Monitor connected via HDMI isn't detected.

Spiros94

Member
Hello people, I've had this issue for a while now, but this week I took my computer to a service store and they looked at the various graphics abnormalities. One big abnormality was that the second monitor I use was suddenly no longer detected by Windows 10. It's been connected via HDMI and detected just fine for a while, using Windows 10 from the beginning. In "Display Settings" it doesn't appear automatically, nor does it appear when I hit "Detect". Using the various option in the menu that appears when I press the Windows key along with P is, again, fruitless. Updating drivers doesn't do anything. The guys at the service store said they checked the HDMI port with a cable of their own on a monitor of their own and it works just fine. Now that would mean that my cable or monitor might be bad. That isn't the case since I can connect without issue my Windows 10 laptop to that same monitor using the same cables. So what the hell is the problem? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 

Darren

Moderator
Staff member
How are you hooking up the primary monitor, what connection type. Some cards have ports that piggy back off each other and you can't use both simultaneously. I'm gonna hazard a guess DVI.

Does that monitor work by itself without the primary using that machine?
 

Spiros94

Member
The primary monitor is connected via a DVI cable with a VGA adapter that connects to the graphics card. I might have the two backwards, point is that the shorter of the two is the cable and via the adapter it turns into the wider of the two and then connects to the desktop. The two monitor have been working together just fine for a long time. It's just that at some point the second one stopped.
I don't think that it does, no.
 

Darren

Moderator
Staff member
That's super weird if it still works on a laptop but not the desktop in any capacity.

You're using the DVI port though and converting to VGA. Try the secondary monitor with a different connection, even VGA with that same cable from the primary.
 

Spiros94

Member
Ok so I got off my ass and looked it up a bit. For the primary monitor I'm using a VGA cable that's goes into a DVI adapter. So the primary monitor's port that I'm using is VGA. So I'll just disconnect that and connect the cable just the way it is to the secondary monitor, see how that goes. I'll edit this post with the result.
Edit: It actually works that way. What does that mean?
 
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Darren

Moderator
Staff member
What other outputs do you have. I get the feeling the HDMI port and DVI share bandwidth/data so you can't use both simultaneously. I imagine it's got other connections?
 

Spiros94

Member
There is one additional DVI port that I can use to connect to the second monitor's VGA port, but still I don't get it since previously the setup worked just fine as it was. With the primary monitor occupying the first DVI port and the secondary one occupying the HDMI port. Nothing changed hardware-wise from when the setup was fine to when it wasn't.
 

Darren

Moderator
Staff member
Oh yeah you're right. Forgot that detail.

I dunno man. My professional diagnosis is that's friggin weird.
 

Spiros94

Member
Haha well thanks for the insight! I'll take it to the service store tomorrow as well and tell them to double check the HDMI. Maybe they hastily said "yes we checked" in order to not say anything bad for them, I don't know. I mean the thing that makes the most sense to me is that the HDMI port isn't working for some reason. Like either it broke down without being touched or strained in any way, or some windows update messed with it, but all that is assuming the guys at the store didn't really check it. Anyway, I'll probably report back in a couple of days when they have looked at the HDMI port, or hey maybe even tomorrow! In the meantime any genius is welcome to help peasant old me.
 

Cromewell

Administrator
Staff member
If you've confirmed the monitor and cable work then it's either the video card (port or otherwise) or a config issue. I can't think of anything config wise that would turn it off, unless it came along for the ride in a driver update, but that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Most likely is a port failure. Just to rule out options, if you just connect a single monitor and connect it via this hdmi does it work?

If not, Darren's professional diagnosis seems apt.
 

Spiros94

Member
Well, the guys at the store verified that they checked the HDMI and it works for them. I don't know what to make of that. I got an HDMI to DVI-D adapter (monitor's HDMI port -> HDMI cable -> adapter -> desktop's DVI-D port) and tried that but again, the second monitor isn't detected at all. I saw on a couple of forums that it's important information to mention that the second monitor is a TV, however, since it's been working as a second monitor for so long with HDMI and it suddenly stopped cooperating without intervention I thought it was irrelevant. Anyway, the HDMI to DVI-D adapter doesn't work either and I don't get any of it. Tomorrow I'll get a VGA to DVI-D adapter and see if finally that works.

Cromewell thanks for getting in on this, I've tried that and it doesn't work.
 

Darren

Moderator
Staff member
It should be. If the tech can't reproduce something in front of you upon request then something is fishy. Former repair tech and I frequently had people request stuff like that which I had no issue complying with.
 

Spiros94

Member
Well, once I had asked to watch as he fixed something in my computer and he said that that would basically be him showing me how to do it myself and therefore it would be detrimental to his business. I didn't ask him for the current HDMI issue since I just got my computer back and don't want to give it to him again for days, but that is his mentality.
Edit: I don't have a car so every time I take the computer to his store it's a cab ride of 5€ to take the computer there and 5€ once again to take it back home.
 

Cromewell

Administrator
Staff member
You don't have a lot of options then, I think your most likely fix is a new video card, but that doesn't mean it isn't your current setup isn't fixable. Your own tests seem to confirm the display is fine, as it works on another machine. You could try something like https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/display-driver-uninstaller/ and reinstall your video drivers from nothing. It seems unlikely to fix it though. If the display doesn't turn on when connected there is no signal being detected on the wire.
 

Spiros94

Member
Yeah supposedly the guys at the store did that too and the issue is still present. It really confuses me but hey maybe the guys at the store lied and the HDMI indeed just doesn't work. I'll see if it works with the VGA to DVI-D adapter that I'll probably get tomorrow.
 

Darren

Moderator
Staff member
Well, once I had asked to watch as he fixed something in my computer and he said that that would basically be him showing me how to do it myself and therefore it would be detrimental to his business. I didn't ask him for the current HDMI issue since I just got my computer back and don't want to give it to him again for days, but that is his mentality.
Edit: I don't have a car so every time I take the computer to his store it's a cab ride of 5€ to take the computer there and 5€ once again to take it back home.
While this is a fair thing to say for most stuff, hooking up some monitors should not be something he has to "protect".
 

Spiros94

Member
Well, to be fair as I said I haven't asked him this time, I just remember his mentality. So maybe he wouldn't mind on this issue. However, unless I feel that I need his questionable help I probably won't take it there again for now.
 
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