my monitor shuts off during bootup and then comes back on when the windows logon screen is ready, so i can't see my POST or access my Bios screen? Why is this? Even if I hit the correct key ("delete" in this case) for my motherboard during bootup, I still can't see anything since my monitor gets no signal from my pc untill windows finishes loading. I just want to access my bios but how can I if i can't see it? any help is appreciated, thanks.

Do you hold the delete key down or tap it after the first bios beep during the startup sequence?

I tried that but not sure if it was before or after the bios beep..I will try it after the beep and post the result. I'm pretty sure power management is set on "suspend" on my bios, thus the monitor is shutoff during POST, so it's a sort of catch-22.

ok..I tried hitting delete during the bootup sequence and the bios screen is definitely up, but the monitor is still off and gives me the "no signal" message. It's as if something in the BIOS is instructing my monitor to remain on standby until windows loads, therefor I don't get to see any of the POST or the BIOS even if I hit delete when I am supposed to. I also tried using a bootdisk on bootup, and I know I got a prompt after the disk was read because i tried a few simple dos commands and the drive light came on, but the monitor is still getting no signal and won't turn on. I tried a different monitor and got the same result. How do i get to my BIOS if I can't get a monitor to stay on the entire time from the second I push the power button? thanks again..

Your video card is bad. Bios and the win9X splash screen are in dos mode. Your video card will not revert back from the windows drivers and sync rate to dos for the boot and post. You tried a different monitor and the same problem. I rest my case. Computer Solutions

Sounds like it may be a monitor or video card problem. You may want to swap them with another card/monitor and see if that helps.

I swapped my vid card with a friend's and everything on my pc booted up worked fine, bios, splash screen etc. I then tried my vid card in my friend's pc and it also worked fine on his machine. Does this mean I have a malfunction in my MB? My vid card is a radeon 8500, using an Asus motherboard with an athlon processor. Should I flash the bios in my Asus?