Monitor gives me big fat NO SIGNAL - EMERGENCY!!

[LiTos456]

Hey everyone,
I have a custom made computer that I've used for a long time. Im not a noob at computers, and this one is a Pentium 4 proccessor. I didnt build it, but bought it from a guy. Ive been using it for maybe a year or probably 1.5 years and it was fine and great. ive been experiencing some problems such as hardware failure but got that over with.

Recently I;ve upgraded my video card from a Geforce 4400 MX to an HD Radeon 2600 Pro, AGP. It was working perfectly, i was so much more comfortable playing all games out and with V3D.net. But today I decided to go back to the guy I bought the card from to check on if they have any RAM, since I only have 1 GB i thought i should upgrade it to 2. I got 4 slots for ram (2 blue ones and 2 black ones O.o) and I have 2 chips 512 MB each. He asked me what type of RAM I got, but further on i was confused since he is chineese and it's hard to understand him at some points (if he appears in this thread somehow - no offence, but its true lol), so then he asked me to take out my RAM and show it to him. I did just that. When I came back home i was gonna put it in but then I took out 3 64 MB ram chips I had from my old comp and decided to put them in too (only 2 of them) thinking if it will do any changes if I add 128 MB for some time. I did that, switching the other ones around (before my 512 chips were on the blue ones, the black slots were empty), and when i turned my comp on I get this big fat No Signal thing for no reason. Then the monitor button starts glowing orange, as if that marks the no singnal thing and i was getting no picture. I did the following:

I tried restarting my comp
I tried turning on and off the monitor
I tried replugging the monitor cable
I even tried to switch it around, and the one that was plugged in the monitor I plugged in the comp and vice versa
I am getting NO beeps when the computer starts.
The computer runs normally, making the same sound he always does. The fans are running normally too, including the video card fan.
I tried hooking the monitor up to my laptop, and it worked fine which proved me that its not the monitor.

Before that happened I was playing a game when I came home to take out the Ram. My leg was hurting so I decided to play a game for fun for 10-15 mins and then go back to him. When I had to go i didnt exit the game or anything, just turned the comp off through the button ON THE BACK because I was in a hurry. I just took them Ram out and went back to the store.

Now the funny thing is, its not a brand new computer I just got, its not a computer I just finished putting together and all this happened within 40 minutes. Just 40 mins ago I was playing a game now im sitting here with no good comp around all night, and im in my 3D modeling mood and I really wanna do some models but i cant which is annoying. I cant access the BIOS or anything because i cant see anything. Obviously theres no problems with that because everything was fine for 1.5 years and then BAM!.

I would really appreciate any help I can get!! Im posting this on a few other forums because I cant stay without my comp for too long, i keep missing the buttons on this laptop, so hard to type because theyre all pushed together to each other :P

Thanks!

-Ed

[caperjack]

nice story but it got boring for me ,so did you ever take the 64 meg chips and throw them away .to see if it went back to working correctly .

[LiTos456]

Yeah I did... put them back together on the blue slots...i didnt find out they were 64mbs until i took them out, i thought they were way more than that. I really didnt remember how much they were...still wont work.

[mIzDa_cHuBz]

I am basically getting the same problem as you. I just put in an intelnl core 2 duo. I put everything back. I turned on my computer, it ran perfectly fine, but my monitor tells me I have no signal. I hope my recently bought nvidia 8800gt isn't dead, I tried sticking my old 7600 in too, no signal still. Is my motherboard dead?

[shadysoldier]

hmmm merry x-mas.
1) try useing one of the ram sticks at a time (513)
becausr u might of shockrd ir remember 3 volts to kill a chip and 20k to notice
2)check the mobo lights
3) you could have damaged something by putting those other sticks of ram

The problem has to do with take the ram out and going to the store-adding the other sticks of ram

[LiTos456]

Well i really hope my card didnt die out, but probably it didnt because i put my old one in it worked but still no signal.. as for ram - ill try that but right now i really dont feel like screwing it all up and it would be better if i could get all of my 1 gig ram working... those other chips - i aint putting them back in ever again lol. Ill try it soon...but this might not solve the problem.

btw what lights are you talking about?

