no picture coming from pc.

crazygeryy

i have my desk top connected with a hdmi cable to my monitor. today it just said no signal and check signal cable.
I've tried connecting the old way and Even tried to connect to the tv, but still no joy.
the pc turn s on the fan is on and it seems like it s working but still no picture. any help would be greatly appreciated thanks.

Digital Solitude

Tried a different cable?

Kimbot

Have you got windows 7 running? If so you may have had a windows update running on last shutdown, on my machine when its on its "updating" at the start of windows it doesnt get recognised by my TV. Normally I leave it on for about 30 minutes and the picture magically kicks back in on the TV

Atlantic Dawn

Does the monitor light up with the led light to show power is getting to it? Have you a laptop or other PC you could connect it to so you can verify it works?

crazygeryy

yes i tried different cable. i did a bit of looking around and it said to check the ram. i have two 4gb ram sticks. took out one see if it worked. nothing. then i took out other one and now it says on the screen. bios defaults have been loaded press f2 or del to run set up
press f1 to continue.
getting somewhere?

Digital Solitude

Press F1.

One of your sticks is dead

crazygeryy

Digital Solitude wrote: »

Press F1.

One of your sticks is dead

so im finding out can you work off one stick of ram?

Digital Solitude

Yeah you can, if you use any RAM intensive tasks then they'll be a good bit slower.

4gb RAM is roughly €30, you should try get as close as possible to the original if you'll be replacing it.

Does the PC boot normally now?

crazygeryy

windows keeps trying to repair it. but it's not working. it's just going in a loop.

apoeiguq3094y

Can you hear if the hard drive is spinning when you turn it on?

crazygeryy

apoeiguq3094y wrote: »

Can you hear if the hard drive is spinning when you turn it on?

well i don't think windows would be trying to repair it if the hard drive was gone would it? its a ssd i can't hear it.
would reinstalling windows do any good? can it be done?

Digital Solitude

What is Windows trying to repair? Reinstall isn't necessary

crazygeryy

Digital Solitude wrote: »

What is Windows trying to repair? Reinstall isn't necessary

start up repair cannot repair this computer automatically.

every time i start it, there's a really quick flash of a blue screen then win dows trys to repair itself and the above is what i get.

Digital Solitude

Next to no experience here so I don't really know. Can you boot into safe mode?

crazygeryy

Digital Solitude wrote: »

Next to no experience here so I don't really know. Can you boot into safe mode?

no it won't let me.

Digital Solitude

crazygeryy wrote: »

yes i tried different cable. i did a bit of looking around and it said to check the ram. i have two 4gb ram sticks. took out one see if it worked. nothing. then i took out other one and now it says on the screen. bios defaults have been loaded press f2 or del to run set up
press f1 to continue.
getting somewhere?

Can you get back to this screen?

smurra3

It sounds like the windows install got corrupted during an update or something. The old way of sorting this would be to put the physical windows disc into the drive and you would get repair options one of which would be to reinstall windows without loosing your data. I haven't had a windows disk in years. Do you have one? Also if you get onto Microsoft they can be quite helpful. They might know a way to fix it over the phone.

apoeiguq3094y

crazygeryy wrote: »

well i don't think windows would be trying to repair it if the hard drive was gone would it? its a ssd i can't hear it.
would reinstalling windows do any good? can it be done?

Sorry was slow typing, didn't see your answer before posting mine.

crazygeryy wrote: »

start up repair cannot repair this computer automatically.

every time i start it, there's a really quick flash of a blue screen then win dows trys to repair itself and the above is what i get.

You seem to have 2 problems, which is odd.
Definitely 1 of the sticks of RAM was iffy, as that got you to at least boot the pc, but now you still have a problem.

If you have access to a second PC and a spare usb drive, you can create recovery media here:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-recovery
You will need your product key, on a stamp on the pc usually or on the packaging.

Be careful with any recovery options there as you might end up overwriting any files you have saved on your pc.

IF you have important docs on your ssd that you need to keep, then if you can mount the ssd on a different pc or as an external drive with a simple adapter. Ask here this is the case.

Have a go at using a recovery USB or DVD and let us know how it goes.

crazygeryy

to be honest i didn't see the above suggestion/reply until now.
i couldn't get out of the loop so to speak so i just ended up re installing windows. i booted up from the disc and it re installed.
i don't store anything vip on the same drive windows is on so it wasn't too bad.
so i have one or two questions.
if i get a new memory does it have to be a pair of them?
and is there any way of testing the broken memory stick besides putting it back into the pc? how would i make sure it's broke and not something else?

Ant695

crazygeryy wrote: »

so i have one or two questions.
if i get a new memory does it have to be a pair of them?
and is there any way of testing the broken memory stick besides putting it back into the pc? how would i make sure it's broke and not something else?

The only thing you need to do with new memory is get something as close to the one you are replacing as possible. Most can be bought as single sticks anyways.

