Sapphire ATI Radeon Graphic Card Issue

Question

Lately, my graphic card has been giving me problems, which is somewhat arbitrary and unpredictable. Initially, I thought it was an O/S problem, so I had switched between Windows XP and Windows 7, but the issue is that both of them would load to the Windows loading screen, and I would get "No signal found" from my monitor.

When I close my computer and turn it back on, the screen would not even show the BIOS, which has gotten we worried and frustrated. I know the hard drive is fine, as I can hear my speakers playing the Windows XP logging on audio file. Then when I unplug the and plug back in the monitor port, it would work suddenly, but when I shut it down and turn it back on, it does the same thing as won't show BIOS or won't show up to the loading screen.

Is this a sign that my graphic card or failing? Which is what I am greatly afraid of, or is this there something else going on?

• Graphics card: ATI Radeon HD 4850 (512MB)
• Monitors: Acer P191W and Benq T905
• Motherboard: g31m-es2l

Update:
I followed Col's suggestion and took out the graphics card and set it back on the board. After several hard boots,( 4-6 times ) it booted fine and the graphics card seems to behaving properly.

Answer 1

The fact that it's happening right from the BIOS screen does seem to indicate some sort of hardware issue. I'd try a couple of basic steps such as taking the card out and re seating it to make sure it's firmly in place. If you used the same monitor cable when you tried the different screens I'd also try another one of those. After it's booting try pressing the auto button on the monitor if it has one.

Answer 2

Sounds like you got a poltergeist in your machine! :) Bad jokes aside - are you connected via VGA (not DVI, or HDMI, or DisplayPort)? If yes, it sometimes take a monitor to receive an analogue signal, wake-up the Analogue-to-Digital converter, and then translate the signal so it can be displayed on its digital LCD display (I am assuming you are using LCD).

If you are INDEED using the VGA cable, that might explain why the monitor doesn't show anything at the start.

With regards to your second problem of it not showing when Windows has loaded - it could be you have set a resolution or a screen refresh rate that is not supported by your monitor. Thus when you plug it out and plug it in, Windows redetect the monitor and automatically adjust the settings (thus making it appear on the monitor again).

Make sure you adjust the settings under Display Properties to correspond with what the monitor can achieve. In fact, set it to safe settings first (1024x768, 60Hz refresh rate), and test. Even better, reboot in Safe Mode (F8) to ensure it works, then change the settings in Safe Mode.

Good luck, let us know what happens.

Answer 3

Connect your VGA cable to the motherboard's VGA output. Then see if you are having the same problem (whether you can see after the splash screen and/or whether you can see the BIOS at all). If neither problems exist, then it's most likely a defective card.