What is going on with my PC?

Hi. I have a problem with my pc. Windows 7 x64, AMD Quad core phenom, 4 gig RAM, amd radeon R6870 1 gig vid card. corsair cx600 PSU.
For a while my pc has been making a random loud noise on start up (a fan). I couldn't figure out which fan it was.The other day i decided to give the tower and components a clean up from all the dust. I removed the fan from the PSU and the heatsink and blew all the dust out from them.
When i put the tower back together i got the 'No video signal' message. I posted in another forum and did a few things i was advised to try, mostly disconnecting and reconnecting everything.
My daughter has a pc and we decided to try the process of elimination.
Firstly we tried another monitor on my pc and that didn't work, we tried my monitor on my daughters pc and that worked ok.
I put my GPU in her pc and it gave the same 'No video signal' message. We put her card (working) in my machine and got the same message. I put a different PSU in (working) with a known to be working GPU card, and that made no difference either. I am not heavy handed with these things, the complete opposite in fact and i don't understand what could have suddenly gone wrong.
From the above i would say definitely the video card has a problem but as my daughters video card wouldn't work in this machine either then there must be more than one problem.
All the connections are fine, all the fans in the tower are working.The pc starts as normal but we just keep getting that message.
I regularly clean the inside to keep it as dust free as possible. The tower is about 5 years old, the Video card and PSU are about 18 months old.
Any help would be much appreciated.

I have this posted in other forums. I have pasted the links below as it might save some time and effort.

http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?p=69279448&posted=1#post69279448

http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/topic/333962-noisy-fan-on-startup/

Posted this in another forum too and had no response, i am really looking for a diagnosis rather than a fix at this point. Whether i need a new vid card and/or motherboard.
Thanks.

Can you describe what you did with the GPU when you cleaned it/took it out of the system?

Sounds like a potential mobo and gpu fault. Have you cleared the CMOS?

Hi Sking0. These fora are owned by PC Specialists (PCS) and they are for the support of PCS custom-built PCS and laptops. You might get some replies because they're a really helpful (and knowledgeable) bunch of people on here, but this is not the best place for the support you need.

I'm not particularly surprised that your daughter's video card didn't work in your PC. You almost certainly don't have the drivers installed for her card. So I don't think that particular test tells you very much.

I would first make certain that you have the latest drivers for your video card and that they are installed properly. The best way to ensure that is to uninstall the existing drivers, reboot, and then reinstall the latest drivers.

Will Windows start in Safe Mode? Will it start in Safe Mode with Command Prompt? If it does either or both of those then your problem probably is a busted video card.

Thanks for the responses. @Mooseh I literally removed the card from the slot and blew the dust out, where it doesn't involve the brush touching any circuitry i use a small artists brush to loosen small clumps of dust that want to stay where they are.
I was reading about CMOS last night and asked about whether to perform it in another forum but i have had no response to that.

@Ubuysa The reason we tried the Video card swap was because when i put it into my pc (when i bought it ) the pc still functioned as normal i just had to install it to get the benefits of the software. I did wonder about that and maybe that is worth trying.
I get emails from the manufacturer when a new driver is released and it is always up to date.
I cannot get the pc to show anything on the screen. It all starts up lovely and sounds absolutely normal to me, the issue is that i just have the black screen with the little white window containing the message 'No signal input Check video cable'. I cannot get into windows at all.

I suspect the video card but i did think if i put my daughters card in my pc i would at least get to windows. That is why i think the mobo may be an issue too.
I am no expert, i have replaced PSUs and GPUs quite a few times over the years, i have only tried switching components with working PC to try and break things down a bit. Now i am totally stuck as it seems i have mobo trouble and vid card. Logically i can't see it being anything else, but i do say again... I am no expert.
If i bought a new GPU and that didn't cure then i would be going for a new mobo, i just dread doing all that and i am still at square one.
It would be really nice if these things could just be tested. s it worth trying the CMOS approach do you think?
Thanks again. Always open to suggestion and learning

Can't believe that through the process of cleaning and trying to maintain my pc it just does this and two major components are busted.

I was going to suggest checking out the RAM sticks,but I see that's already been covered on another forum.
It does appear to be an issue with the motherboard,so I would try clearing the CMOS as moose suggested,but that doesn't explain your GPU not working in another computer.
You may have accidently damaged the connections of the PCI port and the graphics card or possibly the damage has been caused by static.
Did you take antic-static precautions.

