BenQ "no signal detected" please help :/

[RikkiGT-R]

An old problem in my PC has resurfaced.

For no reason whatsoever, the monitor will suddenly stop receiving signal and will display the message "no signal detected".
Ordinarily I'd just force shut down by holding in the power button, then reboot and it will come back on.

Alas, today I can't get any signal after it happened again (for the first time in about a month).

PC specs are:

Intel i7 4790s (or 4970s?)
Windows 8 64-bit
16Gb HyperX Fury RAM
GTX970
MSI G3 Motherboard (or something, honestly can't remember the exact model and can't get a display to tell you).

And the aforementioned:
BenQ 27in senseye 3 1440p monitor.

I've had it for less than 1 year.

I've tried the display port slot and HDMI slot in both the GPU and the MB with no success.
What's odd is that my PC must know there is a problem because all I have to do is press the power button and it instantly shuts down, rather than hold it in.

I know nothing about how PCs work. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Grayfox]

Do you get any beeps from the mainboard when you turn it on?

Try connecting the monitor to a bluray player, DVD player or Xbox/PS3/4 to test if the monitor is bad or you have a GPU issue.

 

[RikkiGT-R]

There are no beeps on startup.
There should be a single beep, right?

 

[Grayfox]

There are no beeps on startup.
There should be a single beep, right?

Single beep means POST OK.

Some systems dont even have a PC Buzzer soldered or you need to install it on the Buzzer Header which is a 4x1 section on the header where the PC switch, PC reset, HDD_LED, PWR_LED is.

 

[BobK]

Sounds to me like the motherboard is the problem.

But definitely test the monitor on another device if possible.

 

[RikkiGT-R]

Single beep means POST OK.

Some systems dont even have a PC Buzzer soldered or you need to install it on the Buzzer Header which is a 4x1 section on the header where the PC switch, PC reset, HDD_LED, PWR_LED is.

What does POST OK mean?

Sounds to me like the motherboard is the problem.

But definitely test the monitor on another device if possible.

I will plug a blu-ray player into it and see.
If I remember correctly, this same issue happened with my previous monitor too so I upgraded to the 1440p one (the old monitor was about 4 years old and I just thought it was done).

 

[RikkiGT-R]

Hmm... phone double posted. Sorry.

 

[Grayfox]

What does POST OK mean?

POST stands for Power On Self Test.
The BIOS(Basic Input Output System) will detect hardware when you turn the system on it scans the amount of RAM, the CPU installed, the Graphics device(PCI, AGP or PCIe or Internal), devices connected to PS/2 Pots, USB
It will also load the settings from the CMOS which contain boot order, clock settings, time/date, and other configuration settings.
After this is done the BIOS will hand over control to the OS bootloader which will then start loading the operating system.

This is a picture of the BIOS from a gigabyte motherboard(can tell by the motherboard model(sad I know) doing the POST.

If there is any error during the POST, you will get an error.
Every BIOS maker has their own error codes.

IIRC these are Awards Beep codes for the following
Short-Short-Short is Bad Memory
Long-Short-Short is Bad GPU
No Beep, No PC Buzzer, No CPU, Very Bad RAM, No Power, Dead Mainboard.

 

[Scaff]

An old problem in my PC has resurfaced.

For no reason whatsoever, the monitor will suddenly stop receiving signal and will display the message "no signal detected".
Ordinarily I'd just force shut down by holding in the power button, then reboot and it will come back on.

Alas, today I can't get any signal after it happened again (for the first time in about a month).

PC specs are:

Intel i7 4790s (or 4970s?)
Windows 8 64-bit
16Gb HyperX Fury RAM
GTX970
MSI G3 Motherboard (or something, honestly can't remember the exact model and can't get a display to tell you).

And the aforementioned:
BenQ 27in senseye 3 1440p monitor.

I've had it for less than 1 year.

I've tried the display port slot and HDMI slot in both the GPU and the MB with no success.
What's odd is that my PC must know there is a problem because all I have to do is press the power button and it instantly shuts down, rather than hold it in.

I know nothing about how PCs work. Any help would be appreciated.

It could be the monitor.

