VGA connector missing pins?

[dkostic]

Hey everybody - The city I live in had a big power outage today. I came back home shortly after it hit and found that my computer monitor wasn't displaying anything (just the self-test screen, which assures me "This monitor is working. Please check the video cable and computer.") even though it sounded like the box had rebooted itself. I usually get this screen after that computer has been idle for an hour or two. Moving the mouse and typing on the keyboard did nothing to display anything on the monitor. So I restarted, and it sounded as though my computer was starting normally, I still only got the self-test screen on my monitor. I turned everything off, unplugged everything and reconnected it (just in case something was loose), and still the same.

My monitor, my box, and everything leading to it are all behind one big surge protector, so it doesn't seem like this is the result of a power surge (and anyway, all the other things attached to that surge protector work and my box sounds like it starts up normally).

I tried plugging my roommate's monitor into my computer, and got nothing on that either (which suggests to me there's a problem in the box) . So at this point I'm kind of freaking out. I did notice, however, that the VGA connector to my monitor seems to be missing some pins. If you look at...

[kabage]

That sounds alright since pin 4, 9, 11 are N/C or not connected anyway.
We are talking your moniter cable yes.

Since your roomate's monitor isn't kicking in either, it is probably a good bet
it is the computer end.

So what does that leave,
Motherboard, or vga connetor on the MB / video card vga connector on video card
BIOS - Maybe got tweaked from using onboard vs agp or something like that

Simplest thing is probably check the bios first.
If no joy try a cheap/borrow a video card (a known good) and see if you can get anything

Try your monitor on your roomates computer see if it reacts.

Try a visual on the inside of the computer vga port see if there is any thing obvious, burn mark, distinct ozone smell
piece of paper or moth laying on the port.
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The solutions are easy. Its finding them that is hard.

[Headrush]

Check the the BIOS didn't change to using PCI video card instead of AGP or vice-versa.

[dkostic]

OK, update: I plugged my monitor into my roommate's computer and it works, so my monitor's OK, and so the problem's definitely in my box. (And I also managed to mount my hard drive on a friend's computer, and my files are still there! ).

Kabage: I opened the box up and nothing looks suspicious or unusual; no burn marks, no dead moth, no weird odor. Since I know the monitor's not the problem, you're right that I should definitely check the video card next (it's an AGP card). Is there any smarter way to do this except find somebody with a compatible working card and plug theirs into mine? (I can do this, I just don't want to hassle my friends unless I have to. )

Headrush: How can I check the if the BIOS changed anything? (I can't see anything on the monitor, after all.)

Do you guys think it's possible that the CPU has burned out?
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Toshiba Satellite A105 laptop, 1.7 mHz Celeron M, 100 Gb hard disk, 512 Mb RAM, 2006.0, 2.6.16-r7 kernel
Homemade desktop, 3.2+ mHz AMD Athlon 64 processor, 120 Gb hard disk, 1 Gb RAM, 2005.0, 2.6.14-r2 kernel

[Headrush]

[dkostic]

[Headrush]