Computer usually will not boot -

[ashtray4]

I have a pretty generic old computer (specs below)
Lately it has started to not boot at all most of the time. It does not hit the floppy, or cdrom, it just sits there and displays "Check Cable Signal" on the monitor. It does not beep or anything. The fans come on and nothing else happens.
But SOMETIMES it will start as iff it never had a problem in it's life. Have upgraded the operating system recently and it was working fine until about 5 days ago. I'm stumped.
Thanks very much for any help.
Operating System System Model Windows XP Professional Service Pack 1 (build 2600) Intel Corporation Processor a Main Circuit Board b 550 megahertz Intel Pentium III
32 kilobyte primary memory cache
512 kilobyte secondary memory cache Board: Intel Corporation SE440BX-2 AA754552-204
Serial Number: IUS295007824
Bus Clock: 100 megahertz
BIOS: Intel Corp. 4S4EB2X0.86A.0022.P15 09/27/1999 Drives Memory Modules c,d 17.40 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
13.41 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space

ATAPI CD-R/RW 4X4X32 [CD-ROM drive]
3.5" format removeable media [Floppy drive]

IOMEGA ZIP 100 [Hard drive] -- drive 1
Maxtor 91731U4 [Hard drive] (17.41 GB) -- drive 0, s/n G40GTA9C, rev FA520860, SMART Status: Healthy 256 Megabytes Installed Memory

Slot 'J6J1' has 128 MB
Slot 'J6J2' has 128 MB
Slot 'J7J1' is Empty &nbsp Local Drive Volumes &nbsp


c: (on drive 0) 17.40 GB 13.41 GB free &nbsp Network Drives &nbsp



Users Printer


P DeskJet 812C on LPT1: Controllers Display Standard floppy disk controller
Intel(r) 82371AB/EB PCI Bus Master IDE Controller
Primary IDE Channel [Controller]
Secondary IDE Channel [Controller] S3 Graphics Inc. Savage4 [Display adapter]
Azalea 15.7 [Monitor] (15.7"vis, September 1998) Bus Adapters Multimedia Intel(r) 82371AB/EB PCI to USB Universal Host Controller Game port for Yamaha DS1
Unimodem Half-Duplex Audio Device
YAMAHA Legacy DS1 WDM Driver
YAMAHA Native DS1 WDM Driver Communications Other Devices Generic SoftK56 [Modem]
Intel(R) PRO/100+ Management Adapter

LG USB PC Camera(LPC-U30)
Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard
PS/2 Compatible Mouse
USB Root Hub

[zxladie]

I have the same board. I will never give it up, probably be buried with it. I got that message twice and the first time it was the day I got it, bought it bundled in the tower. The video card had come partially up just a hair in the AGP slot. It's a fairly loose fitting slot, and the card doesn't sit really tight in it. The board picked it up but couldn't detect the monitor until I pushed the front of the card back down all the way. The second time was because the monitor wouldn't tighten up evenly or all the way on both sides like it should. Got rid of the monitor, and never had the problem again. And will never by another Sony monitor.