First off, I have a 4 yr old.HP comp, Vista 32 bit. So one afternoon after logging on , my monitor decided to go to sleep and hasnt been able to wake up since. Usually moving the mouse (wireless USB) or pressing randomly on the keyboard would wake it up but for some reason neither seems to be working (its not signaling). The monitor also indicates that there is no signal coming through VGA cable, even Ive checked all of the connections and reconnected all of them. I suspect its my video card , since a couple of weeks before the software updates my monitor was reaally screwy, with horribly messed up resolution and colors. The problem is that Im a little.noobish beyond this.point and I dont. know whether I should.go.ahead and buy a new one (which I dont even know where to get one) and install.it myself.or have a technician come over and get a professional opinion
I will install a video card for you for $30 bucks in all seriousness 1. if you have another monitor laying around, swap it confirm that it is indeed not your monitor 2. if it is your monitor, easy get a new monitor or ship it to have it fixed under warranty 3. if it is your PC, it's a bit more complicated, have you physically cleaned your PC in 4 years? but lets start with blowing your computer clean, make sure to take the sucker OUTDOORS
VGA cable/connection? That kind of explain it. VGA aren't usually plug and play like the HDMI or DVI connectors. Might try reinstalling with the proper video driver for your system. If your video card that have a DVI connector try using a DVI adaptor and connect it to your VGA and plug that in your DVI on your video card.
4 years for a consumer-class HP is pretty good. If you get a tech out there, it's going to cost you $150+ to get it fixed. You're better off buying a new setup and an external USB drive enclosure to pull your files off of the old drive. A good, easy way to troubleshoot if the actual PC is on and Windows is running is if you can toggle the Capslock key and see the capslock light come on and off on the keyboard.
Oops, didn't read your post properly. If everything else is powering up in your motherboard such as there's a light indicator, fans spinning, HDD or DVD rom powering up then it's not the PSU. The messed up colors and resolution is an indication of a video card problem. You didn't tell us what software update that you did. If you have another slot for your video card try that and see what happen. If that failed you need to take out the video card and try it on another machine(friends) cause that's the only way to find out if it's the video card.
Is there anything I need to know.before.taking out the back panel.to clean and.take a look.at the.video card? What does.it look.like?
If you know exactly your HP model number or series it would be helpful. I wouldn't touch anything else but the video card since like don't know much about computer. You would know a video card by checking the back that it connected to a cable to your monitor.
Touch a ground to get rid of any static electricity in your body. The video card's the one plugged into your display so just follow the cable.
Update: So long story short, video card is the problem, but computer is too old and weak to handle the newer, available graphics card So basically , as I suspected, I'm going have to buy a new desktop computer. Whats the best place/website to look for and purchase a new computer? (I would prefer HPs or Dells) Any tips/recommendations? I'm more of a digitial media/storage (ie songs + videos + photos) and casual multimedia/gaming kind of guy , so realistically, would a $500-$800 computer be a good match? Thanks for all the help guys/gals/transies
saw this on Dell's website. http://www.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/signature-event?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs
Just buy some old model video card for 50$ if you're casual PC user. If you're gaming junkie then go for new one.
