nothing on the monitor

[gord99]

I want to put my old computer, Compaq Presario (which isn't that old) in another part of the house to play music on but when I connect it to a monitor -I have two that work well-nothing appears on the screen except some squiggly lines-and with the newer monitor nothing at all.  Any suggestions on what I can do?  The old one started developing some problems with the internet but otherwise worked well off line.     

[truenorth]

As you are undoubtedly aware it is extremely difficult to solve a computer issue without a working monitor. The fact that 2 monitors are not working tends toward less of an issue with a monitor and more likely an issue with the VGA card of the computer. This may not be the only thing that can cause the problem but is the easiest to check on. If you can borrow a known working VGA card and install it into the affected computer that would be a good start. I assume that to the extent that you can observe the computer itself is coming on properly (fans working,keyboard lighting up,lights appearing on the computer tower at start,HDD spinning,etc.)?truenorth

[rthompson80819]

The old one started developing some problems with the internet but otherwise worked well off line.

Monitors really don't care where the video is coming from, whether it's the internet or Excel shouldn't make any difference (unless it something like Youtube).