Ask Me Help Desk - No display until computer has 'warmed up'

Hi, I have have an issue where when I boot up, the display flickers on the monitor for a second and then is gone, if I turn the monitor off and on again, this is repeated.

After a while, it turns on and works fine, the problem also happens if its waking from sleep mode.

I have read on the net about this issue, and indeed on this site, and few potential issues have been raised, but I have now ruled some of them out.

Firstly, my 19" LCD was around 4 years old, so at first I assumed it had had it time. So upgraded to a new 22" as they are cheap now. But the issue persisted.

Then I thought I may have had a problem with my graphics card (nvidia 8600 GT), as I knew this was having some overheating issues causing some crashing in games. So I upgraded that to a nvidia 9800 GT.. and still the problem persisted.

I read that it may have been related to my power supply, and this seemed logical as I started this PC with a budget gamming PC, so the case was small and the PSU only 300W.

So now just today I put my comp in a new case, which is larger for more airflow and has a 650W PSU.

The problem persists.

Now I have dual monitors, and it is the same for both monitors, except they won't necessarily start to work at the same time, which seems odd to me.

The next step I will take (and quite probably should have took ages ago), will be to reinstall my OS.

Failing that, it seems to me like it can only be my Motherboard, as everything else related to display has been replaced! Lol

Any input/ ideas very welcome :)

Thanks.

I read and re-read your post multiple times as it seems to defy any logic. Yet,

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jamesb15uk

...the display flickers on the monitor for a second and then is gone, if I turn the monitor off and on again, this is repeated.

This behavior usually results from a power or lamp supply circuitry problem in LCD monitors. It also can occur with bad signal or power cables or a refresh rate/resolution that is out of the monitor's range on some monitors. Properly functioning LCD monitors will typically display something when no signal is detected, usually a "No signal" message. See the documentation for your monitors. Unplug the signal cables and turn the monitors on, wait, and see if monitor behaves as indicated in the documentation. If power light flickers or otherwise doesn't blink regularly and monitor appears to be having trouble starting, it's a monitor problem. Also, if monitors are plugged into a surge suppressor or strip, change outlet or plug directly into wall for troubleshooting.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jamesb15uk

...So upgraded to a new 22" as they are cheap now. But the issue persisted.

Were the signal and power cables swapped out as well?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jamesb15uk

So I upgraded that to a nvidia 9800 GT.. and still the problem persisted.

Assuming new card is good, implicates monitor/cables.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jamesb15uk

I read that it may have been related to my power supply......new case... has a 650W PSU.

Insufficient wattage issues tend to crash computer. New p/s implicates monitor/cables.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jamesb15uk

Now I have dual monitors, and it is the same for both monitors, except they won't necessarily start to work at the same time, which seems odd to me.

Are you saying the monitors, connected simultaneously, will take turns being "defective" with one working and the other not?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jamesb15uk

The next step I will take (and quite probably should have took ages ago), will be to reinstall my OS. ...it seems to me like it can only be my Motherboard, as everything else related to display has been replaced!

If that resolves the problem, please post back here with your hardware specifics. Lousy board?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jamesb15uk

Any input/ ideas very welcome

Do you have another system to verify the monitors on? Or, another monitor, perhaps a CRT type, to turn on and then watch the computer boot from off. Isolating the problem to either the monitors or the computer's signal output would focus troubleshooting. Also, configuring the computer to only boot to a POST screen, or via DOS boot disk, disabling the loading of the operating system would help eliminate the OS or a video card driver issue if issue persists. Longshots: Check for metal items between motherboard and case. Swap video card interface port if possible.

Hey, thanks for taking the time to read (and re-read) my post, appreciated.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scleros

This behavior usually results from a power or lamp supply circuitry problem in LCD monitors. It also can occur with bad signal or power cables or a refresh rate/resolution that is out of the monitor's range on some monitors. Properly functioning LCD monitors will typically display something when no signal is detected, usually a "No signal" message. See the documentation for your monitors. Unplug the signal cables and turn the monitors on, wait, and see if monitor behaves as indicated in the documentation. If power light flickers or otherwise doesn't blink regularly and monitor appears to be having trouble starting, it's a monitor problem. Also, if monitors are plugged into a surge suppressor or strip, change outlet or plug directly into wall for troubleshooting.

I origionally did think it was a monitor problem, hence the upgrade. I did swap the cables out too, and its exactly the same for both monitors. They will display the 'No Signal' message if there is none present, but when connected up and I power on, there is no signal, just a blank screen, the power light indicates all is fine.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scleros

Are you saying the monitors, connected simultaneously, will take turns being "defective" with one working and the other not?

No sorry, when I try to boot, neither monitor will work, both behaving exactly the same, after a while (~10 mins), one of the monitors will begin to work 100% fine (only after being turned off then on again), a couple of minutes later, the other monitor will also work fine. From this point on as long as my comp is turned on I'm fine for hours and hours. I can even reboot the machine no problem, every time. The issue only occurs when I have been away from my machine for some time and whatever is the problem, has evidently cooled down. This even happens if I leave it in stand by for a while, except it seems to 'heat up' a little quicker from this state.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scleros

If that resolves the problem, please post back here with your hardware specifics. Lousy board?

So this brings me to today. I have reinstalled with vista, and the problem is exactly the same. I can only imagine the mobo is damaged in some way, I just can't see how ram/CPU could be involved.

My Spec is:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5600+ 2.80Ghz
2GB Ram
Nvidia 9800 GT
Coolermaster eXtreme Power 650W PSU

Sorry not sure on the mobo, but it was part of my budget gamming PC bought 2 years ago. Its an Asus and the code on the sticker is 'M2V - TVM M2V890/DP_MB' Don't suppose that will help lol.

Not sure if there's anything else important I've missed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scleros

Do you have another system to verify the monitors on? Or, another monitor, perhaps a CRT type, to turn on and then watch the computer boot from off. Isolating the problem to either the monitors or the computer's signal output would focus troubleshooting. Also, configuring the computer to only boot to a POST screen, or via DOS boot disk, disabling the loading of the operating system would help eliminate the OS or a video card driver issue if issue persists. Longshots: Check for metal items between motherboard and case. Swap video card interface port if possible.

Yup, I have another system handy, so I'll double check the monitors on that. I can't see how its anything to do with refresh rate or resolution, as after a while everything works, and continues to work, until the system cools down again, looks to me like the mobo is toast.

Ive got a feeling it only cuts out as windows tries to load, so next time Im booting up, I'll go into the BIOS and I'm pretty sure it will display that fine until I try to load windows. (not 100% on this though).

Just to add another odd thing Ive noticed, with the two monitors, say if I leave the second off the entire time I wait for the first to work, if at some later time, I then try to turn the second monitor on.. it will again have to wait 10 minutes or so before it will turn on. Bizare.

Nope I was wrong regarding the OS, if I take it into the BIOS when I first try and boot, it does the same thing.

Also, every time I reboot, the display seems fine at first, and its around the windows loading screen it gives (or the BIOS if I go into that).

Not really looking to replace my motherboard here, so I think I'll try holding out for warmer weather! :P It might possibly solve this, or at least mean the warm up time isn't so long.