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Would you please address the imminent shutdown of Panoramio and options for those of us who specifically share photos of places that are then linked to Google Earth. Thanks, RB

Down the rabbit hole – an update. Black screen solved by moving from Display Port to HDMI – WTF??! Seems to be working for the moment. Does this latest observation implicate the monitor? Or does it confirm some other notion, e.g., the PSU? I am quite confused…

I wrote a message using advanced that has not posted because a moderator has to approve!??! When I do a quick reply the message goes right up, what gives? Should I rewrite the message awaiting approval?

Thank you, that is a much better guide that the one that I found (http://pcsupport.about.com/od/toolsofthetrade/ht/power-supply-test-multimeter.htm). I am still unclear on the relationship of the harness and the power supply. If I buy a power supply, does it come with the harness or is that a separate deal? Some photos show a harness, some not. Also, is it better to buy a refurbished OEM supply that was specifically used that that computer or should you go with a specific brand or set of attributes (besides rating)?

I am beginning to think it is the power supply as I installed another somewhat high-end card and got so far as to boot into Win and install drivers, however, after reboot only a black screen from the first – no BIOS screen, no nothing. Fiddling with connections and wires got me nowhere (hope the card is okay). Also, suddenly the system is not seeing the USB keyboard.

To answer a previous question, it is an old machine. I believe that I purchased it in 2009 as a high-end unit that would last a few years. I still feel like it has the power to do what I want if I can just solve this problem. If not, I got 6-7 years out of it, although I would prefer not to start over now, both from the point of view of the time and effort of rebuilding a system as well as from a financial perspective.

Thanks again for spending the time and effort to think about the problem and reply.
RB

I have never dealt with a power supply before, so please excuse the naive question, but is the harness I see coming out of the unit hardwired on the inside or is there a plug that can be disconnected with the harness left in place?

I found this guide to testing, but I am still unclear as to what the pin outs on the two power connectors going to the video card are and how to determine if they are providing the correct output.

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/toolsofthetrade/ht/power-supply-test-multimeter.htm

BTW, thanks again for thinking about this and offering advice.

Okay, wife’s video card worked, but here’s the rub – her card is VGA and derives all of its power through the PCI connection, whereas mine is a Radeon 5870 with two additional power connections. Can I conclude that it is the video card or am I still left wondering about the power supply?

I have now tried removing the video card, cleaning everything and re-seating to no effect, I am considering removing my wife’s video card and trying that as it looks like I could do it without risking her machine. As to testing the power supply, I mean using a VOM to look at the output of critical outputs, although I have no idea where to find information on the pinouts, which is obviously essential. I agree the alternative of buy and replace looks expensive and not exactly trivial to implement.

The possibility of a PSU problem did occur to me, however, I have no spare to try out. As measuring output is somewhat complicated, I may first look for another video card and try that before tampering with the PSU (as to transferring the video card in question to another machine, as my wife’s computer is the only one operable at the moment I am loathe to risk fate and chance screwing up her machine as well). Is it possible to test outputs one at a time without disconnecting everything first or is that asking for trouble? I appreciate all of the help, it is good to have new ideas and a reality check.

Definitely hardware, nothing from the gitgo, tried a different cable, what I need is to see if I can’t scrounge up another video card. I will try removing, cleaning, re-seating the current card in the meantime (although I am not likely to be home long enough to do that until later in the week). Thanks for all the help!

Not sure how to boot into safe mode when I don’t know where I am at or what is going on without video.

The only Windows Updates that I recently installed were related to NET Framework and I booted successfully after that, so I don’t think it’s a driver issue.

A prior system inventory shows that chipsets to be Northbridge: Intel x58 rev13 and Southbridge: Intel 82801JR (ICH10R) rev00 with graphics interface of PCI-Express, which I assume to mean no onboard graphics (that and the fact that there is no discernable output).

You said: it’s not easy finding an app-whitelisting solution for home PCs

Commodo Firewall provides what is essentially whitelisting by preventing an unrecognized app from running without authorization from the user. It also allows sandboxing. Moreover, there is a free version that does not have a time limit on its use. I’ve been using it successfully for many years. I would be interested in learning if there is something I’ve missed regarding its capabilities.

Regarding latest patches for Adobe Flash mentioned in your column, Secunia appears confused about which Flash program requires an update. Secunia reports flash.exe 9.0.260.0 as insecure when in fact that is the latest version. Running Adobe update and patching flashplayer.exe 10.0.45.2 does not correct report of flash.exe as insecure.