PC not looking good- powerd itself off and no output now

[psychocandy]

PC hardware experts advice needed....

Got up this am and PC had powered itself off. I left it last night running some benchmarks so I'm wondering whether its overheated or something. Funnily enough, case fan had been playing up a little recently so I'm wondering - probably not best time to put load on the system :-(

Anyway, powers back on, green light on mobo etc but no output on monitor. Its got a PCI-E graphics card. Wondering whether this has blown? Pretty sure mobo has onboard graphics so I guess I could try this.

Also, I've got a few spare PCs so could try graphics card in these?

Is this likely problem? Graphics card issue? I'm thinking not mobo because there was no warning beeps etc during power on.

[d000hg]

When in doubt, get Suity out.

[DirtyDog]

Also, I've got a few spare PCs so could try graphics card in these?

Assuming the connections are the same, then yes. Worth a quick try.

Is this likely problem? Graphics card issue? I'm thinking not mobo because there was no warning beeps etc during power on.

Could well be - I've had it happen in the past. PC looked fine, and started, but nothing on screen. I checked it with an old card and it was OK, so nipped down to PC World and bought a new one.

[vwdan]

In cases like this I disconnect everything from the motherboard (PCI cards, hard drives, usb devices etc), plug the monitor into the onboard graphics and see if I can at least get a POST / BIOS screen. If not, then you need to look at RAM and PSU. If so, then you can start the process of elimination.

I agree that the graphics card is a likely suspect, though,

[MicrosoftBob]

Could be a card worked loose and causing issues or overheating

Try reseating the graphics card, and then...

Try unplugging the PC, then holding down the power button for at least 10 seconds

Then plug in the PC, and try rebooting as normal

Listen for the POST beeps and make not, and hopefully it won't immediately power down

[Unix]

I remember the days of fiddling around inside my PC, now I just buy Apple hardware and it has never once let me down, and if it did I would just let Apple fix it.

[vwdan]

I remember the days of fiddling around inside my PC, now I just buy Apple hardware and it has never once let me down, and if it did I would just let Apple fix it.

I've seen plenty of broken Apple hardware - it's a numbers game. Can't comment on your warranty, but I presume one pays a premium for anything beyond normal consumer rights?

I'm not anti-Apple, but I do get bored of people claiming they're somehow superior to every PC ever. I've worked on estates with 300+ Apples and the failure rates and issues look pretty much the same as PC's to me.

[VectraMan]

I remember the days of fiddling around inside my PC, now I just buy Dell hardware and it has never once let me down, and if it did I would just let Dell fix it.

WHS.

[gingerjedi]

If you're going to try the onboard you may need to physically remove the GFX card so it doesn't still try to default to it.

[psychocandy]

Well. Powered off, reseated cable and its all ok now.

I blame the cat. The little tulipe is a sod for trying to climb behind my PC and lie on all the cables.