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No display when computer powered on

Rusky

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 4, 2005
Messages
380
I have no clue as to why...

It worked perfectly fine yesterday

When I got home today I decided to clean the dust out of my PC: video card fan, cpu fan, case fan. Took out the video card to have more room to clean out the dust.

After I was done I put the video card back in and powered on my pc.

The monitor just sits there and the LED blinks and it doesn't get any signal. I noticed that on the motherboard there is an LED that is blinking, IIRC it would blink for me when there is an issue and I would just normally power off the PC and unplug it for a while to fix the problem.

But this time I've even take out the little battery on the mobo for 30+ mins and I still get no display.

Any ideas?
 
well, since you didn't provide any specs as to what you have, I'll hazard a guess that it's something stupid, like you forgot to plug in your video card or it's not seated all the way or theres something blocking some of the pins in your pci slot (like the dust that was sitting there harmlessly until you opened the case) :D. good luck.
 
Try recleaning the PC again, this time paying extra close attention to your video card's slot. Perhaps use a qtip to carefully remove any dust that's settled in there.
 
maybe you caused a short while cleaning the dust?
Well something similar happened with my brother inlaw. I was cleaning his pc, and I let out a big burst of air. And i got a burst of frost on the MB, when i tried to boot up it didn't show a display but i did unplug everything and leaft it off for a few hours. after that it went back to normal.
 
I've done all that already and no change.
I'm not even sure it boots up anymore since I don't hear the windows startup music.

My motherboard:
http://www.foxconnchannel.com/EN-US/Product/motherboard_detail.aspx?ID=en-gb0000010

Do you have a generic el-cheapo video card to toss in there and rule out that as the cause? Could be when you removed it, you zapped the card with static electricity.

maybe you caused a short while cleaning the dust?
Well something similar happened with my brother inlaw. I was cleaning his pc, and I let out a big burst of air. And i got a burst of frost on the MB, when i tried to boot up it didn't show a display but i did unplug everything and leaft it off for a few hours. after that it went back to normal.

Did you have the air can upside down? I've made that mistake before, however I wasn't lucky enough to have it return to normal a few hours later. It destroyed the sound card I was trying to spray off.

--EDIT--

865PE_8.jpg


I found this on FoxConn's website. Take a good look at the LED's on your motherboard that light up when it fails to post and then compare it to this chart printed on the motherboard. That should indicate the problem area. From your description of a blinking LED it looks like either your CPU or BIOS has a fault somewhere. You've tried clearing the BIOS, but did you do that with the power supply unplugged? If you leave it plugged in, the BIOS will still be powered.
 
I guess that's what sucks about compressed air, you can just use short burst or you get the "frost". Actually now that I remember, something similar happened to my inlaw. But it all lead to having to re-install the os.
 
Thanks you for that pic MjrStryker!!!

Yeah my LED1 is blinking

I was fiddling with my CPU trying to get the fan off to clean it, but couldn't. I guess while I wasn't able to pull it off, the tugging disengaged it somehow.
And yes when I took out the bios battery I had the power plug out.

I'll check it later today and if it works, I won't know how to thank you other than a post.
 
So after managing to take off the fan/heat sink combo here is what I found.

1. The CPU is practically soldered to the heat sink, sort of breaking it I wasn't able to pry it off.

2. When the CPU came out with the heat sink, the leaver on the cpu socket on the mobo is still down Pic of leaver I'm talking about

Becaue the CPU is still attached to the heat sink there is no way I can lift the leaver, put the cpu in, and lower it again. What does raising and lowering the leaver even do?
 
So after managing to take off the fan/heat sink combo here is what I found.

1. The CPU is practically soldered to the heat sink, sort of breaking it I wasn't able to pry it off.

2. When the CPU came out with the heat sink, the leaver on the cpu socket on the mobo is still down Pic of leaver I'm talking about

Becaue the CPU is still attached to the heat sink there is no way I can lift the leaver, put the cpu in, and lower it again. What does raising and lowering the leaver even do?

This is a very good indication you knocked the CPU loose on the first cleaning. That socket is called a ZIF or Zero Insertion Force socket. The lever actually releases tiny clamps inside each pinhole. When you place the CPU in and close the lever, these clamps lock down on the pins to provide a solid connection.

To remove the heatsink and fan from the CPU, I suggest carefully twisting the CPU, being sure to only touch the edges and not bend any pins. Once it's free, clean the top thoroughly with tissue paper or a microfiber cloth. Also clean the heatsink and fan. Then reinstall the CPU and reapply thermal paste.
 
So even though the CPU came out with the leaver down, it doesn't mean that it was damaged?

From a quick glace (I'm at work and my PC is at home) at the CPU all the pins seemed there and perfectly straight.

If twisting doesn't work do you have any other suggestions on how to remove it?

maybe you caused a short while cleaning the dust?
Well something similar happened with my brother inlaw. I was cleaning his pc, and I let out a big burst of air. And i got a burst of frost on the MB, when i tried to boot up it didn't show a display but i did unplug everything and leaft it off for a few hours. after that it went back to normal.

That actually did happen while I was sparying it down, but I tried my best to clean off any frost before turning my PC back on again, so I'm hoping that wans't the problem.
 
So even though the CPU came out with the leaver down, it doesn't mean that it was damaged?

That's right. When you lower the lever, it tries to hold the pins in there by pressure, which still allows them to slide out if enough force is applied. As long as they're all there and none are bent you should be okay.

From a quick glace (I'm at work and my PC is at home) at the CPU all the pins seemed there and perfectly straight.

If twisting doesn't work do you have any other suggestions on how to remove it?

I believe all Pentium 4 chips have an IHS (Silver aluminum square attached directly to the processor) on them so taking a thin piece of metal such as a pocketknife and gently prying at one corner should be okay. Just be careful to only pry at the metal and very gently, do not apply pressure to the circuit board with your knife or you may break a piece off. Another tactic that tends to work is to clamp the HSF down to a table using a vice or a clamp, then place the tip of a flathead screwdriver on the processor's integrated heatsink and very gently tap the screwdriver with a hammer. The emphasis is on "gently" because all you're really trying to do is apply just enough force to break the surface tension of the thermal paste so you can detach the processor.
 
Now I have a plan on what to do tonight.

Thank you so much for caring enough to get me the picture and give me so much information.

You truly are a gawd :D
 
Sadly after detaching them, cleaning them, and applying a new layer for thermal paste it's still a no-go.

I personally can't think of anything that could be causing this issue short of somehow the CPU was damaged while I was dusting or the BIOS somehow was affected.

Anyway thanks for all the help, at least I was planning on upgrading either way - I just have an ever bigger push now :D
 
If you want to ship me the damaged parts (Just mobo and cpu would be fine as I have lots of ram laying around.) I'll try to get it running again for you and ship it back. Unless it's a really big board it shouldn't cost more than $5-$10 to ship. PM me if you want to try it.
 
today i have encountered same type of the problem, yesterday i was cleaning up my computer by hiding cables etc. then i tried to turn in and nothing showed on my screen so i turn my pc off and on again and everything worked fine, so today morning i tried to turn it on and everything seems to work besides display which is showing on signal
the motherboard lamp lights up green which means its fine, the only thing that does not sseem to respond are also keybaord and the mouse, nd besides that eveyrhthing seems to work fine
i have tried to take out the graphic card and put it back in and still nothing
i haev also took out the battery from the motherboard and restart the CMOS
anybody know what else might help?

btw. sorry for stealing your topic :)
 
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