HDMI port works then suddenly stops.

Hello,

I am at wits end. I have an Aspire 5252-v917 which has an hdmi port with ati radeon hd 4250 graphics. Obviously I have no warranty left as the computer is at least 3 years old.

I have had the laptop connected to my TV for the longest time with no problems. One day I wake the computer from sleep and I have no display on my TV. I try everything from unplugging, replugging, different hdmi wire, different imputs on my tv to reinstalling drivers. Finally I just shutdown the computer. The next day I boot it up and it works.

It does not last forever, eventually on waking of computer it happens again though this time it takes longer and more fiddling around to get it to work.

Eventually it keeps happening I take the opportunity to install windows 8, upgrade to 8.1, it still is not working. I take apart the laptop and see that the connection on the motherboard is fine to the eye. I reboot after putting the laptop back together and the hdmi works again. But next day it is not working!!!

Can anyone let me know what is happening, if the port was broken it wouldn't radomly start working would it? is there something I'm not seeing here? I'm very frustrated as this laptop which works wonderful for what I need it becomes completely useless if I can't use the hdmi.

Help would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

Tommy

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jezzode

I've had exactly the same problem with a new Acer Aspire XC mini desktop - with intergrated graphics on the MB.

HDMI worked for the frist week, and now it's a gamble depending on if the HDMI output port works, sometimes does and sometimes doens not, seems to be pure luck.

Really annoyed as this was a PC for work purposes, and now I can't rely on it, and the warrenty is void as i had a look inside the machine to check for a broken connection after the probelm occured. Just my luck.

JackE

Have you tried toggling the F5 or F6 keys when the port isn't working?

Jack E/NJ

sparaminpied

I've tried both the F5 and F6 but nothing happens when I toggle them when the HDMI is not working. Still no luck. Not sure if there is anything I havn't tried but still looking for help.

JackE

OK. Is your lid display working as it should? Does toggling F5 or F6 turn it on and off as it should. If you have a lid display, go into control panel change display settings when you have the HDMI connected to the TV and see if you can see that it's available. There could be a problem with your HDMI cable. Try changing the cable before trying anything else to the laptop.

Jack E/NJ

sparaminpied

F6 turns it on and off like it should. My cable is fine have tried 3 different cables through the process. In display I cannot see me sharp aquos anywhere.

Tommy

JackE

Good. Your graphics adapter seems to be working OK.

Not-so-good. The HDMI port connection to the adapter is suspect. I'm not sure if the HDMI port is a ribbon or soldered connection to the MB on your machine. If the former, possibly re-seating it might resolve the problem. If the latter, I would chalk up the HDMI port as unusable. In either case, you must at least open the bottom and maybe even pop off the keyboad in order to find out and go from there.

I think your machine also has a VGA port. If possible, I'd be tempted to get a VGA cable and try to use that port for another monitor rather than getting too deeply into pulling this machine apart. Home Depot or Lowes sometimes have them. The way some of the plastic parts are fitted together, particularly the keyboard, sometimes makes it very difficult to disassemble without breaking them.

Jack E/NJ

sparaminpied

Well thanks for the help. Unfortunately I guess the port is going or gone. Which renders this laptop useless for me without the audio and video of the HDMI. Time to start looking for a new laptop.

Tommy

JackE

Sorry. If it were mine, I'd take a chance, pop the hood/keyboard and see if it's a re-seatable HDMI ribbon connection. That might be all that's wrong with it.

Jack E/NJ

sparaminpied

Already checked under the hood and the port is soldered to the MB Smiley Sad

JackE

It would be good to know if the VGA port is still working if you have one. If it is working, that would sorta point to the HDMI solder connections rather than the adapter itself. If it was mine I'd be tempted to press each apparent HDMI soldered connection with a pinpoint to try to cold-work the joint back to conduction --- you did indicate it was intermittent so it might solve the problem. Worth a shot?

Jack E/NJ

sparaminpied

VGA port works fine. I guess I'll try and open it up again. Can you please be more specific on what you mean by "press each apparent HDMI soldered connection with a pinpoint to try to cold-work the joint back to conduction" I'm not sure what you are suggesting there.

Thanks again

Tommy

JackE

Under high enough pressure per unit area (eg PSI), solder being ductile will deform and actually flow and possibly re-establish a broken, loose or intermittent solder connection. Accordingly, you can manually exert an extremely high pressure in the small area of a pinpoint. I suggest trying this cold-work technique with a pin rather than trying to hot-work the HDMI
connections with a soldering gun/pencil. You stand a much better chance of disabling the laptop completely with hot-working. Make sure you ground yourself while poking around with the pin to reduce the possibility of static discharge.

Jack E/NJ

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