Monitor won't display anything via displayport unless there's another active signal.

[demonix00]

With my current system showing more signs of possible failure, I decided that I should get something to replace it for the short term until I could get something better and got myself an asus TUF F15 FX506HC along with a Ugreen type C to displayport dongle so that I could connect up both of my monitors whilst keeping the HDMI port on my main monitor (that being an AOC G2260VWQ6) free for anything else.

 

Once I'd gotten both the laptop and the dongle and after getting rid of all the unnecessary pre-installed trash on the laptop I decided to test the dongle which appeared to be working once I remembered how to change source on the monitor (and having to double check the cable because I originally wasn't getting any signal, but that was only because I hadn't plugged the cable in fully), but that changed the next day when I started up the laptop with the dongle connected to the laptop and the monitor only to find that whilst the monitor was picking up a signal (meaning the power light was green) the display wasn't even turning on.

 

I double checked everything in case of a connection issue, but everything was properly connected (and also plugging the laptop into power in case it was a "can't do that on battery" issue) so I gave up thinking that the dongle had failed only to come back to it a little while later once I had my main PC running and find that I was once again able to get a image from the laptop through the dongle meaning that something was stopping the display for turning on when displayport was the only available source.

 

Again thinking that there was a problem with the dongle (along with thinking that there was a massive amount of false on the items amazon listing) I went and purchased an HP thunderbolt dock G2 from eBay only to get the same result from both of the displayport ports on the dock (I even tried the displayport cable the monitor originally came with which gave the same results).

 

One thing I did note is that while the laptops internal display showed that it was always connected to the intel integrated graphics, the external display was shown as connected to the dedicated graphics (just don't ask for pictures confirming that as I've already disconnected and packed away the displayport cables).

 

So, am I missing something really important (and I already googled which only showed results for "no signal" issues which isn't the case since it doesn't show any messages on screen and the display will only come on if I start pressing the source select button which turns the display back off after a second) or should I just mark this as a loss and start planning to purchase a new monitor?

[OddOod]

I'm a little bit lost here. 
My understanding is that you're having intermittent problems with displayport over USBC. One thing to try would be a new DP cable. Sometimes they'll flake out. 
But it also seems that sometimes your laptop is seeing the monitor in Display Settings, and the monitor is aware it's connected to a source, but the monitor is just showing a black screen? Like, can you lose your cursor into the monitor's space? 

[demonix00]

2 minutes ago, OddOod said:

I'm a little bit lost here. 
My understanding is that you're having intermittent problems with displayport over USBC. One thing to try would be a new DP cable. Sometimes they'll flake out. 
But it also seems that sometimes your laptop is seeing the monitor in Display Settings, and the monitor is aware it's connected to a source, but the monitor is just showing a black screen? Like, can you lose your cursor into the monitor's space? 

As I stated, I did try a second displayport cable after I got the thunderbolt dock which gave the same result of the monitor showing that it had detected a signal but not turning on the display.

 

And to try to make things clearer.

 

When I connect the laptop via displayport while there is an active signal on HDMI I get an image when I switch to displayport, but if displayport is the only active source when connected the monitor will come out of standby but the display wouldn't turn on (it happens regardless of if the displays are merged or separate and the mouse pointer will disappear if I try to move it over to the other monitor).

 

I did mention the whole "the displays are shown as connected to different graphics adapters" because it didn't seem right and started considering that something was amiss and there was some setting I was missing that was stopping the display from turning on and the monitor was leeching the signal from HDMI to make displayport work correctly.

 

The only thing I can think of is that because this monitor is over 5 years old and would predate most if not all thunderbolt standards, it might not understand all of what it is receiving properly and is depending on other sources to fill in the blanks.

[QuantumSingularity]

Nah, i think the issue is that it's connected to the dedicated GPU and it only switches on when the laptop decides to switch from the iGPU to the dedicated. Try disconnecting all monitors and in BIOS make the dedicated GPU the main one and then try everything again. I've seen similar issues on other Asus laptops previously. Not great internal communication and only on Intel platforms.

[demonix00]

57 minutes ago, QuantumSingularity said:

Nah, i think the issue is that it's connected to the dedicated GPU and it only switches on when the laptop decides to switch from the iGPU to the dedicated. Try disconnecting all monitors and in BIOS make the dedicated GPU the main one and then try everything again. I've seen similar issues on other Asus laptops previously. Not great internal communication and only on Intel platforms.

I just dug through the BIOS and there is no option to change what GPU is the main GPU and if I'm reading the nvidia control panel correctly it might not be possible as the laptops display appears to be hard wired to the intel integrated graphics.

 

And updating the BIOS isn't an option as I have version 313 which is more current then what is listed on the asus support page (which is version 311).

