I have a Dell Dimension 8250 desktop with an Nvidia GeForce 6200 card and a Nokia Multigraph 445Xpro monitor. It has XP Professional with up-to-date drivers. The last few weeks when I turn on my PC the only thing that is displayed is the Nokia self-test screen.
This has the following information:
Red [a
red bar displays]
Green [a green bar displays]
Blue [a blue bar displays]
Signal: No Signal
Input D-Sub Selected
Cable: Connected
This message stays on the display no
matter how long I wait. What I need to do is to turn the CPU off then turn
it back on. Then the
monitor gets the signal from the CPU and I can see that the CPU is going
through its memory check and then I get the logon display.
I have tried using an Hitachi monitor and different monitor cable and it doesn't get a signal on first boot either.
Sometimes it is enough to unplug your power cord, wait 2 minutes and plug it back in. ATX power supplies always provide power to MBO, even when computer is off, so it might help to "fully reset" your MBO.
This would usually indicate that there is a problem that is causing your computer to not boot correctly all of the time. What you have described could be many different problems and without more information I cannot say which one it is.
1. Hard drive. I have ran into Hard Drives that for some reason do not start up correctly right away when you put power to them. This can cause the initial startup to hang possibly indefinitely.
2. Video Card. Something probably firmware is causing your video card to not start up properly when power is first applied.
3. PSU. The power supply could cause similar problems if it cannot supply enough power because the highest power draw is when you first turn on the computer. When you push the reset button the power is already being supplied to most of the components and the ones that did not have enough power to start properly before can do so now.
4. CPU. If the CPU has some minor problems it can cause similar problems. In any case to fix it you can try clocking down the CPU but you are better off replacing it.
5. RAM. I have had similar problems with RAM. Clocking down the RAM fixed the issue.
6. Settings in BIOS. I would check to make sure the setting for init display on boot is set for PCI-e.
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Thexder1, thanks for all of the ideas. Each possible cause that you have suggested seems reasonable given the information that I provided.
I have not yet decided how I will proceed at this point. With so many possible causes to consider I may wait until I am unable to boot up at all and then try to identify what has caused the failure.
I have had the exact same problem. Although i have worked out that it must be something to do with my graphics card and/or the drivers. When i have the drivers (which came with the graphics card itself on cd) installed and i try to run windows xp normally, the screen comes up woth a error 'no signal'. Now if i run the pc in safe mode, i can actually get on the pc without the error. Obviously in safe mode, graphics cardsdo not work and therefore is the reason i can get on.
I am wondering if my graphics card is broken or something is wrong with the drivers. I have been using the graphics card for almost 2 years without problems until recently. =/
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