Hey guys. A few days ago, there was a thunderstorm in my area, and the lights went out. When the lights came back, I restarted my computer, and it seemed to work fine, except that my USBs (all 6 ports) were now "not recognizing" anything I plug into them. So I added a PCI USB card to get around the problem. Now this morning, I woke up to find that my computer had frozen. So I restarted, but THE MONITOR DIDN'T COME BACK ON. All there is is a black screen. I know the monitor is fine, because if I unplug the cord from the computer, it gives me the "no signal" message. But when I connect it back on the computer -- black screen. I think my computer is also fine. When I restart it, I can "hear" it starting up. But since my screen is black, I can't be sure. I bought a new videocard, thinking this was the problem. No dice. The same black screen. I replaced the PCI-E that came with the computer with an AGP, but still -- the same. I've read on the net that this might be becuase of the motherboard. Do you think this is the problem? Or could there be somtehing else wrong? I'm sure the problem stems from the power surge a few days back. Any advice would be great. Thanks.

Randomly replacing parts is not a good method of troubleshooting... ASUS A7N8X-X Athlon XP 1800+ 8.5 x 200MHz 1024MB PC3200 2.5-3-3-7 Asus A9550GE/TD 128MB WinME/WinXP Pro SP1

Um, and? Is that the full extent of your advice???

It will be after sarcasm like that What you need to do is disconnect everyhting except your videi card, ram, and cpu. If it powers up, process of elimination. If ity don't, you've narrowed it down. Also if you have another PS, I would try that first.

My advice would be to replace the PSU, as that *could* be the cause. Also, if there is a pci modem in your computer, take it out, as that might be causing the problem. The same happened to me, beacuse lightining struck the telephone line, ran down the cable and fried my modem.

"My advice would be to replace the PSU" And if that doesn't work, try replacing the board...if that doesn't work, try replacing the CPU...if that doesn't work, try replacing the RAM...if that doesn't work, try replacing the case...LOL! Try what angrymen2001 suggested. Strip the system down to the bare minimum & see if you can get a display. Did you try resetting the BIOS? SONY has a board with both AGP & PCI-e slots?? ASUS A7N8X-X Athlon XP 1800+ 8.5 x 200MHz 1024MB PC3200 2.5-3-3-7 Asus A9550GE/TD 128MB WinME/WinXP Pro SP1

Took out all the cards except the video card, but still no display. I took out the modem, PCI USB, and sound card. Is there something I'm missing? Also, is it possible to reset the BIOS without getting a display?