The Energon Pub

News Credits: 349 · by **Bed Bugs** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 11:16 pm

Lately, I've been having issues with my PC. I'll be working on it and the screen will go black.

The PC tower continues to remain on, but my monitor says, "No Signal Found".

I'm confused by this. Does anyone know if this is a hardware issue or software issue? More importantly, if it is hardware, do you think it's the monitor, analog cable, or video card?

I thought it was dust initially, as it had a lot inside the PC tower, but I blew all the dust out. Things were fine for a while after that, and I thought I fixed the problem. Then it happened again.

I can tell you that if I reset my PC tower and wait a couple minutes before starting it, the signal goes through and I get picture back on the monitor.

So experts, what do you think is wrong with my PC?

by **Barracuda** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 11:20 pm

i wouldn't say i'm a expert but it sounds like your videop card is goin out

News Credits: 226 · by **Burn** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 12:53 am

Yeah. I'm leaning towards video card as well.

You're not bumping the cable when this happens?

News Credits: 349 · by **Bed Bugs** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 1:10 am

Burn wrote:Yeah. I'm leaning towards video card as well.

You're not bumping the cable when this happens?

Nope. I'll be playing a game or surfing the net and the screen will just go black. It's quite annoying. My PC is only a year or two old too. :-(

News Credits: 226 · by **Burn** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 1:38 am

From personal experience, video cards tend to be the most fragile parts of a PC.

Though mine never bothered to wink out like that, they just died when the computer was turned off and with a fault video card it wouldn't boot up until I took the busted buggers out each time.

News Credits: 402 · by **Mkall** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 2:08 am

I'd make sure that the monitor cable is fully seated and that it's not torqued in such a way that could damage any of the wires. Then I'd check to make sure that the Video card is fully seated in its slot. Next I'd look at the heat situation in your case; it is well ventilated or is it in a place such as a cubby where there's no where for the vented heat to go? Try taking the side off of the tower and see if that stops the problem. If it's still continuing Id suggest finding a new video card.

News Credits: 349 · by **Bed Bugs** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 2:25 am

Mkall wrote:I'd make sure that the monitor cable is fully seated and that it's not torqued in such a way that could damage any of the wires. Then I'd check to make sure that the Video card is fully seated in its slot. Next I'd look at the heat situation in your case; it is well ventilated or is it in a place such as a cubby where there's no where for the vented heat to go? Try taking the side off of the tower and see if that stops the problem. If it's still continuing Id suggest finding a new video card.

My tower sits on top of my desk, right next to my monitor. There is nothing behind it and a good foot and a half between it and the wall behind.

I did remove the cover and blow the accumulated dust off earlier. As for the cable, I've disconnected/reconnected it so many times trying to figure out the problem that I'm 100% sure it's connected correctly.

Seems like the majority so far are suggesting it's the video card. I can tell you that the one I have is stock, an nVIDIA GeForce 6100. What would the average price be to replace it with something of the same or better quality?

News Credits: 38 · by **TheMuffin** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 9:37 am

Umm... There is no 6100 graphics card. There is however a 6100 Nvidia GeForce Chipset which features onboard video. Are you plugging the monitor into an actual expansion slot graphics card or into your motherboard itself?

I need to know what slots you have for expansion. Everyone and their mother has PCI slots. Your computer should also either have an AGP slot or a PCIe slot as well.

by **DesalationReborn** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 12:22 pm

For a minute I thought we were going to have a discussion about saying something really divisive in front of a crowd.

News Credits: 349 · by **Bed Bugs** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 5:16 pm

TheMuffin wrote:Umm... There is no 6100 graphics card. There is however a 6100 Nvidia GeForce Chipset which features onboard video. Are you plugging the monitor into an actual expansion slot graphics card or into your motherboard itself?

I need to know what slots you have for expansion. Everyone and their mother has PCI slots. Your computer should also either have an AGP slot or a PCIe slot as well.

Okay, thanks for clearing that up. As for your other questions, I'm not sure. There is only one connecting spot for the PC to Monitor cable to hook up to (it's just below 4 USB ports and just above my modem port). The front of my PC says, "PCI Express slot available" though.

News Credits: 38 · by **TheMuffin** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 5:41 pm

Yeah you have no graphics card at the moment then. You'll have to get an actual card to plug into. Sounds like the VGA port is going bad or the whole onboard graphics chip.

