No signal to monitor. However...

This is my first post here and hopefully someone can help me. I'll begin with the senario:

College (third year) and my computer works fine. It is self-built (the fifth one total) and I've taken all the A+ classes and the certification test and passed. (So obviously I know what I'm doing) May 5, 2004 (the morning) my computer is working fine and I am playing Rainbow Six III. Around noon that same day I pack up my computer (like I usually do) and head for home. Upon arriving at home I set up my computer and power it up but to my surprise there is no POST and no signal to monitor. That night I went online using my parents computer to see some forums. Everyone told me to replace PSU, mobo, and vid card. I did so. Same problem. Tested devices on another machine and they worked fine, including the monitor. Inserted them back in and the computer booted fine, went into Windows, etc. I then had realized that I had forgotten to plug in two other cooling fans so I powered down the machine, plugged them in, repowered up the machine and again, got the same problem.

My computer specs are:
400 watt PowMax PSU with overload protection
1.4 GHz Tbird AMD Athlon
512 MB PC2100 DDR
Syntax AV266AD mobo
IDE 1: 120 GB HD / 30 GB HD
IDE 2: CD-R / DVD ROM
Floppy
ATI Radeon 9600 Pro 128 MB DDR (AGP)
Creative Labs 5.1 Live Sound card (PCI 3 of 5)
Firestorm IEEE 3490 (?) Firewire card (PCI 4 of 5)
Standard 56kbps modem (PCI 5 of 5)

I've checked the voltage coming from both wall outlet, surge protector outlets, and the PSU to be correct and fully functional. And as I've stated, all the components are working fine. Also, when the machine is on, there is power going to all the devices (fans spin, HDDs spin, IDE 2 devides spin as if machine is booting, etc.)

I hope this is enough information to hopefully get some answers. I'm a graphic design major with clientel work to finish this summer so I really need this machine up and running as soon as possible!

What seems to be my problem???

Well, I'm on the exact computer I mentioned. I really don't know what I did aside from drain the CMOS battery and reseat the entire system. I'm kind of scared to turn it off though because this happened once before...it worked then i shut it down and it never came back.

Do you think it is some sort of short or something?

Sounds like a loose connection maybe. Check the IDE cables and the power plugs. Maybe an IDE cable itself is bad.

hey man... u know how to fix this problem u should email me on matysek@xtra.co.nz and tell us how to fix it. I think i read on the forum u wrked it out it was a lil brief. i am having the same problem..
i turn the computer on> the monitor has no signal that comes up. all drives wrk fine. i am pretty sure the board is wrking fine because i put a music cd in the cd rom and played it out the sound card. i am really pussled. if anyone knows how to fix this problem or can help please let me know thanks

Ah, I had forgotten about this thread. I did indeed fix it by concluding that the problem wasn't with my monitor rather with my video card. I had a motherboard that supported AGP 2x/4x and I was attempting to stick an 4x/8x card in there. When trying that (wrong) configuration I got the system working for a few days (without powering it down). How? I have no idea. After powering down the system and turning it back on again I came to my problem which was no signal to the monitor. I bought a new video card and still the same thing happened. I then tried a new motherboard thinking mine was just defunct or something. I ordered the Abit NF-7, installed it, and the system runs fine. The previous video card no longer works as it was tested in other (right) systems, so I'm guessing it got screwed up some how by inserting it into the slot with the wrong voltage?

So I guess just make sure your video card is compatible with your motherboard. If you're looking for a more technical answer I'm sorry that I can't provide one, but this is exactly what I did to get it working

Also, did this exact system previously work? If not, then perhaps your power supply is not powerful enough for your video card. I do not recommend anything under 350 watts for a stable system with today's periphials.

If you have other questions or want to know more please email me at animusart@gmail.com

Good luck!

Well thanks mate sent u an email..

my old video card packed in (loads of flashing lines and stuff) found out it was broken on some other site.
so of i went and brought a new graphics card (second hand) that didnt work (blank screen). well it did but it work only once so i took it back and got an older vesion, the only problem i have now is when i turn the computer on it works for about 10 mins then the monitor goes blank so now im screwed i dont want to get another card because i feel there might be another problem other than my graphics card. does this mean the card isnt getting enoth power.
any help would be great.

If the card is getting damaged then the problem isn't from too little power, it's from a wrong slot type either with you video card or your motherboard. Make sure that the motherboard supports the graphics card. Let me know...

i didnt know that motherboards only accept certain graphics cards. and im prettey sure that the graphics cards were in the right slot cause ive only replced the old ones.
thanks kingjay

Graphics cards are keyed, meaning they are designed to fit only the boards that support them. If your graphics card fits, then most likely it is supported. However, depending on the manufacturer (name-brand or third-party) you might experience problems.
And because you said it worked for 10 minutes means it was getting enough power. If it wasn't getting enough power, the graphics card wouldn't have kicked in.
Which leads me to believe your card may not be seated properly or your AGP slot may not be supplying the correct voltages.
What motherboard are you running? What video card? Please provide make and model and I will try to help you.

Chris