Member Avatar for dcasasola

I am working on a friend's computer. They have an Acer Aspire M5640 desktop with Windows Vista Home Premium. They initially called and told me the system would not boot. When I took a look they turned it on and the monitor said "no signal." There is no splash screen and I cannot even see the POST.
I brought it home and tried it with one of my monitors. Same thing; nothing showed up on the screen. The blue power light turns on and the case and power supply fans work when you push the power button. I opened up the case and removed the RAM and disconnected and then reconnected all cables. I tried it again and still no luck.
Has anyone else encountered this? Should I try to install a new graphics card in case the onboard graphics card has gone bad, or could it be the MOBO?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by ranger_g

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Several members (notably , and ) describe the same symptom: power/fans but no POST or video. The thread already contains useful ideas (the "power‑drain" trick mentioned by and , swapping video as suggested, and reports of a board replacement from ). Below is a compact, prioritized diagnostic checklist to isolate the fault without buying parts unnecessarily.

  1. Safety first — unplug the PC and ground yourself.
  2. CMOS + power drain: unplug mains, remove the coin cell for 1–2 minutes, press and hold the power button 30 seconds, put the battery back and try to boot. This clears BIOS settings and discharges residual charge.
  3. Minimal-boot: disconnect all drives and USB devices, remove all add-in cards, leave only CPU, one RAM stick (try each stick and slot one at a time), PSU, monitor (use a known-good cable/monitor) and a system speaker wired to the front‑panel header so you can hear POST beeps.
  4. PSU check: a spinning fan doesn't guarantee correct voltages — if possible swap a known-good PSU before condemning the motherboard.
  5. Graphics isolation: try the onboard port if a card is installed; if no video, install a known-good PCIe card. If a discrete card restores video, update BIOS/chipset/drivers and monitor for recurrence — temporary fixes were reported here by @BigDaddy13.
  6. Visual inspection: look for bulging/leaking capacitors, burnt components, or socket damage. Any of those points strongly indicates motherboard replacement.

If there are still no beeps or POST after the minimal-boot and a PSU swap, the motherboard (or, less commonly, the CPU) is likely failed. If unsure or uncomfortable with mains work, have a local shop do the PSU/POST diagnostics.

Recommended Answers

All 13 Replies

Member Avatar for jocas12

Same thing nothing showed up on the screen. The blue power light turns on and the case and power supply fans work when you push the power button. I opened up the case and removed the RAM and disconnected and then reconnected all cables. I also cleaned the motherboard, processor and I tried it again and still no luck.what will i do?

Member Avatar for orten999

REMOVE YOUR POWER CORD AND HOLD THE ON BUTTON FOR LIKE 30second TO A MINUTE AND THEN CONNECT IT BACK AND TURN IT ON

Member Avatar for cmchoo

Hi All
Just faced the same problem with my 2yr old M5640. Power up but no POST. Tried the 'REMOVE YOUR POWER CORD AND HOLD THE ON BUTTON FOR LIKE 30second TO A MINUTE AND THEN CONNECT IT BACK AND TURN IT ON' but not luck. BTW what does that do?
Anyone figure out whats wrong and how to get it boot, at least to POST.

Member Avatar for mack00234

Take out the video card(if any) and attach the display connector to the onboard graphics chip's port.

Member Avatar for Member 784410

i tried remove the power cord and nothing..

Member Avatar for Member 784410

please add me,
i need to fix it fast and in 1 week i dont found the solution in any forum
help me :s

thx

Member Avatar for Nidi

I have the same problem and I tried all from the above. Still no luck. Have anybody fixed their computer

Member Avatar for Lordwilliam

I have an old HP media center 2005. I added a graphics card 2 years ago. Today I get no signal to monitor. I disconnected my video card and connected the monitor to my video chip which came with the computer. The monitor is working fine. It looks like a bad video card for me.

Member Avatar for songsandstars

It's a faulty integrated graphics card. Unfortunately the Acer M5640 model is notorious for it and Acer won't do anyhting about it outside of your warranty. I had to replace my motherboard.

Sorry. :(

Member Avatar for Bankonit

I just recently joined the masses with this bogus integrated graphics card. A techie friend suggested installing a PCI Express graphics card with the hopes of bypassing the faulty card on board. Has anyone tried this and did it work?

Thanks!

Member Avatar for BigDaddy13

I also Tried to replace the graphics card myself and it worked and then it stop working????? Anyone got any advice on this?

Member Avatar for jingda

Can you create a new thread and give us more details about your problem. And please stop using that much question marks it irritates me.

Member Avatar for ranger_g

The answer posted by Orten999, i.e. reinitialising the computer by pressing the ON button, without the power cord plugged in, for 30-60', worked for me. I thought I was going to have to put a new computer back in the box and take it back to after sales... The machine is not a M5640 but a X1430 desktop computer by the way.
THANKS. :)

Edited by ranger_g because: additional info re: computer
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