I just got an Aspire XC-780. Are the two HDMI ports on the back useless?

TongGau

The two HDMI ports are covered with black plastic tabs that are firmly in place.  The ports are clearly labelled HDMI 1 and HDMI 2, so what's the deal?  Are these ports useless or is there a way to safely remove the plastic covers? Thanks!

billsey

Usually when they're covered it means you have a graphics card that provides the video instead of the builtin to the motherboard type. You can use the motherboard HDMI ports unless there's no graphics card.

Neveil

I removed the plastic cap but if I attach a monitor to it, it gives NO SIGNAL. Can anyone help me with this?

Larryodie

Google " Acer Ports Covered" Lots of hits.
This is a summary. 

If the port is just covered by a plastic cover/cap, just remove and the port should be usable. However, if the port has tape over it, that means that port is not usable. You should connect the monitor to the graphics card that's located lower on the back of the desktop ( there are few horizontal slots).Dec 23, 2014

billsey

Whether the onboard video ports are usable is directly related to the presence of a GPU card. If a card is detected as part of the initial POST, the onboard ports are disabled.