'No input signal' problem

A problem has arisen with my desktop PC where upon startup no signal is being received by the monitor. I must assume the desktop has started up OK - lights are on, fan is whirring, cd tray will move in and out.

I have not moved anything, and the cable is attached fine. In fact, I know the monitor is functioning as I have lined out my work laptop to it and it worked fine.

Any ideas what the problem is and how to rectify it?

I tried booting up in Safe Mode, but with no monitor I just started up and pressed f8 so don't know if this woudl work.

The background is that this had happened a few times previously recenty, and I assumed the some problem occurred with the startup, so reset the comp and everything came on OK. However, now it wont come on at all.

I have tried switching power off, detaching cables etc... all to no avail. Monitor was also purchased with unit so shoulod be no compatibility issues.

The last meaningful actions I did were a pretty conservative Reg Clean, and an AVG virus check which found and mended 2 or 3 viruses (don't know if this is maybe significant as had not previously had a virus in ages.

Help me - is my computer dead?

 

Explain what you mean by reset the computer.
If you press the proper key at startup, can you get into the BIOS?
Do you get any beeps at startup?

 

I reset the computer using the reset button on the machine. I know this is bad but had no other option.

There were no beeps becasue speakers are in monitor.

"If you press the proper key at startup, can you get into the BIOS?" - I do not know what you mean by this.

 

The POST beep comes from a speaker in the computer. You should be able to hear it even if speakers are not attached. The fact that it is not giving you a POST beep can indicate a dea CPU (chip), dead motherboard, or maybe even a dead or failing power supply.

When your computer did power up, usually when the display starts, you'd see a message "press xx to enter setup". xx is a key like del, esc, or F1, etc. that you'd press to get into the BIOS of the computer.

 

I think my graphics are driven from the motherboard, so some form of death somewhere within the motherboard is possible.

I have quite an old comp anyway, so replacing motherboard wouldn;t necessarily be a bad thing. It takes DDR1 RAM and have found that increasingly expensive to buy to upgrade form the 512mb I currently have.

How much do you think it would cost for a new motherboard with 1-2BG RAM and an up to date CPU? Also, is a new motherboard easy for me to install?

 

Sorted now.

A friend suggested I try his graphics card and it worked then, so the inbuilt graphics chip must've blown.

Will get graphics card off ebay.

Thanks for you suggestions though.