When i plugged the DVI cable ito the port on the graphics card i heard a tiny electrical noise, i have heard this before when doing this.
I have never liked the sound of it because it doesn't sound like it should happen. It is down to the fact that i have the monitor plugged into a multi point surge protector.
Also plugged into this is the broadband router, if i turn it off when cleaning the pc everyone else goes offline. I know this isn't the way to do things really but i have done it at least 20 times over the years and it has always been ok.
I grounded myself before doing anything.
I am already looking at new motherboards and vid cards so i have nothing to lose from trying the CMOS thing.

I just saw this on the GPU would it affect the card?

Sking0 said:

When i plugged the DVI cable ito the port on the graphics card i heard a tiny electrical noise, i have heard this before when doing this.
I have never liked the sound of it because it doesn't sound like it should happen. It is down to the fact that i have the monitor plugged into a multi point surge protector.
Also plugged into this is the broadband router, if i turn it off when cleaning the pc everyone else goes offline. I know this isn't the way to do things really but i have done it at least 20 times over the years and it has always been ok.
I grounded myself before doing anything.
I am already looking at new motherboards and vid cards so i have nothing to lose from trying the CMOS thing.

Click to expand...

You could still have unplugged the monitor and computer?I would have thought it a bit risky not doing so.

Maybe i got away with it one too many times.

Sking0 said:

Maybe i got away with it one too many times.

Click to expand...

A bit too much like playing Russian roulette to me.

I just did CMOS and after that replaced the battery and tried again. Think i am going to have to put it down to learning the hard way (again)
I am going to need some pointers in choosing a new card/mobo. Do i get a new card 1st then see what happens and if that doesn't work get a mobo too?
Do i need to start a new thread to ask about which stuff to get? I was just thinking it will save a lot of explaining if i could just ask about the new components here, as far as compatibility goes...CPU etc

Sking0 said:

@Ubuysa The reason we tried the Video card swap was because when i put it into my pc (when i bought it ) the pc still functioned as normal i just had to install it to get the benefits of the software. I did wonder about that and maybe that is worth trying.
I get emails from the manufacturer when a new driver is released and it is always up to date.
I cannot get the pc to show anything on the screen. It all starts up lovely and sounds absolutely normal to me, the issue is that i just have the black screen with the little white window containing the message 'No signal input Check video cable'. I cannot get into windows at all.

Click to expand...

Do you get anywhere pressing F8 repeatedly as soon as you see the boot splash screen? Do you see the boot menu then?

I did that the other day, it didn't do anything. :-( Ready to empty my wallet a bit.
There is absolutely nothing comes comes up except the video/signal message.

I Need a new Mobo and Vid card.

My pc has packed up and i need to get a new motherboard and Video card.
My current motherboard is this...http://www.asrock.com/mb/NVIDIA/K10N78hSLI-GLAN/
My existing but not functioning Vid card is AMD Radeon R6870 1 gig.

I would want to use my existing AMD quad core Phenom and preferably my DDR2 RAM.
I would appreciate some suggestions as to what to get to stay along the lines i have been and not
have any compatibility issues. I don't want the cheapest nor the most expensive, just reasonably priced and solid stuff.
The RAM isn't a major issue really, but just a cost cutter. I would go for a DDR3 board if it was worth getting new RAM for.

Thanks.

Sking0 said:

My pc has packed up and i need to get a new motherboard and Video card.
My current motherboard is this...http://www.asrock.com/mb/NVIDIA/K10N78hSLI-GLAN/
My existing but not functioning Vid card is AMD Radeon R6870 1 gig.

I would want to use my existing AMD quad core Phenom and preferably my DDR2 RAM.
I would appreciate some suggestions as to what to get to stay along the lines i have been and not
have any compatibility issues. I don't want the cheapest nor the most expensive, just reasonably priced and solid stuff.
The RAM isn't a major issue really, but just a cost cutter. I would go for a DDR3 board if it was worth getting new RAM for.

Thanks.

Click to expand...

Remember that whilst people on these forums will give help on problems existing PC's, advertising other places to get PC components from is kind of against the forums rules (since PCSpecialist sell custom-built new PCs they don't really want competitors advertised on their forums), if you want a whole new PC a few members will I'm sure suggest some PCS specs, but if you only want a few components, you may want to check out some other general PC forums that are not tied to a specific brand.

Fair enough and thanks.