My sister-in-law brought me her computer to fix. The first problem to conquer is that when you start up the computer, the monitor is blank, I mean nothing happens. You can hear the CPU doing all the right stuff, just no picture. I assumed that her monitor was shot, so I hooked it up to my husband's computer and the same thing happened. Go figure. The side was off the case when she brought it and there are three wires that are not connected to anything. One is a "ribbon" wire, and the other two are a group of three wires and four wires respectively. I'm not sure if these are suppose to connect to something or are just "extra" wires. Her ex-husband was a computer guy, so I'm not sure how much of this is homemade and how much is factory.

Any ideas?? :confused:

Is this computer using a separate video card? How old is this PC?

If your husband's computer video card is compatible, then you can swap them, and check if you have anything on the monitor. If it works, then the video card is the problem.

Trace back the 3 wire and 4 wire cable. Are either of them connected to the CPU fan? If yes, then its probably too late now anyway, since the CPU would have overheated and become permanently damaged. But plug the cable back into the "CPU fan" pins located near the CPU and turn it on... wish for luck.

The "ribbon" cable could be anything depending on the case design or any added accessories. It could be usb ports, firewire ports, mic and headphone inputs, front panel LED's, a 2nd serial port, joystick/game port, etc.