Forcing a monitor driver?

[JayArr]

Hi All


I've got a win7 computer on one side of an A/B switch (an XP computer on the other side) and they share a monitor, keyboard and mouse.


I hooked my new monitor up and win7 doesn't "see" it through the switch so I couldn't load drivers. It defaults to generic VGA drivers and curiously doesn't display a monitor in the device manager. My solution was to connect the new monitor directly to the computer and at that point the PNP worked and I loaded the HP drivers in and it looked great. The trouble is that when I put the monitor back onto the A/B switch the computer reverts back to the generic driver which looks crappy.


I was able to force the XP computer to use the correct driver and it does, even though it can't see the monitor through the switch. How can I force the win7 computer to do the same? I should be able to tell it what driver to use and it should do what it's told.


Jeff

 

[iko22]

Greetings JayArr

does the solution in this workaround help out:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-nz/help/315539/device-manager-does-not-display-devices-that-are-not-connected ?

 

[Snick]

Have you tried bypassing the switch for Win7 monitor driver install?
Then reconnecting it.

 

[iko22]

Hi Snick

Have you tried bypassing the switch for Win7 monitor driver install?
Then reconnecting it.

Yes, the O.P. said that the drivers reverted to Generic on reconnection of switch.

 

[JayArr]

Thanks iko22, that got the monitor back into the device manager and there were three devices listed. PNP monitor, non-PNP monitor and HP 22CW monitor. I deleted the PNP and non-PNP in the hopes that on reboot the HP driver would get loaded but it didn't work. I still appear to have a generic driver loades (it flickers) and in the device manager the HP monitor is greyed out and it's status is "not connected" (code 45).


So I now need to find a way to tell the OS to not use PNP on the monitor.

 

[iko22]

To tell the OS not to use a Driver, the nearest option available to you would be to Disable the selected Driver in Device Manager.

 

[JayArr]

I want to tell the OS not to use PNP, that way the driver that I selected will be loaded despite the OS not being able to see the monitor through the switch.

 

[Snick]

I've got a win7 computer on one side of an A/B switch (an XP computer on the other side) and they share a monitor, keyboard and mouse.

JayArr

Question: Why do you have such an odd setup with two computers connected to a monitor, keyboard & mouse via a switch?

Seems your unconventional setup is prone to issues!

 

[Snick]

Hi Snick


Yes, the O.P. said that the drivers reverted to Generic on reconnection of switch.

Well, I can attribute my suggestion to sleep deprivation. My Bad.

 

[townsbg]

JayArr

Question: Why do you have such an odd setup with two computers connected to a monitor, keyboard & mouse via a switch?

Seems your unconventional setup is prone to issues!

I agree. You can try a kvm switch however windows only sees generic devices with those as well. https://www.amazon.com/KVM-Switches/b?ie=UTF8&node=13983771

 

[Snick]

I agree. You can try a kvm switch however windows only sees generic devices with those as well. https://www.amazon.com/KVM-Switches/b?ie=UTF8&node=13983771

Generic devices appearing & Win7 is loading generic drivers!

Click rb: type view advance system setting
click hardware tab
click device installation settings
No, let me choose what to do
never install driver software from Win Update
save changes
apply
ok

Snick

 

[JayArr]

Hi Snick, I never thought of it as unconventional, it's exactly what the KVM switch was invented for, I've got two old computer towers and only enough desk space for one monitor and keyboard. I won't go into detail on why I need to keep two old computers running except to say that it's to support industrial hardware and generates tens of thousands of dollars a year. They do jobs that the newer OSs simply can't or won't do.



Here's the odd thing. In XP I tell the OS what monitor is connected and what driver to use and the OS does what it's told and everyone is happy. In Win7 I tell it what monitor is connected and what driver to use and on bootup it can't see it so it tells me I'm wrong and picks a generic driver. The OS is behaving like a petulant child. There should be a way to force it to use the driver I choose without the OS being able to override my decision. It's like the OS doesn't trust it's user. Computers are supposed to serve humans and this is backwards right now, I'm wasting hours of my life trying to serve Win7. If I tell it the sky is blue it shouldn't look for itself.

 

[Snick]

JayArr

Generates $$$$, maybe a flat panel, keyboard and mouse?

Did you try my suggestion post #11? Win7 won't check the driver you installed! Well... at least is shouldn't.

If you had a desktop instead of a lappy I would say DUAL BOOT. I triple boot my Desktop, Win7, Win10 and Black Arch Linux! 3 1TB SSDs!

 

[JayArr]

Hi Snick


I did the instructions on post 11 but on reboot it reverts back to generic monitor and generic driver.


They are desktops, not laptops but they are old and have multiple hard drives in each already. The XP one has old IDE drives. There are industrial software packages installed that cost thousands years ago and we need them to keep million dollar assembly lines running. They are used to update and program conveyors, packaging machines for the food industry, chair lifts for ski hills etc etc. A lot of them require direct access to the comm port so XP is vital, they just don't work with the pseudo comm ports in later windows OS's. I'm afraid to try to move them or reload them in any way, what I've got works.



