There are usually only two things that can be at fault with this error: the Computer Monitor itself; or the Graphics Card on your Computer (the piece of hardware that controls the visuals on your Computer Monitor).

The easiest thing to test is the Computer Monitor.

Basically, take the Computer Monitor, unplug the Computer Monitor’s cable from your Computer Tower, and then plug that same cable into either someone else’s Computer Tower, another Computer Tower you have in your house, or into the Graphics Port on a Laptop (which looks something like this – ). Turn on the Computer (or the Laptop), and if the Computer Monitor comes on when it is plugged into a different Computer/Laptop, then it’s not your Computer Monitor that’s at fault – it will be the Graphics Card on your Computer itself. If the Computer Monitor doesn’t come on when it’s plugged into another device, then I’m afraid it’s your Computer Monitor that is broken, and you will need to get a replacement.

Another thing, regarding the Computer Monitor, that it could be, is the Computer Monitor’s cable that connects it to a Computer Tower or Laptop. Obviously, the simplest way to check the cable is to either attach it to another Computer Monitor and Computer Tower/Laptop, or to try a different cable with the Computer Monitor that isn’t working. If the cable works on another Computer Monitor, then there’s nothing wrong with the cable, and therefore if a different cable works with the supposed broken Computer Monitor, then it’s the original cable that is broken. As a result, depending on whether the Computer Monitor is actually working when it is attached to a difference device, then we now need to check the Graphics Card.

Many Computer’s nowadays come with Graphic Card’s that are physically built onto the Motherboard of the Computer. These are usually referred to as On-Board Graphics or Integrated Graphics. There are two ways to check whether you have On-Board Graphics or not – one is to check your Computer’s documentation, be it either in the Computer’s Manual, or by searching for the make and model of your Computer on the Computer Manufacturer’s website (obviously on a working Computer or Laptop). For example, if I search on Dell’s Website for the Dell Inspiron 570, it brings up this webpage, and on this webpage it tells me that my Dell Inspiron 570 has Integrated ATI Radeon HD4200 Graphics.

The second (and probably easiest) way to check whether you have On-Board or Integrated Graphics is to turn your Computer Tower round and look at the back. If you see anything that looks like the following picture: – Then you have an On-Board/Integrated Graphics card.

If you don’t see anything like the above description and picture, look a bit further down the back of your Computer Tower, and if you see something that looks like the following picture: – Then you have what’s known as an PCI-E (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express) or AGP (Advanced Graphics Port) graphics card.

If you’ve deduced that it’s neither your monitor nor your monitor’s cables that are at fault, then if you have a PCI-E or AGP Graphics card, then the easiest thing to do is to try a different AGP/PCI-E card in your AGP/PCI-E slot on your motherboard.

This may be the time to get someone to help you with this, or if you’re fine with going inside your Computer Case, then read on

(Also, if your PC is still in warranty, it is advisable that you phone the supplier/manufacturer of your PC, because going into your PC will void any warranty you have. So please don’t read any further, and phone the supplier/manufacturer instead if you want to keep your warranty.)

Firstly, we need to find out whether you have an AGP or PCI-E Graphics card. If you don’t have the specifications to your Desktop Computer handy, nor can you find the manual on the Internet, then we need to go into your Desktop Computer (we’ve gone away from Laptops, for 99% of Laptops have integrated graphics, so see above for that) and have a look around.

So unplug everything from the back and front of your PC, and take the PC into a medium-sized space, usually a living room or on a bed on a bedroom. Place the PC case/tower on its (staring at it from the front i.e., where your DVD/CD drive is visible) right side, and take off its left side.

(In several, although rare, cases, the side that comes off is the right side, and not the left. Although these cases are few and far between, you should make sure that you’re taking off the correct side, which is usually the side that has air holes in it. If the side you’re taking off doesn’t have any air holes in it, then you’re taking off the wrong side.)

Don’t be afraid to do this, for the side of a PC case is just a slab of metal, and isn’t attached to anything important on the inside of your PC. Most cases have the side held on with screws which easily come off, although several manufacturers (Dell and HP noticeably) it is a screw + latch which you will need to either push down or up. Some may even only have two latches that you need to move away from each other at the same time in order to get the side off.

Once the side is off, you should see an assortment of different cables attached to the inner components of your Desktop Computer. Before you touch anything, grab hold of the sides of your case/tower with both hands. This is to ground you, and remove any static that you may have. It is also usually advisable that you use one hand to hold onto the case/tower at all times to keep you grounded and prevent the build up of static, although this isn’t technically necessary.

