Member Avatar for rmory

I am seeing the following symptoms:

1. No video. Black screen.
2. Can't get into bios via reboot.
3. hard drive access light is solid amber/on.

Trouble shooting i've done so far:

1. swapped out the monitor for a known good monitor... no change... still no video.

Any suggestions on additional trouble shooting steps or tools that might
help located/isolate the problem?

Thanks,

rmory

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by cguan_77

Dani AI

Generated

Following 's report and the points raised by and , below is a focused, ordered diagnostic sequence to isolate a no-video / no-BIOS boot on an older HP Pavilion desktop. The goal is to get a reliable POST indication (beeps, LED pattern or POST card) so the faulty subsystem can be narrowed down.

  • Power down, unplug, and ground yourself before touching components. Remove all external peripherals.
  • Perform a minimal-boot (bench) test: motherboard, CPU + cooler, one known-good RAM stick in the primary slot, power supply, and either onboard video or a single discrete card (whichever is native). No hard drives, optical drives or extra cards.
  • Listen for beep codes or watch front-panel LEDs. If there is no onboard speaker, temporarily attach a PC speaker to the front-panel header to capture POST beeps.
  • Reseat RAM and video card. Try each RAM stick in the primary slot alone. If there is a discrete GPU, try the motherboard video (or a different card) to rule out GPU failure.
  • Test or swap the power supply. A PSU with failing rails can allow fans and HDD lights but prevent POST. A cheap PSU tester or known-good PSU will quickly confirm this.
  • Clear CMOS (remove battery or use the jumper), then try booting again. Inspect the motherboard for bulging caps, burned components, or loose power connectors.
  • If the board still produces no video, try a POST diagnostic card or remove the HDD/optical drives to see whether the system behavior changes.

If these steps do not produce POST, the most likely culprits are the motherboard or power delivery circuitry. At that point, a local shop with bench supplies or a replacement motherboard/PSU for testing is the practical next step.

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Member Avatar for mechbas

Is your graphics adapter a card or an onboard device?

Member Avatar for cguan_77

hi rmory, do what mechbas said it might be a hardware problem, if your using adapter card try using another graphics card. Does your keyboard lights up when your power on your CPU? if it doesn't light up then it could be a faulty mobo.

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