Hi Everyone,
For a little while my computer has acted strange when running more recent games. It'll run them fine for a little while, then the monitor will go black and say "No SIGNAL." Today I decided to dust out my computer and make sure my graphics card had enough space to breath since I thought that may help with the problem. Unfortunately now when I boot up up the monitor never gets a signal. The monitor is a new ViewSonic, and the light always stays orange, it never turns blue. If I turn the monitor off and then back on, it just says no signal. Here is everything I did this afternoon:
Dusted using compressed air.
Took out and put back in the graphics card. Nothing was broken or bent.
Here's where I think I got in trouble- I thought I may as well apply a new coat of thermal paste to my CPU, so I took out the heatsink/fan. I applied a new coat of thermal paste and tried to put back in the heatsink/fan. Unfortunately, one of its legs broke a bit, but I got the other three in snug. The actual fan part of the heatsink/fan has been broken for about a year, so I just completely removed the fan from the system.
When I plugged it back in, it wouldn't start up at all. It was kind of like a car that won't fully ignite. The FANS would start for a second and then stop. I tightened everything down again, and now all the fans/lights come on (there are no BEEPS), but the monitor isn't getting a signal. I am completely at my wit's end and not sure what to do. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Here are my system specs:
PENTIUM 4 2.8 GHz
Intel D975XBX REV 304 motherboard
Radeon 1900 XTX GPU
600W Power Supply
4 GB RAM
250 GB HD
DVD-R/W drive
A wireless card (which I don't use)
Soundblaster X-Fi sound card
I can't remember what heatsink/fan I have.
I have various size fans in the back, front, and side of the case.
Again, thank you so much for reading this, I really appreciate any help!
Talgian...When you replaced the thermal paste, did you remove the old stuff first?

When you were working inside of the computer, did you take anti-static precautions?

Have you tried reseating your video card?

Do you have another computer that you can test that monitor on?

Do you have another monitor that you can use to test with that computer?You apparently have a newer video card than the original one that came onboard when you first got it. Try connecting the monitor to the old video port.

If it works, then the video card is not seated correctly, you shorted it by not grounding yourself to the PC or it passed on...

Ted