Vista - I'm thinking its my video card...

My entire computer black screened on me. It will not display anything. I am assuming its the video card because when I turn it on everything moves and operates like normal. It started when i was playing a game and the game froze. It was unresponsive to the task manager, as it wouldn't open at all. So I restarted my computer. I heard a low but distinct beep that did not pause at all, just keep a low shreek sound till eventually stopping. I have disassembled the computer and reassembled it and still nothing. But the machine still turns on. Is there any course of action anyone would reccomend? I am really desperate and frustrated that I cannot solve this on my own. I would be very grateful for any help suggested.

Have you tried plugging another monitor into the machine to see if you get video?
I once had a DVI cable go bad on me, i had the same problem until i replaced it.

well i just borrowed a new vid card gonna check if its the video card. It might be the monitor but that test will come when i have a monitor available to test. Is it possible it might be something more serious?

Yup - it could be the AGP / PCI-e slot itself, the Northbridge which handles the communication between the CPU and hte Graphics components, or anything else on the motherboard as well - or it could even be the rail that your PSU is using to supply power to the GPU....

Problem solved!! Thanks everyone for the help! It was the graphic card. It was shot. It looked like it was tampered with and it was. When my nephew was over to vist he confessed that he opened my baby up to look at it. I don't know how but he shorted it out. Simple replacement of my video card. Is there a lock I can put on my machine so visiting family don't mess with it? I am so happy i am up and running! I install a asus dvd burner and vista picked it up in a snap.

Once again thanks!

Depends upon your case - some motherboards also have a tamper switch and BIOS support for tamper protection / prevention, and some cases have built in locks, while other cases have a small loop in the back that you can put a lock through to prevent anyone opening the case.

If I were you, though, I'd make the nephew pay for it as a lesson - even if he cannot pay now keep it on the books and make him eventually pay for it....

Yeah good idea I thought of that. He did pay for it because he is old enough to have a job and he does. Thats how i got the replacement so quick. He was responsable in admitting he f'ed it up and paid promptly, so I can't get on him to hard. I will look into the motherboard lock and case lock just to be safe.
Would a fingerprint scanner be good to stop people from turning it on? I saw them going for cheap now. Hope it is good with vista.

Be very careful on the scanner you buy - I have the Microsoft scanner (well, actually mine is built into my keyboard) but there are not 64bit drivers for it and many people have complained and word is that M$ is not gonna make a 64bit driver for it.

I think i might get one. I have a amd quad and so i have the 32 bit vista so hopfully it should work well with it. what about those retnal scanners that i have been hearing about, has anyone played with that yet?

retail scanners? Could you elucidate? Are you talking about a scanner as in OCR / scan to computer technology or are you talking about a bar code scanner?

Also, consider 64bit support when buying hardware - 64bit is gaining ground, and 32bit simply will not fully address all 4 GB of RAM in a system due to various overhead in RAM allocation and access.

You'd hate to buy a piece of hardware today and in one short year be unable to use it because of lack of 64bit drivers (which is exactly what I am facing with my keyboard - it is not even a year old yet!)