Monitor and PC boot have to be timed

[acsemler]

Hey everyone, I've been having a weird problem for about 4 years on and off, persisting through multiple windows installs and versions, graphics cards, and even entire systems. Basically, I have to get the time when I boot my computer and when I boot my monitors just right or else the monitors will go into powersave mode, forcing me to reboot my entire computer (and monitors) and try again. Sometimes it's taken me +10 attempts to get it working. Genuinely at a loss and I've looked around for a solution but I just can't find it. I believe the computer is fine, it doesn't have this problem on other monitors or televisions. I'll list the relevant specs of the builds that this has been a problem on.

 

Monitors

• Dell U2913WM (primary, currently display port 1.2) 
• Dell P2210 (secondary, currently DVI-D)

*NOTE* Problem persistent through different cables and different connection types on both monitors

 

Last Computer

• i7 4770k
• Radeon 7970 (later GTX 970) (even later 1080)
• Windows 7 (later 10)

 

Current Computer

• Ryzen 7 1700
• GTX 1080
• Windows 10

 

I think It's pretty clear that it has something to do with the monitors since they are the only common component across my builds and their variations. However, I can't find any posts on this specific problem I'm having in general, let alone with my specific monitors. I'd call about it but both of these monitors aren't really supported anymore and they still "work" so there's no point. I disabled all the powersaving features I could find on both monitors but that didn't make a difference. Any advice or just acklowedgment that I'm not alone with this problem would be nice.

[Snipeon]

Now, before we decide your monitors are the problem, please elaborate on what you mean by "booting the monitors".

[wojtepanik]

turn off powersaving mode

[acsemler]

7 hours ago, Snipeon said:

Now, before we decide your monitors are the problem, please elaborate on what you mean by "booting the monitors".

Turning them on.

[acsemler]

7 hours ago, wojtepanik said:

turn off powersaving mode

I did.

[Snipeon]

ok, now I need a couple pieces of info.

1. What do you mean you need to time the "boot" just right, i.e, what's the sequence for a successful boot.

2. Are you turning the monitor on from the mains?

[acsemler]

26 minutes ago, Snipeon said:

ok, now I need a couple pieces of info.

1. What do you mean you need to time the "boot" just right, i.e, what's the sequence for a successful boot.

2. Are you turning the monitor on from the mains?

The highest chance of sucess seems to be when I turn on both monitors midway through posting. I'm going by the sound of all my fans and AIO pump whirring to life, I assume that is a part of the posting process. As long as I turn on both monitors about midway through that noise, my monitors will for the most part detect the signal from my GPU and work like normal.

 

Also yes, I am turning the monitors on from mains power. Both monitors, and even the PC, are connected through a power strip to the same outlet. I have in the past bypassed the power strip and plugged the monitors directly into the wall (not to trouble shoot this issue but just general messing about with other stuff) and haven't noticed other behavior. The power strip is rated for about 16 amps I think which is plenty and at full load on all 3 devices I'm nowhere near tripping a circuit.

 

I should also mention that the "boot timing" thing I do isn't a guaranteed sucess. It works most of the time but it isn't 100% consistent. Additionally, the order isn't always necessary. I have in the past mixed it up and even turned on my monitors minutes later and it still worked but it's much rarer for that to be successful. And like I said this weird issue, and the way I get around it with the timing thing, have been consistent across 3 GPUs, 2 versions of windows, and two entirely separate builds. 

[Snipeon]

from what you said about turning on from the mains, I roughly know what's happening. Have you ever tried just turning the monitors on first?

 

basically, when a computer posts, that's the only time the bios checks for connected devices. And with your monitors off at the mains, it basically can't detect your monitors. So until your bios hands over control of the system to windows, don't expect any video signal. And as for windows.... Well, sometimes windows is a piece of shit.

 

oh, that and the fact that all bios basically don't support multiple monitors, so you would have to expect only signal in one monitor until windows loads. The shit hole gets deeper if you're using multiple gpus as well.