[TatamiMatt]

14 hours ago, demonix00 said:

I just dug through the BIOS and there is no option to change what GPU is the main GPU and if I'm reading the nvidia control panel correctly it might not be possible as the laptops display appears to be hard wired to the intel integrated graphics.

 

And updating the BIOS isn't an option as I have version 313 which is more current then what is listed on the asus support page (which is version 311).

It should be in the windows power settings or another similar setting I believe, not sure exactly, setting high performance for Graphics or whatever it is will default to the dGPU instead of bouncing between both GPUs

[QuantumSingularity]

Are you sure you don't have "Graphics Settings" in your "Advanced Settings" in BIOS (think it was F7 for advanced settings once inside)? I doubt that Asus would remove that vital option from their BIOS.

Also as @TatamiMatt said, try with performance mode in windows which will prevent the laptop from switching between iGPU and dGPU.

[demonix00]

3 hours ago, QuantumSingularity said:

Are you sure you don't have "Graphics Settings" in your "Advanced Settings" in BIOS (think it was F7 for advanced settings once inside)? I doubt that Asus would remove that vital option from their BIOS.

Also as @TatamiMatt said, try with performance mode in windows which will prevent the laptop from switching between iGPU and dGPU.

There is a graphics settings option in the BIOS, but the only option it has is to change the amount of RAM allocated to the iGPU

12 hours ago, TatamiMatt said:

It should be in the windows power settings or another similar setting I believe, not sure exactly, setting high performance for Graphics or whatever it is will default to the dGPU instead of bouncing between both GPUs

I dug around the power settings option with a fine tooth comb (the first thing I actually did when setting this laptop up was to set the power plan to performance when plugged in, and yes, I did have the laptop plugged into power when splunking through the BIOS) and there was no option for setting high performance for graphics (apart from the setting in the nvidia control panel to tell games to always use the dGPU).

 

As a hail mary, I decided to try the laptops HDMI port (since I also purchased a capture card) and it does work and looking in the advanced display settings (as well as the nvidia control panel) shows the it is also directly wired to the iGPU.

 

I'm starting to think that the only way I'm going to get this working is to either disable the internal display or use the laptops HDMI port as a leech to get displayport working (or have another computer set up with dual monitors with one plugged into HDMI to get displayport to work) as it appears that asus has kneecapped this laptop and made the main feature I purchased this thing for completely useless.

[QuantumSingularity]

Can you check in NVCP which ports are assigned to the iGPU and which to the dGPU?

[demonix00]

9 hours ago, QuantumSingularity said:

Can you check in NVCP which ports are assigned to the iGPU and which to the dGPU?

If you mean how they are shown in the Configure Surround, PhysX section of the 3D settings tree the dGPU has two displayport ports (which considering that almost every thunderbolt dock I've seen has at least two video ports it's safe to conclude that these ports are directly wired to the onboard thunderbolt hardware) whilst the internal display (although it doesn't show a specific port type for this) and the HDMI port (when a display is connected to it) are assigned to the iGPU.

 

[QuantumSingularity]

Hmm .. that's interesting. Does your monitor support G-Sync? Also what display settings are you trying to pass via the dongle to the monitor? Mainly the resolution and the color depth?

[demonix00]

2 hours ago, QuantumSingularity said:

Hmm .. that's interesting. Does your monitor support G-Sync? Also what display settings are you trying to pass via the dongle to the monitor? Mainly the resolution and the color depth?

It only supports freesync (or adaptive sync as it's currently being advertised as supporting) and it's sending the same settings to both displays with the exception being the refresh rate (1920x1080 8-bit which are the same settings being sent to that monitor over HDMI) since the laptops internal display has a 144Hz (adaptive sync) refresh rate whilst the external display has a 75Hz refresh rate and the dongle supposedly supports a max resolution of 8K60 whilst the HP thunderbolt dock supports a max resolution of 4K if memory serves.

 

Just an extra piece of information, the freesync support and 75Hz refresh rate is only available through the displayport connection which is probably why in the NVCP on the laptop when I has the monitor connected it gave me the option to activate G-Sync even though it's not an officially supported display (I purchased it about a year or so before a batch of freesync capable monitors was classed a G-Sync capable displays of which this is not one of them).

[QuantumSingularity]

Damn... this is why i hate dealing with nVidia GPUs... all the nightmares around multiple display setups. But that's a rant for another day. Try connecting the monitors through the dongle and use the shortcut from your keyboard to turn off the laptop display. Also try Fn+F9 (the default shortcut for display mode) when your monitor and dongle are connected.

[demonix00]

12 hours ago, QuantumSingularity said:

Damn... this is why i hate dealing with nVidia GPUs... all the nightmares around multiple display setups. But that's a rant for another day. Try connecting the monitors through the dongle and use the shortcut from your keyboard to turn off the laptop display. Also try Fn+F9 (the default shortcut for display mode) when your monitor and dongle are connected.

