No Display but all fans are running

Last week Wednesday, after downloading and installed the latest drivers from ATI Official website for my graphics card (Radeon 9550), I decided to check out how different Catalyst, the new driver, is different from the driver that came with the box. The Catalyst software gives a lot more control to the user and, being a graphics dummy, I did not noticed much differences but I have to admit playing Counter-Strike Source is a lot more smoother and the game loads up quicker. There's probably 30% improvement. Everything went smooth and I began to convinced myself being lucky.

The next evening, I finished working on a video I shot in Saskatoon and decided to burn it onto DVD. I used Nero 6 VisionExpress to do that and left it over night as the entire process would take up to 2 hours and it was already late.

The next morning, I tried moving the mouse and keyboard to terminate Windows XP's screensaver and PowerSave mode on my TFT screen but nothing. I thought something must be faulty with my wireless keyboard and mouse, and indeed, there was no lights on the recepter/transmittor.

Ejected the DVD out of the DVD-RW drive and saw that nothing was written on it. Fine. Rebooted my machine by powering off. BIOS sequences and memory clock check were running fine. Log onto Windows and just before every programs in the background loads up successfully, the system suddenly reboots. Again, BIOS and memory check were normal, but this time the reboot interval just got shorter. It rebooted again at logon screen.

Fine. I tried getting into SAFE-MODE and didn't know what to do. It lasted longer than I expected before the random reboot hits again. This time I did not even get up to where I can hit F8 or any function keys. Rebooted again. This time, just after memory clock check, it rebooted again.

Finally, there was nothing on my screen. The reboot interval just got shorter and shorter until there was nothing to display. What is wrong? I had thought it was virus but the possibility of a virus attack has been ruled out.

Some software attacks (computer virus) will cause similar behavior but it does not cause "no display" on screen. Only very old viruses known to exist in the 60's or 70's does this. It cannot be Nimda mass-mailer virus too because I do not have opened shared-folder on the network.

The other possibilities are:
1. HDD
2. Graphics card
3. CPU
4. Mainboard/motherboard
5. BIOS battery
6. DDRam
7. PCI cards (hardwares)

First, the specifications of my desktop system:
a. ASUS P4C800E- Deluxe mainboard
b. 2 HDDs, 30GB & 80GB. Purchased another 160GB yesterday.
c. ATI Radeon 9550 128MB
d. 4 USB 2.0 ports Internal card
e. RealTek Ethernet card
f. Creative Labs Audigy 2 ZS, sound card.
g. Microsoft Wireless Keyboard/Mouse
h. SONY DVD-RW
i. 1.44" Floppy drive
j. 512 MB DDR Single Channel
k. 17" LG TFT monitor
l. 2.8 GHz Pentium IV with HT Technology

Today, I began the "Minimal Hardware Diagnosis", by removing all known hardwares that's affixed to the mainboard leaving only the necessaries -- HDD(s), Video card, Memory. Powered up... no display, but all fans are running. The running fans are Casing fans, CPU fans, and Graphic card fans. But I couldn't heard the HDD's writing sound as any would when booting up. From here, I ruled out all others except for mainboard and memory.

The displays on the casing showing a temperature of 27 centigrade, which is deemed normal.

I removed the CPU and check if it was burnt. There are no physical markings of burnt like charring or scratches. So, I ruled out CPU, thus, leaving only one more possibility--the ATI 9550 graphic card.

I just recalled that I have installed Catalyst. Could this be the problem? They no display symptom is the only belivable reason to all these. To check if there was nothing wrong with my TFT screen, I plugged it into my laptop and everything on my desktop displays on the TFT. No problems with TFT monitor then.

Now, from the video card, there could be another possibility and that is the AGP slot. Could it be damaged or faulty? Could both be faulty? If it is, what was the cause?

I read some forums outlining the potential problems/issues with Catalyst, the latest driver by ATI claiming to be one of their best innovations and improvements. I have read other issues too that, when I summarize them, the graphic card seems to be the root of all the complications. Some say that the Catalyst induce the video card to overclock itself.

Does writing DVD uses the video card's resources? I check my video card's capacitors as well as the mainboard's, but none of them were broken. All are still sealed intact. This also ruled out the mainboard's possibility.

If this is already so, I must remove the Catalyst software. But how? I need another machine to do that.

But, I'm going to try another graphic card. I have just ordered ATI Radeon 9600XT 256MB for GBP 77.00. If the problem persists, it has to be the driver or the AGP slot. If I can remove the driver from my primary HDD, and if the problem persist, it's time to change the mainboard.
We've ruled out the mainboard's possibility of being the culprit but this is as narrow as the possibility gets.

I dont think I should waste good money on these things anymore. However, I still do not know the results but I have one piece of advice, always read the Terms and Conditions, and the Knowledge Base articles pertaining to Known Issues or History of Changes to the product you are updating.

When the entire system is fixed, the diagnosis and everything that's related to the restoration and/or reparation, they will be reported here. Wish me luck!