[mIzDa_cHuBz]

To answer your question for "what lights are you talking about?" When you plug in your computer, connected to your motherboard and stuff, there should be a LED that lights up, if it doesn't light up, then somethings wrong, either you didn't connect it properly on the motherboard or the power plug, or you just screwed something up.

[LiTos456]

guys I got a huge problem.
I got it working - took out one of the RAMs and now i only have 512 MB (>.<) but at least the monitor is working.
BUT it cannot detect THE HARD DRIVES!!!!!!!!!!
I cant afford to have ANOTHER hardware failure. I recently had one about a month ago. PLEASE tell me it isn't a hardware failure, I got the data out of my old hard drive just easily through the comp but I had to buy a new HD for $90, good it was on sale but I can't afford to do that again. PLEASE tell me theres a solution for this.
The Bios wont detect any of my hard drives. I tried setting my main as the only one on the cable, but nothing worked. I can't boot up the windows now. Please guys you gotta help, you're my only hope now and I really can't afford to have further problems with my comp any time soon after the very annoying hardware failure I had, especially on Christmas. I'm sure theres a solution for this and you guys out there are surely can outsmart my comp and help me out..I'm very tired of whats been going on with my comp.
Thanks
-Ed

[caperjack]

the thing that gets me about computers and computer problems is people who no nothing about computers think its ok to take them apart and try and fix them ,do you fix your own tv,car,washer/dryer/fridge /dvd player ,get my point .!!

[LiTos456]

umm actually ive taken my computers apart tons of times and right now im thinking about building my own after i fix this comp. or more like fixing this one and just...building a new comp for my parents. i have all the components from old comps who still work.
I got ethernet card, motherboard, video card, processor, case, i just need to buy a new sound card for like 15 bucks or something and maybe a new HD. Oh yeah and ram obviously. Ill just fix this comp and take it to myself, just switch the hard drives there and ram and thats it. Or even take one of the hard drives out of there and keep it for myself. Doesnt really matter but its a good idea i think. The only bad thing is that ill need to get myself a normal internet connection, cuz wireless here isnt too good since my room is far from where my router is. Not a big problem really, more like fun to me, i just need to fix this comp. Lol I used to say "how the hell do they build comps" and now after so much digging in them i feel like i can just...take the stuff and build a comp out of it. Not that hard really..lol.

[mIzDa_cHuBz]

Ok, I'm over the phase of the "No Signal"
I put in the sticks of ram one by one. It finally worked, but then When i get to the windows logo, I get the blue screen of death and my computer restarts, then my computer keeps repeating, when it reaches windows logo at loading, blue screen of death and restart.

[LiTos456]

so can anyone help me with the hard disk problem now? Ill be very thankful if someone really provides some nice advices.
Also, btw, in the middle of the booting, just before it comes up and tells me "Put a booting media into the selected boot device and press any key" it gives me a fast beep. only one. Maybe that tells you anything?

[caperjack]

I really need to start reading posters nic-names ,just realizes that 2 people are posting for help in the one thread ,always start you own thread and not hijack someone else's !

[LiTos456]

DUDE quit with the freaking flaming. We're just asking for help, and if you're not providing any then DON'T REPLY! And I'm ok with him hijacking my thread. Its more comfortable for others just to answer to us both than running around form thread to thread.

[caperjack]

DUDE quit with the freaking flaming. We're just asking for help, and if you're not providing any then DON'T REPLY! And I'm ok with him hijacking my thread. Its more comfortable for others just to answer to us both than running around form thread to thread.

I disagree, and its against forum polices ,to hijack others threads ,

ok ,im going to re-read from the top and see if it all makes any sence and maybe i can offer something constructive ,in stead of negative

[caperjack]

DUDE quit with the freaking flaming. We're just asking for help, and if you're not providing any then DON'T REPLY! And I'm ok with him hijacking my thread. Its more comfortable for others just to answer to us both than running around form thread to thread.

Im trying to help them in there own post so no sense confusing thinks by posting here .
and you both have different problems ,similar but different .
any way , re-read and i think this was the cause of you problem ,when you did this!!!

