No signal to monitor

My son and I just completed a Intel build (we are first timers). Everything seemed to be going fine until we attached the monitor and started up the PC. Seems like there is power to the mobo with both the CPU fan and the case fan running. I’ve tried pulling out the GPU, no change. I’ve tried...

I have an hp elitebook 8470p. It came with 4gb of ram and supports up to 16gb. I put in another 4gb stick today and it shows 8gb installed but only shows 2.96gb in the total memory and 2.07gb in available. Is this right or should it be higher?

Out of the blue the laptop started taking its sweet time starting spending between 1-3mins in the black screen with cursor. (Btw OS is W7 Ultimate x64) I checked this thread: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/14321-63-startup-delay-login-screen-blank-screen-cursor I only have 4 wifi networks...

Should I get a 29" ultrawide or a 27" 16:9? Which is these is better for gaming? The 27" is about $100 cheaper than the ultrawide. I am currently using a 21.5". I have looked at the difference in size on displaywars.com but I can't decide which one to get.