Looking at the inside of your PC, it should look something like this: – The metal component with the fan on it is your heat sink, which covers your CPU and keeps it cool so it doesn’t over heat, and below your heatsink will be your Graphics Card.

Look further in, and check how it connects to your motherboard (the largest component on the inside of your Desktop Computer that all the other components connect to). If it looks like the following:

Which is the cheapest online retailer in the UK? A good question and one that isn’t answered all that quickly, due to the fact that there’s a hell of a lot of online retailers in the UK. But rather than attempting to have a look at all of them, I’ve decided to pick up on a few. Therefore, what exactly would be the criteria for which ones I choose to look at? Well, I simply grabbed my copy of Micromart, and chose to look at each online retailer that had a page advertisement in it. Also, due to popularity, I have also chosen to look at Ebuyer, Scan, and Misco. Basically, I’m going to see which online retailer would be the cheapest one (including P&P) to provide me with an AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Retail CPU, 4GB of Corsair DDR3 RAM, an ASUS M4A79T Deluxe 790FX Socket AM3 motherboard, and a Sapphire HD 4870 1GB GDDR5 Graphics card. So, let’s get started shall we?

1. CClonline.com The first thing that strikes me is the copious amount of things that immediately pop out on the main page of the website, and the quite large images that this online retailer uses. Luckily, it’s quite easy to navigate, so what I wanted took less than 5 minutes to find.

Prices:

• CPU – £179.45
• Motherboard - £143.69
• DDR3 RAM – £52.33
• Graphics Card – £127.22

Total:

• Without Shipping – £502.69

Shipping came to £5.65, and as I couldn’t find any sort of “free delivery if send after x amount of days”, the total would come to £508.34, but if I chose the “please can I pick this up” option, I’d save that £5.65 p&p charge.

2. PCSpecialist.co.uk Unfortunately, I couldn’t find anything on the PCSpecialist.co.uk website that allowed me to select the separate components by myself, so I went to the “Build your own Desktop” option. Picking the CPU was easy, but there was no DDR3 option that I could see under the “Top Spec Computer” option (as I thought, due to the full price at CCLonline.com, that the £350-£1000 budget option would be fine), so I went to the “Dragon extreme Computer” option, and sure enough, the DDR3 was there. Managed to choose the motherboard I wanted (although there was only three choices, all ASUS), and it wouldn’t let me set it to no case, no PSU or HDD (as expected), and so the total came to £605. Couldn’t see anything about a p&p price, so I presume that’s included in the total price. So in fact, an extra £98 compared to the CCLonline.com price for a case + 250 GB Sata II HDD, and a PSU, leads me to think that if I had the option of not choosing them, the total price would have been cheaper than CCLonline’s total price.

3. Dabs.com Dabs.com almost had as much stuff on its main page as CCLonline did, but due to smaller images used, it actually didn’t take me as along to scroll to the bottom of the page (I am on a 1440×900 Monitor resolution, and most people have 1280×1024 resolutions at the moment, so it’s not as if I’m using a low resolution), but again, very easy to navigate, and again took less than 5 mins for me to chose what I wanted.

Prices:

• CPU – £172.31
• Motherboard – £138.77
• DDR3 RAM - £51.22
• Graphics Card - £120.89

Total:

• Without Shipping – £483.09

As delivery was free, Dabs is definitely the cheapest so far, beating CCLonline. Even if we took off CCLonline’s p&p, Dab’s was cheaper by almost £20.

4. Eclipse Computers E.C actually had a lot less going on upon their main page, which I liked, and the navigation that immediately came out on the left hand side made it extremely easy for me to find what I wanted, taking less than 5 minutes again, as the rest of the websites have done (and will do). A small problem was, when I was trying to find the AMD CPU, I didn’t realise that there was a second page that had it on, due to the fact that the numbers for the pages were quite small compared the to the very large images E.C uses for each product, and it also didn’t help the fact that the page you were on was in a light colour, making noticing it on the white background a bit of an annoyance. I also would have preferred a few more sub-categories to help navigation a bit, so something that E.C should probably have a look at.