It doesn't look like there is a solution so I'll just have to live with the shitty microsoft generic driver. I retire in 5 years and then it's someone else's problem. LOL

 

[file3456]

Something in that KVM is striping needed data information for the OS to detect the monitor. If this is HDMI it could be the HDCP crap and to remedy that you'd use an HDCP stripper. But I don't think that's the issue with XP.

I have a very good freeware software KVM solution that will work in lieu of a hardware based solution. I use this program myself for a laptop that sits here on the desk. It's like Synergy, but is free and perhaps works better. I even used a macro program called Macro Recorder with it to invoke certain things with the laptop. It's a very long story. LOL

Anyway, this program is called Input Director and can be downloaded here: Input Director - control multiple PCs with one keyboard

Snapfiles has all kinds of goodies and I've been using them since around 2008. When I'm in need of some sort of software that is ideally free, I'll check Snapfiles and see what I can find. Sourceforge is another one of my options.

In order to use Input Director both computers will have to be on the network. If that's not possible, then I'm thinking a crossover cable can be used between the XP computer and a free NIC port on the 7 computer with ICS (Internet Connection Sharing). But I'm not sure if that'll work as I've never tried it nor had to do that. Many years ago when I needed a cross over cable I just made my own. If you have the ethernet cable, stripper, RJ45 connectors and crimper, you can easily make one as long as you need. But I'm sure one can be had on eBay cheaper then having to buy all that. I just happened to have all the tools and ethernet cable to make one. The correct wiring procedure can be found on the Internet.

I should be able to tell it what driver to use and it should do what it's told.

HAHAHA This is NOT what happens. Believe you me. You'd think we humans would be the overlords of computes and what not, but they do in fact have a mind of their own and in order to be a good computer tech you have to understand that mind so you can work with it.

Edit-

Well crap, I wondered if you could use Input Director in a commercial setting and its ramifications so I found their website and they want you to shot them an email on purchase pricing. Input Director - Software KVM to Control Multiple Computers

 

[file3456]

About the com port thing. I realize that legacy hardware and the OS is needed for this equipment, but I'm wondering if the com port is the single issue between using a newer OS versus and an older one. If it is, then you might be able to use a PCI-e com port card that uses a good, reputable chipset. The legacy software could run in VMware with XP as the guest and VMware should pick up that PCI-e com port. This is just a thought and I have no idea if it'll work or not, but I'm thinking yes. I know VMware to be really good at picking up and emulating USB devices and what not over something like Oracle's Virtual Box. Only issue here is that your company would have to buy VMware. For my needs at home I use the free VMware Workstation Player.

I've messed with com port stuff before and I even bought a pretty decent PCI com port card and I know the chipset was decent, but for the damn life of me I can't remember that chipset name now. And the PCI com port card is buried amongst all my computer crap so I don't know where it's at at the moment. I sniped it on eBay. If the name is important I can try to look it up. I really wish eBay would allow me to go back years at all my purchases. But this would be around 2008. I find myself often wising I could go back to my eBay purchase history to try to get a product model or something.

Edit-

I remember reading about a similar issue you are having now at the radioreference.com website. This was posted in the "Tavern" off topic subform for computer help. But it seems now that the powers that be revoked permissions on the forum for guest access to the off topic subforum that is the "Tavern", and since I don't have an account there anymore I can't retrieve that possible useful nugget of information. To make matters worse, I'm almost certain the overzealous Mod ass%^&& made it so you need so many posts to even see the damn Tavern. And to pile on to that utter crap, all of your post's are held in moderation queue until a Mod at any given time decides to unleash your chain. The forum there went to utter hell. I was a member there for some 15 years since its inception and I saw how things changed. I don't even think I can find that post in the Wayback Machine because I need a link to go by. I really wish I remembered what the solution was. All I know is that the OP knew a guy who knew about this sort of thing and managed to fix it.

 

[JayArr]

Thanks F22 Simpilot, the input director looks like a nice piece of software but it requires two monitors and I'm trying to get by on one.


From what I understand about the direct access to the comm port it's a timing thing, virtual control or virtual comm ports have a lag that throws off the timing and makes them unworkable for some of the old industrial software (Allen Bradley, Fujitsu, Siemens, Schneider etc). It's not that I don't have comm ports or that the ones on my MB are no good it's just that to talk to the industrial hardware the timing has to be real. As I understand it you can't run under VMware either.


When I say KVM I'm talking about an old style A/B switchbox in a metal case switching VGA and two PS2 ports. Maybe if I get some free time I'll open it up and see if the switch is just missing wires on the pins that transmit and receive the EDID/DDC data for PNP (pins 12 & 15?). It may be a simple mod to get PNP working through the switch.

 

[file3456]

Oh, that's right. For some reason I was thinking of Input Director differently. It works for me with a laptop on the desk.

On the software side there is Remote Desktop (RDP) or Team Viewer. I've never used RDP, but if this is to be more of a constant access to XP Team Viewer may not be what you want to run.

You say this "KVM" is old? That right there could be your issue. It might be worthwhile to buy a good quality KVM to do what you want. If you use Amazon I use fakespot.com to give me a grade on the quality of reviews. If the reviews grade is poor then I know the so-called positive reviews or even the negative reviews can't be trusted.