Computer black monitor?

Question

My computer crashed and I got a black screen while I was alt tabbing out of WoW today. When I tried to turn it back on the machine booted up and I heard fans, but the monitor was black. I opened up my case to see if all the fans on every part was working, and they were.

So I began testing to see what was wrong. I reseated my video card and each ram stick. My computer booted up. Then crashed almost immediately after. I managed to see "wrong cmos settings" before it did.

I took an older cmos battery out of a different computer and replaced the current one. My monitor remained black.

I took out my old video card and replaced it with the new. Didn't turn on.

I put the new one back in but in a different slot. Turned on. Crashed immediately.

I put the old one back in in the original slot and switched monitors. Computer loads up, I log in, I get a message telling me I'm don't have the nvidia driver. That's to be expected. Go to the internet to DL the drivers and..crash.

I honestly don't know what else to check. I've tried switching:

Monitor
Video card
Ram
DVI cable

Is it just the motherboard? Does anyone have any suggestions? My razer lycosa was lighting up blue. I could use the number lock key and everything. My razer naga was not lighting up, though.

Answer 1

Instead of replacing your current CMOS battery with an older one, try replacing it with a newer one.

I have the feeling that your computer could be very old and the video card could be dying or be too old, I'm not so sure. If it crashes when you attempted to install drivers when it specifically told you that you didn't have the Nvidia Drivers then something is definitely wrong with your video card for sure. Maybe you should consider buying a new video card, a cheap one. If World of Warcraft is all you play then you should be fine buying a cheap card that could be around $20 - $50. Buying a new video card is harder than it sounds because you'll have to make sure that your motherboard even supports it. The newest cards today have a slot called that they require called PCI Express 2.0 or PCIE 2.0. These cards that need this are very powerful.

Another way (which is very costly I'm sorry) is to buy a new computer completely. Maybe not a gaming computer since your only playing World of Warcraft but maybe just a computer that costs around $300 - $500 would be able to run World of Warcraft. Then again, buying a gaming computer isn't all that bad. They are very worth your money since you 'll be safe and prepared for the future. Most gaming computers come with there own built in cooling systems to keep hardware and components inside nice and cool. For beginners, I suggest heading over to Alienware's website and custom build a nice cheap computer for yourself as building one on your own is easier said than done.

Answer 2

It is a problem with the video driver, the game uses a dos driver and windows uses a windows driver.

It sounds like it got hung doing the switch. The Updated nvidia driver does not seem to work in windows either, I had problems when I let Windows Update update mine. I can't tell where you stand now, all the switching and pulling and replacing parts, but if you are able to see your way around, tell it to look in the Windows\System32 folder for the drivers, they may still be in there. If not, run Setup on the Windows CD and select Repair Installation, so you don't lose any data, and reinstall.

Answer 3

If there's a clear CMOS button on the back IO, push it.



If you have done that try making sure all the plugs from the PSU are correctly fitted, the supplementary CPU 12v could be loose/unattached.



Apart from that I'm no expert so I can't help anymore, sorry :/