What could be the problem with my rig?

[fitlies]

This is a continuation from this thread which some members have given their input on gaming in 1440p.

Ideally I would like to find out the source of my problem before getting a new card entirely.

The issue I have is: My monitor goes to sleep immediately upon switching my PC on.

What I have done:

On gtx670
Use HDMI and DVI-D ports from 670 to monitor - not detected.

I then switched out my gtx670 to hd6870:
On hd6870
Use HDMI and DVI ports from 6870 to monitor - not detected.

On IGP
Use HDMI and DVI ports from IGP to monitor - not detected

Laptop as display source
Use VGA to connect to monitor - DETECTED.
Unfortunately my laptop doesn't have a HDMI or DVI output for me to test out if the HDMI and DVI ports on my monitor are actually the source of my problem.

Based on the above, could there be any deductions as to what may be the root of the issue?

 

[Duinchlfc]

This is a continuation from this thread which some members have given their input on gaming in 1440p.

Ideally I would like to find out the source of my problem before getting a new card entirely.

The issue I have is: My monitor goes to sleep immediately upon switching my PC on.

What I have done:

On gtx670
Use HDMI and DVI-D ports from 670 to monitor - not detected.

I then switched out my gtx670 to hd6870:
On hd6870
Use HDMI and DVI ports from 6870 to monitor - not detected.

On IGP
Use HDMI and DVI ports from IGP to monitor - not detected

Laptop as display source
Use VGA to connect to monitor - DETECTED.
Unfortunately my laptop doesn't have a HDMI or DVI output for me to test out if the HDMI and DVI ports on my monitor are actually the source of my problem.

Based on the above, could there be any deductions as to what may be the root of the issue?

In any case at least you should have a dvd player perhaps to try out the hdmi port? The dvi you could get an adaptor,dvi to vga and try that out instead.

 

[fitlies]

In any case at least you should have a dvd player perhaps to try out the hdmi port? The dvi you could get an adaptor,dvi to vga and try that out instead.

A DVD player! Brilliant, why didn't I think of that. Thank you Duinchlfc.

I am assuming if the player does not play anything on my monitor, the HDMI port on my monitor is then damaged, and I should move on to test the DVI port with the adaptor instead?

 

[Duinchlfc]

A DVD player! Brilliant, why didn't I think of that. Thank you Duinchlfc.

I am assuming if the player does not play anything on my monitor, the HDMI port on my monitor is then damaged, and I should move on to test the DVI port with the adaptor instead?

You're welcome.Yup so at least you can rule one out.Getting a new card is pretty drastic hehe

 

[fitlies]

You're welcome.Yup so at least you can rule one out.Getting a new card is pretty drastic hehe

Took your advice:

DVD Player as source
Use HDMI to connect to monitor - DETECTED.

I am only lacking the adapter for now (though I have one but it's a case of male/female connectors of my cables and adapter not matching each other) to completely isolate my monitor as the problem.

Plugging the HDMI out from the DVD player and into the HDMI port of my mobo, the monitor then does not detect anything.

Is it then safe to assume that my mobo is the problem here?

p.s. I am also assuming that my graphic cards are not the root of the problem here and I only can't determine this as they cannot function as a standalone, like my DVD player.

Also as they are connected to my mobo, a potential mobo failure will lead to a unresponsive, though functional, graphic card, right?

 

[hlots123]

try taking out rams, clean the golden contact areas by rubbing with soft eraser, then put back 1 stick of ram.

maybe pc not POSTing at all, so no signal to monitor...

 

[fitlies]

try taking out rams, clean the golden contact areas by rubbing with soft eraser, then put back 1 stick of ram.

maybe pc not POSTing at all, so no signal to monitor...

Tried resitting my rams (and reapplying thermal paste a few days back as well) but still no signal to my monitor.

I noticed something though: the system - by system, I am using the fans as indicators here - will restart itself again after 5 seconds upon cold boot, before resuming spinning (again, the fans) till I power the whole thing off.

Does this mean anything?

 

[hlots123]

hmmm, suggest try to actually clean the rams & put 1 stick to test 1st, instead of just reseating...

if still same, guessing cud be mboard or psu or rams...

