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My friend called me telling me his computer we built a while back is not having video output. I remember when we first built it, it didn't have output either, but I forgot how we fixed it. Now, it's happening again. I've tested the monitor and ll the external cords, they all work. We've replaced the PSU, tried a different GPU, took out the RAM, booted without the RAM, took out the motherboard, put the motherboard back in with standoffs ( forgot them the first time, oops), and unplugged everything that could be unplugged and plugged it back in, but to no avail. All the other fans (CPU, case, GPU) are running so I think that means it's working, but I get no beeps from the little speaker on boot. If anybody has any ideas that would be great. From what it looks like it might be the motherboard, but I want a good evaluation before we go and buy things.

Here's the build:

  • Intel Core i5-3350P 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor
  • MSI B75MA-E33 Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard
  • G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
  • A-Data Premier Pro SP600 64GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
  • Toshiba 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
  • MSI GeForce GTX 650 1GB Video Card
  • Windows 7 Ultimate
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  • the board has Xfire and does it have some sort of onboard grafics without a grafics card? So did you A) go through the bios for possible options that could effect it somehow. B) Check using whatever onboard video it might have C) make sure that whatever in the bios exists to have onboard or external GPU be the first one that is used. Maybey the cmos battery is low and some bios settings you had made is no longer set?
    – Psycogeek
    Jun 19, 2014 at 23:31
  • @Psycogeek I've already tried it on the on board port with and without multiple GPUs installed. I'm not sure what you mean by the bios, but I cant't see anything on the screen, so if I need that for the bios, then that might not be an option.
    – Crubleigh
    Jun 19, 2014 at 23:49
  • yes you would have to have that working there first, which might mean to default the bios (clear the cmos, or pull the battery) which will reset all the other bios stuff. but until you get a view into the bios (at least) you do not have a lot to lose.
    – Psycogeek
    Jun 20, 2014 at 0:01
  • How do I reset the bios? What does that do to the computer? What is this battery? It's a desktop not a laptop btw.
    – Crubleigh
    Jun 20, 2014 at 0:57
  • you look in the manuel for the cmos jumper (on the motherboard), and move it usually from pins 1-2 to pins 3-4 while the computer is off, then put it back where it was. It resets everything, usually settings like raid achi and ide switching is one of the biggest changes that can change bootability. It reset any ram timings, any overclocking, any legasy USB settings, all back to defaults which is concidered "safer". Hopefully it will also engage the onboard video, but further reading about how that onboard video works would be nessisary.
    – Psycogeek
    Jun 20, 2014 at 1:07

2 Answers 2

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Try to clear CMOS settings. Regardless whether you played with BIOS settings or not it may help. Here are the places at pictures below, from the B76MA-E33 manual

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  • Where do you get his jumper? Could I just hold a screwdriver between the pins while it boots
    – Crubleigh
    Jun 20, 2014 at 3:18
  • Also I'm sorry about my lack of instruction manual. That was the one thing my friend neglected to include in his box of computer goodies.
    – Crubleigh
    Jun 20, 2014 at 3:20
  • Making shorting by screwdriver generally sounds. Jun 20, 2014 at 4:19
  • So, do I keep it shorted while it boots?
    – Crubleigh
    Jun 23, 2014 at 1:39
  • No, don't do it! The Red Exclamation Mark warns not to do that. Jun 23, 2014 at 1:41
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OK, Guys Listen up

First of all , no Stand-offs in the original Build..... Big No No and very serious issue

do you remember if you started the computer up without standoffs, Maybe you shorted the board

Now, that aide

YOU HAVE A GRAPHICS ISSUE

Why are you changing the PSU Why are You removing the motherboard

and disconnecting and reconnecting every conceivable device possible

troubleshoot effectively

  1. Define is your Graphics accelerator ONBOARD of Via GRAPHICS CARD

Dont Flash the Motherboard Memory, What For? that's not going to do anything accept cause potential additional issues

  1. other things to try before you go spending money have you configured the Primary Graphics Device at startup in the CMOS Settings

First answer these 2 questions and the we will troubleshoot further

  1. oh one other thing, Consider that the monitor you are using could be of a certain Max Resolution, but the Resolution that the graphics card is set at, could be much higher, and therefore it will appear as a Black Screen

I'm an Expert at this stuff if you want i'll talk you through it

Just answer the first 2 Questions first, and stop pulling things apart, and Flashing BIOS's

speak soon

Sorry my bad, You obviously have a graphics card

MSI GeForce GTX 650 1GB Video Card with 3 outputs VGA, DVI and HDMI and it's a PCI Express Card

Ok , make sure that you CMOS is set to Boot Graphics from PCI Express

then, understand that each card has a primary Port and secondary and a slave

the VGA port is primary Usually

what port are you plugged into ?

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  • I Understand and respect your point of view, However these are the facts, Even though you tried 3 different monitors it DOES NOT rule out the resolution issue, You can only rule it out, if you know the Resolution capabilities of the monitors, You could have been trying to achieve let's say 1080 when all the monitors supported no more than 1024x768, You need to know what they support, so , NOw, even the PSU was rubbish, it still has nothing to do with video output, so it's irrelevant, and as a professional You can't rely on "Usually when something stuffs up i do this" that's poor troubleshootn
    – Martin
    Jun 23, 2014 at 6:53
  • now, if you do reassemble the whole system, and let's say that just the graphics card was not correctly inserted into the expansion port, YES, you will fix the issue, but that's like saying, i pulled my whole car apart to change the tyre, You need to define the problem, if the PSU needed, replacing that's great, replace it. but after replacing it, Your graphics issue did not get fixed, right, of course.
    – Martin
    Jun 23, 2014 at 6:55
  • did you find out those things that i asked you to find out. about the CMOS settings, and are the monitors plugged into the primary port, also its a good idea to make sure that your card is pushed in to the expansion port correctly, find out those answers first then we can go from, Just Trust me OK, i have years of experience at this, I'll show you how to narrow down the problem efficiently. let me know, thanks mate
    – Martin
    Jun 23, 2014 at 6:57
  • Everything is plugged into the primary ports. I've even tried it with removing the GPU and going to the on board video. I have it plugged into the primary VGA port. I'm not sure what you want with the CMOS, but I shorted it while it was off like Ruslan told me to and it did not help. As far as troubleshooting goes, I'm just using what I know. I know how to build, I'll use building (deconstruction etc) as my troubleshooting method. So, yes I'm not doing it efficiently, but I'm saying it's the only way I know how, and thank you for helping me.
    – Crubleigh
    Jun 23, 2014 at 16:53
  • 1
    I just got done with a little experiment. I switched out GPUs from his computer and my computer (functioning). Both computers failed to produce video output, but I'm thinking that's because I didn't install drivers for the new cards. When I returned the GPUs back to normal, mine functioned normally, but his still did not work. If I installed the drivers for another card on the same machine, what would happen? That's where I stopped the experiment, because I was unsure, but my friend actually won a new GPU the other day, (GTX Titan Black) so might it help to try and install it and its drivers?
    – Crubleigh
    Jun 24, 2014 at 4:16

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