Blank Screen

B

Blakes7

New Member
Hi! I'm not sure I'm in the right forum, but there's no video. A friend asked me to look at his computer---it won't boot. There is no video at all. I can't go to any menus as there is just a blank screen. There is power, but there are no beeping sounds, just the fan running on the power supply. I pressed the button to open the cd drive, put in a diagnostic disk, restarted, but the exact same---no video no beeping sounds, nothing. The computer is a HP pavilion a1410y. Any ideas? Any and all responses will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
 
Tried the monitor on other device? Try different monitor? It has x200 graphics does it also have discrete GPU?

I tend to suspect MoBo issue, on this system if IGP that failure would also be MoBo. But there is no way I can accurately make this diagnosis at this time with the information I have. Can you boot in safe mode?
 
Thanks for the response. I've tried 3 monitors. It doesn't boot at all. It turns on---the lights on the computer come on and the fan runs on the power supply. No beeping sounds, nothing. Thanks.
 
The motherboard is quite likely dead. I've had bad experiences with HP and their motherboards. Not saying that its toast for sure, but that's the best diagnosis I can give from the information. The power supply seems to work so that rules that out, and bad ram would likely cause your motherboard to give some form of error code.
 
Remove MoBo place in 375F oven for 6-10 minutes. It is desperate but if you decide nothing to lose not going to hurt anything.
 
Before you throw it in with the pizza, have you checked the actual voltages on the power rails? The boot will not start until all voltages are within spec. Not very likely to be the issue but for the price of a MB....

BTW, "the lights on the computer come on" is an overused expression in the forum, not just you. Which lights, how (steady/flashing) and what colour/state is more useful. There could be 5 lights plus the dvd drive and monitor; it all depends on the machine.

As an unrelated example, if the dvd light comes on it's quite likely it's trying to start Windows if the drive is first in the boot order.
 
Thanks for the responses. When I say lights, I mean the power light on the front panel comes on, the cd drive light flashes on as it searches for the disk in the boot order (I presume that's the boot order as I can't tell without a display that allows me to access the BIOS), and a green light comes on the power supply when you attach the plug to the power supply. Also, all the fans start---the case, power supply, and cpu. I don't have a volt meter, so I can't check the voltages. Thanks.
 
So is/are the HDDs chattering like a normal startup or the HDD light flashes indicating activity. Is it possible the PC is actually booting, you just can't see anything? It seems unlikely that you or your buddy would not recognize the sounds of startup but it's worth asking the question.
 
HP's don't exactly have the best reputation for being reliable. Very poorly made boards, even worse power supplies (which case the boards to die).

If the system has a video card, try and swap it out or use onboard video if it has it. Also look at the board for bad caps. I'd just about bet money you have at least one bad cap on that board.

http://borganism.com/misc/ga-7vrx_bad_capacitors_zoom.jpg

Bulging, leaking, anything besides being flat on top means its bad. One slightly "bad" looking cap is more than enough to keep a board from POSTing.
 
Thanks for the responses. No it's not trying to boot. The diagnostic disk I put in the cd drive is a boot disk, and nothinmg happened then either. As far as I can see, the capacitors look good. Thanks.
 
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