 

[fitlies]

hmmm, suggest try to actually clean the rams & put 1 stick to test 1st, instead of just reseating...

if still same, guessing cud be mboard or psu or rams...

Oh okay, I tried that after you mentioned. 1 stick at a time, followed by switching the rams positioning priority, followed by both together once more. But still not detecting anything.

If the PSU is the reason, the fans won't even spin, am I right to say so?
As for RAM and mobo, I am not too sure how to lookout for hardware failure from the surface though.

I gotta get my hands on a DVI-VGA adapter to confirm that the DVI ports in my monitor is not broken.
And there's also one more untested component - the display port.

I am just puzzled as to why everything seems to be running fine but my monitor not detecting anything.

 

[kurtisnet]

Do you have a little beeper connected to your motherboard that will normally sound a little beep every time you start your computer?

If so, you can try removing all the RAMs and try to start the computer. If you get a constant beep sound coming out, you can confirm that at least your motherboard startup check is working well.

Once this is done and fine, you can try to put back the RAM(s). Maybe next step in troubleshooting should be CMOS reset I guess. Try to take out the little CR2032 watch battery on your motherboard, let it sit for about 2 mins, put the little battery back and turn on your computer.

Since you have already confirmed the monitor to be working perfectly fine with your DVD player, I doubt you can already rule out the monitor not functioning. The fault definitely lies with your computer.

If most of these methods above do not work, and you do not have any onboard graphics to test also, I guess best way to check if your GPU is dead or not is to loan a graphic card and try booting up. Hope it helps.

 

[fitlies]

Do you have a little beeper connected to your motherboard that will normally sound a little beep every time you start your computer?

I think I know what you are referring to but I would put a 'no' for this.

If so, you can try removing all the RAMs and try to start the computer. If you get a constant beep sound coming out, you can confirm that at least your motherboard startup check is working well.

Since I don't have a beeper, does this mean I am not able to perform this mobo startup check?

What I have been noticing again and again if this even matters is that on both instances whereby (1)with and without RAM(s), and (2)with and without the CMOS battery seated, the fans of the stock cooler will spin, die down and respin again continuously till I shut down the system.

Not that I always open up my CPU to notice this but under normal circumstances, it is supposed to spin all the way, without dying down momentarily, until the system is powered down?

But since everything is powered by the PSU, could this be a PSU problem then, despite its fan spinning?

Once this is done and fine, you can try to put back the RAM(s). Maybe next step in troubleshooting should be CMOS reset I guess. Try to take out the little CR2032 watch battery on your motherboard, let it sit for about 2 mins, put the little battery back and turn on your computer.

Just tried this as well but to avail.

Since you have already confirmed the monitor to be working perfectly fine with your DVD player, I doubt you can already rule out the monitor not functioning. The fault definitely lies with your computer.

Got it.

If most of these methods above do not work, and you do not have any onboard graphics to test also, I guess best way to check if your GPU is dead or not is to loan a graphic card and try booting up. Hope it helps.

I do have iGP and another graphic card - a 6870 - on top of my existing 670, which I have all tried out but failed to get a display output to my monitor.

Thank you for giving your input kurtisnet. My responses are inline, in blue.

 

[kurtisnet]

Based on person experience, I strongly suspect that your motherboard is at fault here.

The fans running for a few seconds then turn off and restart cycle does happen to me before and to some people's rigs I have troubleshooted before. For my MSI mobo, it is always something to do with RAM detection when that happens. The motherboard will fail to detect the RAM I have installed during POST, and will keep on power cycling until you switch the computer off forcefully.

Just to completely rule out the RAMs at fault here, are you sure you are plugging in the RAMs at slots 1 and 3? You could probably refer to your motherboard manual for any special cases but some motherboards do require a RAM stick to be present at RAM slot 1 (you can look for the labels near the RAM slots) for successful post. If you could source for any other spare RAM apart from the ones you own, try to start up using it instead. If all these fail, we can most likely rule out the RAMs failing in this case.

The two remaining culprits in this case would be your motherboard or PSU. The power cycling you mentioned usually is caused by the motherboard and not to do with the PSU so hard to point fingers at this stage rather than swapping out and testing either hardware.

Good luck with the troubleshooting nonetheless! It's tedious and time-consuming for sure!