No signal/display

[Wishywashy]

I bought all the parts for my computer and everything seems to be working, fans spinning, hard drive etc. but the monitor doesn't work. I put in the hard drive from my old computer if that helps. I tried with both on-board graphics and the graphics card I bought. Any ideas?

 

[johnb35]

Have you tried the monitor on another computer? If you have a totally new system, you do realize that you will have to do a fresh install of windows because you have all new hardware now right?

 

[Wishywashy]

The guy at the store said it should work but I have to install the drivers. I read that even without a hard drive it should show something on the monitor. The monitor worked fine with my last computer and when I unplug it from my new computer it shows "check signal" on the monitor.

 

[johnb35]

The monitor doesn't need drivers to display anything. It is supposed to show that message when you unplug it. Did you use the brass standoffs between the case and the motherboard? As long as you have a processor and memory installed, you will see the bios post screen.

 

[Wishywashy]

By drivers I meant drivers for the new hardware. And yes I did use the brass standoffs.

 

[johnb35]

Either your monitor has gone bad or you have a bad motherboard. You may want to try assembling the computer outside of the case and see if it works. If the board is shorting against something then the system won't boot.

 

[Wishywashy]

I checked the monitor on a different computer and it works fine. How can I tell if something's wrong with the motherboard? If I can't fix it by myself today I'll take it to where I bought it and they can test it for free.

 

[Wishywashy]

I discovered the problem. One of the cables from the power supply to the motherboard wasn't plugged it. I guess I forgot to plug it in after I unplugged everything.