Images aren't loading/displaying

Just moved recently and got everything hooked up—tower, monitor, both plugged in. Lights are on everywhere: tower, screen, keyboard, mouse... everything looks powered up, but I'm getting zero image on the monitor.

When I hit the power button, the indicator light goes green for a second, then flips to orange.

I tried unplugging the video cable from the tower, and the screen says NO SIGNAL, so at least I know the monitor itself isn't dead.

What am I missing here?

It’s possible that during shipping, a cable just shook loose from the motherboard—maybe a power connector got pulled out of place. Either way, you’re probably going to have to pop the side panel off the case to see what's actually going on. It's hard to offer much more help without seeing the hardware itself, right? Also, just a quick thought—did you happen to plug your VGA, DVI, or HDMI cable into the port on the case instead of directly into the graphics card?

Larry Ortiz5 said:Maybe a cable just popped loose from the motherboard during shipping—like a power lead getting yanked out. Either way, you're gonna have to pop the side panel off and actually look at the hardware to see what's broken. Hard to troubleshoot blindly. Also, I'm assuming you plugged your VGA/DVI or HDMI cable into the right port on the back, right?

Yeah, you mean that cable with the plastic thumbscrews on the sides to lock it in.

Got it, thanks. I'll go take a look.

If you’re using a VGA cable, those connector pins can get bent out of shape easily—it happens all the time. Just take a look at the end of the cable; if the pins are crooked, you’ll have to try and straighten them out really carefully with some needle-nose pliers, because they snap if you aren't gentle. If you mess that up, you're stuck dealing with the headache of trying to solder on a whole new connector...

Since you were moving, there's a chance things got shaken up inside the case—maybe enough to mess with a connection on the motherboard. If the advice from the kid doesn't work out and you feel up to it, I guess you could try opening the case and reseating the GPU and RAM.

Got another headache here. I'm working with a Dell chassis, and the thing is practically a vault. I've already stripped every single screw, but nothing. I can pry the top open just a hair, but if I push any harder, I’m definitely going to snap the casing. On the bottom, there's this plastic base where everything is just slotted together so tightly it won't budge. Unless I want to rip through all the plastic trim running along the edges just to get inside, I'm stuck.😵

Send over a link to a photo of the case, or just snap one yourself.

James Thomas80 said:Got another headache; I'm working on a Dell's case, and it’s basically a vault. I've stripped every single screw and still nothing. I can pry the top open just a hair, but if I push any harder, the plastic's gonna snap... There's this plastic base on the bottom where everything is just slotted together. It won't budge unless I rip out all those side panels just to get inside...😵

I was messing with one recently, they use some kind of latch mechanism. Real pain to crack. Is yours built like that?

If it is, try holding that latch down (that little lever on the top edge) and just slowly slide the panel until it clicks loose. Don't force it... it should give way eventually...

William Richardson12 said:I opened one recently. They’ve got some kind of heavy-duty latch mechanism that makes it a pain to get into. Is yours built like that too?

If you hold that release lever on top of the case, just nudge the page slightly until it clicks free. Don't force it; it should move with almost zero effort.

He finally pulled it off. He ended up snapping a small plastic piece in the process, though honestly, I don't even need that part anymore.

Checked the components and everything looks properly seated, so I have no clue what the issue is. Here’s a photo:


I caught a glimpse of this part sticking out before I even got the case fully open. I gave it a little tug and just ripped it right out.

Yeah, I fired it back up after opening it—made sure everything was shut down before plugging it in—and unlike before, now that the case is open, it’s not just a black screen. It's making this weird noise too...