We use the same ones in work and they are a pain as they will not self detect inputs so if you have knocked the button you have to manually reset it (normally by pressing the 'Enter' button to change the input source.

Worth a shot as I know its caught quite a few people here out.

 

[RikkiGT-R]

@Grayfox and @Scaff there is definitely no beep. This happened with my previous monitor so I know it's not the monitor. The Motherboard was newly installed when this started - so it could very well be that.
I'm not against getting a new MB. I just don't want to get a new one and have it still happen

I've had it in Maplin - where I bought the new parts - before but couldn't replicate the problem (it was infrequent back then) and it seemed to simply go away so I left it.
But now it seems permanent

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

You have tried different cables?

 

[RikkiGT-R]

You have tried different cables?

Good point.

I've tried a few HDMI cables (that I know work) and Display Port cable in both the GPU and the MB, with no success.
I will acquire another Display Port cable tomorrow before taking anything apart, because I only have the one of those with no other means to test it, so cannot confirm 100% that it works perfectly.

 

[Grayfox]

Well with no beep it could be anything.
Try reseating(remove and reinsert) the RAM.
Try reseating the GPU

 

[RikkiGT-R]

Yeah in the morning I'm going to take it apart and rebuild it all. Give everything a vacuuming while I'm in there. And use a new display port cable too.
I've just spent an entire day without my PC. Genuinely confused by how I survived tbh.

EDIT: could it be an issue with me running in 1440p? I've just read on another thread here that that resolution is very demanding. Perhaps I should change to 1080p?
Need it switched on first though. Can't change resolution when I have no display.

 

[Grayfox]

EDIT: could it be an issue with me running in 1440p? I've just read on another thread here that that resolution is very demanding. Perhaps I should change to 1080p?
Need it switched on first though. Can't change resolution when I have no display.

The fact that it is not even displaying anything means it has nothing to do with what resolution you run it in.
If the monitor can display that resolution it is fine.

 

[RikkiGT-R]

That's inside the PC. Certainly not dusty or anything. You can also see the MB (and maybe identify it better than me) plus maybe spot some glaring issue. I built the PC myself, first time ever building my own.
Maybe I've connected something wrong.

EDIT: the MB is an MSI Z97 Gaming 3. I've reseated the RAM and the GPU plus cleaned what little dirt and dust there was inside.
Doubt it'll make a difference. Here goes...

 

[RikkiGT-R]

So that didn't make a difference. I've just plugged my PS3 into the monitor to check and it is working fine..

Next step is to go get a Display Port cable and see if that is the problem. Hope so

 

[TenEightyOne]

Have you tired the "switch monitor" function key shortcut? Sometimes it's something as simple as a faulty/dirty keyboard. Still, given that your PC is ready to shut down immediately makes it sound like something a little more bleh.

When you reboot is there anything interesting in the system messages? If the card is crashing the whole PC out then it may have made a record.

 

[Grayfox]

Did you get one of these in with the motherboard?

Refer to 1-22 on your moterboard manual to see where to install it if you did get it.

Ensure the GPU PCIe power connectors are correctly inserted into the GPU and the PSU.

If the PC speaker is installed in correct location and the power connections are good try clearing the CMOS, by shorting out the jumper on page 1-27 or fully disconnect the power from the mains, press the power button to discharge the PSU caps and remove the coin cell battery(located under GPU) from the motherboard and keep the system off for 5 minutes

Another way to test the mainboard is remove the GPU and power the system up and use the onboard graphics, if the system POSTs you have a GPU issue or maybe a PCIe slot issue, if you have a spare GPU(even a GT210 or 8400GT,ect) to test the port

 

[RikkiGT-R]

So an update -

My MB has no speaker so there wouldn't be a beep. I removed the GPU but the issue was still happening, so off I stormed to Maplin.
They plugged my PC into a large TV screen with an HDMI cable - worked perfectly.
They plugged my PC into a small crappy monitor via VGA - worked perfectly.
They plugged my PC into a similar BenQ gaming monitor via Display Port and, you guessed it... worked perfectly.

