My desktop computer suddenly stopped working this morning. It's still powering on, fans are spinning, and LED indicators are glowing. But for some reason, it won't show any display. This is a fairly new unit, maybe three to four years old. And this was my buddy for work so I'm a bit sad to discover that it broke.
I'm not really a laptop guy because I feel like I need to tread carefully when using one. One good thing about desktop computers is their durability and the components are replaceable. Buying a new keyboard, webcam, or network adapter is pretty easy for desktops. Imagine breaking just one key on your laptop, you'd have to replace the entire keyboard and it's ten times more expensive than an external one.
I used to work for an IT retail store a decade ago and troubleshooting was easy back then. This was because there were tons of brand new parts that we can use to test. I can swap components out until the defective part is determined. But of course now I have limited parts at my disposal so it's going to be a bit trickier to troubleshoot.
I have a spare graphics card I bought during the pandemic as I had a lot more time in my hands and I wanted to try the higher end games.
And, nope, still dead. Since the CPU's running with no display, tried to fiddle around anything that's related to video like swapping HDMIs and using a different monitor. That didn't work, unfortunately.
It would have been nice if the beep codes were working but unfortunately, it wasn't. So now it's time to tinker on the RAM cards. I've lost count of how many no display issues we solved in the store by simply cleaning the RAM. It's the usual suspect for cases like these. One effective way to clean the contact pins of any electronic component like memory cards and RAMs is to rub it against pencil erasers as they can clear out impurities on the pins' surface.
And cleaning and swapping RAMs did not work as well. I might as well change the thermal paste on the processor while I'm at it. I also used a different power supply and nothing changed.
Diagnosis
After hours of tinkering around my system and through the process of elimination, I therefore conclude that the motherboard may be the issue. Board level repair is out of the question as it is costly and requires special tools. Buying a replacement is the best option for me. And since my system is already phased out, I'd have to rely on the secondary market for parts. I'll do a follow up for the result of my repair attempt. Wish me luck. 😀
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