It could also be possible that his CMOS settings got glitched - for whatever
reason, like a dead battery on the board.
As an experiment - turn all the power off on the system, remove the plug
from the back and leave it out for at least 30 seconds (yes - that's
important) then plug it back in. Now with power off - press down and hold
the "DEL" key and while holding that key down, turn on the power to your
computer. Do not let the "DEL" go. It will take a few seconds for your
monitor to start showing text.
On some motherboards, that is the "reset" method - yours may vary so check
your manual or the motherboards manf site for instructions on how to reset
it. That works on Asus and Abit boards and Gigabit boards too if I recall
correctly. If it works you will get some text that tells you how to enter
the BIOS so you can make the changes. If you don't know what settings are
needed, usually hitting F5 while in the BIOS will set everything to default
settings - which should get you going - even if some settings are wrong. If
that works but you end up seeing a black screen again - change the battery
on the motherboard.
To do a simple test on your monitor to see if it's alive, with power on the
monitor, just remove the plug from the graphics card connector and you
should see a warning pop up on your monitor about a cable being
disconnected. Each manf is a bit different.
Could be a lot of things causing this kind of problem but do the easy stuff
first - like above. If that doesn't work, then start minimizing the system
and disconnect everything except the monitor, keyboard and mouse. One hard
drive, floppy, DVD/CD, one stick of memory and then do the same power on
routine by holding the DEL key down (or whatever your manual says). You
should see something on the monitor or at least be getting beeps from the
computer if there's a hardware/firmware problem. You'll need the manual or
the site to determine what the beep codes are telling you.
Let us know what you find,
Bob S.
