Video Card bad?

My 16 year old son brought his computer to me earlier tonight and told me it was broke! I know it is a mess, with viruses. I was going to clean it up, but when I hooked it to my monitor, the monitor never came on. Power was okay and the monitor works on my computer. He told me that happened to him today also.

Could this be a video card? I am thinking I bought him a new video card a while back and one of the techs where I used to work put it in. I only see two cards and one is the modem. I tried pulling the other card out and putting it back in and still nothing on the monitor.

Is it a safe bet to go buy a new video card? He likes to play games and I am debating about getting him a new computer all together. His is only about a 1.4 Ghz, with 512 ram and I can't remember anything else. If I get him the new one, I don't want to spend lots of money on a video card.

So, any recommendations on an average video card? I really think I will get him a new computer. He plays computer games and I know you have to have a good computer for those.

Thanks.

Nancy

 

Before you buy anything-
When you turn the computer on, the computer emits a beep (or beeps) that gives information about what's going on. Generally, one, short beep means things are working fine (on the most basic level). If some memory has gone bad, or if there's another problem, then the computer will emit a series of beeps. If the motherboard is totally fried, or you might not even hear anything.

So, when you turn your computer on, do you hear any beeps?
If there's one short beep, then I would look at the video card. If there's a series of beeps, then we'll need to find out the make/model of your motherboard. In this case, the most common culprit is the memory.

 

I hear one short beep when I turn it on. The computer dates back to when 1.2 Ghz were brand new. I know it has to be at least three years old or more? He said there was activity on the monitor earlier today, but then when he tried later nothing.

The video card says PNY GF2MX2003 32 SAGP, I am thinking it was a GeForce 2 card. I know I got recommendations and bought the best one I could afford at the time.

So, it probably looks like the video card, I take it? I really appreciate the help.

Nancy

 

The short beep pretty much rules out the mobo, RAM, HD, CPU, and PSU... leaving the monitor and the video card. I would definitely take Triple6's advice before spending money.

 

I would go out and buy a PNY FX5200 or FX5600. They are at the minimun at the moment but will run all the modern games (IE: BF1942 w/ desert combat and all mods, codename panzers, doom3, ect...) with that 512mb. I currently only run 64mb onboard graphics but those 2 cards above are 128mb vid cards.