Monitor not working, virus suspected

[queentracy]

My friend's computer was sending out a link thru MSN at the weekend, when she wasnt online, so contacted her and said it may be a virus, do your scans!! She ran all her scans, AVG8, Spybot, Adware etc., and found nothing of significance. However, when she tried to boot the pc yesterday, she got all the usual noises from the tower, beeps, fan etc., but the monitor stayed black. The light on the front went to green then back to orange standby, and would not start up. She tried another monitor, known to be working, but it has done the same thing, so we've ruled out the monitor as the problem. I think it's a virus, but we cant do any scans cos of the lack of monitor, so we thoguht about a wipe and reinstall. If we were to boot from an installation disk, would it over-ride the virus and show the monitor, since we're we're not booting from the hard drive? If not, what can we do?
Also, if possible, is there any way she can retrieve her photo files?

[PhilEnfield]

The problem you are describing doesn't sound like a virus, it sounds more like a faulty graphics card.

When you boot up, do you get anything on the screem at all ? like bios posts.

[queentracy]

No, nothing on the screen, just a black screen. Not even getting a beep when the power is switched on

[PhilEnfield]

Definitely sounds like a hardware fault.
Do you know if the graphics are on board or a seperate card ?

[queentracy]

It's onboard graphics. Since your last reply, I've been back to my friends with a graphics card, installed it, but it's not made any difference.

[tef89]

Also for the future - tell her to install a decent AntiVirus and not AVG - AVAST is a much more thorough application.

[PhilEnfield]

It's onboard graphics. Since your last reply, I've been back to my friends with a graphics card, installed it, but it's not made any difference.

You may need to disable the on board graphics in bios, to get it to see the seperate card and install the new drivers, of course..

[queentracy]

You may need to disable the on board graphics in bios, to get it to see the seperate card and install the new drivers, of course..

I thought we'd need to do that, but how do I see the bios to change it without the use of the monitor? I'm sure there will be a way to do it, I just dont know it!! :confused:

p.s. Thanks for your help with this, Phil, it's much appreciated

[PhilEnfield]

Sorry m8y .... I wasn't thinking .... the answer is you cant.
If the graphics card doesn't pick up automatically , your a bit stuffed I'm afraid.

[Acheron]

No, nothing on the screen, just a black screen. Not even getting a beep when the power is switched on

No beep? Do fans spin up? Do HDDs spin up?

[queentracy]

No beep? Do fans spin up? Do HDDs spin up?

No beep, but the fans and HDD are spinning... it's something, I suppose!! lol Any ideas? I'm totally stumped!!

[PhilEnfield]

Me thinks you may be looking at a new motherboard :(

[Van Nugent]

No beep, but the fans and HDD are spinning...Maybe the PSU's gone bad.

[Acheron]

Maybe the PSU's gone bad.

I would make this my 1st guess. A bad PSU will often spin up the fans and HDDs but under load it falls to s**t. Swap the PSU out with another and see what happens. The motherboard would be the next thing to try. Based on what you've said, I wouldn't suspect a virus at all.

[queentracy]

Thanks for your help, guys. PC has been taken to an expert who has had it all in bits and tested everything, and yes, it's the motherboard... You're right again Phil, but this job's just a bit much for me, letting the local technician deal with it!!

Thanks again XXXX