Erratic HDMI monitor recognition in AO756 for external display on an Acer X233H monitor

pkskyAspire

I have an Aspire One 756-2887 laptop that I am trying to connect to an external display with an Acer X233H monitor using HDMI.  Sometimes it connects effortlessly and I am able to set up a very nice dual external display for the laptop using both the analog external display and the HDMI display.

 

But sometimes the HDMI display goes on a cycle where it recognized and then drops and then is recognized again and this happens over and over again.  In this cycle, a display never shows on the monitor.

 

I've tried turning things on and off and I can't recognize a pattern that allows me to reliably connect the HDMI monitor.  The monitor works well with my desktop and I can hook up the HDMI with the DVI connection displaying the desktop.  The monitor recognizes the HDMI connection and gives me the laptop display unless it goes into the drop cycle.

 

Using the Fn keys to change the display options doesn't help either.  Connecting an external analog display never exhibits the same problem.

pkskyAspire

Here is what happened.

 

I remembered that during the first time I was able to successfully install the external HDMI monitor was when I had another second monitor installed as the VGA external monitor.  So my hope was for a dual external monitor arrangement from my laptop and I was very impressed that this was possible.

 

So I tried going back to the other external VGA monitor an old HP f70 and it worked!  I was able to successfully hook up the HDMI monitor and the f70 to the laptop.  The VGA monitor that was not cooperating with the HDMI was Samsung SyncMaster 931b.  I had also been using this Samsung to connnect to a DVI port on a desktop and so it had two connected cables, the DVI and a VGA to the laptop.  I tried disconnecting the DVI cable and connecting the VGA and the HDMI monitor to the laptop and it worked.  The HDMI monitor was displaying.

 

I went to Samsung and got the drivers for this monitor and I find that when install the drivers, you have the option of installing a digital monitor or an analog monitor.  Since I was only going to use the VGA connection, I chose the analog.  After installing the driver for the Samsung, I was able to hookup both the DVI cable and the VGA cable to the Samsung and still be able to display on the HDMI monitor.

 

So the solution was to install the drivers for the analog port of the Samsung monitor.  That would have done it.  I suppose I should have suspected the two cables coming of the Samsung monitor might have effected things.

 

JackE, thanks for keeping me going with your encouraging posts.

JackE

Try HDMIing out to a TV and see if it behaves like the X233H.

 

Jack E/NJ

pkskyAspire

Yes, I tried hooking it up to my LCD TV and it works fine.  I'm also going to try hooking up a DVD player to my monitor to see what happens there.

JackE

Yes, the DVD graphic interface is probably closer to the AO than a desktop. I assume the monitor is more than a few years old.

 

Jack E/NJ

pkskyAspire

OK, so I've tried a few things.  I've tried hooking up the AO756 laptop to the LCD TV and that works.  I also tried hooking up a Blue Ray DVD player up to the monitor and that works.

 

But I remember a few things I saw and did when I had the HDMI monitor going OK.  First, there was no sound.  I went into my sound settings and saw a device for the X233H monitor which didn't make any sense at the time because the monitor has no speakers.  I removed the device to restore sound to the laptop.  But HDMI carries audio and also, I've seen a manual for this Acer monitor and there is a version of the X233H that has speakers.  So this could be a part of the problem.

 

Also, I've looked into the cable issue and there are different HDMI cables.  The signal for LCD TV and a DVD player are for much lower resolutions and don't require the same speed.  So, my next stop is trying another HDMI cable.  Maybe a DVD to DVI cable would do it.  But that would make the HDMI port on the monitor useless and I like the extra port.

 

The cables and port have worked on two seperate occasions and there is no reason why it shouldn't work now.  But maybe a faster cable would do it.  Certainly an HDMI cable to DVI would have to carry the expected loads for DVI and would be have to be a pretty fast cable.  So that's my next experiment unless somebody else has another clue.

JackE

Nice writeup. Thanks. How about this one?

 

http://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-HDMI-Adapter-Cable-Meters/dp/B001TH7T2U

 

Jack E/NJ

pkskyAspire

I tried a high speed cable and it's not the cable, at least not a slow cable.  I'll try a DVI/HDMI cable next.

 

Another clue is that when I boot up with both the analog and HDMI monitors, they both show the BIOS "Acer" splash screen and the "Starting Windows" splash screen.  It's only when the login screen comes up that it only comes up on the analog screen and the HDMI monitor shows "No signal".  And more dramatically, if I go into the BIOS, the BIOS display comes up on the HDMI screen, nothing shows at all on the analog screen.  So clearly it is a Windows 7 software problem or maybe a graphics card display problem.

JackE

I doubt it's a hardware problem. Might want to check your installed graphics drivers against the Win7-32 or -64 Acer updates.

