How to troubleshoot a computer that has no video?

Did you ever have this happen to you? You turn on your PC and you have no video on your monitor. You have power but no video. There are steps to take to diagnose the problem. You could just take it to the shop unless you feel confident enough to to try some basic troubleshooting on your own. Okay so here are the steps:

1. If you have power and the power supply fan is working you can rule out the power supply as your problem. The power supply can be culprit but generally in this case its not.
2. Take off the side panel and lay the PC on its side if you can. Its best to unplug all mouse, keyboard, internet cable, sound, etc. Leave the monitor and power cord connected.
3. Turn it on if you have video now your mouse or keyboard could be the culprit. It does happen.
4. While its still powered on check to make sure the cpu fan is working and if the graphics card has a fan it is working. If either one is not working you could have a bad Motherboard or graphics card.
5. Next step is pull each board one at a time and turn on after each card is pulled. If you have video after pulling one of the boards than there is your culprit. Modems, sound cards, etc can cause no video if card is defective.
6. You should be down to Motherboard and graphics card if you have not found the problem yet. Now pull the cables CD-ROM, HD, etc and turn it one again. If you have video than you could have a bad IDE cable, HD, or CD-ROM. Normally its not the cable but the hardware itself.
7. As long as you have no video and no beeping we won't deal with the memory. Bad memory stick will cause the PC to beep 3 times when turning on.
8. Most people do not have a spare monitor to try but if you do you can try that first before doing any of these steps.
9. Some newer PC's have on board video and added graphics cards or if you have a spare one you can check whether its your card or not.
10. Usually if the motherboard is defective the cpu fan will not be working but not in every case. If you have pulled all the boards and finally the graphics card and cpu fan does not spin its the motherboard.

Don't feel that you have to run these steps if your not sure you can effectively troubleshoot your PC. Take it to the shop or call your manufacturer if your in warranty. If you are in warranty do not attempt to open the case without your tech support asking you do so some PC manufacturers will not honor the warranty. So its best if your in warranty to contact your tech support first.

I hope this simple guide is helpful. Until next time, happy computing.

Tim