Home Build reboot loops at post screen, unless...

...I play around with the graphics card.

I built this computer about three months ago. Initially I had the above problem but noted that if I held the monitor input into the graphics card vga port the system would boot okay. After doing this process several times, I reseated the graphics card and played around with cable that joins the vga input to the graphics card board. This seemed to fix the problem and it booted consistently until about a week ago. Since this, in order to get past the post screen I have to keep removing the graphics card from the motherboard and reseating, which lets the machine boot once, but then will it not reboot on restart thereafter.

I have tried to note any BIOS beeps at the post screen but nothing sounds, which would be normal for my motherboard as it beeps only when there is a fault of some kind.

The graphics card was given to me by a family member who had in the past got it fixed following a power outage. I'm tempted to assume that because of this the graphics card is at fault. However, a) I do not have another card to test this with and b) I'm keen to hear if anyone has any other suggestions implying it might not be the graphics card that is the problem?

there MAY, however slight the chance may be, be a power problem. i'd check the power all the way from the wall right down to the connectors. This seems like a fuzzy issue. One way to check stuff like this is to run down to a local store with a good return policy and pick up a cheapo graphics card then return it. :-p

Well, from your description of the problem, the obvious first step for trouble shooting is to try a different video card. You can pick up a cheap hd4350 for $23AR from newegg. It will also be much faster than your current card.