I built a computer for my friend a while back. I gave him my old gateway monitor (17" CRT), but I figured I'd buy him a new VGA cable since the one that came with the monitor was looking a bit rough. So I did this, and got a Belkin Blue Series PureAV "Home Theatre" high quality VGA cable (I figured a VGA cable is a VGA cable and if was listed as being for home theatres or not didn't make much difference).

Now, the graphics card I got for him was an Asus Extreme AX300SE-X, the system worked fine (mobo was an Asus M2V). But the first problem I had was the monitor. I plugged the cable in but the screen wouldn't come on. I got no error beeps from the BIOS when the system started up so I assumed it was a dodgy connection, which it apparently was. I wiggled the end of the cable plugged into the graphics card around and eventually after a few visible sparks (!) the monitor would come on.

I wasn't ever able to verify if this was a problem with the graphics card or the cable though, since my monitor has its own integrated cable and I wasn't about to lug the old monitor all the way back to my house just to test it or indeed my computer to his. But I just assumed it was the card because the cable seemed okay when looking at it, plus, it didn't matter what way round the cable was, it still caused a problem so I assumed it was the cheap graphics card with a dodgy connection.

Now I'm not so sure though. A year later and I have recently upgraded my graphics so I gave my friend my old X800 GTO. Thinking finally I'd be able to just plug the cable in a without having to wiggle it around I did so, and the computer started up and beeped at me. One long beep followed by three short.

The BIOS was phoenix Award, as far as I can tell 1 long 3 short is a graphics problem (although some Internet sources claim otherwise so I don't really have a clue if this is true or not, but seeing as when unplugged the monitor cable the computer started up fine with only one normal beep it must be).

So with the "high quality" VGA cable unplugged the computer started up fine. Thinking something must be wrong I fiddled with the graphics card seating, I switched it on and off, I reset the BIOS... All to no avail. if that cable was plugged in either way round to the graphics card the computer would get angry and have a fit when I turned it on and the monitor would stay off.

So, I went and dug up the old cable which I luckily hadn't thrown away, plugged that in and... Success. The computer started up fine and loaded and everything, the screen came on, I didn't need to wiggle anything.

So naturally I was standing there with this Belkin "High quality" vga cable in my hand and needless to say I was pretty pissed off. Since new its been nothing but a hassle, and it leads me to my question (finally). Is this cable somehow different to a "normal" VGA cable what with it being for home theatre systems (it didn't say it couldn't be used with a computer though), or is just plain and simply faulty?

"I figured a VGA cable is a VGA cable and if was listed as being for home theatres or not didn't make much difference"

I haven't seen very many CRT's that use a removeable VGA cable. But why would you invest in a premium cable that most likely is worth more than the monitor itself?

Regardless, what was wrong with original cable that prompted you to replace it? What do you mean by "looking a bit rough"? Was the insulation torn & wires exposed?

Belkin cables have a lifetime warranty, if you suspect it's bad, replace it.

http://catalog.belkin.com/PureAV_de...

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?in...

I have bought VGA cables in order to utilize an A/B monitor switch. What I discovered is that a VGA cable is just that. A cable capable of carrying the bandwidth VGA specs require.

The issue is that modern monitors are capable of much higher resolutions than VGA. The cable may or may not be up to the task.

There are at least 7 video standards that are more demanding than VGA. Look at the link for more information on this topic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VGA

Still a bit puzzled though. The standards seem to fit. Belkin lists the cable as VGA/Super VGA and if Wiki has its facts straight that means the monitor should work fine with it, as should the graphics cards (presumably). Though, maybe now the only thing I can put this down to, is the graphics card.

I bought a new graphics card, that's why I gave my friend my X800 GTO; my new card was a 9600GT that had two DVI ports on it. I still use a CRT with a built in cable, but the 9600GT came with DVI to VGA adapters. I only just got round to installing it in my PC this morning though (I've been using my lappy all that time).

Now when looking at the back of the computer I put the adapter on the right hand DVI port, and plugged the monitor into that. When I started it up the exact same thing happened to me as what happened to my friends computer with the belkin cable plugged into his comp.

My computer emitted one long beep then three short and the monitor failed to turn on. I do use an Asus mobo with the same BIOS so that made sense they'd have the same error codes. Undeterred but slightly annoyed I simply moved the adapter from the right hand DVI connector the left hand connector and low and behold it worked fine after that.

Now, the X300 I originally got for my friend only had a VGA connector on it. But the X800 has both a VGA connector (of which I used to use on my monitor fine), and a DVI connector (It also came with an adapter).

Soo... I just got my old x800 adapter and went over to his house, plugged it into the dvi port, plugged in the belkin cable and fired the computer up and guess what happened?

The exact same thing, one long beep three short. So I wasted an hour today and I'm still none the wiser. :X