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no video, black screen

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by bruno fonseca Mar 4, 2003 last reply Apr 14, 2003

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I have a old Packard Bell M400 166MHZ with 16mb of ram. It's a really old system that I would like to get back up and running but I have a problem. I tried litterally everything but if anyone has any input I would really appreciate it. Basically when I turn the system on I can the hard drive working but there is no video. It is just a tottally black screen on the monitor. Could there be a short in the motherboard or something, I have thought of that but a usual characteristic of that is that you can't turn the pc off. You have to unplug it. I can turn this one off but the video just doesn't show. Any ideas would be trully appreciated.

11 replies

by thechas Mar 4, 2003

Check the connections.

If the video is a plug-in board, remove and re-seat the board.

Same for any cables from the motherboard.

And, the memory modules.

If the PC has a coin cell style battery, consider changing it.
Then, follow the CMOS memory reset procedure.

You need the full model and serial number, but you can get some documentation for PB PCs from www.priorityonesupport.com

Chas

by bruno fonseca Apr 14, 2003

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by bruno fonseca Apr 14, 2003

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by cactus pete Mar 4, 2003

Chas is certainly right. I would just add that you should make sure you're plugging into the correct video card. [If the system has a built-in video port, but also an add-in card...]

Also, does it beep at all when booting?

by bruno fonseca Apr 14, 2003

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by bruno fonseca Apr 14, 2003

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by alpha-male Mar 4, 2003

A couple additional suggestions:

1) Verify the monitor is good and that the brightness is turned up (especially if you have kids).

2) Verify that the connections are tight (like Chas suggested) and see if moving the cable affects the picture. Do you get a green light on the monitor (to show it sees a connection)?

3) Replace the video card with one that is known to be good. Make sure to remove or disable the old card.

Good luck...hope you can get it up and running!