Take a look through the link below for options. Anything from the 6000-8000 series is better than the crap they dump onto the motherboard chip.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi ... ame=NVIDIA

News Credits: 349 · by **Bed Bugs** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 7:48 pm

TheMuffin wrote:Yeah you have no graphics card at the moment then. You'll have to get an actual card to plug into. Sounds like the VGA port is going bad or the whole onboard graphics chip.

Take a look through the link below for options. Anything from the 6000-8000 series is better than the crap they dump onto the motherboard chip.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi ... ame=NVIDIA

Okay, so of all the ones that are under $40.00, which is the best? :???:

I'm thinking this one is: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814130316

My 1 question regarding it is that it says DirectX10. I have 9, do I need to update to be able to use it?

Cheaper the better for an unemployed guy like myself.

News Credits: 38 · by **TheMuffin** » Sat Jan 19, 2008 12:15 am

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814127296 is probably your best bet. Under $40, effective and still better than what you have on board. Just don't think that you'll be playing any games with it.

News Credits: 349 · by **Bed Bugs** » Sat Jan 19, 2008 2:21 am

TheMuffin wrote: Just don't think that you'll be playing any games with it.

Why not? I'm confused by this.

by **homelessjunkeon** » Sat Jan 19, 2008 10:48 am

Fender Bender wrote:
TheMuffin wrote: Just don't think that you'll be playing any games with it.

Why not? I'm confused by this.

It won't run Crysis at a playable frame-rate basically.
It's more of an HTPC solution than something you'd use for playing games.

However, if you're playing games on your rig at the moment, then you will notice a significant improvement to your frame-rates and the details levels at which you can render the graphics. (assuming the same games)

Also worth checking with a different cable/monitor if you can borrow someone else's, as it might save you some money if it turns out it's not the GPU.

News Credits: 38 · by **TheMuffin** » Sat Jan 19, 2008 11:58 am

Very true. Hopefully the cable isn't connected permanently to the monitor though. Then you can't check by using a new one.

News Credits: 349 · by **Bed Bugs** » Sat Jan 19, 2008 4:16 pm

TheMuffin wrote:Very true. Hopefully the cable isn't connected permanently to the monitor though. Then you can't check by using a new one.

Cable is dual ended. As for games, these are the ones I play: Rome Total War, Civilization III, Railroad Tycoon

Nothing like first person shooters or anything, mostly strategy games with low graphics demands.

I have the Transformers Game for PC, so that's about as graphically demanding as I have right now.

News Credits: 38 · by **TheMuffin** » Sat Jan 19, 2008 4:30 pm

Oh no worries then.

by **Rogue.** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 11:34 am

I don't want to hijack Fender Bender's thread. But I was wondering what a good card would be for video editing? This is the motherboard I've been looking at. I've been busy lately, and haven't had time to look into this for my long-overdue upgrading. Thankfully a friend is loaning me a tower with WinXP, and it's decent enough, but I need my own system...

News Credits: 38 · by **TheMuffin** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 12:08 pm

What program would you be using? Honestly most graphic cards can do regular splicing and cutting with no problem. Hell I could use WMM on my moms old Compaq with a Vanta LT card.

by **Rogue.** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 12:33 pm

TheMuffin wrote:What program would you be using? Honestly most graphic cards can do regular splicing and cutting with no problem. Hell I could use WMM on my moms old Compaq with a Vanta LT card.

Ah ok. Well... I guess what I would like is the connectors needed to record stuff from the RCA jacks from a camera or VCR already part of the video card. Unless those dongle boxes of old (like my ATI All-in-Wonder) are now just a USB device? Like I said, I haven't really had time lately to really delve into this stuff. But some pointers would be helpful, and I can make a decision from there.

News Credits: 38 · by **TheMuffin** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 1:00 pm

I've never had luck with the capturing features of any card I've owned to be honest. My 9800Pro had one for composite. I tried hooking it up and when it didn't work I called their tech support. Her answer was along the lines of "it serves no purpose aside from adding another spec for the card."

Reassuring eh? I would suggest a USB device like a Pinnacle Dazzle DVD creator. The red one. But don't use the software provided. Just do the plug and play and then get VirtualDub for the recording. Works loads better.