Easiest way to test the faulty stick is put it in another computer or put it in the current system and take out the working stick.

mordeith

If you haven't re-inserted the stick you took out there's no guarantee its dodgy. It may just have been loose. As said above, only way to be sure is stick it back in on its own and see.

smurra3

I would just put the stick back in and try it.
Make sure you put it back in the correct slot.
If there are 4 slots they should be coloured in pairs, usually black and blue or grey and dark grey but could be different.
Stick with 1 colour.
It wont blow up if you get it wrong but it will effect performance.

apoeiguq3094y

If its a prebuilt machine (e.g. a Dell) then most memory websites will have a choosing app that will tell you what is compatible with your system.

Otherwise tell us your motherboard and other system info and someone here will recommend.

Since you have 4GB now (not ideal as its in 1 stick) I'd wait a week or 2 and see if anything else happens. It was odd the way both the ram and the OS had a problem. If it were me, I 'd like to know more before spending money on new RAM.

crazygeryy

apoeiguq3094y wrote: »

If its a prebuilt machine (e.g. a Dell) then most memory websites will have a choosing app that will tell you what is compatible with your system.

Otherwise tell us your motherboard and other system info and someone here will recommend.

Since you have 4GB now (not ideal as its in 1 stick) I'd wait a week or 2 and see if anything else happens. It was odd the way both the ram and the OS had a problem. If it were me, I 'd like to know more before spending money on new RAM.

yes i agree with you. its actually a machine that i built with another guy in here. he helped me with it 3 years ago. he very kindly offered to help me build it so we met up etc.
i don't remember his user name but really nice guy.
anyway the mobo is an asus rock intel series z68 pro3 gen3 mobo.
there were two 4gb ddr3 sticks of ram in it. only one now.
hope that's enough info. would just buying another pair do? they seem to be sold in Pairs a lot online.
again will it operate with 3?

apoeiguq3094y

crazygeryy wrote: »

yes i agree with you. its actually a machine that i built with another guy in here. he helped me with it 3 years ago. he very kindly offered to help me build it so we met up etc.
i don't remember his user name but really nice guy.
anyway the mobo is an asus rock intel series z68 pro3 gen3 mobo.
there were two 4gb ddr3 sticks of ram in it. only one now.
hope that's enough info. would just buying another pair do? they seem to be sold in Pairs a lot online.
again will it operate with 3?

About using 3 sticks - this gives some details on why you should use pairs.
http://superuser.com/questions/109308/why-does-ram-need-to-be-installed-in-pairs

So your question is "If i buy 2 new sticks, should I keep my old one?" I am not certain to be honest. Maybe someone else here can tell you. I dunno if having 2 identical (literally from the same box) in dual channel is better than having 3 which are not in dual channel mode. I suspect the 3 would be better.

From ASR website:
Supports DDR3 2133(OC)/1866(OC)/1600/1333/1066 non-ECC, un-buffered memory

So your machine will take 5 different speeds of RAM. If you are buying a new one to match your existing one, then the speeds MUST match. Eg. if you have 1600MHz at the minute, you'd need to buy DDR3 1600MHZ non-ECC, un-buffered, 240pin

ASRock doesn't say that it supports low voltage ram, so I'd make sure it was 1.5V (as opposed to 1.35V which is used on laptops often, or 1.65 which is not really ideally as its just overclocking the RAM) . Speaking of overclocking, I dunno what those 2 higher speeds with the OC are really doing. I have no experience with overclocking.

http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z68%20Pro3%20Gen3/?cat=Memory
The list on the ASR website is a bit unhelpful as you could spend all day googling them.

Plugging your details onto the crucial website gives a list of compatible RAM. http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z68%20Pro3%20Gen3/?cat=Memory
I don't fully trust that thing though.

To be honest, if I was in your shoes, where you got someone else to help you design the system- I'd see if I could do a direct replacement of what you currently have (post the details written on the ram stick here maybe).

If you can't do an exact match of what you have you can do the closest match (i.e. match the speed of what you have already - the 1600 part and the other numbers, but it might have a slightly different model number).

Page 20 of this:ftp://europe.asrock.com/manual/Z68 Pro3 Gen3.pdf gives details on which slots the pairs should be in so that it can work in that fancy Dual channel mode. New RAM is going to be around €50 or €60 anyway. I'd wait a week or 2 to make sure the system doesn't have some other underlying fault.

I have found this kind of website useful when building PCs, but it doesn't have much info on your motherboard. http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/
I manually put in the specs of your RAM and this is the list I got:
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/parts/memory/#Z=8192002&E=0&t=11&s=301333,301600,301866,302133&V=1500
You could try a pair of 4GBs from that. Must warn you that this (like most advice on the internet) is not guaranteed to be correct.

Kalman

Reboot holding down F8.

crazygeryy

apoeiguq3094y wrote: »

About using 3 sticks - this gives some details on why you should use pairs.
http://superuser.com/questions/109308/why-does-ram-need-to-be-installed-in-pairs

So your question is "If i buy 2 new sticks, should I keep my old one?" I am not certain to be honest. Maybe someone else here can tell you. I dunno if having 2 identical (literally from the same box) in dual channel is better than having 3 which are not in dual channel mode. I suspect the 3 would be better.

