Monitor oddity - can anyone figure this out?
Discussion
Hi folks.
I've been running a Dell S2340L 24" screen with my tower PC over HDMI for a decade and it's been faultless. Monitor is powered by a mains 12v transformer brick.
Recently, when switching it on with the tower, there is a brief split-second flash of the Windows log-in screen but then nothing else happens. Turning the monitor off and on again produces the same. Doesn't matter what kind of manupulation you do with the power button or any of the other buttons, nothing changes.
Initially it did this once about 3 weeks ago which I thought was odd, but after turning it off and back on again it was fine for 2 weeks. Then the same thing happened and it didn't matter what I did, I was just getting the same flash. I did eventually manage to get it to stay on, and thought that I had discovered and accidentally activated some sort of unknown 'screen sleep' function which I thought I'd "cleared" by holding the power button in for several seconds when I turned it back on. It was fine for another week, then went kaput again last night, and my above "hack" doesn't actually do anything so must have been purely coincidental before.
What I've done :
1. checked power cable/socket security, removed and reinserted - no difference.
2. used a different known working HDMI lead - no difference.
3. connected the 12v power brick to a 12v TV - works fine.
4. connected the original HDMI lead to a TV - works fine.
5. connected the original HDMI lead to the Dell from the on-board graphics socket rather than the usual GTX 760 GPU - no difference (still flashes then goes blank)
6. connected the Dell to a friend's laptop over HDMI - works fine!
So the summary of the above is :
a) PC / GPU is working fine and sending out signal OK.
b) power brick is fine.
c) HDMI cable is fine.
d) Dell is fine.
I'm confuzzled.
I've been running a Dell S2340L 24" screen with my tower PC over HDMI for a decade and it's been faultless. Monitor is powered by a mains 12v transformer brick.
Recently, when switching it on with the tower, there is a brief split-second flash of the Windows log-in screen but then nothing else happens. Turning the monitor off and on again produces the same. Doesn't matter what kind of manupulation you do with the power button or any of the other buttons, nothing changes.
Initially it did this once about 3 weeks ago which I thought was odd, but after turning it off and back on again it was fine for 2 weeks. Then the same thing happened and it didn't matter what I did, I was just getting the same flash. I did eventually manage to get it to stay on, and thought that I had discovered and accidentally activated some sort of unknown 'screen sleep' function which I thought I'd "cleared" by holding the power button in for several seconds when I turned it back on. It was fine for another week, then went kaput again last night, and my above "hack" doesn't actually do anything so must have been purely coincidental before.
What I've done :
1. checked power cable/socket security, removed and reinserted - no difference.
2. used a different known working HDMI lead - no difference.
3. connected the 12v power brick to a 12v TV - works fine.
4. connected the original HDMI lead to a TV - works fine.
5. connected the original HDMI lead to the Dell from the on-board graphics socket rather than the usual GTX 760 GPU - no difference (still flashes then goes blank)
6. connected the Dell to a friend's laptop over HDMI - works fine!
So the summary of the above is :
a) PC / GPU is working fine and sending out signal OK.
b) power brick is fine.
c) HDMI cable is fine.
d) Dell is fine.
I'm confuzzled.
Edited by r3g on Sunday 21st August 18:09
I have very similar with a 22” BenQ at work. Tries to come out of standby, power light briefly goes green, goes off, then tries again. Eventually it will come on, if it has an input.
It’s knackered, long and short of it. Will be replaced when I have to - it’s mine but I wouldn’t make a user but up with it.
It’s knackered, long and short of it. Will be replaced when I have to - it’s mine but I wouldn’t make a user but up with it.
I would disconnect the hdmi cable and try and get into the built in diags first. https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-uk/product-su...
sunbeam alpine said:
Sorry if I missed it, but have you tried connecting it to another PC?
Yes, works fine when connected to my mate's laptop over HDMI.speedyman said:
I would disconnect the hdmi cable and try and get into the built in diags first. https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-uk/product-su...
Factory reset done - no change.:shrug:
Plug'n'play issue?
PCs auto-detect monitors.
Monitors sleep when no signal.
If you go into the windoze settings menu can you disable auto detect?
Obviously you'll need another monitor to see that menu, unless you can boot in safe mode or use a VGA connection or something?
