Hi, I have just returned home from a year long contract and upon starting up my computer have no monitor output (remains in standby). I built the computer myself a little while ago and haven't had too many problems but hardware has been in and out of there all the time for testing stuff.

There's no beeps, the CPU sounds fine and the hard disk is spinning up okay. I remember this being a rare problem a while ago when the computer was knocked (fixed by jiggling the card) and having had a look at the graphics card (AGP), the contacts look a little worn. I tried an old graphics card and have the same problem (have a feeling it was knackered anyway though). Have tested the monitor and thats okay. I don't want to buy another card unless necessary and am even more worried that the slot is bust so will have to get a new MB. Does anyone have a suggestion as to how to pinpoint what the problem is?

Try clearing the cmos
Possibly use an erazor (rubber) on the graphics card contacts.
But it could be a bad power supply that has failed on one rail.
Also reseat the main and aux power plugs on the motherboard.

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Could just be the CMOS battery. I have some machines that have no video & is a known issue with the board in them. Change the CMOS battery & away they go.
Try that.