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PC help (lemmy.ca)

submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by yeather@lemmy.ca to c/techsupport@lemmy.world

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My PC screen randomly went black while I was playing a game, and the VGA light turned on. When I rebooted, the cpu light turns on for a second, then turns off and the DRAM light turns on for a second, them the VGA light turns on permanently, screen completely black and unable to do anything. I have already tried clearing the CMOS, reseating and testing RAM, and the cable to my monitor. Any other ideas?

Edit: Just got it back from Office Depot. It worked in store according to the tech but when I brought it back home it did not work again. Possibly my Displayport cable? The VGA light is still on, so maybe it’s my outlet? Any ideas would be nice.

Edit 2: Thunderstorm must have messed with my cable running between my PC and Monitor. After rerunning it at Office Depot, a new cable and a deep clean fixed my PC. Thanks for everyone’s help.

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[–] dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago (2 children)

In addition to the other idea about trying a different power supply (pro tip: PC nerds should always have a known good power supply lying around on a shelf somewhere, for situations like this), also try yanking out and reseating your graphics card. If neither of the above do it, try sticking in a known good graphics card. Also check the power socket(s) on your graphics card for signs of having become cooked.

In addition to the Shelf O' Power Supplies, I also keep a couple of rinky-dink and/or several generations old graphics cards in a box (I even still have a couple of AGP ones!) because they're not worth anything but definitely do at least kick out a video signal, which is useful for troubleshooting a potentially bad card and also keeping you going — albeit maybe only in Flatland — while you wait for warranty or a replacement to show up in the mail.

[–] yeather@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 week ago

This is my first real computer so I do not have any spare parts laying around. I unplugged the graphics card, the plugs look fine to me. I plugged the card into the same slot and have the same issue, I then olugged it into the second, lower slot, no more cpu light but the dram flash and vga light persists with the black screen still.

[–] yeather@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 week ago

I might just take it into Office Depot, seems easier since I don’t have all the tools to fix the computer.