Ion monitor issue

We've just purchased an Ion and I unpacked it today to have a play with it for the first time. However, I have an issue with the monitor; no matter what I plug into it (I'm using a standard VGA monitor) I can't see the whole display.  When I open the browser all I can see in the bottom left corner is the double gold arrows, FILE, EXIT ION and POWER OFF CONSOLE before it disappears.  I've adjusted everything I can think of on the monitor, but all that does is shift the same information around the screen - I can never see any more.  Channel displays disappear off the screen with only about 3/4 of the information displayed.  This is extraordinarily frustrating as I can't really do anything with the desk except bring up channels, as I can't see what I'm doing with anything else.

EDIT: A hard re-boot seems to have solved the problem - does the monitor have to be plugged in when the desk is powered up?