Fn+F9 only brings up the same menu you get when pressing the windows key + P and Fn+F6 doesn't do anything to the external display as it doesn't turn the display on even with the laptop display off (also I noticed that when I plugged the display into the HP thunderbolt dock while it is powered but not plugged into the laptop the monitor comes out of standby but doesn't turn on the display, not even to display a no signal message which is making my go back to considering that this monitor doesn't like being sent signal data (or whatever the heck it is) in whatever way the docks/dongles are sending it).

 

A few things of note that are likely unrelated to this issue is that I decided to look at the NVCP again when I have an external monitor connected via thunderbolt it stops detecting the iGPU and the laptops display even though windows picks up on everything without issue.

 

 

I also looked in the intel graphics command centre and found out how the internal display is connected...

 

 

I'm guessing that considering the information from the NVCP that it is internally wired through a displayport alt mode connection (the only thing that's missing is the notification that the display isn't HDCP capable which is stupid nowadays).

 

Another thing of note is how the internal display reacts (although I'm considering that it was just to change refresh rate) when I plugged in via the HDMI port the display would black out for a few seconds (as I stated this was likely to change refresh rate to match the external connection as the two were set up as merged and not separate) while connecting through displayport either through the dongle or dock the image on the laptops display would sink in for a few seconds when the signal was detected and then return to normal (I'm almost certain that it's doing the same thing via HDMI as I managed to replicate the black screen by setting the internal display to 60Hz before connecting the dock to the laptop).

 

Replacing my monitors has been on the cards for a few months now, but I might just acquire some "conversion technology" next month (because I have bills to pay and just enough money to pay them) to see if the issue is just with the displayport connection on this monitor.

[QuantumSingularity]

Well, getting new monitor is always a good thing, but don't rush into it, otherwise you might have the same issues, just with more monitors to store on your desk. Try selecting the Nvidia GPU in PhysX settings, instead of the Auto that it is currently. I've seen Nvidia's graphics being temperamental over anything in the settings menu and you never really know which one will make them change their mind.

[demonix00]

20 hours ago, QuantumSingularity said:

Well, getting new monitor is always a good thing, but don't rush into it, otherwise you might have the same issues, just with more monitors to store on your desk. Try selecting the Nvidia GPU in PhysX settings, instead of the Auto that it is currently. I've seen Nvidia's graphics being temperamental over anything in the settings menu and you never really know which one will make them change their mind.

At least I know if something goes whoopsie and I have to press the laptop into full gaming service I can at least have one external monitor connected unless I'm able to rule out the displayport connection on the monitor not playing nice with these more modern docks and dongles, and I won't be pulling the trigger on a new monitor at least until I have most of my Amazon monthly payments completed along with sorting out the mess that's my desk.

 

So that means that it'll be a few weeks before I'll update this since nothing major will have happened until I get the new cables to rule out a funky monitor.

[QuantumSingularity]

I think it's just Nvidia, doing Nvidia things. Probably mismatched refresh rates and/or resolutions. Try to manually lock your main display at 60Hz or 75Hz and then try to connect the 2nd monitor.

[demonix00]

Just now, QuantumSingularity said:

I think it's just Nvidia, doing Nvidia things. Probably mismatched refresh rates and/or resolutions. Try to manually lock your main display at 60Hz or 75Hz and then try to connect the 2nd monitor.

I'd already tried that during the last batch of tests by setting the laptops internal display to 60Hz before plugging in the external display (which windows defaults to 60Hz) and still got the unpowered display treatment (also when I could get an image with another active source connected, I'm certain the internal display was set at 144Hz with the monitor defaulted to 60Hz).

 

I think the only thing that really needs to be ruled out since I've gone through almost everything is with the monitor itself either by not using the displayport connection either by testing on the monitors HDMI port or on another display (I'm not going to use that monitors VGA port since that has its own issues that I'm not going be going into).

[demonix00]

On 3/19/2024 at 3:43 PM, QuantumSingularity said:

I think it's just Nvidia, doing Nvidia things. Probably mismatched refresh rates and/or resolutions. Try to manually lock your main display at 60Hz or 75Hz and then try to connect the 2nd monitor.

Update on this as I just found out that it does the same thing over HDMI when the laptop is powered off (this is when it's connected directly to the laptops HDMI port, not through thunderbolt) but once I press the power button it immediately turns the display on to show a no signal message and goes into standby (if it does) until the laptop boots into windows at which point it works as intended which is making my think that either something isn't being sent to the display to tell it to wake up fully or the display is just being picky (I'll have to do more testing on that side since I have a displayport capable device available).

 

I've also watch the video from techyescity about hidden power settings, so I might go digging through that to see if the options that have been mentioned before were just being hidden.