I recently replace my standard style monitor with one of these: http://www.viewsonic.com/products/lcdtv/N3252w/
I love it! And it handles HDTV too. So . . . if your looking, heh heh it's worth every penny, unless of course you need the 42 inch model.

>>>I'll be darned. It was the monitor. Before leaving for Best Buy I decided to try the girls' monitor and it started up like a champ. This is good news.
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>>>Thanks to all who gave me advice.
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>>LOL. Wow. One of those, huh? I guess it is probably funnier to me than to you though.
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>Not quite there yet after all. I went to Best Buy, bought a super duper 24 inch monitor, and hooked it up. It now boots to a Windows XP screen and goes no further, not even the password entry dialog. I have been through the Setup menu and Boot menu with no joy other than the C: drive being validated. Having reached and exceeded my tolerance for hardware issues in one day, I just turned it off for the night. As opposed to chucking it through the window. Grrrr....