Before that happened I was playing a game when I came home to take out the Ram. My leg was hurting so I decided to play a game for fun for 10-15 mins and then go back to him. When I had to go i didnt exit the game or anything, just turned the comp off through the button ON THE BACK because I was in a hurry. I just took them Ram out and went back to the store.

windows needs to write info the registry when you shut down computer ,that is why it pauses ,and says windows is saving your settings,when its shutting down! your abrupt shutdown didn't allow this to happen properly .you may need to use the winxp cd to boot to and do a repair .
and do a chkdsk /r.
http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000627.htm

[LiTos456]

Thanks for the advice. So its not a hardware failure and my drives are ok right? Thats great.
Also will I use any data? I think i did that once but it was long ago and i really dont remember what happened. See, I dont feel like loosing any data atm. =) I wont do anything before you answer... Yeah. As far as I remember all that happens is that you have to wait for it to finish repairing...Whatever it is i want to make sure I wont loose any data. oh and I promise ill never use the back button anymore :P

[caperjack]

Thanks for the advice. So its not a hardware failure and my drives are ok right? Thats great.
Also will I use any data? I think i did that once but it was long ago and i really dont remember what happened. See, I dont feel like loosing any data atm. =) I wont do anything before you answer... Yeah. As far as I remember all that happens is that you have to wait for it to finish repairing...Whatever it is i want to make sure I wont loose any data. oh and I promise ill never use the back button anymore :P

there will be no data loss ,it will repair the data structure of the hard drive ,this may or may not fix your problem ,but will not hurt to run it ,you have to do it as a process of delimitation ,to fixing you problems.

[LiTos456]

Allright i guess ill try it tonight. I wont loose any data right? no matter if it fixes the problem or not right? if yes than good. Ill try it tonight, and thanks for the help, although dont go far away i might still need you :P

[caperjack]

Allright i guess ill try it tonight. I wont loose any data right? no matter if it fixes the problem or not right? if yes than good. Ill try it tonight, and thanks for the help, although dont go far away i might still need you :P

YES. Good luck ,i'll be around ,don't do much else with my free time .good luck

[LiTos456]

allright thanks. Ill go try it now.

[LiTos456]

wait..which command should i do to fix my problem? cuz theres a whole bunch of them and im not sure which one.

[mIzDa_cHuBz]

Oops. no wonder i couldn't see that one post i had, I was trying to post my previous post in this thread to my other thread i have. Sorry it was an accident.
hmm no wonder i couldnt see my post..yeah sorry i don't know about your hard drive. Reformat it? i don't know

[caperjack]

at the command prompt type in chkdsk /f ,note there is a space between the k and the /

[LiTos456]

thanks ill do that now. stay around!

[LiTos456]

allright..."The parameter is not valid. Please try /? for help" or somehting like that..and i dont get it.

Just one thing... before where you type stuff it says C:\>. The disk where my windows is installed is supposed to be I:\...because the names got messed up after the hardware failure. Basicly i got no C and D but i have I, J, K, and L. K and L are the 2 partitions from the old drive, the one that crashed, but works fine now. The windows isnt running on it. I and J are the 2 partitions on the new one I bought where the windows is running, on the I:\ partition.

[LiTos456]

One more thing: I typed in "chkdsk" and it said "The volume contains one or more unrecoverable problems".

btw...what does the /f stand for..?

[LiTos456]

Sorry i dont find here an edit function but heres what i found
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/chkdsk.mspx?mfr=true
and honestly im confused...i need help! lol.

[LiTos456]

omg omg omg omg no no no no what happened again! I decided to turn my computer off so i typed exit and then when it exited it gave me NO SIGNAL and went blank i turned it off through the power supply button on the back then turned it on it didnt give me signal NOO! this can't be happening how could it happen oh my god... Really I need seroius help and advices on what exactly to do, and I know you guys out there know what to do, i think you, caperjack know what to do too because im really freaking out right now. My father keeps complaining about that the computer is not working and im supposed to fix this and im gonna go mental and get a heart attack because of these problems. Someones gotta do somethign!!! What should I do?!

[caperjack]

One more thing: I typed in "chkdsk" and it said "The volume contains one or more unrecoverable problems".

btw...what does the /f stand for..?

the f stands for fix, when you did a chkdsk without the /f did you let it run threw the complete chkdsk ,could take an 1 hr or more