[stockenblocken]

everytime i start my computer, the screen never comes up, it just remains black. no beeps, nothing. i just came back from vacation and i dont remember doing anything special at all to my computer before i left. it doesnt go black before the windows screen comes up like alot of cases i saw while i researched on this problem. nothing comes up at all, i dont see a single thing from the moment i power it up. it was working perfectly fine before i left, i have no idea what the problem is. i am assuming the video card? i dont get it, help me!

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on your screen, when you turn on your pc, does the monitor react---for example, does an amber power light turn to green?

Do you here a click? (from monitor)

When you power on the PC, what sounds do you hear? Fan? Beep? ANy lights?

On the back of the PC, are there any lights? By the network port? any diagnostic lights?

There are lots of possibilities, from bad power supply to failed motherboard....need more info (any lightning storms lately--spent the last two days in an office that got hit by lightning, taking computer apart)

[gerryf]

on your screen, when you turn on your pc, does the monitor react---for example, does an amber power light turn to green?

Do you here a click? (from monitor)

When you power on the PC, what sounds do you hear? Fan? Beep? ANy lights?

On the back of the PC, are there any lights? By the network port? any diagnostic lights?

There are lots of possibilities, from bad power supply to failed motherboard....need more info (any lightning storms lately--spent the last two days in an office that got hit by lightning, taking computer apart)

[stockenblocken]

yeah im on the westcoast so no lightning storms. the monitor light turns green when the comp starts so im sure its not the monitor. comp sounds normal, fans are on, lights are on. i have made some headway though. i dusted out my comp, made sure everything was in. i got the asus motherboard screen to come up as soon as the comp starts up, but after that its back to the black screen.

[stockenblocken]

i just noticed something, all the surge lights on my surge protectors are on. my cable box is damaged too. i dont know what happened but something did when i was gone. the asus screen doesnt come up everytime i start my computer also, it only comes up like every other time or so.

[gerryf]

hmm, if I were there, I would test the power supply....a power supply has three rails, a 12v, 5v, and 3.3v

Your PC can seem to be running when one of these rails fails....it sounds like the 3.3v rail is intermittent, which explains why the lights and fans come on, but the screen only sometimes (the videocard is powered by the 3.3 rail, as is memory and the CPU).

Do you have a second PC -- well obviously you do. Removing a power supply and installing it is EASY.

To test, you do not even need to install it in the case....just plug in the one or two connectors to the motherboard (don't worry about the drives, you don't need them for the test) and power up...if your screen comes up and it says, cannot find OS, you know it was the PS

[stockenblocken]

ok ill let u know as soon as i try it, the problem is im using a laptop right now so i have to find one first.

[stockenblocken]

ok i bought a new ps and installed it, its all back to normal. thanks alot!

[gerryf]

well, good news. Glad to hear it.