No Signal Monitor Issues

Hi everyone, I need a little help! I have a Dell Dimension Dimc521 AMD Athlon 64x2 Dual Core Processor 3800 200 GZ 1 GB ram 128MB ATI Radeon 1300 Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 2 I got a new Samsung Monitor T260HD I have it hooked up by HDMI (on the monitor) and DVI on the video card. It doesn't screw in on the video card but it is firmly attached. My problem is this: When I first turn on the computer (I generally leave the monitor on) I get a NO SIGNAL message on the monitor every time. I then hold in the on/off button on the CPU so that it reboots and then my desktop comes up with no problem. If I have to reboot for any reason (such as removing software) it starts up perfectly. Do I need a new video card? Is it the monitor, mobo, ps or anything else LOL? I tried connecting it using DVI for both ends but then I got all these really weird red dots - I thought it was the pixels at first and tried it on another computer but they were gone…..is this because of the DVI attached to the computer doesn't screw in. As you can tell, I'm not a computer guru in any way, but I would like to just have this start up perfectly every time! One last thing…….I tried updating the monitor drivers but they were already up to date. Thanks

Sounds like possible incompatibility between the monitor and video settings on the computer.

I take it you didn't have any problems on the previous monitor that was hooked to this computer?

You will want to find the display resolutions and refresh rates your new monitor is compatible with. Your new monitor will have what is called a "native resolution."

You will want to go into control panel -> display and adjust your screen resolution to the monitor's native resolution. You will also want to go through the advanced options and change the monitors refresh rate to the highest rate that is allowed by your monitor.

If you run into a snag and loose video, you can always revert to VGA mode. To do so, press F8 quickly and repeatedly right after your computer turns on and displays the first screens of booting. You will press this before you see any Windows logos. A windows XP startup meny will appear and you can select "Enable VGA mode," to get back into windows and re-adjust your settings until you find what works.

Ultimately, you may also want to update your video card drivers. You should be able to find the correct ones here: http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/wind…mp;lang=English

Thanks Appleoddity - I will check this out mid morning tomorrow Assuming it goes either way - success or continued failure would updating my video card make sense. I don't know much about them but I assume they have cards with hdmi hookup so that way I could hook up hdmi to hdmi - is that correct. I am obviously going to try the control panel tomorrow so I will let you know how that goes…. btw, I previously had two 19 inch monitors hooked up and everything was great. The resolution on this monitor is awesome but I will fiddle with it a bit and update you! Thank you