crash and now NO monitor works with comp

ahhh the good (?) ol' days when no monitors---we got info as typed on a teletype-like toy.
Normally when you crash, can reboot, hit F1, F2, F8,F11 or F12, etc.
But how the heck can you bring the comp back from the mortuary when you can not SEE WHAT IS HAPPENING???

One of my virus-tracking comps got nuked. I have given rebirth to many, many sickies over the years.

BUT the monitor (and all other monitors I have tried)
come on and most have that nice graphic that tells you
the monitor is "Off or Out of Frequency,,meaning the resolution is ******* up.

I have several other working comps doing their thing but
HOW DO YOU RECOVER FROM CRASH WHEN comp won't let you adjust the resolution?
thanks for reading this. any ideas please? moi

 

As Pete was saying, the monitor will only run on a signal from the computer's graphics system. The message is saying that it is not getting the correct signal from the graphics (display) adapter.

Does the harddrive LED activity lead you think that Windows is booting up (just that the screen is not showing it)?

Check if one of the drive LEDs is stuck full on (they should flash once or twice at the very begining of startup). If so, you may have to disconnect that drive, in fact, disconnect any added hardware like printers, USB connections, etc.

If the display adapter is an add-in card, you could remove it, clean the connectors with a soft pencil eraser and reseat it (try not to touch the electronics), but you will need to check that it is fully and evenly reseated.

To reset the startup system, you could remove the CMOS battery (looks like a silver coin) for 30 minutes or more.

Not many other checks I can suggest, although there may be insufficient power. Let us know what you find from the above.

If the information is too technical, let us know.

Matt