Acer Predator Helios 300 Second monitor stopped working despite it being detected by the computer

anapudim
anapudim Member Posts: 2 New User
edited May 2023 in Predator Laptops

I'm using an Acer Predator Helios 300 with Windows 10 on it, and I keep a second monitor (an LG TV) connected to it at all times. One day, right after I turned on the computer, it started showing me a "No Signal" message on the TV screen, despite the fact that the computer recognizes there's a second monitor plugged in (and what exactly this second monitor is, an LG TV). Now, I've tried many, many things:

  • It's not the fault of the HDMI cable as I was able to plug in something else to this TV using the same cable, in the same input, and I tried different cables as well
  • I tried connecting the computer to a different TV but it gave me the same No Signal message
  • I've tried rebooting/turning off and on again both the computer and the TV, as well as disconnecting all the peripherals and reconnecting them again, in different orders
  • I tried updating the NVIDIA driver (as this laptop uses both Intel UHD Graphics and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060) but nothing happened
  • Right clicking both display adapters in the device manager and choosing Update tells me the drivers are up to date
  • Installed the available Windows updates
  • Pressing Windows logo Key + Ctrl + Shift + B

The only thing that worked was using a system restore point that dated the day before the second monitor stopped working (if I'm not mistaken it said something about a Windows module installer), but it only lasted a day or so before the second monitor stopped working again. So I did the same thing yesterday, a system restore point and it worked again, but then today right after I turned on the PC, while the second monitor was working, it then started blinking/flickering to black and then stopped working again.

All of this started happening after I got back from a trip, so the computer hadn't been turned on for about 10 days. It worked fine the first time I booted it up after I got back, but then it stopped working the day after. The only new thing that I installed then was a new wireless Logitech mouse.

If I go to Display Settings it shows me this:

[Edited the thread to add model name]

If I go to device manager it shows me two Generic PnP monitors under Monitors:

My laptop:

Acer Predator PH315-53
Windows 10 Home Single Language 64 bits
Intel Core i7-10750H CPU @ 2.60GHz
Intel UHD Graphics (31.0.101.2114 version of driver)
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 (Game Ready Driver version 531.79, and I did try the Studio Driver one)

I just need the second monitor to work again, please y_y

Answers

  • StevenGen
    StevenGen ACE Posts: 12,451 Trailblazer
    edited May 2023

    What is the model number of the LG TV, is it an old model, does it have a DVI port or a DP port as that is where your problem is, as its not working with a HDMI port 100%, its not the laptops HDMI port, the laptops HDMI is a type 2.0 (Data Thoroughput 18Gbps) and the LG TV might not work with this newer HDMI 2.0 port specs properly. If your LG TV has a DVI or a DP port then buy a mini DP to DVI or mini DP to DP cable, use another way fo connection this LG TV to your laptop

    The mini DP port on your laptop has the following specs:

    1. The data transfer rate is 8.64 Gbps. This is a requirement of the version 1.0 standard. In 1.2, it reaches 17.28 Gbps. 2.0 has already been adopted, in which the requirements are much higher.
    2. Colour depth up to 48 bits is applied. In this case, each channel has from 6 to 16 bits.
    3. Eight-channel 24-bit audio is transmitted with a sampling rate of 192 kHz.
    4. There is support for YCbCr and RGB (v1.0), ScRGB, DCI-P3 (v1.2), Adobe RGB 1998, SRGB, xvYCC, RGB XR (have a look at the specs of the LG TV, as this is what your LG TV might need)
    5. Uses DisplayPort Content Protection (DHCP) anti-piracy system using AES 128-bit encryption. It is also possible to use HDCP encryption version 1.1.
    6. There is support for up to 63 audio and video streams simultaneously. This supports the separation of packets in time.
    7. The transmitted signals are encoded in such a way that for every 8 bits of useful information there are 2 bits of service information. This algorithm allows you to transfer 80% of the data relative to the total volume. Источник:
    8. Provides the use of 3D video signal with a refresh rate of 120 Hz.

  • anapudim
    anapudim Member Posts: 2 New User

    My LG TV model is a 28MT49S-PSS, and I could try looking into getting this this new cable (though from a quick Google it doesn't seem my TV has a DVI port? Is there some kind of HDMI adapter for it?), thank you for the info.

    The thing is that this TV has been working as my second monitor for years now without a problem, across two different laptops even, only to suddenly just… stop working. Actually, I've never had any issue connecting to any sort of monitor/TV using just regular HDMI until now, and it leads me to believe it's some sort of software issue given that I was able to use a system restore point to make things work again (until it stopped working again a day later, and again, and now I have no more system restore points to restore to). I've tried updating all the graphics drivers to the latest ones available, uninstalling them and reinstalling them, even did a Windows reinstall using installation media (without deleting all my files and apps - I haven't gone full nuclear option yet) and nothing has helped.

    What I've noticed is that while Windows and the NVIDIA Control Panel recognize the TV once it's connected via HDMI, once I disconnect it it *still* says the TV is connected somehow, and it won't go away unless I restart the computer.