 

Jack E/NJ

pkskyAspire

Here is what happened.

 

I remembered that during the first time I was able to successfully install the external HDMI monitor was when I had another second monitor installed as the VGA external monitor.  So my hope was for a dual external monitor arrangement from my laptop and I was very impressed that this was possible.

 

So I tried going back to the other external VGA monitor an old HP f70 and it worked!  I was able to successfully hook up the HDMI monitor and the f70 to the laptop.  The VGA monitor that was not cooperating with the HDMI was Samsung SyncMaster 931b.  I had also been using this Samsung to connnect to a DVI port on a desktop and so it had two connected cables, the DVI and a VGA to the laptop.  I tried disconnecting the DVI cable and connecting the VGA and the HDMI monitor to the laptop and it worked.  The HDMI monitor was displaying.

 

I went to Samsung and got the drivers for this monitor and I find that when install the drivers, you have the option of installing a digital monitor or an analog monitor.  Since I was only going to use the VGA connection, I chose the analog.  After installing the driver for the Samsung, I was able to hookup both the DVI cable and the VGA cable to the Samsung and still be able to display on the HDMI monitor.

 

So the solution was to install the drivers for the analog port of the Samsung monitor.  That would have done it.  I suppose I should have suspected the two cables coming of the Samsung monitor might have effected things.

 

JackE, thanks for keeping me going with your encouraging posts.

JackE

>>>After installing the driver for the Samsung, I was able to hookup both the DVI cable and the VGA cable to the Samsung and still be able to display on the HDMI monitor.>>>

 

Good for you sorting it all out! So the 931b driver software gives you a choice of selecting either HDMI or DVI out with both cables plugged in? 

 

Jack E/NJ

pkskyAspire

The problem has returned.  Now, not only will the HDMI not hook up with the Samsung, it won't hook up with the f70 either.  It is almost as though the laptop learns how not to hook up.

JackE

Sorry to hear this. But you clearly didn't knock on wood when you declared success yesterday! 8^) Check Device Manager for any problems. I suspect the drivers aren't completely bugproof and you're laptop is a bit confused at this point from all the different displays you've plugged into it. Probably first tries to load display drivers from the last boot then sometimes unsuccessfully tries or forgets to auto-detect whatever is plugged into its external display ports on new boots. The erratic behavior thing. I still don't think anything's wrong with the laptop hardware-wise.

 

Jack E/NJ    

pkskyAspire

Well, I got it going again.  

 

I have been corresponding with Intel and they have proved very helpful.  One of the things they had me do was upgrade the Intel display drivers.  But I never ran the graphics program again.  I did this and I'm starting to get my display again.

 

Let's give this a couple of days before I make any announcements.  I also am trying to install a BIOS upgrade that won't go. The Intel tech support had me install a 1.09 BIOS upgrade to see if that worked and to try a 2.21 upgrad if it didn't.  It didn't and so I tried the 2.21 upgrade and the upgrade software says "Please update to the same type of BIOS (v1.x)".

 

I'm waiting to see what happens next.  And we'll wait to see how this latest success holds.

JackE

Please don't mess with the bios anymore if for nothing else, too many variables going on. If your machine shipped with Win7 the 2.x series UEFI bios is not designed for your machine anyway. And knock on wood this time before you forget.

 

Jack E/NJ

pkskyAspire

WIll do.  I'll report back Wednesday Pacific time.

pkskyAspire

It has been two days now and the multiple monitor external display and especially the HDMI monitor is displaying like it should with one small exception.

 

In the power options for the laptop, the display is set to go off after 15 minutes.  This means the external displays go off.  When this happens, the HDMI enters that recognize/not recognized cycle.  You can tell this is happening even though the screen is dark because the warning beeps from computer go off for when the HDMI monitor is recognized and when it drops off again.

 

If you rouse the laptop so that displays go back on, the HDMI is recognize again and the dual external display functions again.

 

I supposed I could just turn the power saving option off for this unusual setup, but it would be nice to get it fixed too.  I am corresponding with Intel support and we'll see how it goes, but for purposes of this post, I consider the problem SOLVED.

 

For those having similar problems I recommend going to Intel support, give them all the details of your Intel graphics display and host machine and they'll help you out.  Basically, they had me install upgrades to the Intel chipset driver, the Intel graphics driver and the AO756 BIOS.  They supplied links.  And knock on wood.

JackE

>>>I supposed I could just turn the power saving option off for this unusual setup, but it would be nice to get it fixed too.>>>

 

Or you could wear earmuffs. Or get old like me---usually can't hear beeps any more --- and if I do---usually ignore them. 8^)

 

Nice work!

 

Jack E/NJ