Why won't my monitor come on?

[socalcyclist]

Mobo: Abit KN8 Ultra NF4U 939
Video Card: EVGA GF 7800GT 256
PSU: Enermax EG425P 420W
CPU: AMD 64 3800+ Athlon X2

This is my first build and first time using a video card. This is what's working, or appears to be working:

PSU seems fine. The 3 case fans including the blue LED's are working. The front LCD temp and fan speed control are working. The heat sink fan is working and even the video card fan is working. The CD/DVD has power and opens and closes. The 3.5 floppy has power. The mouse and keyboard lights come on and appear to be working. All internal cables and wires are connected, I think. I found my SATA HD was connected to SATA3 by mistake. So there's a good chance I've made other mistakes as well, either accidental or because I just don't know what the hell I'm doing.

Anyway, my main problem right now is the monitor won't come on. Like I said there's power going to the video card since the fan is running. I'm trying to hook up an older Viewsonic A90 so I'm using the supplied DVI to DB-15 converter. There's two DVI output connectors and I've tried hooking the monitor up to both to no avail. I've tried powering the video card by using both the 6-pin connector from the PSU and the supplemental power adaptor that came with the video card. I've also removed the video card and re-seated it in the PCI-e slot and made sure it was snug and snapped in securely. When I turn on the computer I get no beeps at all - don't know if this is good or bad? All the fans and led lights power right up.

Is it the old monitor with the old 15 pin connector causing the problem? Yes, the monitor does work and I've tried a second monitor (basically same type) and get the same results - as in nothing.
Is it something really obvious that I'm just missing? (very possible)
Shouldn't the monitor just come on when the computer is powered on?

I'm at a loss now as to what to try except for heading to Best Buy and picking up a cheap video card and DVI monitor and trying them. ????

 

[Bobo]

I just don't know what the hell I'm doing.

When I turn on the computer I get no beeps at all - don't know if this is good or bad?

Mine doesn't make any beeps, so that should be fine

Is it the old monitor with the old 15 pin connector causing the problem? Yes, the monitor does work and I've tried a second monitor (basically same type) and get the same results - as in nothing.

then it probably isn't the monitor

Is it something really obvious that I'm just missing? (very possible)

Is the monitor power plugged in? Is the power on?

Shouldn't the monitor just come on when the computer is powered on?

depends on the monitor. If the power is not on (i.e. press the power button on the monitor) then no. But if it was already on, then yes. On my monitor (Viewsonic A91f), the led is green if it is on and has a signal, orange if it is on and has no signal, and off if there is no power.

I'm at a loss now as to what to try except for heading to Best Buy and picking up a cheap video card and DVI monitor and trying them. ????

well if everything that I suggested does nothing, then it is probably the video card, or the adapter for DVI-Dsub. If 2 monitors do the same thing, then chances are that that is not the problem.

Hope this helps

Tim

 

[socalcyclist]

Yea, the monitor is plugged in and powered on. The orange led light is on but never changes to green unless I turn the monitor off and back on but then it just goes back to orange.

Guess I'm heading to Best Buy today for a cheap monitor and video card so I can continue troubleshooting this thing.

 

[Bobo]

Yea, the monitor is plugged in and powered on. The orange led light is on but never changes to green unless I turn the monitor off and back on but then it just goes back to orange.

Sorry for making you look stupid.....but I have to ask those things

Guess I'm heading to Best Buy today for a cheap monitor and video card so I can continue troubleshooting this thing.

The monitor is most likely not the problem. I would first try a different adapter, then maybe a different video card

It also could be a problem with the pci-e port on the motherboard, but I doubt it.

The only problem with troubleshooting is that trouble shoots back

 

[socalcyclist]

OK, tried a different monitor with a dvi connector and still no picture. That ruled out the adaptor.

Tried a different video card, a PNY Gforce6600 pci-e, and still no picture. This video card doesn't require a seperate power hook up - I guess it just runs off the mobo?

Either it's the pci-e slot or I have something wrong somewhere??

The monitor should kick on at this point shouldn't it? What am I doing wrong? Power is going to the mobo fan, the heatsink fan, the case fans, and even the video card fan, the keyboard, the mouse, the 3.5 drive, the DVD drive, but yet the screen won't come on! :x If I unplug the dvi cable from the video card the monitor will pop up a little blue window that states "check signal cable". When I plug it back in it will go away.

Again, shouldn't the monitor just kick on even though there's no OS installed. I've never done this before but shouldn't it come on and show something?

 

[Bobo]

Either it's the pci-e slot

That is a possibility

Power is going to the mobo fan, the heatsink fan, the case fans, and even the video card fan, the keyboard, the mouse, the 3.5 drive, the DVD drive, but yet the screen won't come on!

The monitor is not connected to the same power source, the fact that everything else comes on is pretty much irrelevant

If I unplug the dvi cable from the video card the monitor will pop up a little blue window that states "check signal cable". When I plug it back in it will go away.

This would mean that the monitor knows that it is connected, but is getting nothing to display. If you have tried multiple video cards and monitors, then I think that the only things left would be the RAM, the CPU, and/or the mobo. these are the only components that I can think of that would make a computer display absolutely nothing.

Again, shouldn't the monitor just kick on even though there's no OS installed. I've never done this before but shouldn't it come on and show something?

yes, you should get a hardware diagnostic screen

 

[socalcyclist]

That is a possibility
The monitor is not connected to the same power source, the fact that everything else comes on is pretty much irrelevant This would mean that the monitor knows that it is connected, but is getting nothing to display. If you have tried multiple video cards and monitors, then I think that the only things left would be the RAM, the CPU, and/or the mobo. these are the only components that I can think of that would make a computer display absolutely nothing.

yes, you should get a hardware diagnostic screen

OK, the monitor is connected to a different power source. This makes sense. The monitor is also getting "some sort of signal" when connected to the video card. Is this just something built into the cable becuase even with the computer off and PSU unplugged the same message comes up when connecting/disconnecting the dvi cable.

So what actually makes the monitor come on? I assume there has to be some sort of a power level going into the cable to the monitor to trigger the monitor to come on and this isn't happening for whatever reason...

I'm basically just thinking out loud before pounding my head on my desk.

 

[Bobo]

OK, the monitor is connected to a different power source. This makes sense.p/quote]The monitor is connected to the wall, and the computer is connected to the wall. No actual electricity flows through the video cable.

The monitor is also getting "some sort of signal" when connected to the video card. Is this just something built into the cable becuase even with the computer off and PSU unplugged the same message comes up when connecting/disconnecting the dvi cable.

I believe that what is happening is that whenever the cable is plugged in, a circuit is completed. The monitor can sense this, but that has nothing to do with the signal, it is just how it is wired.

So what actually makes the monitor come on? I assume there has to be some sort of a power level going into the cable to the monitor to trigger the monitor to come on and this isn't happening for whatever reason...

Well I am not totally sure, but I beleive that it just turns itself on whenever it sees data flowing through the wires

pounding my head on my desk.

That is a good stress-relieving method

 

[goosy22]

ok... sorry if this solution was already offered but i just scrolled down to the bottom post and read it...

is your memory spread out from the primary slot on??? or if you have different size sticks, is the biggest one in the first slot?

the reason i say this is that one of my hobby builds did the same thing to me and after i did the above stated, the monitor worked just fine...

 

[ceewi1]

Did you remember the to plug the 4-pin ATX12V connector into the mobo? Also, is your system speaker connected to the mobo? - if it isn't you could be missing error beeps that can indicate the source of the problem.