LCD Monitor blank after restart

I have a Samsung 172X LCD monitor connected to a Triplex NVidia FX 5200 video card by the digital connection. Image is great but..... when i do a restart the monitor just stays blank. It doesn't come on at all, even the little green led just blinks as if it's in powersave mode like when the computer is off.
If I do a "shut down" the computer and monitor start up again no problem. It's only a "restart" that causes the monitor to not come on.
I am running WinXP SP2 (prob was there before SP2).
The analog connection has no problems just the digital connection. I wouldn't worry except the digital connection is just great. The image is beautiful and I want to use it.
I have downloded and anstalled the latest drivers but Im guessing it's not driver related because this happens before the drivers have had a chance to kick in.

 

Hi Greg,

Sounds very much like what my daughter's Asus motherboard use to do. The BIOS would "crash" on a restart.

When the monitor light goes orange, does the harddrive still run like it is booting to Windows, just without the screen? If not, and it seems like it has crashed, then could be the same problem.

I think I fixed it with a BIOS upgrade, but I have not worked on the machine for a long time.

If you consider doing a BIOS upgrade, I would recommend the floppy disk type, I still don't trust the internet or Windows type. You will see warnings about not letting the machine stop during the flash, so don't pick a time when there may be a power outage. Follow the instructions carefully.

Matt
PS If you can borrow another monitor to try that would rule out the monitor itself (I don't think it would be the problem though, seems like it is not getting the signal from the video card). It might be good to be certain before doing a lot of other troubleshooting.

Edit: rereading your post, you talk of digital and analog. Does it restart OK when using analog? Digital/analog, do you mean the different connectors on the video card (VGA, DVI, S-Video)?

 

Hi Matt,
Thanks for responding. Sorry I meant analog is VGA and digital is DVI and the computer just continues to boot when I do a restart but the monitor just doesn't come on. It's like the video card is not sending any signal to the monitor after a restart.

I have to press reset on the computer to get running again because I can't see the screen. The monitor will come on as the machine starts up again when I do this.

I'll see if I can get another LCD with DVI input from work to try. I'm reluctant to do a motherboard BIOS update (read scared) so will save for last resort.

Thanks

 

I had a quick look at the nVidia website. Not much to report. Have a browse through this (only 169 pages )
Forceware Drivers Guide
Probably (?) won't be the same problem I had. It boots through to Windows without the monitor. It may have something to do with the BIOS settings though. Check through the BIOS/CMOS settings in your motherboard manual (like changing "Video boot from PCI" to "Video boot from AGP ")

You could try an email to nVidia. You may be lucky and get a reply. Specify that iit will restart from Analog (VGA), but not Digital (DVI) [that's correct, isn't it?].

Overall, if you cannot find a solution, you may just want to live with it like I did (my daughter's Asus machine used to be mine for a few years, I only decided to try and fix the restart problem when she asked me to fix another problem). The bad restart should not have any ill effect, even when installing new programs. Wait until Windows has finished loading (drive activity stops...it is just not showing what's happening on the screen). You can also make Windows shutdown normally using keyboard instructions( in WIN98 I use Ctrl-Alt-Del then Alt-S...interested...just practice from the log-on screen or desktop when you boot to it...this is handy for me because I like to turn off the monitor when I am not around and then may want to shutdown the machine without powering up the monitor up to do it). Hopefully you can find a proper solution though.

Matt

 

My guess on this and I underscore the word guess, is that you have a circuit on your video card that is headed south. Although I'm no monitor guy, I have seen DVI connectors go bad while the 15 pin connector on the same card stays fully functional. Your description of intermittant problems (restart) throws me a bit because they usually either work all the time or they don't work at all. Again, my speculation is that you have a DVI circuit thats on its way out. I don't believe its setting related or driver related but I can't tell you how to test circuits on your video card either.