Monitor/ Videocard Problem

Every time I reboot my computer I get a non-responsive monitor that informs me that there is "No Signal". I can hear the 'puter booting up but no display. I can turn the monitor off and on, but no dice. I have tried two different monitors: a 19" BenQ and a 17" Compaq and the result is the same. I end up hard-booting the tower off and waiting a couple of hours and then, if I am lucky, it boots up normally.
Here is a list of things that I have done to try and fix it, thus far:

- I made sure that all power settings are set to "always on" ie: Hibernate off, Standby off, etc.
- Updated videocard and monitor drivers
- Opened the tower and cleaned out with compressed air
- Visually inspected all fans, cables, connections, looked for bent port pins, etc.
- Ran AdAware and Spybot S&D
- Ran Anti-Virus (McAfee) and Trend Micro HouseCall (Online)

The fact that I lose signal with two different monitors makes me think it's not a monitor issue. You might be thinking that the videocard is overheating, but I have three case fans, an intake on the front and two exhaust fans at the back. I run SpeedFan 4.21 and all my fan speeds and temps are normal.

I have another videocard (MSI RX-9200) that I will try out as a last resort, but if anyone can suggest a fix for this problem, I would welcome any and all advice.

AMD Athlon XP 2800+ Barton 2083 Mhz
Asus A7N8X Deluxe 2.0
NVidia GeForce FX5200
Maxtor 80G HD
WinXP SP 2

 

Does this occur only for reboots?

 

Yes, otherwise I have not noticed any other odd behavior. The only problem occurs when I reboot, then it's hit or miss as to when I will be able to restore monitor function. I really hope its just the Videocard and not the MoBo! I am really tired of hard-booting...I cringe everytime I have to do it! To rule out the vid card tomorrow I will pull it and instal it in an unused AGP slot. If the problem persists, I will swap it with my MSI card. Wish me luck... Lawman

 

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=61565&highlight=reboot

This thread is a similar problem but with dual monitor.He claims that after reboots the drivers dont get loaded the same way as for a normal start.

 

I had this problem when I first built my PC. I couldn't get any signal at all about 95% of the time when I booted up from my PCI-E card, but when I used a regular PCI card, I could get a signal. After about a week of testing, I found that the culprit to be my generic PCI dial-up modem somehow interfered with my graphics card, so I got a different brand and it cleared it up. Try taking all other extra cards out and booting up. It might have something to do with the IRQ settings, your graphics card might be on the same IRQ channel as another device card.

 

Just thought I'd give an update: I went ahead and swapped out my videocard and that appears to have fixed it. I had a few tense moments while Windows was trying to "see" the new hardware but it reboots just fine now. Thanks for the help. Lawmanxxx