My brother has a Windows Vista-operating computer, however recently he has been unable to get the monitor, mouse, or keyboard to respond whenever he turns on the computer. The CPU is on...green lights in the front & back of the unit, however the laser mouse and keyboard do not have any lights on indicating that it is receiving input from the CPU. When the monitor is on, the screen automatically goes to an black "input" screen and shuts off as though the CPU itself has been turned off or is in some sort of screen-saver mode...when its not.

I asked my brother whether he had it hooked up to the wall jack during a recent thunderstorm...I ask because this is around the time he started having the problem...and he said yes. The computer itself is brand new...he has had it for less than 3 months. According to my brother, the computer was working fine one day, the next day it wasn't working correctly. I've checked the USB cables for all the attached hardware; and they are all plugged in. I've taken all the hardware (short, of the monitor) and attached them to my XP computer...and they all respond to the input...lighting up, etc. I'm completely lost as to what the problem may be...any help would be greatly appreciated....thanks.

Ryan487

This post has been edited by Ryan487: Aug 20 2008, 12:10 AM

How do you know that the computer itself is coming on? Do you hear fans spinning? Do you hear the Windows startup noise?

Based on what you are telling us, it may be the video card that has gone kaput. If you are comfortable with computers, try taking the card from your computer and put it in his, and see if you can get anything on the screen (if you have a add-on video card).

again if you are comfortable working inside a computer you can disconnect all drives remove all but one stick of memory and any cards other than the video ( unless it has on-board video available ) and see if you get anything.... if still nothing remove all the memory and see if you get any beeps... if not you MAY have a bad motherboard... you could also try a new power supply... Also check the little can-like components on the motherboard. You are looking to see if any are bulged/leaking/malformed..... if so you do have a bad motherboard....