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#1
Monitor loses signal during reboot after install requiring restart
HP Pavilion Elite HPE-170t CTO Desktop PC
HP 2509M Monitor connected with HDMI cable
Windows 7 64-bit
I bought this pc from HP in 2010. It ran perfectly until i got a virus a few months back and lost both hard drives due to corruption and had to start from scratch. I had a local computer shop install new drives & reinstall Windows as I am not that computer savvy. Everything is now up and running fine with the exception of this issue. In a nut shell the issue is whenever there is a delay in the pc rebooting due to software installation or windows update the monitor will lose signal usually right after the windows starting screen, but before the log-on screen appears. clicking the mouse or keyboard does not bring back the signal and the monitor just goes to sleep. I have to manually power the pc down at that point because i cannot see what it's doing. Just pressing the power button once on the pc does not always power it off at this point. Sometimes I even lose the montor signal after I log in and the desktop is loading for a few seconds the monitor will lose signal and go to sleep. If it's a straight boot-up or restart with no configuration going on in the background it seems to be fine and i can log-in normally. If I get into the desktop without losing signal then I never encounter any other signal loss or monitor issues until the next required reboot. Another thing it has done randomly a few times is if I put the pc into sleep mode, when i wake it the desktop will sometimes come up for a second and then the monitor will go black, but unlike the issue at reboot when this happens the monitor still shows it has an active HDMI signal even though the screen is black. Again nothing will bring back the signal and I am forced to manually power down the PC.
I took the pc back to the shop and they reflashed the Bios and confirmed the monitor and video drivers were up to date. They said they did not encounter any of these issues while they had it for two weeks so i do not know what to think. They suggested it may be a windows 7 glitch that may be fixed with a future update, but i don't think that's the case. I was thinking of connecting the monitor with a DVI cable to see if that made any difference. I really don't think it's a hardware issue, but i am puzzled as to why the computer repair shop said they did not encounter this once, unless they did not do anything that required a restart of the system. I understand it is very difficult to diagnose issues that happen randomly. The occurrence of this only after a software install or windows update requiring a delayed restart seems to be the only common symptom.
Thanks in advance for help!