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Computer "boots" without video

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DanTheTechMan:
I am fixing a computer for a friend, and ran into a very interesting scenario.  The computer boots (or acts as such; all lights come on, fan spinning NORMALLY, not excessively loudly, even the optical drive shows activity as it should).  But, as the title suggests, I never get any video. No BIOS screen (I won't get any further than that because I just installed a unformatted hard drive in the machine). I even tried Installing a PCI video card to see if the onboard video was having issues (as rare as that is, I know it CAN happen), without any luck.  All out of ideas, and almost out of options, I am reaching out to the cyberworld for help.

For the record, the computer I'm fixing is an HP Pavilion Slimline S3321P.

jraju:
Hi, What do you mean by unformated hard disc. Hard disc is a storage device.
                        Did you install the OS. There was no mention of it.
                         If the problem is one of installed OS, then no sign of BIOs and only sound running is a defect with Hard disc. Master Boot record either becomes corrupt. Try by safe mode booting F8, and then select command prompt, and then type fixmbr. It may fix the problem if it is only hard disc failture.
                           Some more information is required to give particular solution

DanTheTechMan:
By "unformatted" hard drive, I mean exactly what I say: not formatted, blank, NO OS.  I ordered it, received it , installed it.  After about 2-3 hours of struggling to get the damn machine to even power on, I succeeded at that, but without any video output.  Now, in this case, I should be presented with the BIOS screen first, then the Windows installation should start to load.  However, IF this IS happening, I can't see it happening.  Please help.     

Boggin:
Can you get into the BIOS to see if the HDD is recognized or will the machine boot up into the BIOS with the HDD removed - some machines can and cannot do this.

In the BIOS you may have an option to enable VGA but see if this tutorial helps http://pcsupport.about.com/od/operatingsystems/ss/windows-7-new-install-part-1.htm

DanTheTechMan:
I don't get any video at all, not even the BIOS displays.  So, what you suggested will not work.  Is there any other way I can get the video output to work (preferably outputted to the PCI card)?

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