Hardware failure...or not?

Hey guys, im having some trouble with an older computer about 6-8 years old and this morning when i woke up i looked at the computer and it all of a sudden didn't work. The monitor said check signal cable and as i checked the monitors cables i noticed they were all plugged in properly. So then i checked to see if the monitor died by using a new one i use, and it didn't work their either. At this point i wondered about the video card and replaced that and nothing showed up on the monitors aswell. So i'm wondering what the problem could be, could it be some software driver issue, or a complete motherboard failure?

thanks for the responses in advance.

Edit: oh some else to point out. When i unplug my monitor cords on the newer monitor i get, check signal cables, but when i have everything plugged in i just get a blank black screen.

 

Anyone have any ideas?

 

If it read " check signal", etc. on the monitor that pretty much tells you that monitor is on and waiting for a signal but not getting any from the PC. This could be caused most commonly due to a failed Video card but before speculating anything you will need to follow the basic P.O.S.T. process:

A)
1~ Press the power switch, does the Power Supply fan kick in?
2~ Does the keyboard light come on? Do the CD/DVD/Floppy lights as well as the HD activity Leds lite up in the front of the case?
3~ Do you hear any beeps at all?

B)
1~ Open the side of the case and see if the CPU fan turning on or not.
2~ Any lights on mobo or the NIC in the back lite up?
3~ Does the Hard Drive spin/humm?

Let's get the answers to these first, ok?

 

A)
1~ Press the power switch, does the Power Supply fan kick in? Yes
2~ Does the keyboard light come on? Do the CD/DVD/Floppy lights as well as the HD activity Leds lite up in the front of the case? YEs
3~ Do you hear any beeps at all? YEs

B)
1~ Open the side of the case and see if the CPU fan turning on or not. yes
2~ Any lights on mobo or the NIC in the back lite up? I'm not sure what those are
3~ Does the Hard Drive spin/humm? Yes


So if these are all yes's does this mean it is the video card?

 

Ok i just put a new working video card in the computer and it still did not work, could this be a bad power supply or the motherboard now?

 

Any idea's guys?

 

Sorry, I was to busy to follow up any sooner plus I don't frequent this board as much...anyhow, according to the info you had given, I am not 100% certain as to what component is faulty (if any or perhaps more than one) and here is why:

Power On Self Test (POST) run immediately after you turn on the PC and the CMOS gets activated and run the BIOS-based POST routine. This test pretty much checks to see if the bare minimum hardware components are present and in working condition. In plain English, it checks the CPU, RAM, Video card, a few other things within the mobo itself and if the BIOS boot related settings were configured to check for Floppy, Keyboard, it checks those as well.

A Single beep indicates that POST ran and everything is OK, yet you have no image on the screen. If the video card or RAM was bad, faulty, etc. POST would make fast and/or slow paced beeping sounds. Did you hear such beeping? If not then the mobo itself might be faulty. If the CPU was bad, the POST would never complete, the system would not even boot to begin with.
Could it be the PSU? Might be but not likely as the system boots, everything seems to run and lights come on, etc. Faulty CPUs generally crash the system or more so cause random reboots. You are not getting anything to show on the screen so my suggestion before buying anything else....kinda odd situation.

~ (shutdown and unplug the power cord for this) Remove the video card and blow some air (using a compressed air can) into the slot the card was mounted in. Make sure it is free of dust, etc. Then mount the Video card back in and make sure it is firmly placed in the slot. Then connect the power cord back in and try to reboot. Make sure the monitor cable is firmly connected at both ends, inspect the cable for cracks and other type damages to make sure it looks OK.

~ If no go, first try this: shutdown and remove the power cord again, open the case and remove the BIOS/CMOS battery for about 30 secs, then put it back and connect the PSU cable and reboot to check.


~ If still no go, try having only the bare-minimum components installed on the system, disconnect/remove everything else to be certain, ok? Remove power cord from the PSU then unplug/disconnect all removable components as if you are disassembling the PC, leave the mobo in the case as well as the PSU. Remove the CPU heatsink, make sure the CPU looks ago, no funny smell and burned areas, also check the thermal grease, apply more if needed after you remove and re-seat the CPU. Place the CPU heatsink back on it as well.
Make sure no Hard Drives or CD Drives are connected, they all should be disconnected mainly from the power, so just remove their power connectors.
Remove the Network card and any other card that is not integrated onto the motherboard, so basically remove all add-in cards. Disconnect all other external peripherals and cables from the back of the case as well.
Have only these connectes:
PSU - Mobo - CPU - only 1 stick of RAM - Video card - monitor - keyboard

Cycle the power on the monitor for about 30 seconds if it was already powered on. Reboot and see if you get anything on the screen.

~TL :cool