Windows 7: HDMI works from cold boot to login screen then vanishes.

Hi,

This is on a loptop Meldon E6882, running windows 7, to a LED TV HD.

From a cold boot both the laptop monitor and HDMI screen show the windows starting screen .. But the HDMI screen goes blank when the login screen appears.

I have tried different screen resolutions. No Luck.

I have tried from the 'screen resolution' page to get automatically detect the HDMI - No luck



I have tried from the 'screen resolution' page to manually select HDMI. Only offers VGA or component, no HDMI.

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I think this maybe a disabled driver as I did a manual disabling of these some time ago in order to try and reduce the boot time. I cannot recall the names of the drivers I have put into manual start (some time ago), nor have I found any info on what drivers are needed for the HDMI. The screen driver is an Intel(R) HD Graphics 3000.

Any hints? I'd like to look at some video on the larger screen...

Ok, please follow this tutorial to see and upload the system specs to the forum. So we know what components there are in that laptop. (As I cannot find anything by googling the name you gave)

Then we can talk about drivers.

Done. Summary below;

Graphics info
Device ID VideoController1
Name Intel(R) HD Graphics 3000
VProces Intel(R) HD Graphics Family
C res 1366 x 768 x 32 bits (4294967296 colors) @ 59 Hz (various resolutions have been tried)
V M Des 1366 x 768 x 4294967296 colors
Refresh rate 59Hz min + max
Driver Vers 8.15.10.2712
D Date 26/03/2012 (note this is a roll back to see if that would effect the HDMI problem; no luck)

OS Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Build 7601 Multiprocessor Free
SP 1

CPU Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-2370M CPU @ 2.40GHz
MB Medion E6228
bios BIOS Date: 04/26/12 15:22:31 Ver: 04.06.05
Memory total 4 Gb Usable 3.9GB
HDD (1) ST750LM022 HN-M750MBB (2) General USB Flash Disk USB Device
SC (1) Intel(R) Display Audio (2) Realtek High Definition Audio

Good, so the graphic processor is the HD 3000 that can definetly do what you need, and since you know how to use drivers, install the newest one as I don't think it's a driver issue, at the moment.

So we know what laptop it is, as Medion 6228 exists (that's the support page where you find drivers), the "Medion 6882" like you said in the OP does not.

Let's start: power up the laptop without the HDMI cable connected, when it is ready to use, attach the HDMI cable.

Go in the Screen Resolution, and look at it, do you see two screens in its window? (one with a big 1 and one with a big 2, like this) If not click on Detect, and the second will appear in that window.
Then click on Identify. You should see a big 1 on the laptop's screen and a big 2 on your TV.

If this does not happen or if later on you experience sluggishness or flickers or whatever, skip down to part where I talk of BIOS options (bolded for convenience), then retry.

Now that you have two screens in that window, change the first entry (Display) to select the TV, and set its resolution (second entry) to "native" or "Recommended", or maximum.

The last entry in the Screen Resolution window (regardless of what screen properties you are looking at) should be the Multiple Displays, and playing with that you can:
-use only laptop screen (usually the first screen)
-use only connected screen
-extend laptop screen into connected screen
-the reverse of the above (useless imho)
-show the same things on both screens (and depending on what is the main display, will make the other look bad)

There is also "make this my main display" option when you select the secondary display in the first entry, ticking that will move taskbar to the external display among other things as told above. (there are very good third-party multiscreen softwares that allow you to have taskbar on both)

If that works, you can set the TV screen as main screen, and leave the HDMI connected when the thing is powered up. It should output directly to TV if connected without you doing this fuss every time you connect it (as it will remember the device and the relevant settings), and use laptop screen if not connected.


Looking in the BIOS options at how much of your RAM it can use (as any integrated graphics processor it has no ram of its own, and steals some of your RAM to do its job), raise the allocated RAM to the max (normally it's set at 64 mb, you should be able to increase it to at least 512 mb).
For accessing BIOS options, look at what it says in the first (text-only or with a non-windows logo) screens when you turn on. It should tell a key to press, it's usually Del or F2. Then you navigate inside the BIOS tabs and entries with arrows until you find Graphics Shared Memory or somesuch and change the values.
This should decrease the amount of RAM available to the computer by the same amount, for now it's just to make sure that it isn't causing issues, if it works you can dial that down to 256 which is the max it should realistically be able to use, or less. You have 4 GB of ram so it will run fine for these tests (and even for general use for that matter) even if you leave it at higher dedicated RAM.


As for BIOS version, that could be another possible solution, but I don't see any BIOS update in the support page I linked above.

There are sometimes issues about TVs not able to be set the right resolution, but that's a problem that could come after your current one (as you don't even manage to use the second screen other than seeing boot sequence), so here is the relevant page.

Try and report back.

Hi

Sorry about the 6882/6228 thing... typo

On the 'screen resolution' page I get only 1 screen shown. I click on the 'Detect' button and I then get a second screen with the message "Another display not detected".

On the third line there is a thingy for "Multiple Displays" that offers me two options;
"Try to connect on VGA"
"Try to connect on composite"

I have tried both those options - neither work with the HDMI display...

Using the 'Windows' key and 'P' and selecting a projector with the laptop display does not help.



Will now try setting the BIOS memory allocation. I suspect it won't help...
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BIOS accessed through F2 key...
American Megatrends Inc Apio Setup Utility 2011

No memory or graphics thingys...
boot order... security passwords ... USB charging ... Yes. But no memory variables, no graphics settings ... Memory size and speed are stated, but no selection for varying them. No graphics/screen options what so ever.