Videocard not giving any screen.

[Lepper]

Hey there,

I have an issue with my videocard that is not giving any screen when I plug it in.
I also have a videocard built into my motherboard that actually does work when I plug my screen into it.
It doesn't even say "no signal", it just goes black.

So far I've tried everything I could to get it working again:
- Using a different cable.
- Getting my videocard checked at the local computer store. (Videocard is perfectly fine)
- Buying a new power supply.
- Updating to the latest drivers for both my motherboard and videocard.
- Even resetting my computer and installing windows again.

Videocard:
ATI Radeon HD 7850 - 2 GB GDDR5

I have absolutely no idea how to fix this problem, could anyone of you please help me?

(Also, english is not my native language, so please forgive my for any spelling mistakes you'll find)

 

[Mellon Head]

It sounds like your motherboard video is set to be the default video card.

An easy way to tell is to get into BIOS and see if the graphics are set to internal, or IGP. If they are, set the graphics to your video card, usually labelled PCI, or PEG. That should activate your 7850.

Try that and post the results.

 

[Lepper]

I've tried to do exactly what you described. I found the internal graphics setting and changed it to PCI.
Unfortunately it did not work out quite well.

Now my screen doesn't work with either the onboard videocard and the 7850.
When I boot my computer it makes a long *beep* noise followed by 3 short *beep* noises.

 

[Boozad]

Those beeps are your motherboard telling you something is wrong, we could do with knowing what motherboard you have to find out what fault the beep code is indicating. Download and run Piriform Speccy, this will list all of your system specs so you can identify your motherboard.

You may have to remove he GPU and switch back to onboard graphics to do this.

 

[Britton30]

Did you connect the power connector to the 7850?

 

[Lepper]

Okay here's what happened:

I removed the 7850 and plugged my screen into the onboard card.
It still kept making the same noises.
Then I shut down my computer and unplugged the cable from my screen to the computer.
When I started my computer again after that, it actually started up like it normally did and I could plug in the cable from my screen directly to the 7850.
I had hoped that it was running on the 7850 and I proceeded to install the drivers for the 7850.
After the installation of the drivers were completed, I had to reset my computer.
Once I did that it started making the same *beep* noises again.

I have absolutely no idea what caused it to do that again.
My motherboard is: M5 A78L-M/USB3

 

[Britton30]

The one long three short beeps is indicating a GPU issue, either with the card of the board slot is bad.
Look at 1.4.2.2 in this list and steps to try.

http://support.asus.com/Troubleshooting/detail.aspx?SLanguage=en&p=1&m=M5A78L-M%20LX&s=24&hashedid=5YkHeMJXc3aijWxY&os=&no=978

You can try a pencil eraser to clean the contacts on the card.

 

[Lepper]

I've tried to clean my videocard and slot the best I could, but it didn't help anything. Could it be that I need to clean the onboard videocard too? If so, where can I find it on my motherboard?

I'm sorry if I am asking too much questions or being difficult, but I really appreciate the help you've given me so far.

 

[Britton30]

No, the onboard GPU is a small chip soldered to the board. I suspect either your board or GPU is bad. Most likely is the board since onboard is having issues too.

 

[Lepper]

Hey, I want to let you know that my problem is solved.

After I reseated the 2 RAM sticks into the 2 other slots, it finally booted normally.
Pretty weird, because the 3 beeps clearly meant that there was something wrong with the graphics card.

Anyways, I would like to thank you all for the help that you've given me!

 

[Solarstarshines]

Hey, I want to let you know that my problem is solved.

After I reseated the 2 RAM sticks into the 2 other slots, it finally booted normally.
Pretty weird, because the 3 beeps clearly meant that there was something wrong with the graphics card.

Anyways, I would like to thank you all for the help that you've given me!

Sometimes re seating some hardware fixes the issue because it could be loose not all the way secure or even missed aligned

First thing is to always double check all components because there are times you might forget to connect something crucial to your Rig

Good Job too Lepper

 

[Lepper]

Never mind what I said about the computer working again.
It makes the same sounds again even when I re seat the RAM or graphics card.

Looks like I am back to where I started again.

 

[Solarstarshines]

Never mind what I said about the computer working again.
It makes the same sounds again even when I re seat the RAM or graphics card.

Looks like I am back to where I started again.

Can you tell me what PSU you have ?

 

[Lepper]

Sure, it's a "ADVANCE MPT-7500 - 750 Watt"

At first I thought it was a problem with my PSU, so I bought a new one. Since this one was quite cheap and had a lot of Watt, I decided to just buy the same PSU again.

 

[Boozad]

While the PSU may not be the problem here, it's really not advisable to buy cheap PSUs. I always recommend Corsair PSUs, cheap ones really can be the cause of many a problem.

 

[Lepper]

I'm pretty sure you're right about that, but my computer has been running on this PSU for about 1 and a half years without any problems. Also, nothing changed when I switched the old PSU with the new one.

Do you think buying one of those Corsair PSUs could solve my problem?

 

[Boozad]

It probably won't, you have ample power it's just that cheaper PSUs are much less reliable. In the long run I'd suggest getting a better one but I think that's an aside to your problem if you've just fitted a new one.

 

[Lepper]

So far I've checked every piece of hardware that is built into my computer exept fot my motherboard. I think the problem might lay there. Do you think it would be wise to replace my motherboard with a new one? If so, is it difficult to do?

 

[Boozad]

Have you tried the GPU in a different PCI slot? That may be worth a shot if you haven't already. We could do with knowing what motherboard you have really, download and run Piriform Speccy and that will tell you what you have.

Changing the motherboard is probably the most difficult aspect of upgrading a PC, you must make sure you get the correct socket type for your CPU first and foremost. And it will all depend on what version of Windows you have, if you have a retail copy you'll be OK but if you have an OEM copy then it's tied to your current motherboard so you'd have to buy a new copy of Windows.

 

[Lepper]

There's only 1 PCI slot where my GPU can fit in, unfortunately.
I also can't really check what kind of motherboard I have since I still get a black screen.
Hopefully I can get it to work one more time (for some reason it seems to boot normally sometimes) and download the Piriform tool.