I am assuming that the older PC is a full-size Desktop system or tower case. Does the Video connector look like it is coming out of one of the expansion slots or is it part of the motherboard. You can usually tell if it has motherboard integrated video by the location of the connection... if it is right by your other - USB, Mouse/Keyboard, audio, and serial/parallel ports, etc...

If you have two video ports, one motherboard and one expansion... try the other one.

If the video is in an external slot, open the case. Remove and re-seat the video board - it could have a bad connection from being moved.

Then there are the not so obvious... check the cable from the monitor... bent pins?

Does it make the normal single beep during it BIOS diagnostic checks.. or do you hear several beeps?

Does the hard drive sound like it is trying to load the operating system?

Did you hit the side of it really hard with the palm of your hand? - no, don't do that...that's not a proper diagnostic procedure.

I'm such an idiot. I forgot that the video card that was on the motherboard was replaced with a new one on an expansion slot. I hooked the monitor up to the wrong connection.

4 hours sleep is not sufficient for setting up a computer.

Thank you so much....as soon as you said expansion slot I knew what I had done. It's now hooked up and running.

...ChromeFoundry says. You're on the right track.

I just used the wrong connection.. I used the mother board connection instead of the expansion slot connection.

I felt like such a dork.

My kid turned off the "darkness-sensing, turn the headlights 'on' automatically" setting on my car.... I got in the car when it was dark and it took me several minutes to figure out how to turn on my headlights! I had to open the door to turn on the cabin area light to see the dashboard. *sigh*

with a "darkness-sensing, turn the headlights on automatically" feature. Pretty cool, but yeah, I can see it being confusing if someone turned the feature off.

After all I went through to get the old computer set up with the monitor, the program I wanted I evidently removed and now have to hope it will reload. Hopefully the disc is fine and the reason it wouldn't load on the new computer was a Windows 7 compatibility issue. I've just been involved in so many other things that I haven't even tried.