[cjh1221]

Recently a friend of mine had a computer given to her and we have been trying to get it up and running. The problem is that whenever we connect a monitor to it, we get no signal. The lights just flash. I hooked the monitor up to my computer and it worked perfectly. Without visual I cannot install a mouse or keyboard. I can't get into the system at all to get it working, there just dosen't seem to be any video output at all. I did look inside, and it has an internal video card. There is no name brand or anything on it, and it is a re-built computer. The only thing I know is that it is an e-machine and all the monitor says is "NOW".
Is it worth replacing the video card? If I did that, how would I install the driver and everything that needs to be installed on it without a currently working video output? Grrr, just frustrated. It is running windos 98 according to the only label on the machine, but who knows if that is true. It appears to have 2-128 mem. cards in it, not sure if that is in addition to the internal memory or not.
Next thing to work on is the modem, or lack of modem, but we will save that for another day. Any help would be appreciated, I really don't know that much about what I am doing, just trying to help a friend. TY.

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We're going to have to take this repair step bt step.

First, what emachines model is this ? I'm trying to find out if it has built-in video card too. The model number may be listed on a label on the back of the case near the top.

Is there a second video connector on the back of the box near the top ? If so, try plugging the monitor cable into that one and restarting with the other video card removed.

When you hooked the monitor up to another computer, did you also use the same video cable ? If you didn't maybe it's the cable that is bad.

Can you tell if the video card is the AGP type or a PCI type ? Hint: An AGP video card slot is always the innermost card slot on the motherbard and is offset from the other PCI slots.

[WinCrazy]

We're going to have to take this repair step bt step.

First, what emachines model is this ? I'm trying to find out if it has built-in video card too. The model number may be listed on a label on the back of the case near the top.

Is there a second video connector on the back of the box near the top ? If so, try plugging the monitor cable into that one and restarting with the other video card removed.

When you hooked the monitor up to another computer, did you also use the same video cable ? If you didn't maybe it's the cable that is bad.

Can you tell if the video card is the AGP type or a PCI type ? Hint: An AGP video card slot is always the innermost card slot on the motherbard and is offset from the other PCI slots.

[cjh1221]

Thanks for helping me out here. It may take me a while to figure this all out, but I will definetly give it a try. I will post back with all the information I can get. No I didn't try with the same cable, makes sense though. Will try that and all the other things you listed and get back to you. Thanks again!

[cjh1221]

This issue has been resolved....finally. I'm not sure what the issue was, it just started working one day, and has been fine ever since. Thanks!