weird problem Graphics card 'no signal' every alternate boot up ??

[jamesb72]

I have a PC running 4 years no problems, Radeon 9200SE 128Mb AGP
graphics card. Since last week it is failing to boot every alternate
attempt, monitor shows 'no signal', I hold power down to power off,
and power on again and it works perfectly. This has happened over the
last 12 or so boot ups, both from cold and restarting windows.

I can only think this is a graphics card fault, so am borrowing an
identical working graphics card to check, but wondered if anyone has
seen a problem like this, where every alternate boot is perfectly OK
as it seems bizarre to me.

 

[Calab]

|I have a PC running 4 years no problems, Radeon 9200SE 128Mb AGP
| graphics card. Since last week it is failing to boot every alternate
| attempt, monitor shows 'no signal', I hold power down to power off,
| and power on again and it works perfectly. This has happened over the
| last 12 or so boot ups, both from cold and restarting windows.
|
| I can only think this is a graphics card fault, so am borrowing an
| identical working graphics card to check, but wondered if anyone has
| seen a problem like this, where every alternate boot is perfectly OK
| as it seems bizarre to me.

Sounds like a failing mainboard or PSU to me...

Check the mainboard for faulty capacitors. Try a Google search if you're
not sure what I'm referring to.

 

[Grinder]

I have a PC running 4 years no problems, Radeon 9200SE 128Mb AGP
graphics card. Since last week it is failing to boot every alternate
attempt, monitor shows 'no signal', I hold power down to power off,
and power on again and it works perfectly. This has happened over the
last 12 or so boot ups, both from cold and restarting windows.

I can only think this is a graphics card fault, so am borrowing an
identical working graphics card to check, but wondered if anyone has
seen a problem like this, where every alternate boot is perfectly OK
as it seems bizarre to me.

I had this, and other problems, from having a wonky PCI card (A Belkin
USB2 card if anyone is interested.)

It's counterintuitive, I know, but pulling that card made several
problems dry up. The general recommendation is: reduce your system to a
minimum state--motherboard, min memory, video card only--and see if the
problem goes away. If it does, add bits back in until you find the
troublemaker.