Standby mode only
 

Gateway FX PC running Vista. On start up the power light comes on for a few seconds then starts flashing slowly, indicating that it is in standby mode. However no signal ever gets to the monitor, which remains dead or says "no signal". All connections are good, and I tried pulling the plug out for a while, to no avail.
Without a monitor so I can go to safe mode or do a diagnostic I have not a clue what to do.
No discs in the drives, everything connected that should be, and it ran OK up till this point.
Any help appreciated, thanks.

boofhead,

Not entirely sure what you're trying to ask ?

Surely is normal if

Confused......

Do you get any 'Beeps' during this period, if so what are they?

Similar problem once with a monitor failure.

No beeps. The machine just does not send out a signal to the monitor, and does not start. It goes from dead to standby when turned on. I know it is standby because the power button flashes slowly, which it does when in standby.

What is the recover from SBY procedure. ie have you set the BIOS to allow a press of the power button?

Say, two seconds, cos four will turn it off, and a short one seems to do nowt.

Have you switched it off at the mains? ie pulled out the plug? If not do so and leave for a few minutes then try again.

If no luck google the mother board (type +error codes) and see what it says about no beeps.

Done both those things. No result. It must be a mb or video card or power problem I guess. I have no idea what the BIOS is set to, and doubt my daughter (who has the computer) would have even known how to get into that (although she understands Safe mode).
Might even be a password that I don't know about.

Video adapter connection
 

Make sure your video adapter is correctly plugged to its socket on the motherboard.
Power-off, disconnect from the mains, open the box, unplug the video card and plug it back.

Re-reading the OP 1 I guess the standby thing is a red-herring. If the computer was off, then it would have to be on and booted before it could truly go into standby. As soon as the power was removed that status would be lost.

Really does sound like stripping to bare board in logical stages.

That's what it seems like. Buggah. I really hate computers.

Boof - I seriously recommend trying another monitor. When mine failed I had similar symptoms. Plugged in an old CRT job and it booted fine. I guess some initialisation loop was not getting completed.

I would also suggest trying to swap out the CMOS battery which usually resides on the motherboard. Costs but a few dollars/pounds.

This is it here:

http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...-BwUT4OExKidw=

Could be the power supply, it may have dropped the 5V or 12 V lines. No power no start up.