I need some help with a PC I've been given.  Here's a little background first...

The computer was given to my mother by a friend of the family.  They told her that it may have had some viruses, etc, and the problem they have (whatever it may be exactly) would cost a lot to fix.  So they went along and bought a new one, hence why they passed it on to my mother.

Anyway, they tested it and stuff to see if it went.  Things were OK at first, until something happened that ended up frying the power supply.  I offered the ATX from one of my old PC's...but due to the size of our friends' computer (an HP Pavilion, about 3/4 of the size of your average tower), my ATX is too big.  But I had a cunning plan...

I took my old tower with the ATX in it (my mother decided to just give the other PC to me, by the way) and then I opened it up in a way so that I could link the 2 towers together by its cables.  In other words, my old PC tower is powering up the smaller one.  (not a bad theory, yes?)

But this is where the main problem I'm facing comes into it...........

For some reason, the monitor always wants to remain in standby mode when it's booting up.  I know it's not the monitor, because I tried it on 2 other monitors (including the one I'm looking at now).

What do I do so I can see what's happening to the other PC?  I'm stumped.  Truth is, I don't wanna have to put the drive into this computer to format/scan it, in case anything harmful gets into my important files.

Anyone?  (sorry for rambling)