Struggling to output via HDMI from my Dell laptop....

Soldato
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I've posted a similar thread in the monitors forum but thought it might be more specifically a laptop problem rather than the monitor (or in this case TV!)

I tried over the weekend to use a HDMI cable to output from my Dell XPS l702x to my Sony TV in an attempt to watch a film.

When I plugged it it, the laptop "binged" as though it had recognised that I'd plugged something in and after a few seconds the TV flicked on and I could see the desktop wallpaper, but only for a second before it flicked off and it then continued to do this for another 2-30 seconds before settling on a blank black screen! :confused:

I've tried 2 different HDMI cables and also tried 3 different HDMI ports on the TV and I simply can't get it to maintain the desktop picture!

It is recognising that I've got a Sony TV attached on the laptop but nothing I try and change makes a difference! (including clicking on "output to projector" which I read on a forum somewhere!)

All I can gather from this is that the HDMI port on the laptop is possibly bust??

Has anyone got any ideas??
 
Have you got another TV you can try the cable and laptop with over HDMI? Have you tried hitting "Fn" and the "F1" I think it is on Dell to flick the screens over?
 
I've tried outputting to my Dell monitor via HDMI and it works fine!?!?

I'll have a go at another TV and see how I go on!
 
So it must be the TV if the Dell works fine? Same cable...

Yeah, looks that way doesn't it! :(

I'll try it tonight with my other TV but if that works I have no idea where to start in getting it to work with the Sony!?!? :confused:

The HDMI ports aren't the issue because everything else (Sky HD, PS3 etc) work just fine!!!!

Do we think there is a setting somewhere within the TV somewhere that can affect this?
 
From what i've done at least, i have an LG TV that has a strop if you stick PCs into. on mine i can relabel the HDMI port to PC, which changes some shindigs to make it actually output a picture.

I would suggest fiddling with the settings, googling if anyone had problems with the same model.
 
I've just checked and according to the TV there are no firmware updated available!

Having said that I have had some success tonight (of sorts anyway!)

I had a look at the TV's "i-Manual" and it suggested selecting "Graphics" mode, setting the screen to "Full" and amending something else to "Full Pixel" - anyway I did this and thought I'd cracked it as the laptop desktop stayed on the screen for a few seconds.....until I rolled the mouse wheel and it then went back to flickering like crazy! :confused:

Since then I've been playing around with the refresh rate via the graphics card utility on the laptop and even though it suggests a refresh rate of 60Hz, it still flickers BUT if I change the refresh rate for the Sony display to 24Hz, the screen stays on with no flickering!?!?!?!

I appreciate this probably isn't right but it does seem to have fixed things and it's got me thinking whether it might be a driver issue on the GPU?

In the meantime, will it damage anything running the Sony display at 24Hz?? (everything seems to be running OK, maybe a little more sluggish than the lappy display but I'd have expected that anyway - and video's appear to play smoothly enough!?!?!)

Thanks for the continued help guys....
 
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Update.....

I tried updating my nVidia drivers to the latest ones (320.49 from 301.42) and tried it again at 60Hz.

It still flickers.... :(

The only difference now is that the nVidia control panel does give me some more options, predominantly a few extra resolutions to do with 3D!

The following pic shows the various options open to me but the only one that seems to give me a stable picture is under the "HD, SD" list at "1080p, 1920 x 1080 (native)" - but now instead of offering me 60Hz, 59Hz, 24Hz & 23Hz, I get 60Hz, 59Hz, 50Hz & 29Hz - and 29Hz is the only setting that doesn't make the screen flicker!?!?!?

ax8u.jpg


Should I just accept this as it appears to work or will running the display at "29Hz" harm things???
 
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