Computer Monitor won't turn on and it used to.

Hello everyone I'm new to this forum and I need your help. I'll try to explain this since it is long and confusing...

Ok I bought a computer a few years back and the hard drive had windows xp home on it and everything was good. Then it got outdated (like most things) and I upgraded it (custom) with help of a friend. Little did I know that when you change major hardware that it requires re-activation or re-installing windows. So a friend had a windows xp pro disk he gave me (no its not bootlegged or pirated). So, the way my old HP had the harddrive stepup was it was like this: the C: drive was about 74gb and a recovery side D: was about 5gb. So I did a install using xp pro on the d: side and everything worked fine for about a month. (I was putting stuff on the c: side which is a bad idea now that I think about it). But then when I would turn on my computer my montior wouldn't come on and would take several times before it would come up. Now my monitor won't turn on at all.
Do you think that its an OS problem? And I was planning to kill the disk with a kill disk or something. But before I do is that the problem?

Thanks for response.

Sounds like a problem with your monitor or video card to me. If it was an OS issue, the monitor would still work and display the complaint from the OS.

Nope its not a video card or monitor problem. Ive tried other monitors and whatnot that worked and they do same thing. Ill message back later b/c I'm getting a new HDD today anyways. Thanks for replying.

(^~;?(If you think this is because of OS, why don't you try to use floppy boot?)

Remove HDD and try any OS, 1FD linux, Knoppicus CD or any other, it should make the matter clear.

Hi all I'm back and I know this forum is old but I still can't get my monitor on. The system when I hit the power button everything spins and I hear two beeps and it just keeps running. I tried clearing the CMOS but that didn't work. My guess is that its a motherboard problem.

Please help me troubleshoot it.

(^~;?(Is this forum so old?)

That you can hear beeps means that Bios is active. And as there is surely errors, the mobo is not completely dead, at least it is working. Consult your bios's error beep code.

P.S. Perhaps as there seems to be errors in rams, check them one by one.

it is problly a vid card problem... what was the part that you replaced originally? usually windows doesnt need a complete reinstall,unlesss ur putting in a whole new mobo or somthing... anyways try a diffrent vid card(dont go out and buy a new one, cause im not shure)

check ur connection to the video card, maybe it's damaged. and check the power outlet, it may also be damaged. so try a new outlet and power supply

Ok thanks all for replying. I'll try what you asked and post back later. BTW I think its really doubtful that its the video card (not unless the 2 i tried didn't work and thats very doubtful since they did).

LDW1,

POST (Power On Self Test) checks each hardware component to make sure they are in working order. If all components pass POST, you will hear just ONE beep, then BIOS looks for the operating system. Since you heard two beeps, POST found a problem with one of the hardware components. BIOS did not even get a chance to try booting into Windows.

In many of the different brands of computers I've worked on, two beeps usually indicated a problem with RAM. Either it's the wrong type or it's not seated securely (chip creep).




The two you tried...do you mean two different monitors or two different video cards (which connect to an AGP or PCI slot inside the computer's case)?

I've tried two video cards 8X (agp) and two monitors (both 17" crt). Thanks for response I'll diagnose each piece of hardware.

Iv got the exact same problem, my monitor was fine but now my comp will turn on but my monitor will say no signal and its all plugged in right. Then my comp will make a strange beeping noise then beep normall 2 or 3 times. Im certain its a motherboard problem im buying a new one soon so ill get back to u