Vista - No Display

My computer was running fine this morning but when I turned it off for an hour and back on there was no display. I have a PCI-e Geforce 8600GT but when I plug the monitor into the onboard graphics it works fine. I have checked the bios and the primary device is set to PCI-e but my computer won't detect the 8600GT at all now. Is it dead?

Hi ToonArmy,

It is entirely possible that your card has died. However, before you finally condemn it to the scrapheap, check to make sure that it simply hasn't moved in its slot. Physically remove and replace it. Whilst you are at it, blow the slot out using a can of compressed air (or, more cheaply, a drinking straw). Make sure that it is securely seated and that the bracket is screwed to the chassis.

I have removed it, cleaned out the slot and the whole case while it was open, still not working. The fan is spinning but it is still not being detected.

Is it detected in device manager?

Try the card in a friends computer.
Try a different card in your computer.
Boot into safe mode and see if the card is listed in devie manager that way.

When you boot have the monitor plugged into your graphics card and boot into the bios, does it work this way.

It doesn't show in device manager in normal or safe mode. I can't get into the bios with it plugged into the graphics card cause the monitor says no signal. I don't know antbody with a computer I can try it in and I don't have another PCI-e card to try in my computer sadly.

It could be your graphics or motherboard. Buy a cheap graphics card if you can (and I mean cheap) just to try it. Or buy an upgrade card. Dwarf`s suggestion comes into play if you have nothing you can test it on.