Monitor keeps going to "No signal"

[Guest]

We have a 4-yr-old IBM PC that has been having monitor problems for a couple
of months. It started out when the user would leave the computer for a
while, and on coming back, the monitor would display "No signal" and could
not be brought back without powering down. They figured it was a monitor
going bad and got a new one, but the same thing is happening. Today, you
can't even get into Windows without the "No signal" message coming up. I
tried booting in safe mode, but before it completed, the monitor blacked out
again. Basically, I can't even troubleshoot this because I can't get a
monitor to show me anything. Is there anything to be done? I hate to junk the
computer altogether if it's an isolated, fixable problem, but I'm stymied.

FWIW, this PC has been displaying "System has recovered from a serious
error" messages for over a year. I researched at the time based on the info
in Event Viewer but never found anything beyond a generic description. Up
till recently, it has always run fine, is up to date on Windows updates,
virus definitions. However it's not my workstation and I can't vouch for the
day-to-day running. I would only be notified if something went obviously
wrong.

Thanks.

 

[FeMaster]

We have a 4-yr-old IBM PC that has been having monitor problems for a
couple
of months. It started out when the user would leave the computer for a
while, and on coming back, the monitor would display "No signal" and could
not be brought back without powering down. They figured it was a monitor
going bad and got a new one, but the same thing is happening. Today, you
can't even get into Windows without the "No signal" message coming up. I
tried booting in safe mode, but before it completed, the monitor blacked
out
again. Basically, I can't even troubleshoot this because I can't get a
monitor to show me anything. Is there anything to be done? I hate to junk
the
computer altogether if it's an isolated, fixable problem, but I'm stymied.

FWIW, this PC has been displaying "System has recovered from a serious
error" messages for over a year. I researched at the time based on the
info
in Event Viewer but never found anything beyond a generic description. Up
till recently, it has always run fine, is up to date on Windows updates,
virus definitions. However it's not my workstation and I can't vouch for
the
day-to-day running. I would only be notified if something went obviously
wrong.

As far as the monitor, sounds like possibly the monitor to computer cable is
dying, or perhaps the video card (or video portion of motherboard) is dying.
If you have an alternate video card to swap in, give that a try. Cables
very rarely go bad, unless they are subjected to very tight bends, generally
right at the plug ends, or frequent flexing.

As far as recovering from a "serious error," I'd figure that the OS has
become corrupted somehow, or the hard drive is starting go bad. My guess
would be hard drive, so I'd start by performing a checkdisk on the Windows
drive. This won't be able to be run while windows is loaded, but instead
Windows will schedule it to be run the next time the system reboots...

Open MY COMPUTER, right-click on the windows drive (usually C. Select
PROPERTIES, TOOLS, and CHECK NOW under 'Error Checking'. Select both
check-boxes, and click START. It will tell you that it needs exclusive
access to the drive to perform the operation (or something similar), and ask
if you want to schedule a scan; pick yes. Reboot computer and it will scan
the drive for errors, and attempt recovery of any data found to be in a bad
section of the drive.

Good luck!

 

[Guest]

Thanks to all who responded. Given the age of the PC and the user's need to
have a computer to work on ASAP, we swapped in another machine, and I put
this one on hold till I could set it up elsewhere with a monitor. I now have
the problem computer up and running off the network. It boots every time, and
I've left it running whole workdays without the monitor exhibiting the
problem behavior. I'm more mystified than ever. I suppose it could have been
the placement of the cord in the other office, though two of us looked at the
hardware setup and failed to notice any crimping or other obvious problems.
I did run checkdisk without finding anything big; it booted right into
Windows when the disk check was complete. I also took a look in the Event
Viewer and found many error and warning events, all having to do with network
connections. I posted about it on the networking forum but to no response so
far.

Thanks very much for your input and sorry not to have given a reply sooner.
I guess for now, this is going to have to remain a mystery.

Peggy