How to reset graphics?!

JoshBrowne · 29 Oct 2010 at 14:12

I've been trying to repair a computer, and after a hardware change I lost the video output signal from the on board VGA output. Is there a key I can press on boot or anything else I can do to force it back to a condition where I can actually see something? Thanks

cmndr_andi · 29 Oct 2010 at 14:25

Hi there,

What board are you working on?

Also, is there a graphics card in the main graphics slot (PCIe or AGP depending on how old the board is).

It would be worth looking for a reset cmos button or jumper on the board (may need to refer to the manual).

JoshBrowne · 29 Oct 2010 at 14:33

AsRock g31m-gs R2.0. Yeah. CMOS is the next step. No dedicated graphics card.

cmndr_andi · 29 Oct 2010 at 14:40

Yea, I would go straight ahead and reset the CMOS.

May I ask what hardware change you did?

JoshBrowne · 29 Oct 2010 at 14:47

Trying to find a tv card that I could get to work. Repairing it for an old man that after doing a system restore could no longer watch ANALOGUE tv through his aerial plugged in the back of the tower. Mad.

cmndr_andi · 29 Oct 2010 at 14:53

Ah right, so you popped in a DVB card? Is that in a PCI slot by any chance?

JoshBrowne · 29 Oct 2010 at 15:25

Yeah it is. It's not in there any more. I popped the CMOS battery out just over half an hour ago and just put it back. Still no joy. Any ideas?

cmndr_andi · 29 Oct 2010 at 15:44

lol, you did it via the battery - old school.

You can actually just short the CMOS jumper pins for 5 seconds (see page 18 in the manual).

Looking at the BIOS default settings - it seems that the PCI is set to default graphics output for some reason. However, I assume it will still output from the onboard graphics as it presumably worked in the past. If would try resetting the CMOS using the jumper method, ensure that there is nothing in any of the expansion ports (PCI and PCIe) and try and boot up. I suggest spamming "F2" to see if you can see the BIOS.

Also, can I confirm that both the 24pin and 4 pin power connectors from the PSU are installed correctly on the motherboard?

JoshBrowne · 29 Oct 2010 at 16:17

They were installed correctly, but the psu had failed. It was giving power to the board but not enough apparently. Tried a new psu and it worked, went back and tested the old one again, gave nothing. Problem solved ey!? Thanks for your help!

And hell yeah I had to do the old school method because I don't know the jumper method. I presume you need to short the pins with a specially designed cap? I haven't got one here to work with so it's always old school.

Thanks again for your help. Josh