[acsemler]

7 hours ago, Snipeon said:

t supporcally don'basiok, from what you said about turning on from the mains, I roughly know what's happening. Have you ever tried just turning the monitors on first?

 

basically, when a computer posts, that's the only time the bios checks for connected devices. And with your monitors off at the mains, it basically can't detect your monitors. So until your bios hands over control of the system to windows, don't expect any video signal. And as for windows.... Well, sometimes windows is a piece of shit.

 

oh, that and the fact that all bios basically don't support multiple monitors, so you would have to expect only signal in one monitor until windows loads. The shit hole gets deeper if you're using multiple gpus as well.

That makes a lot of sense. I don't think I've actually tried turning my monitors on before turning my computer on purposefully, so I'll try that when I get home from work. Given how often I mix things up I must have done it by chance before; hopefully those were the times it worked.

[acsemler]

Okay, I made 10 attempts and it worked 3 times. I didn't bother to power cycle my monitors everytime, I just left them on after the first attempt. However, I noticed something odd. The lights on my mouse don't come on when I fail to get a signal on the monitors. Maybe this indicates that my computer isn't booting correctly? The mouse is a Logitech G600 plugged directly into the rear IO. I get BSOD very frequently on this build, around 3 per week on average, so I always knew this system wasn't very stable from the start. Since turning on the monitors before the computer worked at all and relatively frequently, it's possible that I have been having boot failures with this system and just didn't notice because the symptoms were the same. If that's the case, I'm not sure how to go about figuring out what is causing the boot failures. These are the first posibilities that came to mind.

• Unstable cpu overclock (im at 3.8 ghz with an AIO and I almost never hit 70 C so I'd be really disappointed if that's the cause)
• Windows 10 (due for a fresh install but I want to get a new SSD first)
• Ram compatibility (32 gig kit rated at 3200 mhz but I'm running it at 2800 mhz because Ryzen)
• Cheap motherboard (ASRock x370 Killer, though ASRock isn't usually bad?)

I'll try flashing my BIOS as I'm a few versions behind and that's about the only thing I can do that doesn't take entire evening. However, this doesn't explain why I don't have issues with other monitors or televisions. Maybe I just got lucky those times...

[Snipeon]

Yep, you're headed in the right direction. No response from any peripherals on boot usually indicates something wrong with the BIOS. After flashing the latest version, try running it with factory defaults to test for any problems before you try overclocking the CPU/RAM.

 

And as for your BSODs, it's hard to place a finger on the cause. Let's start from usually what you were doing when they occurred.

 

P.S. Asrock may have a shitty reputation, but if it has worked before, it usually is a problem with the software.

[acsemler]

19 hours ago, Snipeon said:

Yep, you're headed in the right direction. No response from any peripherals on boot usually indicates something wrong with the BIOS. After flashing the latest version, try running it with factory defaults to test for any problems before you try overclocking the CPU/RAM.

 

And as for your BSODs, it's hard to place a finger on the cause. Let's start from usually what you were doing when they occurred.

 

P.S. Asrock may have a shitty reputation, but if it has worked before, it usually is a problem with the software.

I'm going to try these things this weekend, I'll let you know how it turns out.

[acsemler]

On 6/6/2018 at 7:40 PM, Snipeon said:

Yep, you're headed in the right direction. No response from any peripherals on boot usually indicates something wrong with the BIOS. After flashing the latest version, try running it with factory defaults to test for any problems before you try overclocking the CPU/RAM.

 

And as for your BSODs, it's hard to place a finger on the cause. Let's start from usually what you were doing when they occurred.

 

P.S. Asrock may have a shitty reputation, but if it has worked before, it usually is a problem with the software.

Update: I'm going to order an NVME drive and do a clean install of Windows for separate reasons but I will be waiting until then to actually test what could have caused my monitor weirdness. I have been turning on my monitors before my computer ever since you first suggested it, and I've had much more success then before. WIth the exception of consecutive restarts, it has worked every time. For that, I'm going to mark this thread solved. Thanks a bunch Snipeon, I owe you one!