PC freezes during start up and now no signal to monitor

[kneelsmith]

A couple of days ago, I had a message on screen saying that the graphics card had stopped working. I have had regular 'your graphics card has stopped working but has now recovered nvlddmkm.sys' messages in the past 2 years, although I understand this is quite common with Vista.
I went through the Windows procedure which basically told me to update my driver. I did this but was told that I have the latest driver.
I restarted the pc but it froze during start up with a pattern of coloured thin rectangles. I restarted again, opting for 'normal mode' and the same thing happened. I restared again in 'safe mode' and this was fine.
I then tried starting in normal mode and it started ok and got to my desktop. I popped downstairs for 2 minutes and when I came back up, the pc had some how restarted and was back to the start up screen (we have 2 users and was back to this pick user screen) although the graphics card seemed to have stopped working as the graphics were large.
I turned off the pc for the night.
The next day and eversince, I start the pc and everything sounds as it should with all lights coming on as they should, except there is no signal to the monitor.
Has the gracphics card gone?
Is it some issue with the graphics card and vista?
Or an issue with the monitor?
I have tried unplugging the monitor and holding the power botton, with no results.
I have taken out the graphics card a reinserted it to make sure it was seated correctly. Still nothing.
Checked all cables.
My specs are (as I can remember - I will update what I can't remember when I get home from work and check them out):
Q6600;
Asus P5K mother board,
GeForce 8800GTX;
Corsair 750W;
2 x 2GB (DDR2 PC2-6400 (800));
Vista 64-bit;
Samsung SyncMaster (pretty sure it's a 2232BX).

Any help would be much appreciated

 

[KidHorn]

When you boot up hit F2 and go into CMOS setup. Many bios have diagnostics that you can run to help troubleshoot. For your bios, it may not be F2, but it's almost always F2.

 

[kneelsmith]

Thanks for the tip.
I will try this when I get home.
I am also taking a spare monitor and graphics card home with me so wil try these if all else fails.
I will let you know if the F2 works

 

[kneelsmith]

The F2 button did not work.
I switched monitors and this did not work either.
Switched graphics cards to a GeForce 9600 from work, problem solved.
Is there any way I can check that the 8800 GTX is fried or not?
If there is no easy way to check, I will take it into work on Monday and try it in my pc there. If it does not work I assume that is that. New graphics card.
If it is fried, any tips on decent graphics cards around that will suit my pc specs?