From ASR website:
Supports DDR3 2133(OC)/1866(OC)/1600/1333/1066 non-ECC, un-buffered memory

So your machine will take 5 different speeds of RAM. If you are buying a new one to match your existing one, then the speeds MUST match. Eg. if you have 1600MHz at the minute, you'd need to buy DDR3 1600MHZ non-ECC, un-buffered, 240pin

ASRock doesn't say that it supports low voltage ram, so I'd make sure it was 1.5V (as opposed to 1.35V which is used on laptops often, or 1.65 which is not really ideally as its just overclocking the RAM) . Speaking of overclocking, I dunno what those 2 higher speeds with the OC are really doing. I have no experience with overclocking.

http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z68%20Pro3%20Gen3/?cat=Memory
The list on the ASR website is a bit unhelpful as you could spend all day googling them.

Plugging your details onto the crucial website gives a list of compatible RAM. http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z68%20Pro3%20Gen3/?cat=Memory
I don't fully trust that thing though.

To be honest, if I was in your shoes, where you got someone else to help you design the system- I'd see if I could do a direct replacement of what you currently have (post the details written on the ram stick here maybe).

If you can't do an exact match of what you have you can do the closest match (i.e. match the speed of what you have already - the 1600 part and the other numbers, but it might have a slightly different model number).

Page 20 of this:ftp://europe.asrock.com/manual/Z68 Pro3 Gen3.pdf gives details on which slots the pairs should be in so that it can work in that fancy Dual channel mode. New RAM is going to be around €50 or €60 anyway. I'd wait a week or 2 to make sure the system doesn't have some other underlying fault.

I have found this kind of website useful when building PCs, but it doesn't have much info on your motherboard. http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/
I manually put in the specs of your RAM and this is the list I got:
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/parts/memory/#Z=8192002&E=0&t=11&s=301333,301600,301866,302133&V=1500
You could try a pair of 4GBs from that. Must warn you that this (like most advice on the internet) is not guaranteed to be correct.

that's a fantastic reply thank you. i won't have time to check out those links tonight but i will for sure. it's running fine now at the moment.
but I'm anxious to get the extra memory for it.

the photo attached shows what's on the stick.

apoeiguq3094y

So this stuff seems to be available anyway
http://www.amazon.co.uk/G-Skill-8GB-DDR3-DIMM-F3-10600CL9D-8GBNT/dp/B004ROIDJA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1436992199&sr=8-1&keywords=f3-10600cl9d-8gbnt

This is a reasonably safe option.

That 1333 is not the fastest RAM your machine can take. It can take those higher listed speeds - as I said not sure what that OC is talking about, google suggests that its because when your mobo was released you would have to overclock your CPU to use 2133 RAM. Newer cpus easily support 2133 RAM. I am not sure what RAM speeds your cpu supports though.

My advice would be to replace with more of what you have. That way you avoid any other compatibility problem between CPU, mobo, and RAM. You'd then have your 2 new sticks, and 1 old one.
I'd then chuck in all 3, as I suspect that the 3 x4GB is better than 2x4GB in dual channel mode.

Others here might be able to guide you through replacing with better RAM. But its already 3 years old, so I wouldn't bother. I'd just save up until you are going to start again with a new build.

crazygeryy

apoeiguq3094y wrote: »

So this stuff seems to be available anyway
http://www.amazon.co.uk/G-Skill-8GB-DDR3-DIMM-F3-10600CL9D-8GBNT/dp/B004ROIDJA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1436992199&sr=8-1&keywords=f3-10600cl9d-8gbnt

This is a reasonably safe option.

That 1333 is not the fastest RAM your machine can take. It can take those higher listed speeds - as I said not sure what that OC is talking about, google suggests that its because when your mobo was released you would have to overclock your CPU to use 2133 RAM. Newer cpus easily support 2133 RAM. I am not sure what RAM speeds your cpu supports though.

My advice would be to replace with more of what you have. That way you avoid any other compatibility problem between CPU, mobo, and RAM. You'd then have your 2 new sticks, and 1 old one.
I'd then chuck in all 3, as I suspect that the 3 x4GB is better than 2x4GB in dual channel mode.

Others here might be able to guide you through replacing with better RAM. But its already 3 years old, so I wouldn't bother. I'd just save up until you are going to start again with a new build.

this is the weirdest thing.the pc has been running fine the last few days with the one 4gb stick inside it, but like i said i was anxious to get another.so this morning i was all set to order it and i remembered you saying to try it again just to make sure and i also read online that sometimes if you clean the connections with alcohol it can help to.
so lo and behold its working again.i now have 8gb of working ram.im going to keep an eye on it obviously but i suppose for now it saves me 60 quid.
is it possible to have a bit of dust or dirt do this?
i suppose if the connection is blocked it wont work as is the case with any connections.
anyway the biggest culprit of all this is the fact that i had to keep moving the pc in and out from under the desk to get at the usbs,so ive ordered a Desktop PC Front Panel Media Dashboard with 6 usbs etc,so that will solve that problem.