"no signal" on startup

hi there, this is my first post and I hope to post it in the right place. (sorry for my English but I am Italian...
my problem is that after changing the cooler on my ahtlon xp 2200+ (mb gigabyte 7-vax) I wanted to start the computer but on the screen appears "no signal". And now I just don't know what to do, because I tried changing the graphic card (geforce4) cause I thought that would be the problem.. but it isn't...

when I boot the pc i don't hear any sound but I hear the harddisk loading and the pc tries to access the cd-rom (I set that in the bios before changing the cooler...). The monitor is ok, because I checked it with another computer...

now I don't know if the problem is the motherboard or the cpu!! who can help? (I'm sooo sad without my computer... )

hi, I already tried to put on the cpu the old cooler.. but the result was the same... the only problem is that I can't check what is wrong because I have no friend that has two motherboards or two cpus...

I can try that only on friday, because now I am 100 km from my pc away. as soon as I tried that I'll let you know!
thx!

Wow, you're 100 away from a PC that doesn't even work and you can still post a message here ? What do you need a PC for then anyway ?

I had a similar problem once, I discovered that the CPU-cooler had a default RMP-setting wich was too low for my CPU to start up with.

The moment you find out what the problem is, will be the happiest day of your life

you know, in Italy we have those new high-tech computers...

well.. what if removing everything except the memory, CPU and graphics card won't work, if the computer still dosn't boot properly? what could be wrong? well.. I have an Idea, after changing the cooler I started the computer but the the cooler didn't start to work immediately, only after 5 seconds maybe the cpu has passed away... it was a new athlon xp2200+.... but it could also be the motherboard.. I'd exclude the rams, cause they worked fine before changing the cooler...

Graphics card is crammed in properly ?
It is strange the CPU does not responde immediately, but perhaps that IS the problem? Because you have a tardy cooler the CPU does not work ?


If nothing else works, there's only one option left.

Dolce far niente

dolce far niente? magari...


it's only that now the cooler works well, it starts as soon I start the computer.. it was just that one time that it started after the rest... I think it is the cpu that is resting in peace... here is a pic of the cpu:

and here is the backside.. there are little marks on it, but I don't think it is possible to see them on the foto..

Well, nothing looks crushed. I've seen that happen a lot with AMD cpu's. You have to be really careful when putting the fans on it is easy to crush the cpu or any of the cache chips.

When you don't get a video signal there are two things to look at:

video card - good, bad, not seated properly

cpu - good, bad, not seated properly.

With the RAM you will most likely get a beep code from the motherboard if it is bad or not plugged in.

If you happened to turn on the cpu without the fan running, the cpu is toast. It takes about 3 seconds for them to burn out without a fan.

I would reseat the cpu again, and the videocard. You could also try to clear the cmos, that sometimes makes things work again.

how do I reset the cmos? is it enough if I take out the battery of the motherboard for a few minutes? or do I have to do anything else?
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u wrote:
video card - good, bad, not seated properly

cpu - good, bad, not seated properly.
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I know this is maybe the most stupid question you've ever heard but: what about the motherboard, could the motherboard be the reason for the problem?

thx 4 ur help!

You can take the battery off of the board for a minute or so, but most mobo's have a cmos jumper that clears it.

It is possible that the motherboard is bad, but if all was working fine before you changed the cooling fan then the mobo is likely ok. CPU's can be a little touchy especially when you are putting fans on. You can crush stuff really easily, and not even know it.