Monitor Doesn’t Show Image But Computer Runs

[Randomishlying]

(I’m pretty desperate to fix this thing, so I’m going to try to be as thorough as possible)

Before the problem occurred (this may not be important, but just in case): I took my hard drive out to hook it up as a slave (for storage) to a different computer. A new user account was made.

Initially: I hooked the hard drive back up (and the few other things I had to unhook to get to the hard drive when I was taking it out originally) to the computer it was in first. I may have switched some power supply cords around. When I turned the computer on, I heard three beeps. I then found out that three beeps meant a memory error. I didn’t understand how I could have gotten an error like that; because I didn’t even touch the ram when I was taking my hard drive out. I thought maybe the ram got loose somehow. I then took out the ram and the graphics card so I could get to the ram. Then I put the ram back in, in a random order. I didn’t think it would matter, because the ram sticks are all the same (brand and all). Before putting the graphics card back in, I saw a small piece of dust in the pcie port. I couldn’t get it out, and I didn’t think that is what the problem was anyway so I just left it and reinserted the graphics card.

I turned the computer back on and I didn’t get any beeps this time. The computer sounds as though it is starting, and the light flickers like it’s doing something, but then disappears. The num lock light is also on during the initial start up, but then disappears. The graphics card fan is running, and it seems to be working, but I don’t know how else to check to see if it’s working. Everything else seems to be working based on what I know about how to check to see if it’s working, but I could be missing something. The monitor shows no signal when turning on and off again. The computer has been running for a few hours, and it sounds as it would sound if it were running normal idle.

Of the steps I’ve taken so far, I’ve force shutdown my computer (with the power button, not the psu switch) a least a handful of times. I’m guessing in order to fix this problem I’m going to have to do the same many more times. Is there a risk in shutting the system down in this manner multiple times?

Does it sound like I should try using a different graphics card?

Please let me know if you have any ideas related to this problem.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

System Specifications:

Graphics Card - ATI RADEON HD 2900 PRO 1GB PCI-E 2X DVI

Hard Drive - Barracuda 7200.11 SATA 3Gb/s 1-TB

CPU- Intel Core 2 Quad Processor

Motherboard – Intel DP35DP

[skilly]

get that dust out of the slot using compressed air

[Randomishlying]

UPDATE: I got the dust out the pcie port, that wasn’t the problem because it didn’t change anything.

I took out two of my four 2GB sticks of ram, and changed a few power supply cords around. I was eventually able to get windows to start, and show image on my monitor. However, I have to assume it was through random chance that started, because not being to see any image to my monitor, I decided to press enter when it seemed like there wasn’t any hard disk activity. I don’t know if taking the ram out had anything to do with it. Something to note is that on the attempt that showed image on my monitor, there was a lot of hdd activity and the light blink for a couple minutes. That is compared to having hdd and light activity for a couple seconds after startup, before it stopped being active, which is what occurred on every attempt prior to that one. In addition, I think the hdd and the dvd drive sometimes restarted after about 30 seconds, or perhaps related to me pressing enter.

After getting windows to start and my monitor to show image, I ran the computer for a few hours, and it was working fine (showing image and all). I thought to myself that this would have been a whole lot easier if bios was visible at startup. It then dawned on me that bios never showed at startup, even when my computer was working properly. I then tried to reset cmos by using the motherboard jumper. I tried restarting after this only to find that my monitor wasn’t showing image again.

I put the two sticks of ram back in and I tried to take out and reinsert the battery, and it changed nothing. I changed the battery, because I thought it might need to be replaced.

Now when the computer starts up I hear something like this:

First it’s five beeps then the time between noises speeds up.

*Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Duh Duh Duh Duh Duh Duh Duh Duh Duh Duh Duh Duh* (This part happens three times in a row)

This is followed by three slower BEEPS.

It almost sounds like a song.

I have no idea what this means, but I have to guess it has something to do with the battery. I’m pretty sure the one I put in was the right number (CR2032).

Now I think I’m going to do the following:

Put the old battery back in.

Run a bench test.

I’m really hoping that something is just loose, and it can be fixed by taking everything out and putting it back in again.

PLEASE HELP IF YOU’RE WILLING! I can use all the help I can get.
I’ll come back with the results of the bench test.

[Rik from RCE]

See if this helps - http://www.computerhope.com/beep.htm

[skilly]

your processor is fried or the motherboard is fried.

[RTFMID10T]

UPDATE:
I thought to myself that this would have been a whole lot easier if bios was visible at startup. It then dawned on me that bios never showed at startup, even when my computer was working properly. I then tried to reset cmos by using the motherboard jumper. I tried restarting after this only to find that my monitor wasn’t showing image again.

