PC suddenly decides to not output on HDMI to TV

JcGross · May 27, 2019

Has anyone ever heard of anything like this? I can't find any reference to a problem like this.

It started happening more and more. I've had my PC hooked up to my Samsung TV via HDMI. It worked for the last, I don't even know, 3-4 years? A long time. Now it suddenly decided it's not going to work. Sometimes it fixes itself, and then it stops working again for no reason. Like, right now, I was playing a game (for about 5 minutes) and then the signal cuts out.

Now here's the thing, I'm not new to troubleshooting, so I tried hooking it up with a different cable, since the old cable (that's the only one I have that is long enough) was damaged on it's shielding, still, it didn't affect the signal cables, so it's supposed to be fine. But alas, no good. I tried switching the HDMI input ports on the TV, no good. I tried it on a different TV, and it works. I tried both HDMI input ports with my PS4 and it works. So apparently my Samsung only doesn't like my PC, no matter what port I plug it into, and other TVs still like my PC... What the hell am I supposed to do with this information? I tried driver updates of course, didn't help. Anyone has any idea? My windows is old, so I'm thinking of a fresh install, but I doubt that would fix it.

Also just tried resetting my TV's settings. No good.

Also, I checked for my TV's specs, it's a Samsung UE40H5000 40” Full HD LED TV, bought 2014.12.29.

kidroc666 · May 27, 2019

Yes it has happened to me twice once with an older dlp tv and once with my new 4k lg!!! it ended up their was a firmware update for that very problem i flash it and it has been great since..

JcGross · May 27, 2019

5 minutes ago, kidroc666 said:

Yes it has happened to me twice once with an older dlp tv and once with my new 4k lg!!! it ended up their was a firmware update for that very problem i flash it and it has been great since..

Thanks for the response. Can you tell me about how that worked? I mean, as I've said, in my case this setup has been working for years with no problem, I never updated anything by hand. I just searched for the model number of my TV and looked online, looks like I don't even have the newest firmware (actually, they say software, so I don't even know if it is in fact firmware just named for the average consumer to understand). The newest is 1028 and I have 1024. So I don't think the firmware changed at all since I got it. I have no idea what's going on.

In other news, I had a hunch that if I power down my PC, like, shut down, and then cut the power, it would temporarily fix it, and it did. But I still have no idea what triggers the problem.

kidroc666 · May 27, 2019

The lg is a smart tv that hdmi problem happened and it was killing me as i'm sure it's killing you too.. i tried a ton of cables blah blah the pc worked when i used any other monitor.. i turned on the tv and went into the menu found a f.w and software updates one was for the hdmi not being detected right.. i updated and have been fine every since so i'd go looking in your tv settings if not go to the website and see if there any updates they usually just get placed on an sd card or usb drive.. hope you get ity all worked out man..

JcGross · May 27, 2019

7 minutes ago, kidroc666 said:

The lg is a smart tv that hdmi problem happened and it was killing me as i'm sure it's killing you too.. i tried a ton of cables blah blah the pc worked when i used any other monitor.. i turned on the tv and went into the menu found a f.w and software updates one was for the hdmi not being detected right.. i updated and have been fine every since so i'd go looking in your tv settings if not go to the website and see if there any updates they usually just get placed on an sd card or usb drive.. hope you get ity all worked out man..

Oh, I misunderstood you. I thought you got an auto update and had to roll it back. I'll try the update that I found online then. Mine is not a smart TV so it can't download the update on it's own.

JcGross · May 28, 2019

Welp, I updated the firmware from 1021 to 1042. Still no dice... The startup logo look different tho...

JcGross · May 30, 2019

The Mystery deepens as it gets clearer. Now, upon further examination, when the picture went out from the TV I tried plugging the HDMI on my pc into the onboard HDMI out. Now, of course there was still no output on it, because I didn't actually set it up, but the TV went from "No cable plugged in" to "No signal". So I am dead certain the problem is on the PC side. I am guessing some kind of communication error where the graphics card suddenly stops detecting a cable that is plugged in.

BUT, something really strange happened today. Again, I was playing a game, and the picture on my TV cut out, as it does. Again, my monitor, which is connected via DVI works fine still. And I had the idea, what if I just unplug them both and try plugging them back in. And as I did that I figured out that if only the HDMI cable is left connected, the TV gets a picture again. I tried plugging back the DVI, picture went away on TV, came on the monitor, plugged the DVI out again, TV picture comes back. Left it for a minute or two, plugged the DVI back in, now both work again. At this point I am suspecting either some driver shenanigans, or some windows level f*uckery, or an actual hardware problem, which is the worst because I won't be able to do anything about it. It is possible that somehow as the card heats up some connections get loose, something gets shorted, some connection problem arises that make sit impossible for both the cables to exist being plugged in, I highly doubt this however.

I don't know which display device was number 1 and which was number 2, but right now it looks like the TV is the primary (I think it was secondary before), this MIGHT have fixed the problem for now, but I'll keep the post updated for reference to anyone suffering from this problem. If the problem persists I'll try a windows reinstall and see if that helps. Beyond that I can only deduce that it's a hardware failure of some kind.