Resolved Bad monitor or bad vid card?

I'm betting bad monitor.. But here's the setup. Every week I visit my Ma. Last week her computer appears to turn on normally except for the monitor.. The light was would first go green, then amber. Obviously no picture. The CPU appears to be working normally..So I reboot with a winkey +U+U combo.
Computer appears to be booting normally listening to the CPU--but no monitor action..goes green, then amber. So I unplug the and plug in the VGA.. this time the monitor light is blinking green but still no display. Diddling with the cords again finally gets a display. Unfortunately, Ma reports no video this week-and at 82, she ain't gonna unplug and plug in the vga interface.

So the question is, if the AGP card was bad, wouldnt the computer blue screen?

I'm gonna bring her a new monitor tomorrow, but I'm asking the question because I have never seen weird symptoms like this before

Thanks

 

Is this an old CRT monitor? If not, can you change to a different type of cord?

 

Only if it causes a fault back in Windows itself. So it depends on the problem. Windows may be thinking all is good and wondering why no one is pressing any keys.

Also note that fans spinning and drives clicking only indicates the presence of +12VDC from the PSU. The PSU also provides +5VDC and +3.3VDC. If one of those voltages are missing, the fans and drives will still spin up, but the computer will not - thus no signal to the monitor. I always take a known good, spare PSU with me on trouble calls.

The first thing I always recommend when no video is to swap monitors. That way you can instantly isolate the problem to the original monitor (if the 2nd monitor works) or to the computer (if it doesn't).

Wiggling the cable is certainly something to investigate. But note cables (or the connectors they plug into) don't normally "go bad" unless they have been physically abused (yanked or tripped-over one too many times). It could simply be the card (if not integrated) is not secured in its slot properly too, though if it has been working for years, that is not likely - but should still be checked out.

If this computer has not been opened up to clean out all the heat-trapping dust drawn in by the fans over the years, something could have finally failed due to heat.

One last thing. If her old CRT was a good CRT, she may not be happy with the image of a LCD - especially if widescreen as the text will likely be very small - and fuzzy. So you may need to run clear-type and increase text size using the "Display" applet in Control Panel.

Okay, one more thing - I hope she is no longer using XP. With your comment about "AGP" graphics, that surely dates the system back to XP days. I know with seniors, the learning curve can be a real challenge, but waiting until her computer (or identity or bank account) is compromised by badguys, or until the computer simply fails due to age will not make the transition to a modern, secure OS easier.