Member Avatar for dynril

Recently i've been having some computer trouble. I dont know if its the tower, like if something got infected in it, or if its the monitor. I myself am thinking its the tower, because I swapped my current monitor with my parent's to see if that was the problem. It wasnt, because nothing would show up on the screen. No matter how many times I reset the computer, nothing would show up. I've never had this happen to me before, but it started when my friend installed something on my computer and I just found out recently. I took a look at the casing of what I could see from the outside and it had dust on it, but the main tower has that. It seem semi-natural for dust to collect after a few days and still be fine, but this has never happened before as I stated above. It may even be the video card, but I dont know anything of what brand/model it is, since my brother was the one who put the thing together. Unfortunatley, when I asked him to wipe the computer out, he didnt answer me. Does anyone know what could be the problem? A reply would be greatly appreciated : )

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— was right that drivers can cause a black screen, but the symptom described can come from either hardware or software. The fastest way to solve this is a short, ordered checklist that isolates power/BIOS/board/graphics before touching drivers.

  • Basic signs: confirm the monitor shows a power LED or self-test. Listen for POST beeps or watch keyboard/motherboard LEDs during power-on; these indicate whether the motherboard completes its Power-On Self-Test (Power-on self-test).
  • Hardware isolation: with the PC powered off and unplugged, reseat the graphics card and RAM, and reattach any 6/8‑pin PCIe power leads. If the motherboard has onboard video, remove the discrete card and connect the monitor to the motherboard port to see if BIOS/POST appears. Check that the GPU fan(s) spin briefly at power-on.
  • Cables and inputs: try a different video cable (VGA/DVI/HDMI) and confirm the monitor input source matches the cable used. Swap in a known-good cable or monitor if available.
  • Software checks (only after POST shows): if BIOS/POST appears but Windows stays black afterward, boot Windows into Safe Mode and uninstall/reinstall the video driver (). Alternatively boot a Live USB (Ubuntu or similar) to confirm the display works before Windows loads (Try Ubuntu before you install).
  • Cautions: discharge static, disconnect power before touching components, and avoid forcing connectors. If the PSU won’t provide PCIe power or the board shows no POST signs, the PSU or motherboard may be the culprit.

If hardware checks show POST but the OS won’t display, focus on driver removal or malware cleanup. If there’s no POST or no GPU fan/power, the problem is likely hardware and should be tested or repaired by someone comfortable opening the case.

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Member Avatar for Suspishio

It seems that somebody's installed something that's screwed your video drivers.

When you boot, what happens? Does it seem to go all the way with disks whirring, keyboard flashing? Or does it stop booting or not even touch the disk? Does the keyboard flash at all during the first part of boot up?

Member Avatar for dynril

It seems that somebody's installed something that's screwed your video drivers.

When you boot, what happens? Does it seem to go all the way with disks whirring, keyboard flashing? Or does it stop booting or not even touch the disk? Does the keyboard flash at all during the first part of boot up?

I'm not exactly sure myself, but all I hear is the tower making noise like it usually does when it starts up. Only the monitor or anything doesnt turn on. My mom cleaned it out earlier to see if that was the problem (dust-wise), but it wasnt. It's really confusing me, but my brother will be coming down to see whats wrong with it. If it's the video drivers, what should I do?

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