White screen on startup

meritaten

I have been having problems booting up my computer. It takes ages and then I just get a white screen - if I then yank the power plug out and immediately put it back on, then nine times out of ten it will then work.

The computer is less than a year old from PC world (so I am not keen to take it back under warranty for their techs to have a go - not after my last experience with them). its a cheapo Compaq vision with AMD.
my monitor is really old! as in over five years old - maybe more.

When it IS working it works like a dream - its just this ruddy problem on startup.

Any thoughts anyone?

mwddrwg

Have you tried a different monitor? If that works then it's probably a graphics card or there's a problem with the port the monitor is connected to.

shaun_from_Africa

When you state that:

meritaten wrote: »

if I then yank the power plug out and immediately put it back on, then nine times out of ten it will then work.

Am I correct in assuming that you are referring to the monitor power lead and not the one for the PC?
If this is the case then it certainly sounds like it's the monitor or the lead at fault and this should be easy to prove by simply trying different ones.

meritaten

no, its the power lead for the pc.

hmmmm - will borrow sons monitor and see if changing monitors makes a difference.Thanks

GlynD

espresso wrote: »

Some people are simply not suited to using PC's!

I agree. Some make the most banal comments towards someone who isn't an expert and is seeking help with an issue.

meritaten

Thanks People! - wasn't the monitor, it was the monitor to power cable - I had a spare, plugged it in and bingo!

Oblivion

meritaten wrote: »

Thanks People! - wasn't the monitor, it was the monitor to power cable - I had a spare, plugged it in and bingo!

Glad you found the problem.

If the original cable isn't obviously physically damaged, it may just be a case of the electrical contacts having become oxidised with age.

I always have a can of this stuff handy to regularly clean power and phone connections ...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Comma-CCL500M-500ml-Contact-Clean/dp/B003IIGVBS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1380210286&sr=8-1&keywords=contact+cleaner

closed

screen wouldn't be white with no power

Oblivion

closed wrote: »

screen wouldn't be white with no power

True. Perhaps the removal and fitting of a new power cable actually physically moved other contacts, either on the monitor's circuit board (cracked / dry joint) or the contacts on the video cable.

meritaten

actually, when I removed the old cable from the back of the monitor , it seemed fine.- it has started up fine now three times with the new cable so something must have been wrong with the old one! Electrical energy works in mysterious ways its wonders to perform!

whatever it was, it is working like new now - so thanks for everyones help!

closed

more likely to be loose vga cable