(I'm new to this forum and tried to find a similar question already posted, but didn't find it)
(system details given at end of this message)
For (at least) several weeks i have noticed that the monitor (which is never switched off, just on standby when PC is off) doesn't switch on at the same moment of the Windows 5XP home° startup sequence, like it used to do: sometimes right at the beginning (thus showing the whole startup sequence), sometimes right at the end (showing the desktop with all the icons).
3 days ago things went more seriously wrong: monitor did switch on early but "fell back" to standby within a few seconds and it sounded as if windows didn't continue thes tartup sequence; i tried this several times with similar results, although the monitor's "fall back" to standby occurred at different moments of the startup; i think that once i didn't here the usual startup beep (early in the startup).
went to a repair shop to check the monitor with another Pc (all OK) and the PC with another monitor 5all OK too); had the PC and the memory contacts cleaned and tried again: it worked (we thought...)
back at home, new problem: at startup " CMOS checksum error - defaults loaded" announcement; pressing F1 (to continue) led to normal/OK startup, but with another message: "Found New Hardware : RAID controller". As I don't know if it's a good idea to use use the Windows New Hardware wizard (I do have the driver on a CD that came with the PC), I've left it at that. So since today it starts up consistently fine (?), but every time with the same "Found New Hardware : RAID controller" message - which I ignore.
Question: what to do? (leave it at that since it sort of works OK, or install the RAID controller, or something else)
Thanks a lot for any useful suggestions
Peter
(English not my mother-tongue, and not very technical)
-------------------------------
System (3 years old):
motherboard: gigabyte ga 7vaxp
processor: 1800 athlon cpu retail
graphics card: ATI 9000 128MB
memory: 512 ddr 2100