7300GT vs BENQ FP231W - help needed

[dinny66]

Sorry for the noobie question guys.
I've just installed a new PNY 7300GT with 512MB to drive my 'new to me' BENQ FP231W monitor.
The problem I have is, when I boot up, POST displays, then I get 'no dvi signal detected' for a moment then I get the Windows XP logo and the blue loading bar, then 'no dvi signal detected' again for anything up to 5 mins, all the time the pc is booting normally etc, then the normal xp screen comes up. Sometimes I 'think' that by forcing the pc to do something like starting outlook via a shortcut key forces the screen on.
Additionally, when my screensaver switches the screen to standby, it won't recover by pressing a key as normal (I've chaned that so it odesn't standby for now).
I guess it's some setting in nvidia software or xp but it is really irritating and rather disconcerting.
I'm connected via the DVI cable that came with the monitor.

Any suggestions?

thanks

Mike

 

[dinny66]

Anybody?

All input appreciated.

Thanks

Mike

 

[skillyho]

REFORMAT! Just kidding.....

Does the problem replicate itself if you use VGA? Have you uninstalled/reinstalled the card/drivers? Does the BenQ monitor do the same thing if you use a different PC? Have you tried connecting a different monitor to the PC that seems to be flakey? Try to isolate the problem by recreating it (if possible) with other components until you find the issue.

Keep us posted and welcome to the forums!

 

[dinny66]

Got this reply from PNY today:
Dear customer,

Obviously your card is defective, you can uninstall the nvidia drivers then reboot and see what happens , if the same blinking screen happens, you can also test your card in another computer to see if the card is really faulty, but booting with no drivers installed will not make your card work, youo will run only with a basic windows driver, if things go well then, you'll know your card cannot support the drivers anymore. test also the 2 dvi output to be sure not any of them is defective.

Check also for the last nvidia updated drivers and also for the last chipset drivers version but if your card worked well before and not now, you can conclude for a faulty card.

If you baught it less than a year the reseller will change the product, otherwise, check our warranty conditions here: www.pny.eu

Regards,

Laurent Fortier / PNY Europe

Tried unloading nvidia drivers and rebooting and sure enough it worked fine, but max res was poor 1280x1024. Tried it again with an older version of nvidia 93.71 as opposed to 169.21 latest version with same result. But it is ALWAYS confined to trying to run at native res 1920x1200. Lesser resolutions seem to be ok when booting up.
Haven't tried vga as I haven't got a vga cable, just the dvi that came with the monitor.
Through s-video input the picture is awful, completely unusable.
One thing I noticed, my psu is 380w. Box says 400w min recommended. Online psu loading calc suggests I should be around 258W in this config. Would this make a difference?

I don't have other pc's to try things on, but I'll try my old tube to see if that works ok. My old graphics card doesn't have dvi, jsut vga. Otherwise it's back to the shop again and ask for a replacement I guess.
Why is this so complicated? Been trying to get a lcd & graphics card combo to work for about 6 weeks now without success. 3 different types of monitors, 2 different cards. Can you still get 24" widescreen crts anywhere? At least they flippin well work!

Thanks for the help. Much appreciated.

Mike