🚀 go-pugleaf

I have been experiencing an intermittent computer video problem, and I don't
know which of my components is responsible.
My system is:
     1. a Northgate 386 20 MHz computer with 4 Mb of RAM
     2. an ATI VGA Wonder card with 512 K RAM  (revision 1.03).  This card
     came with 256 K of RAM; the additional 256 K was added about 2 years
     ago and has caused no problems
     3. a Zenith 1490 flat screen monitor
The problem(s):
1. When I start the system, particularly if its been off for several hours or
overnight, the initial text on the screen indicating the BIOS and the memory
check is sometimes enlarged, garbled and completely illegible.  This malady
appears before the hard disk has been read.  If the boot is allowed to continue,
no legible text appears on the screen.  Re-booting sometimes results in the
same behavior, but eventually results in a readable VGA *monochrome* 
display. Turning the monitor off and then on again never helps, only a 
reboot (warmseems as effective as cold).  Eventually, after several reboots, 
the systemappears normal.

2. While running this apparently normal system in Windows 3.1 configured for
640 X 480 with 16 colors, there are rapid, transient flashes of color 
change on the screen, which then returns to normal.  Sometimes, when I run a 
DOS program full-screen (text or graphics), the program behaves as if the 
computer is in EGA mode. When I run ATI's VCONFIG program (a utility that 
detects and sets the videomode), it indicates that the computer is in EGA 
mode, even though Windowswas running in VGA.  If I exit the DOS window and 
return to Windows, theWindows is in a different video mode, with text 
enlarged so that only part of afull-screen window is visible.  If I then 
open up a DOS window, run VCONFIG,and reset the mode to VGA, and then return 
to Windows, things appear normalagain (until the next time I run a DOS 
program, whether from a PIF or a DOSwindow, at which point the problem 
recurs).

Are these two problems related?  Is it (or are they) due to the 
video card, the motherboard, the monitor, or an improper diet?  Has anybody 
out there experienced anything similar?