Help, weird USBC problem!

[Lefty]

I have two laptops in my office. Laptop 1 runs two monitors, one from hdmi out and one from usb-c with an hdmi adaptor.

Monitor running via usbc stopped working.

Both monitors work independently, both cables work independently (tested with hdmi out to screen).

Issue must be the adaptor right? Bought a new one, no joy.

OK, knackered usbc port on laptop? Tried on Laptop 2, same thing. It used to work - I switched from having two monitors on laptop 2 to laptop 1.

Tired my sons usbc hub thing, same problem, though usb devices work through it (mouse/keyboard etc). So it’s not the usbc port itself.

Checked for driver updates, nothing.

So it’s not the screens, not the adaptors, not the cables and not the usbc ports.

When plugging the hdmi monitor in via usbc I “sometimes” get the warning: “Display Connection might be limited, make sure the displayport device you are using is supported by your pc”. I googled that and didn’t find any suggestions I hadn’t already tried.

Windows 10 on both, one home, one enterprise.

Any suggestions?

Cheers

Edited by Lefty on Monday 18th March 07:47

[Lefty]

Nope, good point though, I hadn’t tried forcing it to detect.

Weirdly, either monitor works fine through hdmi, with either hdmi cable. Autodetects too.

[parabolica]

Dell by any chance? I had this issue a few years ago - was working fine until one day it wasn't and could not work out how to fix. Whatever it was, the laptop was no longer treating the USB-C port as capable of display, at least when plugging a monitor into it directly.

I ended buying a cheap USB-C dock (like this one) that included a HDMI port and that seemed to work; it had no issue sending the display signal through the dock. But if I read your post correctly, you've tried that with your son's dock and it still didn't work?

ETA my only other suggestion is to buy a dedicated usb-c to HDMI cable (i.e. without and adaptor) to see if that fixes the issues... sounds like it would be a long shot though.

Edited by parabolica on Monday 18th March 08:06

[Lefty]

Nope, one is Lenovo, one is HP.

Tried an HP usbc dock - usb things work through it but not the hdmi output on the dock.

Are there different grades of hdmi cable to work with usbc? Could that have changed?

Bear in mind it used to work absolutely fine and I changed nothing - complete pain in the arse.

[Lefty]

EmailAddress said:

Are all three powered?

Do they have enough juice.

Yes, all are powered. They are 32” screens, all work fine in their own via hdmi-hdmi.

[Lefty]

EmailAddress said:

It could be... and this is not the correct terminology... DRM management on the output or adapter.

E.g. I've had trouble outputting from Android through a usbc then hdmi adapter because the signal was blocking content sent to a 'big' screen.

Had to swap adapter to one less fussy.

None of that is a technical help but might be worth another pipeline swap fo you.

Yes it sounds like this might be the issue, I’ve just ordered a display port to hdmi adaptor to see if that works.

[Lefty]

parabolica said:

Dell by any chance? I had this issue a few years ago - was working fine until one day it wasn't and could not work out how to fix. Whatever it was, the laptop was no longer treating the USB-C port as capable of display, at least when plugging a monitor into it directly.

I ended buying a cheap USB-C dock (like this one) that included a HDMI port and that seemed to work; it had no issue sending the display signal through the dock. But if I read your post correctly, you've tried that with your son's dock and it still didn't work?

ETA my only other suggestion is to buy a dedicated usb-c to HDMI cable (i.e. without and adaptor) to see if that fixes the issues... sounds like it would be a long shot though.

Edited by parabolica on Monday 18th March 08:06

That’s a good shout, I just ordered a usbc to hdni cable - I didn’t even know that was a thing

Cheers

[devnull]

Factory reset the monitor in question too, probably via your on screen menus. That often sorts a multitude of weirdness.

[Lefty]

parabolica said:

Dell by any chance? I had this issue a few years ago - was working fine until one day it wasn't and could not work out how to fix. Whatever it was, the laptop was no longer treating the USB-C port as capable of display, at least when plugging a monitor into it directly.

I ended buying a cheap USB-C dock (like this one) that included a HDMI port and that seemed to work; it had no issue sending the display signal through the dock. But if I read your post correctly, you've tried that with your son's dock and it still didn't work?

ETA my only other suggestion is to buy a dedicated usb-c to HDMI cable (i.e. without and adaptor) to see if that fixes the issues... sounds like it would be a long shot though.

Edited by parabolica on Monday 18th March 08:06

USBC-HDMI cable sorted it, cheers!

Amazon next day delivery is awesome

[Lefty]