Blank Screen on switching on

[mitchell65]

Here's my problem.
My system is set to shut power to Monitor after 20 mins and to HD 30Mins. This has been working perfectly and suits my position as i frequently have to leave my PC fo 30 mins or so.
Add thing last night the monitor was showing the open page (actually Win Live Mail) but the screen was also sjowing a number of rectangle areas a couple of inches wide with pale green and pink lines. The curser was still visible but the mouse an w]keyboard did not work. There was no response at all. I had to close down by pressing the on button for 5 secs. It appeared that the HD had closed down as had the monitor but the image stayed on the screen. Onrebooting I get no response on the Monitor at all. Not even a flicker. I have tried a different monitor but the result is the same. I listened carefully when I pressed the on button and I could hear the HD spin but it stopped very quickly and no other sound emitted aprt fromvery slight fan noise. So I'm stumped as I can't even get into the bios.
Can't think what to try next. Any ideas gratefully received
Thanks

PS I am on my old XP at the moment!

 

[mitchell65]

Wellfor hat it is worth, I have just tried a PCI graphics card and the result is the same. The HD is spinning when switched on but still not a flicker on the screen. I have no way of knowing if the system is booting up. Have completely run out of ideas of what more I can try.
Any ideas please?

 

[bassfisher6522]

Possible hdd crash....do you have a backup saved? I would unplug drive and image a spare drive and boot up from that one. Then see if you can recover the crashed hdd with some 3rd party software, if at all possible.

 

[mitchell65]

Thanks for the response. I think you could be right. Will need to buy a new HD then not too sure of procedure. I have an ISO backup as at last week but with a new HD installed will I be able to locate the external HD that has my backup or will I need to install Win 7 on the new HD first? Silly question but I have got confused with this problem. Never met it before!

 

[mitchell65]

Have just disconnected original HD and installed brand new one bought today. Same problem. Never done this before but should a new drive boot to the setup or boot windows?

 

[gregrocker]

If there's nothing at all on the screen then it's either Power Supply or Mobo, since you've already ruled out GPU by trying a video card.

Failed HD would generate error. Perhaps you can take new one back if you really don't need it. You can always rescue your files in another PC or from boot later.

It can be Power Supply even if it's spinning the fans. Can you try swapping in another?

Can you see a mobo LED - turn off the room lights if necessary. If it's under warranty I'd contact them about RMA.

Not a hardware expert but am going through this with two PC's here now and trying everything. This is a decent guide: http://pcsupport.about.com/od/findbysymptom/tp/computer-wont-turn-on.htm

 

[mitchell65]

Many thanks for your responseas practical as ever! Apologies for delay in picking it up but other domestic thingys are taking up most of my time at the moment. I have another suitable PSU that I can try and will do this over the next day or so. Do you think a Self Test Card is worth having. I can get one for about 10 Pounds sterling say about 12 dollars? The PC is a bit over 3 years old so i am wondering if it will be worth spending too much time and money on it. Perhaps I should consider a new one
EDIT: I can easily open the original HD on another machine that has a SATA connector not that there is anything important on it that is not backed up on an external HD!

 

[gregrocker]

I chose not to use a Self Test card because these PC's were old and headed to recycle anyway. Someone else will have to comment on their efficacy vs. cost.

I got some help to pronounce one mobo-dead here: Mobo failure? Those who answered are some of the best hardware help we have here, so you can call on them if need-be.
http://www.sevenforums.com/hardware-devices/269022-mobo-failure.html