If the video card is unseated during the boot process what would you expect to see and hear?

You could expect a few different things. each computer has the possibility of having onboard and a video card as an internal preiphreal device.

Below are some common things that would occur during a post of a PC with a displaced video card:

Computer when started makes a beep as normal, internal sounds may or may not be heard as the computer boots. After some time the computer may or may not make a sound as the operating system starts. The monitor may flicker or not, the monitor may display a red geen and blue bar set on the screen and it may or may not be moving from location to location on the screen. The screen may appear black and not working.

1. If the computer beeps when starting with a single short beep sound the computer has entered the start sequence laidout by the BiOS. This should indicate that you should see something rendered on the screen. if not check these things first:

Monitor cable is plugged in and working as indicated by a light of some sort on most monitors. Amber NORMALLY indicates a standby state while the monitor looks for activity from the computer. If its amber, and you can tell the computer is started, (sound from speakers, activity on the hard drive by case lights and or audio clues) try using the onboard VGA port to see if you get anything rendered that way.

Monitor is turned on.