Need help with Dell Dimension 3600 and monitor!

Hello this morning started out as every other morning, I went through all my daily responsibilities before I sat down to check my mail as usual and all was well. Before I left for a work a few hours later I shut my computer down. When I got back home I took my computer down to work on a friends computer. NOTHING was dropped or bumped or anything. I had put the tower on my table and the monitor beside on the floor. When I was done I put my computer back up and turned it on. The tower starts up just fine but the monitor when I first turn it on has a green light then goes to orange. When I unplug the cable from the back of the computer it says "no signal or connection cable unplugged" so I plug it back in and the same thing happens! I tried the other monitor I have here and it did the same thing! I have checked both the connection at the back of the computer and the back of the monitor and everything was fine there. As I said nothing happened during the small transport from desk to table. I don't know what to do! If anyone can help me I would welcome the help. As I said I used it this morning and it was fine so I don't see why it won't work now.

 

Well I did some looking up on the internet and I have found out that on the back of my tower I have two slots that my monitor can plug into. The slot I was plugging it into was next to the USB ports, the mouse and all of that. That's where I had always plugged it in before and it worked just fine. So I plugged it in way down at the bottom and it works just fine here now. So does anyone know why that one slot won't work now? It seems odd to me. Also I have an old Compaq Presario 7360 I believe. When you plug the monitor in it doesn't even power up. All the connections are plugged in. Could it be the graphics card also? Also it will not power down. You plug it in and it's on automatically. When you push and hold the button every light is off and everything is quiet but as soon as you let go it's right back on.

 

Generally speaking, if you have a PC with built-in video (next to the USB ports and mouse/keyboard ports), and you add a video card, the add-on card will almost always 'over-ride' the built-in video. You said that you used the built-in video even though there was an add-on card, and it worked for some time. Then you unplugged, moved things around, and then the built-in port stopped working, and you used the add-on card for video. Did I get that right? It could be that the add-on card was loose, and moving the PC around jostled it into place, therefore over-riding the built in video adapter. As far as the power switch, it could be that your power supply is going out. Let the PC boot all the way into Windows, and let Windows load up completely. Then try using the shut down function (click Start > Turn Off... etc...). If the PC shuts down completely, you should be OK. If not, look into either testing your power supply (do a Google search for 'test power supply' for info) or just getting a new one; they're under $45-$50 or so for a decent one.

hopperdave2000