Now when the computer starts up I hear something like this:

First it’s five beeps then the time between noises speeds up.

*Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Duh Duh Duh Duh Duh Duh Duh Duh Duh Duh Duh Duh* (This part happens three times in a row)
.

you did a bad thing my friend. computers are often set in a fastboot mode so you don't always see everything booting up in sequence. Proprietary computers have the splash screen and most often the motherboards will as well so you just see a logo for a second or two. do a search for beep codes to see exactly what your computer is crying for help about. always think in the simple mind and computers are most often KISS (keep it simple stupid)

[Randomishlying]

UPDATE 2 (bench test): I think the reason that the bios screen and starting windows screen never showed up even prior to this problem is because there is some kind of problem with the DVI port on my monitor. I came to this conclusion by using the same monitor cord with a VGA adapter on it and put it in the VGA port on my monitor, and I saw the bios screen and starting windows screen.

The following was done using the motherboard, cpu, videocard, and one stick of ram:

Once I was able to see image on my monitor, I found that there was a battery error, and another error or two. I’m guessing that this started when I took the cmos battery out and put it back in. From this point, I reset the bios to the default settings, and I no longer had any errors.

Everything looked good, so I decided to put my hard drive in. Upon starting it with my hard drive, I found that everything worked well until I got to the “starting windows” screen. It stayed on this screen for a few seconds and then the system restarted without warning. I’m guessing this is what I was experiencing before, when I saw the and heard the hdd and dvd drive start up after already being on. After many attempts with the same restarting at the “starting windows” screen as the result, I thought maybe my hard drive might be the problem. I tried to do a start up repair – system restore, but what ever problem there was couldn’t be fixed automatically. So I put the hard drive in another computer (using no other parts from my computer other than the hdd) as the primary hard drive. The result of this was that there were no issues at all for the post test, or during windows start up, and it started up with out any problem.

During the bench test I replaced the following components with other components to narrow down the problem:

Ram (additionally I checked all of my ram for problems)
Video Card
Power Supply
Monitor

Like skilly suggested, this leads me to believe that the problem is with either the motherboard or the cpu, but I have no way of testing that. Of course I could be wrong. It's hard for me to understand how it could be either of those, since I had no trouble starting with those components before I put the hard drive in.

As usual, any help would be appreciated.

[skilly]

i did almost the exact same thing about a year ago, ending up clearing the CMOS with the jumper. an IBM thinkcentre cpu intel dual core 2.4ghz mobo 775. but my problems all started because of overheating. it is still sitting in the corner, collecting dust....i want to get another mobo to test the cpu. but never any extra $ or time....

[RTFMID10T]

your problem was simply that in bios the default is the VGA port and not DVI. Manufacturers don't usually make DVI default as much as they try to sell them because businesses still haven't moved away from VGA. If you change your BIOS to use DVI i'm sure you will run into the same problem until you switch cables again. i would just stick with the VGA. less headaches

[Rik from RCE]

Try a different hdd data cable. You may have a faulty one!

[Randomishlying]

Try a different hdd data cable. You may have a faulty one!

Alas, I did try a different hdd cord, and there was no problem with the cord, because the problem persisted. Thanks anyway.

[Randomishlying]

i want to get another mobo to test the cpu. but never any extra $ or time....

My thoughts exactly. I don't have the money to spend on a new part, just to find out that the other part was the problem. That is why I've taken it to a professional computer repair company to see if they can add anything to what I've already gathered.

I'll post what they suggest the problem is, in as much detail as I can acquire.

[Randomishlying]

your problem was simply that in bios the default is the VGA port and not DVI. Manufacturers don't usually make DVI default as much as they try to sell them because businesses still haven't moved away from VGA. If you change your BIOS to use DVI i'm sure you will run into the same problem until you switch cables again. i would just stick with the VGA. less headaches

This is news to me. I haven't had an opportunity to check this out, because my computer is at a repair shop. I will definitely be looking into it when I get my computer back. Thanks for the info.

[jbennet]

Yup. On my machine by default, for example, if I reset my BIOS (i.e. if the battery died) I would be screwed as it defaults to using my (fried) onboard VGA video by default, instead of the addin PCI-X card.

[Randomishlying]

As it turns out, my sata configuration was set to raid, and I only have the one hard drive. That was causing the restarting at the "starting windows" screen. I still don't know how this configuration happened though, because I didn't even mess with the sata configuration.

[jbennet]

Dead CMOS battery would reset controller settings?

[guntang_01]

I hope this will help you even a little.. try to remove your ram for a couple of seconds and put it back just be sure that it is mounted well, or may be the problem is your video card it might also untouched then try also to remove it then cling it well, but you should try first the ram because a lot of possibilities might be a reason why is that happening..