Monitor goes immediately into POWER SAVE MODE upon bootup

Hello and HELP!

Just unpacked a Dell Inspiron 530 I purchased in Jan. 2009 (long story). 

After hooking everything up, I turned it on. Monitor displays, just for a brief moment, just a flash really, AUTO DETECT (ANALOG INPUT) ENTERING POWER SAVE, then it turns black, and nothing I do brings it back on. 

This Inspiron only came with a VGA monitor plug. The flat screen has both a DVI and VGA plugs, and both the DVI and VGA cables. I plugged the VGA cable into the VGA plugs. 

I tried the fixes I found on this site: With pc on, unplugging VGA cable from both pc and monitor, plug back in. Disconnecting power plug from monitor, plugging back in. Upon booting, pressing F6 key. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. It's past warranty. 

I noticed when the monitor is not plugged into the pc and I turn it on, it still flashes the AUTO DETECT (ANALOG INPUT) ENTERING POWER SAVE message, and shuts down. 

Could the cable be bad? Could the video card be bad? Could the video card be set to DVI? 
I can't even get into and see the BIOS, blind without visual. The speakers are in the monitor, and no sound is coming from them. Don't know if Windows (Vista) is even launching. 



Any suggestions?