Second display not booting up

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  • December 5, 2011 at 11:38 pm #26466
    wgt

       

      Hi.

       

      I made an attempt to connect my pc to our plasma HDTV via the AVR in order to  run a hybrid HTPC.

       

      Essentially what I am using is a long HDMI cable through an HDMI repeater (actually Monoprice HDMI w/IR repeater device).  Controlling it all is with an MCE R/C on the Monoprice IR repeater also back to the PC. 

       

      After the AVR is switched to the appropriate mode, I am able to bring up WMC and all my movies, etc. and play them on the HDTV c/w full 5.1 sound (also connected with HDMI cable from AVR).

       

      It all seems to work well except when I go to shut down the HTPC function and then later try and start it up again – the PC will not recognize that additional HDMI-connected monitor  ..no video or sound.

       

      It’s only when I reboot the PC that it finally recognizes the additional monitor (AVR/HDTV) and that most of it works again.  When I say “most”, I mean video.  Sound sometimes doesn’t want to default to the AVR and HDTV – I have to physically go into the sound device feature and activate the sound as default for the second monitor.

       

      I guess to start with here is my main question :  how to get the AVR/HDTV to be recognized as an additional or second monitor as soon as the AVR/HDTV combo is turned on ..and with the PC already on?   For instance, if I instead use my laptop as an HTPC, as soon as another monitor is plugged in it is recognized – as soon as it is disconnected, it defaults the laptop display screen  ..of course these can be configured so they will both show the desktop.   I can’t seem to configure the desktop PC in the same way either through Windows Control Panel or AMD Catalyst CC.

       

      Here’s my setup :  custom desktop PC – Asus M4A88TD-V (integrated ATI 4250 with VGA and HDMI out), AMD 630×4 cpu, 8GB ram,  (2x)1t HDD, Asus display connected via VGA din.

       

      PC/HDMI cable >> Denon AVR2310 >> HDMI >> Pioneer plasma HDTV (or second monitor) 

       

      Windows 7 Pro with WMC, ATI Catalyst video manager suite, Realtek audio drivers  ..all up to date.

       

       

       

      December 6, 2011 at 2:31 am #31967
      oliverredfox

        Go from PC/HDMI cable >> Denon AVR2310 >> HDMI >> Pioneer plasma HDTV (or second monitor)

        to

        PC/HDMI cable >> HDMI Detective >> Denon AVR2310 >> HDMI >> Pioneer plasma HDTV (or second monitor)

        http://www.amazon.com/Gefen-EXT-HDMI-EDIDP-HDmi-Detective-Plus/dp/B001RIMZUW/

        It will make the computer always think that the HDTV is available regardless of the AVR/HDTV’s power status.

        (HDMI/HDCP handshaking issues like yours are the bane of a lot of our systems.  The HDMI detective will set you back a few dollars but it really does work well.  I’m sure a few others around here will attest to the same and that it was money well spent.)

        December 6, 2011 at 5:36 pm #31970
        wgt

          Hmm, what an interesting solution — but the cost to me would be over $170+ landed in Canada  ..if I can even get it.  This differs from $89(incl s/h) within the US — and I thought that was plenty enough to spend.

          It would be nice to have a software solution, as there really should be.  I still find it a pita to keep rebooting the PC just to maintain connection with the AVR/HDTV. 

          Originally I thought a simple HDMI cable between devices would work and I’d be done.   But appears otherwise.

          Another thought I had before starting this HTPC adventure was to opt for this nifty Pivos Aios media player instead — under $100, local ship.

          http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/pivos_aios_media_centre/

          What would be the big trade-off here by ditching the HTPC idea and instead migrating to a nice media player ? — this mp seems to accomplish everything needed (WMC, pc file access) without those pesky handshake issues. 

           

           

          December 6, 2011 at 7:39 pm #31971
          oliverredfox

            You could also try a program called HDMIyo.  It will redo a HDMI handshake on PC resume(or on a keybind).  It worked about 90% of the time for me with the no-sound on resume issue.  I eventually went with the HDMI detective because that last 10% drove me nuts, but it’s still better than nothing.