What happens if you boot with no monitor, then plug it in?
PCs auto-detect monitors.
Monitors sleep when no signal.
If you go into the windoze settings menu can you disable auto detect?
Obviously you'll need another monitor to see that menu, unless you can boot in safe mode or use a VGA connection or something?
What happens if you boot with no monitor, then plug it in?
It's probably driving to a mode or frequency it doesn't understand, or something equally funny. You'd think that would throw up a message on the display but maybe not.
Only way to really tell is to connect another monitor on at the same time and see what the settings and status of the 'dead' display are. It's possible for some weird settings to creep in for a particular display and tricky to purge when you can't see them.
Only way to really tell is to connect another monitor on at the same time and see what the settings and status of the 'dead' display are. It's possible for some weird settings to creep in for a particular display and tricky to purge when you can't see them.
I never did figure out the problem with this. After a friend tested the monitor with his PC he had no problems so brought it back, I plugged it in and it was working fine again. That was, until today when out of the blue it's gone back to the brief screen flash then nothing.
I've swapped it out for another monitor which is full size DP both ends. Screen is working fine, but now I have a new issue in that my windows, browser URL bar background and alternate lines in my email program are shaded a different colour when over HDMI they were all white. I've not changed any Windows settings (8.1) so what on earth is going on how? How can simply changing a display cable affect the colour scheme of the OS ? Anyone experienced this ?!
I've swapped it out for another monitor which is full size DP both ends. Screen is working fine, but now I have a new issue in that my windows, browser URL bar background and alternate lines in my email program are shaded a different colour when over HDMI they were all white. I've not changed any Windows settings (8.1) so what on earth is going on how? How can simply changing a display cable affect the colour scheme of the OS ? Anyone experienced this ?!
r3g said:
I've swapped it out for another monitor which is full size DP both ends. Screen is working fine, but now I have a new issue in that my windows, browser URL bar background and alternate lines in my email program are shaded a different colour when over HDMI they were all white. I've not changed any Windows settings (8.1) so what on earth is going on how? How can simply changing a display cable affect the colour scheme of the OS ? Anyone experienced this ?!
A screen of that resolution will be dual lane DisplayPort so maybe something isn't 100% on one cable pair?pquinn said:
r3g said:
I've swapped it out for another monitor which is full size DP both ends. Screen is working fine, but now I have a new issue in that my windows, browser URL bar background and alternate lines in my email program are shaded a different colour when over HDMI they were all white. I've not changed any Windows settings (8.1) so what on earth is going on how? How can simply changing a display cable affect the colour scheme of the OS ? Anyone experienced this ?!
A screen of that resolution will be dual lane DisplayPort so maybe something isn't 100% on one cable pair?The replacement monitor is a Dell P2414H. My GPU is a Nvidia GeForce GTX 760 and the cable is on the DP slot on the back of the card. In the monitor screen settings it's set to RGB and DisplayPort. In Windows CP > Screen Resi, it's giving me 3 options : Dell P2414H (which is what it's set at and the default, 2. "another display not detected" (shows the GTX 760 when I click it), 3. "another display not detected" (shows Intel HD Graphics 4600). I've tried the 2nd option but makes no difference and all my background colours and secondary menu bars are all in a washed out green colour instead of white. Tried the colour calibration but makes no difference. Not sure what the colour ICC profiles are. There were none showing so I dragged some in from the list, but they make no different either. Why is everything green and washed out over DisplayPort ?
Seems to be something to do with the colour profiles. I found a custom profile for the monitor, installed it and that has improved matters considerably, with the green overlay gone. Windows and Nvidia reckons all the drivers are up to date so no idea what's causing the PC tp keep spitting out its dummy over the HDMI connection. Tried a different cable and made no difference, but the monitor works fine when connected with the same cable(s) to other people's equipment, Going to have to do a full OS re-install at some point as the back-up system restore I did around 6 months ago seemed to mess up a number of things. 
If it's Windows 8.1 why don't you do a free upgrade to WIndows 10?
Might not sort your problem out, but Windows 8 was not the best version of Windows...
https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/...
Might not sort your problem out, but Windows 8 was not the best version of Windows...
https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/...
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