Prices:

• CPU – £178.19
• Motherboard – £152.09
• DDR3 RAM – £50.59
• Graphics Card – £135.64

Total:

• Without Shipping – £516.51

Adding in the £10.63 p&p, E.C is actually the most expensive of the lot at the moment (apart from PCSpecialist, but they did have three extra items), coming to £527.14! For an extra £78, PCSpecialist gives you a case, a 250 GB HDD, AND a PSU. So, at the moment, E.C is currently the least desirable online retailer in the UK.

5. Yoyotech.co.uk Yoyotech.co.uk immediately struck me as a very good-looking website. They’ve definitely got a good web designer designing it for them, which is always a plus. Again, navigation is easy (think you may be noticing a pattern at the moment), so finding everything was effortless.

Prices:

• CPU – £195.19
• Motherboard – £149.94
• DDR3 RAM – £61.12
• Graphics Card – £135.24

Total:

• Without Shipping – £514.49

YYT is actually very expensive! It’s more the extra £20 for the CPU and an extra £10 compared to the rest on the DDR3 RAM that bumps it up quite high, bringing the total to £541.49, and that’s as long as I pick it up. It’s an extra £14.99 for the p&p, bringing that total to £556.48! YYT might look fancy, but its prices definitely let it down (especially the p&p price).

6. Aria PC (aria.co.uk) Aria.co.uk is also a very nice looking website, using the excellent colour blue to its full advantage. Again, like YYT, the main page isn’t overloaded with items and images, and navigation is easy once again. What I especially like about Aria PC’s navigation system, is that when you choose the item you want, it doesn’t immediately take you to the “checkout” page, leaving me less clicking to do. A plus point for Aria PC!

Prices:

• CPU – £166.69
• Motherboard – £137.83
• DDR3 RAM – £55.14
• Graphics Card – £125.29

Total:

• Without Shipping – £484.95

Encompassing Aria PC’s £8.57 p&p brings the total sum to £493.52. They do have a “counter collect” option, so that would remove the p&p price total. Currently the 2nd cheapest on the list at the moment, with dabs beating Aria PC by only £1 if we collected it, but by £10 with the Aria PC added p&p. Problem with this, is that Aria PC’s advert does state that “Best prices in the UK GUARANTEED!”, when actually, Dabs.com is currently the one able to claim such a guarantee. Guess it depends on how you view “best”, but I’m assuming that’s really supposed to imply “cheapest”, which, if it is (and I’m pretty sure it is), that statement is a lie, and Aria should be asked to not state as such.

7. Ginger6.co.uk Ginger6, not surprisingly, has an orange/red colour theme, but despite that, it has a fantastic looking first page, and is certainly the website at the moment that has less massive images on its main page, giving Ginger6 a good manifesto start. Navigation is easy once again, and the search function works flawlessly. Unfortunately, G6 didn’t have the right memory I wanted, so I had to go with its GEIL 4G DDR3 RAM instead, nor did it have the right Graphics card, so I had to go with an ASUS substitute. It also had insufficient stock for the RAM and the CPU, so G6 needs to work on making sure it has enough of the PC components in stock.

Prices:

• CPU – £187.67
• Motherboard – £135.86
• DDR3 RAM – £56.48
• Graphics Card – £133.28

Total:

• Without Shipping – £509.29

I couldn’t see a p&p price, so I’m going to guess that it’s free (it really should state somewhere on the website, but the Shipping and Returns page said nothing regarding it either). £1 more expensive than CCLonline, and yet they had an added £5.64 p&p price. G6 therefore looks quite nice, but its prices are quite expensive compared to some others looked at today. And it didn’t help that it had two items missing that I wanted to find.

8. Scan.co.uk Scan.co.uk is actually based in Bolton, a town very close to where I live, so I was kinda hoping that it would show it off a bit. Thankfully, the main page is very welcoming, Scan using the colour blue to its full potential (very much like Aria.co.uk), although I’m pretty sure they could decrease the size of the images used, as I doubt most people visiting Scan.co.uk are almost blind to require such large images. Navigation is once again quick and simple, with me having no trouble finding what I wanted, although the G-card desired would have to be ordered if I was to buy it from Scan.

Prices:

• CPU – £146.84
• Motherboard – £134.88
• DDR3 RAM – £56.47
• Graphics Card – £123.04

Total:

• Without Shipping – £461.23

Counting in the £8.04 p&p, the complete amount came to £469.27. Even with p&p, Scan has beaten every single one of the competitors currently on here, by almost £15 from the previous cheapest one (dabs.com). Only thing wrong with Scan’s website is their large images, which could quite easily be reduced, and if they wanted people to see the bigger images, there are enough ways of doing pop-out (rather than pop-up) viewers.

