Screen Went Black

[robdoered]

Hi.

While I was using my Gateway, my monitor screen went black. I ruled out a problem with monitor. Works fine with other computers.
Next , test was to turn off unit and re- boot. The unit lights lights up.
lights on motherboard lit. Wife light blinks properly. Fans run. This is a Gateway tower, model835GM. Nice machine. 2.6GH intel Duo Core 820 processor. The bios seems to be working because it beeps once when powering up unit. Installed in the unit is a NVIDIA video board. This video card worked when installed for a year or more after installation. The Monitor shows no signal when Monitor is connected to either the NVIDIA video card or the intergraded monitor connection on the mother board.

Can anyone give me the next step how to check for what the problem is before I take the unit to a repair shop? I have no test equipment available.

[Suspishio]

In my opinion, if the machine boots (you see disk activity as per normal boot) but the screen stays blank at all times then there is usually something wrong in the output side of the video card, or the cable.

If you used the same cable when connecting to other machines, we can rule out the cable.

There's not much you can do if the Boot screen isn't shown other than to borrow or buy a video card, boot into Safe Mode (if you see the screen) and deal with the drivers at that stage for the new card.

If it still doesn't work, then there's a fault not detected in POST with your motherboard, IMHO.

Keep us informed.

[robdoered]

Hi Suspishio.

Thanks for the sound advise. I will take your suggestion and purchase an inexpensive Video card to try out first. Since I use this computer for home office & streaming video on a 20" monitor. Can you guide me to what low end video cards I can use to try the solution?

[Suspishio]

It's a shame you have to buy a card. My diagnosis may not even be correct, though it's logical. I recommend, if you do buy, the cheapest NVIDIA card you can find with 256MB RAM. They're not expensive.