Ugh

The concensus is that I have an external 2Tb HDD (Porsche Design) connected to my PC, plus an M-Audio M-Track, keyboard, mouse, all connected via USB 2 and 3 (randomly plugged in wherever) And one of those things must be causing the shutdowns somehow.

I'm going to set up again with my monitor and nothing more and if that works just add one thing at a time.

Probably won't work anyway. Pfft.

EDIT: So... here I am on my PC. Monitor, keyboard, mouse and nothing else. Gonna add my speakers soon to a USB 2.0 and see what happens. I really hope it isn't my GTX970 after all; I'm just past the 1yr mark with it and don't want to have to buy another.

 

[Rallywagon]

So an update -

My MB has no speaker so there wouldn't be a beep. I removed the GPU but the issue was still happening, so off I stormed to Maplin.
They plugged my PC into a large TV screen with an HDMI cable - worked perfectly.
They plugged my PC into a small crappy monitor via VGA - worked perfectly.
They plugged my PC into a similar BenQ gaming monitor via Display Port and, you guessed it... worked perfectly.

Ugh

The concensus is that I have an external 2Tb HDD (Porsche Design) connected to my PC, plus an M-Audio M-Track, keyboard, mouse, all connected via USB 2 and 3 (randomly plugged in wherever) And one of those things must be causing the shutdowns somehow.

I'm going to set up again with my monitor and nothing more and if that works just add one thing at a time.

Probably won't work anyway. Pfft.

EDIT: So... here I am on my PC. Monitor, keyboard, mouse and nothing else. Gonna add my speakers soon to a USB 2.0 and see what happens. I really hope it isn't my GTX970 after all; I'm just past the 1yr mark with it and don't want to have to buy another.

I know I am arriving really late to the party here but a few things. If you can start up with the cover off, while the POST is happening, there should be led lights near the sockets for each piece being tested. I struggled through a very similar issue last night. For some reason my mobo didn't want to read my boot drive, lit up the corresponding boot drive LED on the mobo and that is as far as it would go, no bios, no signal to my screen. Disconnected all of my other drives, and that worked. Plugged in the rest, removed them from the boot sequence and all is good. If you find that when you very first start up your PC, and get no signal, always watch to POST process as this is likely what you are failing, and it will let you know.

 

[Grayfox]

I struggled through a very similar issue last night. For some reason my mobo didn't want to read my boot drive, lit up the corresponding boot drive LED on the mobo and that is as far as it would go, no bios, no signal to my screen. Disconnected all of my other drives, and that worked. Plugged in the rest, removed them from the boot sequence and all is good. If you find that when you very first start up your PC, and get no signal, always watch to POST process as this is likely what you are failing, and it will let you know.

Becareful.

I have seen this when the UEFI/BIOS is attempting to read the HDD, but is having trouble getting a response from the HDD as it was on its way out.

 

[RikkiGT-R]

Just to update - the PC has been fine since my last post there on August 4th. The worry is that this is exactly how it goes; randomly stops displaying, I fiddle around, seek help on a forum somewhere and/or in a shop. PC starts working again for no apparent reason and continues to work perfectly for a few months. Rinse, repeat.

[Not directed at you guys specifically, but] I just wish someone would say "I've seen this issue before. Just do A, B and C and you should be good to go..."
Alas, I don't think I'll ever find out what is causing it. Eventually I'll have a new PC and this'll be forgotten

 

[Grayfox]

Just to update - the PC has been fine since my last post there on August 4th. The worry is that this is exactly how it goes; randomly stops displaying, I fiddle around, seek help on a forum somewhere and/or in a shop. PC starts working again for no apparent reason and continues to work perfectly for a few months. Rinse, repeat.

[Not directed at you guys specifically, but] I just wish someone would say "I've seen this issue before. Just do A, B and C and you should be good to go..."
Alas, I don't think I'll ever find out what is causing it. Eventually I'll have a new PC and this'll be forgotten

Well kinda hard when you cant see the PC for yourself.

If it were in front of me I would just resort to checking everything on the mainboard, doing a bear bones boot, if it still didnt work do some re-seating of ram.
But the taking ages too POST when you have a display is normally a sign a sign of an impending HDD failure.