Computer Won't Turn On?

This isn't SL related at all but I am worried. My puter is 2.5 years old and has been used extensively. Now suddenly, I turn it on, the fan turns on, the hard drive spins up, then all goes quiet. I see a few communications with the keyboard - numpad, capslock, etc blink - but no communication with the monitor. The monitor goes instantly into hybernate - at least that's what the little yellow light means, I think.

The fan continues to run but I'm not hearing anything else. What's going on? The next time I am able to turn it fully on, I'm going to back up all the stuff I haven't, but I need to get it turned on to that point.

(Right now I'm on hubby's puter.)

*risks sounding like a computer nerd* ^_^

Are there any beeps at all after you turn it on?

Oh God...who knows where that machine has been...remember what Raymond used to do to his laptop?

Yeah it beeps once or twice. It's like it's TRYING to turn on, but hits a snag somewhere.

Lulz - thank goodness this one isn't a laptop.

The number of beeps could be important. The computer beeps, indicating what the problem is, when it is too early in the process to provide graphical output. For instance bad memory, unseated video cards, no cpu power fan function, etc.

2.5 years old....that's still new...mine is going on 6......

Try pulling out a stick of ram and turn it on.. Hopefully you have two in there.. if so try it with both.. Sounds like bad Ram behavior.

That's where I'd start..

Hmmmm....did I miss something?

Just as a couple more suggestions, try wiggling the video card to reseat it in the slot. And, of course, double check that the video cable is plugged into both the monitor and the back of the computer ^_^

can you get it into safe mode by tapping (I think) f8 when you first turn it on. If you get a screen in there it should ask your to start your pc in the last (hopefully) working place.

Does that make sense, its been ages since I have done it. Maybe someone else can explain it a whole lot better.

One beep. I'm double checking vid card/monitor connections now.

One beep means all is well hardware wise usually. no easy solution there :/

Well, crap. I unplugged the monitor from my nvidia card and into the built-in monitor plug, and it works. So my video card is dead? Bleh. Any hints on rescuing them?

That was my next suggestion.. No way to fix one really..

But if you look at newegg.com they have some good deals going.. but make sure your power supply will run the card you choose..

Second reseating the video card. Same with the RAM and checking all of the connections while you have it open.

Disconnect all USB devices, and see if it still beeps (there are two types of start-up beeps: one for each USB device as the system probes connections, and beep codes for errors: we need to eliminate the first to get to the second).

If the fan and lights are still on, then it is either not booting at all, or it is booting but not sending a signal to the monitor. The RAM trick is helpful for memory issues, and is a quick & cheap test, so I always try that first. I would also try to verify if the monitor is OK by connecting it to the other computer. If memory and monitor are OK, but you get a blacks screen (no BIOS option) than I would try swapping video cards next. At that point, you will have eliminated memory and Video card as problems, which points to motherboard failure.

One more thing...if you have both an onboard video adapter and a discrete video card, try connecting the monitor to the onboard graphics.

Okay, maybe a bit of TMI there. We really try to stay out of people's RL sexlife.

Looks like you made progress while I was typing...if you can get into the BIOS, make sure it has the discrete video card set as default. In windows, you can try uninstalling the video driver and using driver sweeper to remove all registry entries, and then reinstalling the latest drivers. Might help, but most likely not...sounds like hardware issues, and the perfect excuse to pick up a GTX 260...

It is still worth opening the system and reseating the card and its power connections before giving up.

Not that I can communicate easily on a web forum.

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if it's my video card. Damned thing has been running for nearly 2 years straight. I'll check drivers too. In the meantime, I'm going to backup my iTunes just in case....

I have to run to work but if I find out anything new I'll post here. Thanks for the help so far, all!

It's the video card. SL melted mine about three months ago on my Macbook Pro.

Yeah Ray...blame it on SL.......

I don't do that to my laptop anymore. Turns out it is cheating after all.

ya it's the video card..i had that happen a few times..it's stops the initiation of the rest of the system once it reaches the test for that card and the card doesn't pass..it won't be the windows drivers because it's before the windows drivers load..it's on the board test as it boots to make sure everything is ok before the os..if it was the windows drivers you would probably go to the default drivers and stuck on 16 bit.

if you have a spare you can test it that way..unless someone was messing in the bios..

not sure what kind of card it is but check to see what the warranty says..maybe you can send it off have it fixed for a backup encase it happens again if you get a new card..

The video card is highly suspect. Since most computers have intergrated graphics built into the motherboard it's a pretty easy thing to get your computer to use that device instead of the discrete card. Open the case and physically remove it from the computer and connect your monitor to the video output connector for the onboard chipset. Some computer you can simply connect to the onboard without having to remove the discrete card. My bet is the computer has continued the boot process and could be used if you had video to see what to do. With a dead card or a card that has no output you have no way to do anything unless you know all the keyboard shortcuts.......but what good would that do anyway if you cannot see the outcome? If that works (and I think it will) you can get something to work with using your onboard. You can try reseating the card just in case..........but I doubt that's going to do any good.

Check your warranty for your card. Some nVidia cards (like XFX and EVGA) have lifetime warranties. You might have to wait a few days for your replacement but it beats having to go buy a brand new one if you are like me with this shaky economy.