Black screen boot

[Tbird650]

Most mornings when I boot my PC, it will not show anything on the monitor yet it boots to the desktop (from what I can hear). The monitor has the green LED lit up. Killing the power and cold booting for a second or third time has meant a successful boot up that subsequently lasts all day long.

I'm suspicious of the graphics card which runs twin monitors. Speccy dates it to 2007. Silent type.

Event viewer shows 21 x critical event ID 41, task category 63. All since 27 Jan which is the OS install date. I believe this is the occasional error I get when the PC awakes from sleep as well.

Specs:
M4A78PRO bios 1701
6Gig DDR2 Corsair/Adata
W7 64bit SP1
AMD Phenom ll x4 920
512MB GeForce 8600GT Nvidia Asustek
232GB SSD Samsung
931GB WD HDD

Please comment. Any thoughts?
Thanks.

[Speedy Gonzales]

Whats the PSU? Event ID 41 can be a PSU prob

[Tbird650]

Whats the PSU?

ACBel atx12v 510, model PC7013, total power 431.5w. About 3 years old at a guess.

It's very possible I can come up with another PSU to swap in with the view to eliminating causes. I suppose the question is how many watts would be the barest minimum?
A quick search I found an older 350W. Would need to use power adaptors for sata disk though.

BTW, I tested the memory with Windows Memory Diagnostic. Passed.

[pctek]

Event 41 just means the PC rebooted without a clean shut down.
That's you killing it and restarting.

The issue is graphics.
Pretty old card.....swap it out, the other hardware is fine.

[Tbird650]

The issue is graphics.
Pretty old card.....swap it out, the other hardware is fine.

Good thought. The card is older than my current PC. It was recycled from an earlier one.

What should I look for with regard to a replacement? I'm not a gamer but do watch video sport. I need 2 monitors.
First thing I note is the PCI-e version. My M4A78PRO is listed as PCI-E 2.0 support so am I restricted to PCI-E 2.0 selection??
Does any particular brand play nicer with my existing set up? Should I be thinking in terms of a minimum GB memory spec for extra smooth video?
Happy to upgrade and pay the money but choices are many and confusing.

Thanks!

[Speedy Gonzales]

True Event ID 41 can mean you press the reset button too. But if you're not it can be a PSU prob. Can you use 2 monitors with the onboard video ports?

If the card you're using, needs power, is power connected to it?

Whats the system requirements for the 8600GT?

[Tbird650]

True Event ID 41 can mean you press the reset button too. But if you're not it can be a PSU prob. Can you use 2 monitors with the onboard video ports?

If the card you're using, needs power, is power connected to it?

Whats the system requirements for the 8600GT?

Once the PC boots to a black screen and I hear the windows welcome, all I go do is pull the power and retry. It seems reasonable that powering off causes the event ID, but there's no other choice when the screen is black... there's nothing visible to click on.

There's 2 ports on the motherboard but memory says is doesn't support both as a dual monitor situation. Try as I might, I can't lay my hands on that piece of info to confirm it.

There's never been additional power supplied to the card in the 8 years I've owned it but there is an unknown connector.
Quote by Mr.Google: Like all graphics cards, Nvidia GeForce 8600 GT cards need additional power to drive their processors and other components. Unlike more powerful cards, 8600 GTs can be powered by the 75-watt power that the PCI-Express x16 slot provides. They do not require an additional connection to your computer's power supply like some other graphics cards.
Contrary to this Geforce.com state max power is 105W & min system power 400W

[Speedy Gonzales]

According to the ASUS site it says this

Integrated ATI Radeon™ HD 3200 GPU

Max. shared memory: 512 MB

Supports HDMI™ Technology with max. resolution up to 11920×1080@1080P

Supports Dual-link DVI with max. resolution up to 2560x1600 @60Hz

Supports D-Sub with max. resolution up to 2560x1440 @ 75Hz

Hybrid CrossFireX™ Support

HDMI/DVI/D-Sub Support(Dual independent displays support with HDMI/DVI and D-Sub). Supports Microsoft® DirectX 10, OpenGL 2.0, Pixel Shader 4.0
Hardware Decode Acceleration for H.264,VC-1, and MPEG-2

Actually there's 3 video connectors on the mobo, DVI, VGA and HDMI

[Tbird650]

According to the ASUS site it says this

Integrated ATI Radeon™ HD 3200 GPU

Max. shared memory: 512 MB

Supports HDMI™ Technology with max. resolution up to 11920×1080@1080P

Supports Dual-link DVI with max. resolution up to 2560x1600 @60Hz

Supports D-Sub with max. resolution up to 2560x1440 @ 75Hz

Hybrid CrossFireX™ Support

HDMI/DVI/D-Sub Support(Dual independent displays support with HDMI/DVI and D-Sub). Supports Microsoft® DirectX 10, OpenGL 2.0, Pixel Shader 4.0
Hardware Decode Acceleration for H.264,VC-1, and MPEG-2

Actually there's 3 video connectors on the mobo, DVI, VGA and HDMI

Ah, there is too.
One of my monitors takes vga or dvi while the other only vga.
I don't think onboard runs 2 at a time??

[Speedy Gonzales]

Ah, there is too.
One of my monitors takes vga or dvi while the other only vga.
I don't think onboard runs 2 at a time??

I think that may depend on the chipset.

I use onboard video (HDMI). And according to the ASUS site, it can support 3 displays

Integrated Graphics Processor- Intel® HD Graphics support

Multi-VGA output support : HDMI/DVI-D/RGB ports

- Supports HDMI with max. resolution 4096 x 2160 @ 24 Hz / 2560 x 1600 @ 60 Hz

- Supports DVI-D with max. resolution 1920 x 1200 @ 60 Hz

- Supports RGB with max. resolution 1920 x 1200 @ 60 Hz

Maximum shared memory of 512 MB

Supports Intel® InTru™ 3D, Quick Sync Video, Clear Video HD Technology, Insider™

Supports up to 3 displays simultaneously

Only way to find out is remove the card you installed (uninstall it drivers) then install drivers for the onboard video

Then connect 2 monitors