Member Avatar for ilona.woltereck

I woke up this morning to a white screen monitor.. I shut down my computer and it just turns off no wait time. I turned the pc back on and got no signal from the monitor. I swapped out video cards to no avail, the mobo light is on, the video card fans were both running I checked cables for connection everything seems fine.. CPU fan is turning power supply is obviously working.. I haven't switched monitors yet. When the computer is running I don't hear start up sounds from windows or skype. But the video cards appear to be working, it would be more than a coincidence for them to both be dead... And they both were receiving power but really I dont know if that means anything... Boy I'd really love some insight :( please

Edited by ilona.woltereck
  • 3 Contributors
  • 2 Replies
  • 275 Views
  • 1 Day Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by chrisbrunke

Dani AI

Generated

A short, practical troubleshooting plan that goes beyond “swap parts” and helps isolate where the failure actually is.

Start with quick observations you can make without extra parts:

  • Try the monitor’s own on‑screen menu. If the menu appears the panel and backlight are alive; if it doesn’t, the monitor itself (or its internal electronics) may be at fault.
  • Listen for POST/beep codes by attaching a small system speaker to the motherboard header (many boards have one). No beeps + no device activity usually means it never reaches POST; a pattern of beeps points to CPU/RAM/graphics and is BIOS‑vendor specific (check the board manual).

Minimal‑boot workflow (power off and unplug before touching components):

  1. Remove all nonessential devices (USB, drives, cards) so you’re down to PSU, CPU, one known good RAM stick, and GPU or onboard video.
  2. Clear CMOS (remove battery 5–10 minutes or use the jumper) and reseat the RAM and GPU. Try each RAM stick alone in the recommended slot.
  3. If the front‑panel power switch could be shorted or faulty, momentarily short the two power‑switch pins on the motherboard with a screwdriver to confirm the board will start.

Power supply checks (safe, non‑invasive):

  • A PSU that spins fans can still fail under load. Use a cheap PSU tester or multimeter to check rails: +12V ≈ 12.0V (acceptable ~11.4–12.6V), +5V ≈ 5.0V (4.75–5.25V), +3.3V ≈ 3.3V (3.135–3.465V). Don’t open the PSU—swap with a known‑good unit if possible.

Visual/physical checks and next steps:

  • Inspect the motherboard for bulging caps, scorch marks, or loose power connectors. If you get video after the minimal boot, add components back one at a time to find the culprit. If none of this produces POST, test the GPU/PSU in another known working PC or consult a local repair bench.

This follows up on points from (PSU can mislead by running fans) and (confirm display/BIOS level behavior) with concrete, safe tests to narrow the fault.

Recommended Answers

All 2 Replies

Member Avatar for caperjack

only thing i have to add is that older power supplies can boot fans and stuff but because of problems within they don't have enough power to boot the computer fully ,seen many of them do that over the years

Member Avatar for chrisbrunke

I would definitely try swapping monitors, just to try and eliminate that as a problem. I agree with caperjack about the older power supplies... but perhaps your OS was doing updates and downloaded an incompatible driver or something. If your system has onboard graphics, try taking out your video card(s) and trying the onboard to see. If you get picture with the onboard, just check when the last update was, and if it was around the time your screen went white, try restoring to an earlier point in time. Good luck

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.