Hi There,
I am in the process of building my first computer. I have built it and put it all together. I have powered it up and the fans run and the cd-rom light comes on... wait for it!. The screen just says no signal... now I have checked and re-checked all the connections... any ideas? All suggestions gratefully received Thanks:confused:

No signal is telling you that the video card is not receiving a signal from the monitor.

1 of 2 things

First, make sure your video card is firmly placed into the slot (remove and reseat) try another slot if one is avail.

Take a known working video card and put it in to see if that would work (if a known card works, it is the video card you started with)

If same problem with a known working card, it is your monitor.

Try another monitor if you have one handy

Your problem is either, the video card, the monitor or the system board




If it is a video card that is integrated into the motherboard, you need to find a known working monitor and try that (if it works, it is the origianl monitor, if a known working monitor does not work, it is your on-board video input)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rob_uk

Hi There,
I am in the process of building my first computer. I have built it and put it all together. I have powered it up and the fans run and the cd-rom light comes on...wait for it!!...The screen just says no signal... now I have checked and re-checked all the connections...any ideas? All suggestions gratefully received Thanks:confused:

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Try installing the drivers for your monitor, and the video card drivers to vga until you can install the real ones.

Not to belabor points, drivers have nothing to do with "no signal"
The monitor is not receiving a signal (information) from the video card

I've moved this the hardware sections, since building a PC is beyond Beginning computing.

As noted, If the monitor says no signal, then something is wrong with the connection from the video adapter to the monitor. My questions is whether the motherboard has a built in video adapter (many do) or not. If it does, are you using it or a separate Video adapter. What I suspect might be the case here, is you are using a separate video adapter (why build your own and use on board video?) and you did not disable the on board video.

Is the machine POSTing (getting a beep or beeps)?

Some things to try:
1. Unplug everything but processor, video, and single stick of memory/minimum sticks required, and keyboard.
2. Reseat memory and look for trash in the slots.
3. You did use thermal compound between processor and heatsink, right?
4. Look for screws or other metal objects between motherboard and chassis.
5. If you have onboard video but are using a discrete adapter, you may need to remove discrete adapter, boot using onboard and adjust a BIOS setting for adapter to be used, and then reinstall discrete.
6. You did take anti-static precautions during build, right?

In addition to Scleros's #4:

Make sure there are spacers between the side of the case and the motherboard. Some are the little metal ones you screw in,a and then place the motherboard on top of, and put screws into. Some are the little plastic ones that snap in the motherboard. Some are just the rubber bumpers you stick to the case. But you can't just let the MB hang there... the solder points can't touch the case while it's powered up or you can short something and fry the board.