Monitor won't get signal again, pc boots fine.

[john123]

Hi guys, I got this problem again on my friend's computer. The cpu boots fine but there is nothing on the screen. " No signal " . I think there is something wrong with the on board video. If I try to take out the battery on the motherboard then put it back on, will it affect my the os systems? If not then I will try to remove the battery and put it back on.

[RickyTick]

Hey John. Welcome back.

Removing the cmos battery and putting it back is going to reset the bios to its default settings. They're fairly cheap so as long as you're taking it out, go ahead and put in a new one. I don't think this is going to help with a "no signal" issue, but it certainly won't hurt anything.

Have you tried a different monitor?

[john123]

ok, I had tried several monitors, it still didnt work. I even purchased a video card, plug it on the video but still didnt work. So whats the problem here guys? Mainboard is dead? The fan is running, light is on, everything is running fine. Its just on the screen " no signal " ...what can I do ?

[RickyTick]

What motherboard do you have?

[zburns]

I am probably missing something in my thought process here but how do you know the mobo is 'booting' fine if you do not have a screen to look at? Just because you get the single beep indicating the initial self test is no assurance the mobo is 100% ok.

[john123]

ok problems solved. This how I do it, I bought the new video card which didn't work at first. So I decided to take out the RAM, switch their places. Now I can see the screen, everything is fine. Theres still a question that when cpu boots up theres a single beep. I wonder if that beep is normal since this is Gateway computer.

To Zburns: I think the mobo is fine because I see the fan running, the lightning is on.

[zburns]

Man, trying RAM one stick at a time is the first thing I generally always recommend; sorry I missed it!! But here is a serious comment; you have four ram slots and it sounds like you have two sticks of RAM -- just the words you used. If what I said so far is correct, try each stick of RAM in the first slot, and then the second slot. Sounds like one stick is defective, figure out which it is and remove it. If you swapped places and things did work, that does not mean you are out of the woods yet. The partially defective stick of RAM can still allow the computer to work, but it will cause other problems like 'interfering with the boot'. Other stuff as well. I speaking from first hand experience. So you may have a partially working single stick of RAM but it is best out of the machine.