Black Screen of Death???

[BazMan]

Hi all, My parents computer just seems to have gone kaput! It was knocked very slighty and the thing just went off. When turned back on the monitor is completely blank and the computer doesn't even start to load up. The monitor is working fine and power is getting to the PC (the lights are on and the fan is whirring) but nothing else happens. The power cable was slightly loose so i'm wondering whether something has shorted. Is it likely to be the HDD?? At the moment we can't do anything at all with it. Any help or comments would be most appreciated. Cheers BazMan

[richh0323]

Reseat all the baords, then check all power connectors. If you do that and still don't even get a fan turn on, I would check you're power supply with a meter if you have on, here are common specs. POWER SUPPLY CONNECTIONS Pin Number Color Function Connector 1 Orange "Power Good" P8 2 Red (XT No Wire) +5V DC P8 3 Yellow +12V DC P8 4 Blue -12V DC P8 5 Black Ground P8 6 Black Ground P8 7 Black Ground P9 8 Black Ground P9 9 Black Ground P9 10 Yellow -5V DC P9 11 Red +5V DC P9 12 Red +5V DC P9 You may also try to dissconnect poew connectors from hard drive, CD Rom, .

[MawDuce]

I did the same thing to a hard drive. Inside a hard drive are "seekers"(for lack of a better word), that move back and forth to scan the disk. A bump on the computer can cause the "seekers" to strike the disks inside renduring the information on that portion of the disk unusable. This is more common on old drives. If enough damage is done, you get your problem. No boot. The solution? Try reinstalling windows. Windows will scan the disk for errors and can repair them. There is no guarentee the data on the disk will be intact when you recover the hard drive. Hope this helps.

[mariotwin05]

I had this problem with a hp Pavillon ze5500 computer. All the fans work, all the lights work, it just doesn't come on (monitor). I got the 'trap 00000006' Exception message. And that was the last time the screen worked. The screen will boot on occasion, and the computer will even work sometimes, but thats just every week or so. And lately when it 'comes on' it just shuts down unexpectedly. SO I can't boot any CDs to fix the problem, and cant access the registry to try to fix it. Any suggestions for a NON-comuter savvy person would help

[richh0323]

Help us out here, are you getting the POST screen every time you power up? What shuts down, the computer or the display?

[mariotwin05]

Sorry, like I said,not computer savvy When I turn the computer on, everything works, except for the screen.

[richh0323]

Ok first if you can, try a different display, see if you have any change. Will you're display work on another computer, if so but not on you're computer I would would get a new display board. If you can determin if you're display works on another computer this will help.

[mariotwin05]

nope, I tried a different monitor, and it still didn't work. And this is a laptop, so I don't know what to do : (

[richh0323]

Sorry I am at a lose here, I work more on desk top units. I do know that a lap top can support a CTR monitor, but if that doesn't work you may have to have someone look at it. In less someone here is good at laptops and can help you out. Just one thought here, some lap tops do have a key that when pushed can turn the screen off, but you may have to referr to the user manual.

[Xitech]

With a laptop, tons of things can go wrong. The video card setup collects dust, overheats and burns up; the lcd screen goes; the ram is knocked loose and so on. It might be a good idea to take it to a retailer and let the diagnose the problem and have a pro fix it.