New Computer Build, No Video on monitor Solved/Closed

Question

Hello,
My specifications are a BIOSTAR P43D3 Motherboard, E8400 Core 2 Duo 3.0GHz Processor, 2GB Patriot DDR3 1333OZ RAM, Java 500W PSU, a 500GB Hitachi HD, and an XFX ATI Radeon HD 4350 Video Card.
I recently finished putting all the parts together inside the case, everything is properly connected however when I turn on the computer there is no video on the display. The motherboard does not have integrated graphics so there is no way for me to install the correct drivers for the graphics card, can anyone help? 
Thanks

xpcman · Answer

This is not a driver problem.  All video cards are built with the ability to use the Microsoft Standard VGA driver.  You should first get a BIOS display when you turn on the PC. The BIOS is independent of any video driver. You might find this of interest. 

Bare Bones Troubleshooting Installation

I get a lot of letters from readers that experience trouble installing Windows XP. By the time they get around to writing me, the old operating system is long ago trashed and they have tried everything under the proverbial computing sun. Well, almost everything. It's a fact of life that when installing operating systems, less is better, especially when there are problems. If you're in the above category, give this a try.

Remove everything that is installed or connected to your computer so the only things remaining in the case are:
Motherboard, processor, and cooling fan
Graphics card
One stick of RAM
One hard drive
One CD ROM drive

That's it. No sound card, no network interface card, no modem, no extra hard drives or CD ROM drives. Especially important is not to have more than one memory stick, and it should be a minimum of 128MB. Connect up the monitor, the keyboard and the mouse and power up the machine. Go into the BIOS settings and look for a setting for the basic BIOS default configuration. Select it, then make sure that if you're booting from a CD ROM that the CD drive is the first boot device.

Reboot and let the installation process begin. I haven't kept track of numbers, but in the vast majority of cases the installation was completed with no problem. Once you have the basic operating system in place it's a simple matter to start adding back in the extra memory, drives, and devices that were stripped out initially.

A final tip. I know it's tempting to add everything else back in at once after a successful install. Don't do it. Something was causing a problem initially or you wouldn't be using this procedure. Add the pieces back one memory stick, one hard drive, one network interface card at a time and test the system for proper operation after each addition.

Mattsegura · Answer

Do you think there is any possibility that the monitor im using is too old to be compatible?

xpcman · Answer

No - every monitor should be able to use Standard VGA and/or display the BIOS screen.

Mattsegura · Answer

Alright, Ive tried everything I can for now, I took it in for a system diagnostic and hopefully that will find something that wrong

xpcman · Answer

Tell us what you find out from the diagnostic.

Mattsegura · Answer

Alright, but right now it looks like I wont be able to get it till tomorrow

Mattsegura · Answer

Turns out that the RAM & Motherboard I purchased from the same store were defective, sorry for waisting your help, but your input will help me with future builds so thanks

New Computer Build, No Video on monitor

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