9. Ebuyer.com Ebuyer.com, the 2^nd to last one on our list, has been my PC Component provider for many years now. It used to go overboard with their orange theme on their website a couple of years ago, but now they’ve toned it down and have more or a grey/white theme, with some orange bits plopped upon it. The homepage is easy on the eyes, and navigation is simple and quick. It has some largish images on the main page, but they’re more used for the main categories rather than for single components, like other website do. Finding what I wanted was a breeze, and everything is actually in stock.

Prices:

• CPU – £146.87
• Motherboard – £134.46
• DDR3 RAM – £52.89
• Graphics Card – £120.92

Total:

• Without Shipping – £455.14

Ebuyer is definitely the best online retailer for allowing you to choose when you have your item delivered. Next working day delivery is always £9.99, and up to two, three, and four working days are all charged (although each day is less expensive than the previous), but you can choose the Super saver option, which takes it up to five days for your components to get to you, but that’s excellent for free delivery. Adding the £9.99 next day delivery charge would bring the total to £465.13. Ebuyer has now overtaken Scan.co.uk as the cheapest online retailer.

10. Misco.co.uk The final online retailer on our list is the UK version of the highly popular US online retailer, TigerDirect.com, both being part of the US based Systemax Group. The main page is extremely well designed, and as with every online retailer on here, navigation throughout the website is simple, quick and effortless. There are, however, a few very annoying animated GIF’s on the website, advertising certain things, and to be honest, I’d rather not have them on there. But anyway, apart from that, Misco.co.uk looks quite nice. Nevertheless, Misco also didn’t have the motherboard I wanted, so I had to go with a Gigabyte substitute, nor did they have the RAM I wanted, so I had to go with a Kingston one.

Prices:

• CPU – £189.99
• Motherboard – £129.98
• DDR3 RAM – £61.99
• Graphics Card – £129.98

Total:

• Without Shipping – £506.95

Misco.co.uk nicely prices your p&p based on your postcode, and for 1-3 working days, it would cost an extra £4.99. Saying this, that would bring the total to £512.69, making Misco’s prices quite high.

Totals Without Shipping (Lowest to Highest Price order)

• Ebuyer.com – £455.14
• Scan.co.uk – £461.23
• Dabs.com – £483.09
• Aria.co.uk – £484.95
• CCLOnline.co.uk – £502.69
• Misco.co.uk - £506.95
• Ginger6.com – £509.29
• Yoyotech.co.uk – £514.49
• Eclipse Computers.com – £516.51
• PC Specialist – £605 (added 250 GB HDD, PSU, and Case)

Summary

It appears that Ebuyer is the UK’s cheapest online retailer (based on the components I chose to buy), but Scan.co.uk is only marginally more expensive.

The main news this week is that Corporation Giant, Google, has been doing something that we all knew they had been doing for a very long time – Designing their own Operating System. It didn’t really come as that much of a surprise to most people. Google have already dominated the search engine market for quite some time, and the money they get from having adverts on their search engine has helped given them the resources to make them into a very impressive global company, who has some very, very impressed employee’s.

After Google released their Internet Browser – Google Chrome (which I feel is going to be having “IB” (Internet Browser) added to it so it doesn’t get confused with the Google Chrome OS) – and received many positive reviews for the first (and second) release of GC-IB, and the fact that their Android Mobile OS has been making steady inroads to the mobile devices market since 2007, most predicted it was only a matter of time before Google announced an OS for a computing platform. And guess what – they did.

Google Chrome OS is stated to be released (which I guess means in beta form) mid-2010, mainly for Netbooks to begin with, but rest assured, Laptop and PC versions won’t be far behind. The main goal of Google is to create a “simple, light, fast and secure” Operating system that is based heavily around users of the Internet, which, in case people hadn’t noticed by now, is what the vast preponderance of people do with their Computers in this day and age.

One thinks that even though it was more or less expected, Microsoft and its CEO’s probably pooped their pants when Google finally announced their Operating System. If (I actually think when) Google Chrome OS turns out to be just what people want, due to the fact that the Operating System will be free, although free alternatives to Microsoft’s Windows platform have been around for a very long time now, Microsoft’s dominance in the Operating System market will take a heavy, and very, very, severe hit.

Microsoft best be hoping that the new Windows 7 actually starts to have an impact before Google finally release their Google Chrome OS.