So I spent over an hour trying to fix my desktop PC this evening, but left even angrier and more out of options than before. It’s still having the same symptoms (no visual output to the screen), except now I’ve also tried:
- pinging the machine over the network after letting it run for a while to verify if it was still booting up and logging into Windows properly
- unplugging everything from the USB ports (because it was plugging in my iPod that seemed to start this mess)
- disconnecting said USB ports directly from the motherboard
- disconnecting ALL of the USB ports from the motherboard
- disconnecting pretty much every non-vital piece of hardware from the motherboard (left HD, 1 stick of RAM, video card)
- trying a different output on the existing video card
- removing video card completely and tried a different one
- physically shook the case to make sure there wasn’t a screw or something shorting out the motherboard
Seriously, I’m running out of things to try – what’s left?! Aside from swapping out components one by one and trying them in a working box to verify their state, I really don’t know what else to do. The office has been reduced to a messy pile of strewn about computer parts, and I really don’t even want to think about it anymore tonight.