montors go dark during startup - drivers?

Hello,

I've been trying to research why my monitors go dark. Long story, my electricity went out a month ago, and I couldn't restart my computer. I finally realized, after way to many cold starts, that it WAS restarting the whole time, I just wasn't heariang the Windows "I'm done loading" OS sound. So, I fiddled with my monitor chord, unscrewed and reconnected it, and all was well for a month until I uninstalled a sample version of Norton. Upon restart, the Flat screen monitor was dark again. I plugged in a 1990's monitor, and it brings up "Gateway", then a cursor in left corner, then the XP emblem for several seconds, and then goes dark. Verified dozens of times. My OS is XP, with service pack 3 installed. I'm able to use SafeMode, Safemode Networking, and VGA Safemode, but don't really know what I'm trying to do with these, since they don't seem to solve anything.
So, I read that other people have the same problem and that uninstalling and re-installing ATI drivers solves the problem. But, I can't do this bcs my Windows update has never worked. All it does is search and search, and never brings up any updates to install. So, I guess if I could solve this problem, maybe I could uninstall /re-install ATI drivers. But, using another option I found to update the drivers, when I ask Windows to update the drivers, it says no newer version exists. I have Radeon X3xx, and its been retired.
Also, i believe one of my 2 cooling fans may have stopped operating, and am wondering if this is responsible for causing the problem somehow, and /or if the electricty going out ruined something. So, if bad video card, why does one monitor work initially before going black, and why did reconnecting the monitor cable fix the problem for a month?
Lastly, I viewed example of what your computer does with a bad video card, and I don't believe I ever had any of the symptoms. So, not the monitor, not the cable, not the video card, but maybe the drivers? (but no better version available than what I already have....) What can I do next, other than go to the store and buy a new computer

 

Yeah - as Halo stated, it is likely a driver problem. Windows starts to load, but the video cuts out.... this almost always points to a faulty driver, or faulty driver settings, especially since it works OK in Safe Mode. Follow Halo's steps, and you should be OK. Let us know how it goes!

 

Thanks for the response! I'm attaching the Everest report. As fas as I can tell, I don't even have a graphics card, so yes, I definitely need help identifying it

Also, as far as the 2nd step of downloading the driver sweeper program, etc, I went to the Catalyst hotfix site to download the latest drivers for the graphics card, and realized I'd been to that site before attempting to get more current drivers. The problem, if I'm understanding the site correctly, is that my Radeon Drivers seem way too old. Under the Device Manager, in the Display adaptors directory, I have "Radeon X300 Series" and "Radeon X300 Series Secondary". If anyone can help with more specific information on how to download what I need from the Catalyst hotfix site, maybe I would be able to do it. (lack of experience)
Before posting, I had tried to download from this site, and what I got was a directory called ATI --> Support --> 10-02_legacy_xp32-64_wdm. But for whatever reason, I got nowhere with this. Could this actually be what I needed?
Hope this further info helps, and I REALLY appreciate this help.