PC Powers On but Doesn't Boot

Ok so recently my video card fan started making a rattling noise so I popped open the case, removed the fan from the video card and put the card back in. I pressed the power button but nothing comes up on the screen. The rest of the fans come on, the hard drive spins, and everthing seems normal.

I went out and bought a new video card and put it in.. but still the same issue. The computer turns on but nothing comes up on the screen. I then unseated the RAM and tryed to boot it up to see if I would get POST error beeps... but nothing. The fans and hard drive spins but nothing else.

Any ideas what it could be or what the solution could be?


Here are some specs:
Computer: HP Pavilion m9340f, Core 2 Quad Q6700
Old Video Card: Nvidia 9500GS
New Video Card: ATI HD4350
Slot: PCI-E
Monitor: Dell 23" connected through DVI (tried VGA as well)

No fix but I have the same problem on one of my machines. If I find out what the prob is before dropping it in the parts bin I'll post it!

msg I don't know if this will help at all but here are my first thoughts upon reading your post.

Do you have on board gfx that you could try first before trying to boot with the new ATI card?
If so what make?

I would assume Nvidia. I'm not sure that you'd be able to boot up with the ATI in yet anyway as you would still have the Nvidia drivers.

richmm, I do have onboard graphics but the VGA slot has a black cover on it with a rather ominous "do not remove" sign on it so I was hesitant to try to remove it. It is also screwed in with a star screw for which I don't have a screwdriver. I'll go out and get one of those and see if it works.

First thing I do in such situations is reset the cmos and try again. If that makes no difference strip the pc to the essentials:psu, mobo, cpu, 1 mem stick (try em all) and gfx and see if you get to the post boot message or a system beep like that. If That doesn't work, remove the cmos battery and check its condition.

Remember to discharge yourself before doing any of this.

Edited to add the cmos reset.

This post has been edited by biebel: May 18 2009, 05:52 PM

if having tried 2 or more different gfx cards and still no display i would begin to look at the motherboard.

a while back i simply turned off my pc to clean the fans ,and had the same problem you describe ,mine turned out to be a dead motherboard ,even tho everything powered up etc it was dead.

i hope its simply the gfx card

well problem solved... I feel somewhat stupid about it too.

Out of frustration I took it to a computer repair store. The problem was apparently an internal power cable that had been unplugged.

I was pretty shocked because I thought I checked all the connections quite thoroughly. Either way, cost $55 for them to plug in the cable but having my computer back and my ego put into check make it worth it.

Thanks for all the help everyone.

Live and learn eh

Glad you're up and running again, but $55 for opening up a case, having a look, plugging in a power cable, checking if it boots and closing the case again ... what a rip-off.

Pretty much how those placed make a living though isn't it? A buddy of mine accidentally deleted all his pics. The computer repair place charged him $190 to NOT find all his pics. I charged him nothing to find them all (well a meal) and also all the naked ones of him and his g/f all tied up which he had forgotten were ever on there

Hahahaha - I p*ssed myslef laughing at that !