            December 6, 2011 at 8:32 pm #31973
            SJMaye

              I had HDMI handshake issues.  Tried HDMIyo and worked OK.  Just got annoying to have to prod the HTPC to look for the monitor again because handshake failed.  I then read about Monitor Asset Manager or commonly called moninfo.exe as this is the file name you download.  In my case the MC was recognizing my TV as a generic display.  Sort of hit or miss as to whether the handshake would complete.  This program created an custom inf file for my DLP TV.  Has not failed the handshake since installed 3 weeks ago.

              December 9, 2011 at 3:40 am #31984
              wgt

                I think I’m getting lost here guys.

                If the computer is already running and then I turn On the Denon AVR>Pioneer plasma, the PC still will not identify the “new display” automatically.  But I can go into the CCC (or AMD Vision Engine Manager) and activate it through its Detect Displays feature.  That works and the plasma then sees the PC desktop, etc  ..albeit no sound. 

                For at least the video portion I then thought of configuring a hotkey for that CCC Detect Displays feature (that could be used with my remote control to access the computer) but can’t seem to find the .exe for it within the CCC software — any ideas?

                However, even with using CCC to activate the “new display” there’s still no sound detection via my Windows (Realtek) sound panel — with that I have to literally reboot the computer to get it (or everything) up and running.

                Also, SJMaye mentioned Monitor Asset Manager ..not familiar with how to use it to construct a custom .inf file for my Pioneer plasma?? 

                 

                 

                December 9, 2011 at 7:19 am #31985
                SJMaye

                  [quote=wgt]Also, SJMaye mentioned Monitor Asset Manager ..not familiar with how to use it to construct a custom .inf file for my Pioneer plasma?? [/quote]

                  I read this from this post, but here are the simple instructions the poster gave.  Worked easily.

                  1. Download a program called Moninfo which reads the EDID info for your monitor

                  2. If you have an AVR, disconnect it and connect directly to the TV with HDMI otherwise skip this step

                  3. Run Moninfo, click on your TV manufacturer’s name, and click File->Create INF and save it as DISPLAY.inf or something such as that

                  4. If you have an AVR reconnect it in the chain, run Moninfo again, click on your AVR manufacturer’s name and click File->Merge extension bloc with INF and merge it into DISPLAY.inf that you just created.

                  5. Go to device manager and replace the Generic PnP monitor driver with your new INF.

                  From the way this works it seems that Win7 gets confused and in my case selects Generic driver for my TV.  This creates a custom driver.  You tell Win7 specifically to use this driver.  So far seems to work.

                  December 10, 2011 at 3:08 pm #31986
                  wgt

                    Ok, thanks  ..I think that worked, but only with the tv directly hooked to the PC.  When the AVR was added into the mix the handshake wasn’t there when the AVR/tv combo was turned on after the PC was booted.

                    So the tv is always energized, even when in standby and so the PC maintains the information.  However, when the AVR is connected that tv info is now lost as the AVR was not “On” in that particular HDMI mode.

                    But then I dug a little deeper into the AVR options and found that by invoking HDMI Control ‘passthrough’ the system now works — the tv and AVR shake hands and so to with PC.  Hmm, I had never played with this feature set before.  

                    I can now turn on or otherwise switch the AVR/tv combination after the PC boots and my desktop (along with the sound) now appears on the Plasma tv.  An added bonus is that when the tv is turned Off in that assigned HDMI video mode, it also turns Off the AVR.  Conversely, when the AVR mode is turned on, so does the tv ..with the desktop.

                    Still, there remains a loose end that I’m curious about : without the “passthrough” invoked, if I go into CCC there is an option to Display Detect which will detect the AVR/tv combo and switch On the connection between them and the PC ..and that’s after the PC has booting up.  So process that works too.

                    So my question is, is there also a way to make the CCC autodetect the AVR/tv display either via a CCC feature switch (I can’t find any) or via a hotkey?  If a hotkey, where can the Display Detect command be found in CCC software?  This would almost be preferrable as the “passthrough” feature on the AVR constantly draws power as it is always On. 

                    December 12, 2011 at 9:47 pm #31991
                    SJMaye

                      update on my use of moninfo.exe.  After using my custom INF driver for my DLP TV I started getting random BSOB and autoreboot.  Do not know for sure that was the problem, but it seemed to coincide.  I switched back to the generic MS PNP driver and no crashes for 2 days.

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