EntropySink

Technical & Scientific => Hardware => Topic started by: A Bit of Fruit on February 06, 2006, 09:21:36 PM

Title: Monitor BLANK
Post by: A Bit of Fruit on February 06, 2006, 09:21:36 PM

When i turn on my mini itx computer the monitor stays blank (light stays orange, not green). Ive checked all the cable connections and ive checked that the ram isnt bad and that its in properly. Is my motherboard/cpu dead?

Title: Monitor BLANK
Post by: Steve on February 06, 2006, 09:40:25 PM

i would start with the video card then the ram

Title: Monitor BLANK
Post by: [stealth] on February 06, 2006, 09:59:15 PM

More than likely it's the monitor.  Have you got another spare to test if it's the video card?

Title: Monitor BLANK
Post by: Steve on February 06, 2006, 10:21:39 PM

i had a second thought. i had a clients comp do this once and it actually turned out, after i ruled the basics out, that the psu was not cranking it out

Title: Monitor BLANK
Post by: A Bit of Fruit on February 06, 2006, 11:21:45 PM

i tried another monitor and had the same problem, the video card is onboard so i cant test that on its own..

Title: Monitor BLANK
Post by: A Bit of Fruit on February 06, 2006, 11:27:08 PM

i just tried it with another power supply but no go :(

Title: Monitor BLANK
Post by: Steve on February 06, 2006, 11:43:46 PM

unplug it and pull the cmos battery for like 5 minutes. Then make sure the ram is seated properly

Title: Monitor BLANK
Post by: [stealth] on February 06, 2006, 11:48:45 PM

Are you actually getting any lights on the PC itself? Is the fan on the PSU running?

Title: Monitor BLANK
Post by: A Bit of Fruit on February 07, 2006, 12:14:54 AM

the cmos battery thing didnt work and the actual computer looks like its running fine with all the lights and fans working normally

Title: Monitor BLANK
Post by: [stealth] on February 07, 2006, 01:39:41 AM

I guess if you could reseat your video card, but if it's onboard, you're fucked.

Title: Monitor BLANK
Post by: Rob on February 07, 2006, 02:09:03 AM

You could always disable the onboard, and stick in a borrowed video card to test with.

Title: Monitor BLANK
Post by: A Bit of Fruit on February 07, 2006, 02:47:05 AM

how do i disable the onboard video?

Title: Monitor BLANK
Post by: Rob on February 07, 2006, 03:06:10 AM

Do you know the make & model of your MoBo?

Title: Monitor BLANK
Post by: A Bit of Fruit on February 07, 2006, 04:03:31 AM

via epia-m mini itx board

Title: Monitor BLANK
Post by: Rob on February 07, 2006, 04:47:55 AM

There's some manuals here http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/mainboards/mini_itx/epia_m/downloads.jsp but I couldn't find any way to disable onboard video :( Sorry.

Title: Monitor BLANK
Post by: A Bit of Fruit on February 07, 2006, 07:21:11 AM

i dont see any jumpers or anything that could possible disable it

(i have that manual)

Title: Monitor BLANK
Post by: VBprogrammer on February 07, 2006, 01:30:21 PM

If its relitively modern its normally in the bois. It may do it automatically if theres a card in the AGP slot.

Title: Monitor BLANK
Post by: hans on February 07, 2006, 02:05:26 PM

It could be your motherboard fried too. I had that happen with one of my PCs a while back (an EPoX board). All of the sudden, no video but the PC sounded like it was OK. My first thought was a video card problem. I tried swapping the video card and many other parts but finally had to buy a new MB and move all the components. Everything worked fine then.
I hope it's not bad.

Title: Monitor BLANK
Post by: A Bit of Fruit on February 07, 2006, 07:55:20 PM

it seems ive tried everything and the only conculsion i can make at the moment is the motherboard is dead (the cpu is soldered to the mobo so even if its that i still need a new board).

If anybody knows of anything i havnt tried yet please tell me

Title: Monitor BLANK
Post by: ober on February 07, 2006, 08:10:39 PM

Sounds like you've diagnosed it pretty well.... but on a sidenote, where the fuck do you buy a motherboard that has the CPU soldered on?

Title: Monitor BLANK
Post by: A Bit of Fruit on February 07, 2006, 10:25:40 PM

the mini itx boards have the cpu soldered onto the motherboards

Title: Monitor BLANK
Post by: Steve on February 08, 2006, 12:22:16 AM

alot of those computers that are those "internet center all in one" have soldered on componenets also