Problem: My computer thinks that it isn't connected to my monitor.

[stan-the-man]

Howdy folks,

I'd be really grateful if anyone could help me with this weird problem. I have a computer that's running Win98 SE, and a monitor by Spectrum, that I got from some online store about three years ago. They have been working fine since I got them, until recently.

You see, the computer was running, when all of a sudden the screen froze up. So I hit the reset button. Upon this, my monitor suddenly displayed the message "No Signal Detected," and my computer started making this weird and irritating beeping noise. (Both, however, remained turned on, so they were both receiving power.) I presume that this noise is supposed to alert me to the fact that the computer, though turned on, is not detecting a connection to the monitor. Only problem with that is, the signal cable was still securely in place connecting the two.

I've actually had this happen to me twice before (also fairly recently), except those times, I just unplugged the signal cable and screwed it back in, and then the computer would stop beeping and boot up as normal. When I tried this quick fix yesterday, it failed to work. This morning, however, I tried turning on the computer and it booted up fine, without any other action on my part. However, ten minutes later, it froze up again and I was back to listening to the beeping noise and wondering what on earth was going on. That's about where I am right now.

If anyone could shed some light on this mystery, I would be very grateful to him or her. Thanks in advance.

 

[biggmc]

Tell us how many beeps there are? Do you know what BIOS you are using?

These might help us help you.

 

[stan-the-man]

Well, it's like this - there's one long beep, then a short pause, long beep, short pause, and so on, with the same long beep repeating forever. Unfortunately, I'm not sure about the BIOS. It may be written in one of the manuals I have, so I'll go look that up and post about it tomorrow (I'm writing this from a public lab).

EDIT: Right off the top of my head, I think it's American Megatrends, but I'm not sure.

 

[stan-the-man]

Whoa, sorry about that. I've definitely got the Award BIOS, not American Megatrends. I know for sure because my computer graciously allowed itself to be booted up just now, and it was the first thing I saw.

EDIT: Since I wrote that, it froze again, so I turned it off and took a look inside it. The video card seemed to be in place pretty firmly, but everything was covered in a really thick layer of dust, so I cleaned it up a little. It booted up after that, but then it froze again, so I'm still where I started.

EDIT 2: Apparently this beep I'm getting corresponds to a warning of "bad connection." What's strange is that when I placed the computer tower on its side (such that the motherboard came to lie on the floor and face upward), it booted up on the first try and apparently didn't freeze. But when I looked inside it, I didn't see anything that was loose or out of place. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

 

[Ronnie151]

pull the vedio card out and blow the dust out with a can of air, blow down in the slot then put the card back in and see if it works ok.

 

[rockinmale]

I have to agree with ronnie.....

First..... If you never cleaned the inside of the computer. I would say it could be overheating due to an infestation of dust bunnies. It sounds like a overheating problem since it works fine after allowing the computer to sit and cool down. Then when you turn the system on it works until till its heats up again and then the warning beeps start again.

Like ronnie stated, get yourself a can of compressed air and remove the side panel. Your best to move the computer to an area that you dont mind all these dust bunnies flying around. Blow out all the fans...CPU, Video, and any other fans installed. Dont forget to blow out the power supply and everywhere else in the case. You will certainly see some dust fly outta there. Especially if this has never been cleaned.

I would like to note when blowing out the fans. Dont allow the fan to spin freely. It can damage the fan by reaching rpms higher than the fan is rated.

As a mental note its a good idea to blow out the computer every six months.

Here's a link you might get a kick out of.....
http://www.short-media.com/review.php?r=122

I hope this resolves your issue. If not then post back to this thread and well see what else we can do for you.

TC
Happy Computing
Rockin'male

 

[stan-the-man]

Hey, thanks guys. I'll definitely try that later today. Maybe the beep I'm getting corresponds to "overheating" instead of "bad connection." The thing is, I'm not sure why overheating causes it to not recognize the monitor. Also, it worked fine when I placed the computer on its side, which I don't understand either. But anyway, I'll have at the dust and post my findings afterwards.

 

[Lurker1]

You might try reseating the memory boards.

http://www.bioscentral.com/beepcodes/awardbeep.htm

 

[Ronnie151]

i had a puter that did the same thing it worked when i put it on its side and didnt work standing up, it was vedio caed was not seating properly.

 

[Ronnie151]

while on those different occasions where you took your monitor cable off and on you may have jarred the vedio card just enough to loose connection at times, ive seen some shops take out the card and on the part that goes into the slot they use an eraser on it to clean it before putting it back in. Just a thought.

 

[stan-the-man]

i had a puter that did the same thing it worked when i put it on its side and didnt work standing up, it was vedio caed was not seating properly.

Hmm. When I looked at it, it sure looked like it was firmly in place. But if you've had this exact same problem before, it's definitely something I should keep in mind.

 

[stan-the-man]

OK, it looks like the problem has passed at least for now (I hope). I ended up both reseating the video card and cleaning up the inside of the computer, and it seems to have worked. Big thanks to all of you guys for the help. If this or any other problem comes up in the future, I'll be sure to post here about it (heh).