Horrible blank screen of nothingness

[illandule]

I have a basic dell desktop approx. 2 years old.
-2.4Ghz Intel Celeron
-256MB RAM
-NVidia5200 128MB graphics
-Windows XP
The last change I made was adding the graphics card over six-months ago. Since that it has always given me the "Monitor Function Test" screen as I started up. just like if I were to have turned the computer off but left the moniter on. It usually stays for less than ten seconds then I see the Windows Startup Screen and then my Accounts. About a week ago I turned it on and when the "Moniter Test" screen went away, The screen just went blank and the moniter light went from green to yellow. For as long as I waited it wouldn't change, but within seconds of moving the mouse and typing on the keyboard it stirred and came back to life right there in the same way it used to. sometimes is does it and sometimes it doesn't. Today it went blank and won't change for anything. I would appretiate any help offered.

[Cricket]

Have you tried the monitor on another computer yet?

Have you tried a different video card yet?

Have you tried that NVidia5200 in another computer yet?

Cricket

[illandule]

I have tried the monitor on the old output. The direct connection to the motherboard.

I Haven't tried the video card in another computer, but would it just slowly die?

I tried another moniter ,but still got nothing.

Any Ideas?

[Cricket]

Your motherboard has on-board video? Did you disable it in the BIOS?

Cricket

[illandule]

I don't think i did that. When i installed the card i followed the directions and went into control panel/display/something. I dont mess with the BIOS and stuff.

[illandule]

I took the stick of 256MB Ram out the other day to see who made it. I didnt have any problems when i put it back in though.

[illandule]

If anyone out there can help me please do. I am just helpless. I have nothing on my screen.

[Cricket]

If you can't get an image on the monitor from either the on-board video or the video card, you may be looking at a dead motherboard or defective power supply.

If you can get your hands on another video card, try that in your computer and see if you can get anything on the monitor.

Since it's a DELL, you can't just swap in a off the shelf power supply to test with...it has to be a DELL power supply made specifically for your particular DELL.

If you feel adventurous, give this troubleshooter a try.

Cricket

[illandule]

If it tells you anything, there is a small red light that i have only seen come on when there are problems. it is on now. it is on the mother board.

[Cricket]

Sorry, I'm not real familiar with DELL computers. Obviously something is broken and now you gotta find out what it is.

What I would do now is remove the motherboard from the case and partially assemble the system on a non-conductive surface. Just have the CPU, heatsink, PC case speaker (unless the motherboard has a on-board piezo speaker on it) and power supply hooked up to the motherboard and try to power up the system. You would normally get beeps telling you there is no RAM. If you don't get any beeps, something is wrong with either the motherboard or the power supply. Which would it be? I really couldn't say.

Cricket

[mike12]

Not sure if this applies, but I had a Dell 4600 Dimension, and now have a 4700 Dimension. On both computers on the back panel, there are four diagnostic lights labeled A B C D these four lights should be green. If any are yellow or off, let me know which ones, and I will tell you what the support manual says the problem might be. Mike

[mike12]

Additional info. If light A and C are yellow, and lights B and D are green, the manual says that "A possible graphics card failure has occurred" You should remove and reinstall the card. If that doesn't help, maybe the card itself is bad.