Vista - Monitor display problem

I have a Samsung syncmaster226bw, used on a HP computer.

The problem is, sometimes and more than ever its doing it now, when I turn on my computer the screen just stays blank. Most times when I turn it off and on again it will recognize it then work fine, but as of lately it can take 10+ times. When it does this and you turn it off, it does flash the Analog and Digital box in the top left corner, meaning its recognizing it but it still wont work when computer is turned on again. Im thinking the problem is something to do with the Digital/Analog setting on my monitor, or something in the settings?

Anyone had this problem before or can point me in the right direction of stopping this from happening? thanks

Boot into the BIOS, this will tell you if it is hardware or software.

If it is hardware then check your cables and the seating of the card.

If it is software then boot into safe mode and reinstall the graphics drivers.

Ok thanks but I dont know how to do any of that really..like "Boot into the BIOS". Can you explain it plz

To boot into the bios turn on the pc and continually press the del key. Dont hold your finger on it actually keep on pressing it until the bios screen apears.
If this happens then you know it is likly to be a software error (but check the cables just in case)

If you have a flat screen monitor then there will be two cables on the back.
A dvi/vga cable. Ensure it is screwed in and does not wobble. There will also be a power cable.
Follow the cable to the computer and check that is connected.
Turn off the power to the computer, do not just switch it off turn it off at the wall.
If you live in the UK you can leave it plugged in as this will keep the earth connected.
Next get a friend to help or if you are confident take the side off the computer and ensure that the craphics card is seated correctly. (meaning slotted into the motherboard).

If you have done the above and it continues to happen then you need to uninstall then reinstall the graphics drivers.

Download the drivers from the relevant website.

Have a look under programs and features in the control panel and see if your card is listed. If it is then uninstall it this way.
Alternitive is to use the cards own software to uninstall it or go to Device manager, right click and delete it.

Restart windows.

Next reinstall the device drivers and software that you downloaded or have the CD for.

Let us know how it went.

What sort of cable do you have connected to your Monitor?

I have the same monitor as yourself and it's connected via a DVI cable that came with the Monitor...it's then connected to the Graphics card.

Ok so going into the BIOS only purpose is to see if its a software issue? Im almost going to assume it is because the monitor does work eventually everytime after unplugging cord / turning off computer etc, it will always eventually recognize it.

I have checked all the cords multiple times, I guess next step would be taking off case and seeing if card is inserted proper, but before I do that, why would the monitor sometimes work and just randomly come on at times, if the card inside was loose?

Making me think ill need to do the reinstall driver thing, I did just recently install catalyst so I could try and set-up dual monitor on my TV. Im not sure if all this started when I got catalyst it could be I guess..hmmmm

Thanks for assisting Roy69, hopefully can eventually figure this out, just not sure what the next step should be !


And to answer Cievo: yeah its the dvi that came with computer hooked into the graphics card on back.

Have you checked the plugs on the monitor cable? Although my monitor uses a VGA cable, I have to connect it to my graphics card via an adapter as it only has DVI-I ports. I had a similar problem a while back of the monitor not always coming on. Upon checking the adapter, I found that a couple of the pins had got bent and were obviously not connecting. As far as I was aware, these pins weren't connected with the analogue side of the signal, so I did occassionally still get a signal to my monitor, but it did mean that the connector was not seated fully into the socket, giving rise to an intermittent fault. A new DVI-VGA adapter cured the problem.
It could be that you have a similar problem - if so, you will need to replace the monitor cable as it is not possible to straighten the pins in the plugs satisfactorily.

Yeah ive tried another cable even so its not that.

Still dont know what to do with the BIOS, am I trying to go into it when the monitor is blank and not displaying anything..? Or do it once ive got it working for the night..? And what exactly am I looking for when in the BIOS screen?

Whats happening is: I turn computer on and nothing. If I leave it on overnight when it was working, it will not be in the morning. To get it to work I unplug the DVI, or keep unplugging the monitor power and just wait, it can take a very long time..then when the monitor finally starts displaying the box that says check signal cable, it will work when you plug it back in. Does that better explain the problem and If its just the monitor or could it still be a problem with display drivers?

If it works when you plug it back in then it sounds like a hardware problem.
When I asked you to go into the bios it was purley as a diagnostic check. You do not have to look for anything in there.
You can check the settings for sleep, however I doubt it will be that.