I have an acer X233H monitor which I can connect via HDMI or VGA.
When I connect it with HDMI I don't see the windows XP loading screen or the BIOS screen.. But with VGA I do.
There's absolutely no difference between the two cables when running the operating system. What could cause this discrepancy?

Furthermore, I also notice that the monitor takes a little longer to start displaying images (that is identify a signal) when it is connected to the HDMI cable.

There is a straightforward reason. When you boot, default VGA video drivers based on the BIOS of your graphics card are used. That is because there is nothing else from Windows loaded at boot up.

When Windows comes in, the real drivers take over and your HDMI display lights up.

Simples (if you know).

thanks for the reply. This is the first time I've come across an HDMI monitor so I have another similar question (Which may seem stupid). Do I have to connect more than just the single HDMI cable? Should I also connect the VGA cable as well as the HDMI cable?

Try it. I can see what you want to achieve.

I could try it but (sorry) can't be bothered. No harm will result. My guess is that the VGA port will be acquired first and will be retained.

Let us know.

well.. I just bought this 23 inch monitor and at the moment I'm not very comfortable with playing around with it... Is there anything else I can do?

You can either wait for me to try it some time this week (when I eventually re-boot)- no harm will result but I can report behaviour and which cable becomes the active one after booting.

Or you can do it yourself. There is nothing else you can do other than to ignore the condition which is harmeless.

thanks for your help.

Well, I tried it this morning.

I put both cables into a Viewsonic 2265 - that's VGA & HDMI. This is what happened:

1/
On boot, the signal definitely came through VGA because I could see the boot process up to and including the Windows logon screen.

2/
After logon, the screen stayed black.

3/
Immediately on removing the VGA cable, the screen came to life on HDMI.

So there's your final answer, I rather think.

thanks for going through the trouble to do it your self... That solves my question.