everything properly?

If you took the RAM out, did you seat it firmly back in the correct slot?
Did you reconnect all the power supply connections?
Did you make sure that all the cards, graphics card included, were firmly seated in their respective socket?

Did you remove the heatsink from the CPU or did you just unscrew and replace the fan? If you removed the heatsink, did you clean off the old thermal paste from the heatsink and CPU and apply a new layer of thermal paste?

You say that the fan is loud, what kind of fan is it? Please indicate size (40mm, 60mm, 80mm, etc) and whether or not it is a specialized fan. Did you replace the fan with the exact same kind of fan?

Here are the specs for my pc.

*AMD Athlon 1333 Processor
*The processor fan is an Evercool Ball Bearing EC7015HH12C (70mm, speed 4000) w/heatsink
*Video Card: Visiontek Model# NVD01.0 2x AGP NIVIDIA RIVA TNT

I did double check to make sure everything was seated properly and connected.

A friend told me that he thought that it is not the processor because the computer still runs it just doesn't show anything on screen, is this true?

If so, then would my next step be to replace the video card, or is there anyway that I can test it out?

Let me know if you need any other info.
Thanks.

PS - I did remove the heatsink and then replace it and I did not use any thermal paste.

Every time you remove your heatsink, you must have a clean processor and a clean heatsink, apply a new thin layer of thermal paste, and carefully install the heatsink. If the new heatsink came with thermal paste or a thermal pad already on the heatsink, you will still want the processor to be clean before installing the new heatsink. Basically, you never install a heatsink onto a processor when there is no thermal paste, previously used thermal paste, or improperly applied thermal paste on either the processor or heatsink. Doing otherwise prevents the processor from dissipating heat properly, which can fry your chip.

After you have corrected your processor/heatsink/thermal paste issue, follow the steps listed in the My PC won't start - Read this first! guide starting with the Does your newly assembled PC refuse to POST? section. This will take your machine down to the bare necessities and then build it up from there. This will be helpful in finding the problem component.

After you have followed the steps in the guide, update this thread with your results. If the system is still not functioning, please be specific about what worked and what didn't.