Monitor Going to Sleep

[MHike]

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The players of this sad saga:

Intel HD Graphics 4600 (built into brand new ASUS desktop)

HP Monitor Model C4D33AA

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 (64-bit) Home Premium

ASUS desktop has HDMI & VGA connectors. As the HP monitor is DVI-D, I purchased a DVI to HDMI cable, and that worked fine... for a week.

After turning on the computer, a few initial startup screens or text can be seen as the computer starts. However, the Windows desktop never opens. Instead, I get the "Monitor Going to Sleep" message.

I have been using an old CRT monitor during this interim, via the computer's VGA connection.

I've tried many of the Internet's suggestions regarding the "Monitor Going to Sleep" problem before turning to you. Some facts:

1) The HP monitor works in Safe Mode.

2) At first, the HP monitor's status box (which briefly comes up once the monitor is turned on) reported "No signal." After fooling around with the numerous suggestions from the Internet, whatever I did enabled the DVI status to change to "Active."

3) I have updated the driver of the HP monitor.

4) I have updated the driver for my graphics card (Intel HD Graphics 4600)

5) After uninstalling the Intel driver that came with the computer, I happily discovered that the HP monitor worked with Windows' basic graphic driver. However, this driver is too basic for my needs, so even though this may promise to be a solution, it is not. Once I installed the updated Intel driver, the monitor went back to sleep. (As usual, before the desktop shows up.) THIS IS AN INDICATION THAT THE INTEL DRIVER MAY BE CAUSING THE OBSTACLE, GIVEN THAT THE MONITOR FUNCTIONED WITH THE BASIC WINDOWS DRIVER.

6) I have fooled around with the "power" settings, as well as the screen resolution. These have been part of the usual advice. The monitor itself has some settings that has not helped with solving the problem. (I've done "Factory Reset," for one.)

7) One possible solution may be to purchase a DVI-D to VGA cable, yet based on what I have subsequently read, this option is complicated and expensive, with varying results for users. Besides, I should not need to sacrifice quality.

😎 "Too high a resolution set" is another bit of advice, but when I tried booting up with "Enable Low Resolution Video (640 x 480)" from Safe Mode, that made no difference.

9) Another bit of advice is to update the BIOS, but I don't think that is the problem given that the computer is so new. (Besides, I have a fear regarding BIOS changes.) Yet another bit of advice is to jiggle around the RAM, but ASUS voids their warranty if the computer case is opened.

HP has a page that addresses this problem; the section under the heading, "Startup screens display, but the message opens before the Windows desktop opens" is relevant to my situation:

http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c00061509 http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c00061509

Nothing from that page worked. The conclusion of the section reads:

"If Windows desktop opens in safe mode, the issue is related to the display resolution being used in normal operation (not safe mode). You should set the normal display resolution on the computer to the native display resolution of the monitor... If the native resolution setting is not available as a selection in Windows, you can temporarily use 1024 x 768 to complete these steps... Updating the graphics driver can provide more display resolutions to Windows; possibly including the native display resolution for the monitor."

1024 x 768 has been my only option, from Safe Mode. (1600 x 900 is the HP monitor's native resolution.) I cannot set the resolution to 1600 x 900 from the VGA-supported CRT monitor I've been using, nor even determine whether 1600 x 900 has been made available through the updated Intel driver, because Windows' maximum screen resolution made available through the CRT monitor is 1280 x 1024.

Boy, this problem has been unreasonably time-consuming..I hope you will be able to help me solve it.

Thank you very much.

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[Kevin_M_Intel]

The reason why it is working for you in safe mode is that Safe Mode uses only the necessary, basic and generic drivers from Microsoft to boot up.

The issue you are having is caused because you are using a DVI-D connector and this is not support by our graphics controllers.

Our Onboard graphics controller can handle DVI-I Single Link only. Please try using a DVI Single link connection and I m pretty sure it will work for you.

Kevin m

[MHike]

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Dear Kevin_Intel, I greatly appreciated your response; impressed, too, as you are obviously terribly knowledgeable.

Since I've been looking in every corner to try and resolve my problem, I had the opportunity to do some digging into the DVI world. I believe there is one other type of DVI, the ending letter of which I have now forgotten (was it "F"? Or "A"? Brain cell out to lunch...). I felt disappointed that Intel did not make the point of accommodating all of them, at least with this particular graphics card, 4600 (from your answer, however, seems this is the rule for all of your controllers). I guess corners needed to be cut, but still...

If I were to follow your advice, it sounds like I would need to buy a DVI-D (which plugs into the monitor) to DVI-I cable, open my computer case (which I can't do for the time being, because the computer manufacturer voids the warranty), find the "DVI-I Single Link" (which I suppose would be on the motherboard, given that the 4600 graphics has been integrated into the motherboard), plug the other end of the cable into that, and then... well, I suppose the computer case would not be able to close anymore, because there is now a cable dangling from the motherboard.

That sounds awfully complicated, and defeats the purpose of the HDMI and VGA connections (that I suppose are part of the Intel 4600). Ideally, I would hope the monitor would need to be plugged into one of those.

If the DVI-D connector is unsupported, I wonder how the monitor worked (for a week) before the problem began. I'm also wondering how a picture would appear on the monitor before Windows started.

At any rate, the good news is, the monitor came back to life yesterday, and I have no idea how it happened.

(I jiggled the DVI-D connection on the monitor's back, which makes no sense, given that the connection was secure enough to allow for the monitor to work before the problem began -- and subsequently, while experimenting to get things back in order again, during Safe Mode and start-up, as examples.)

Kevin_Intel, perhaps you or another may be kind enough to shed light on a new problem that has arisen.

What's happening now is that the left edge of the desktop has spilled over beyond the right edge (and is no longer visible; this section is seen only when the mouse cursor hovers beyond the right edge of the screen).

Here is an image:

http://i.imgur.com/2cQGkRB.jpg http://i.imgur.com/2cQGkRB.jpg

(In case not visible, the URL is http://i.imgur.com/2cQGkRB.jpg http://i.imgur.com/2cQGkRB.jpg ... From http://imgur.com/2cQGkRB http://imgur.com/2cQGkRB .)

I have uninstalled and reinstalled the Intel driver again, to no avail.

I don't remember where I noticed it, but one control stated the resolution as 1600 x 860, when it should officially be 1600 x 900. (Implying that the measurement's remainder of "40" has now been omitted.)

Thank you very much.

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[Kevin_M_Intel]

Can you please post your system information report here? How to get it?

System Information: Click Start> Type System Information> Click File> Export> Save File> Attach using Advanced Editor Options.

[MHike]

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Dear Kevin_Intel, I'm much obliged you are sending your precious mind molecules my way.

Wow, that was one large text file.

I didn't see an "Attach File" button under Advanced Editor Options, and it sure took me a while to figure out how to get around that... I resorted to the "Create" thingie.

It tells me the file may be /docs/DOC-25043 accessed here.

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[Kevin_M_Intel]

Hello bostontea,

Checking the motherboard specifications and as you mentioned before the output ports of the motherboard are VGA and HDMI. My recommendation is to use a different cable or for testing purposes an active adapter from HDMI to DVI.

Kevin

[MHike]

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Thanks, Kevin.

Problem with a forum as this can often be that the kind expert is all the way up there, and the knucklehead trying to find his way in the dark is all the way down here. Explaining things with a quick sentence expects the knucklehead to fill in the blanks, and often knuckleheads can't live up to such expectations..!

I have confidence I bought a http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882422119 quality cable, so I don't think that's the problem.

I had no idea what you meant by "an active adapter from HDMI to DVI," obviously showing up my ignorance, because Google came up with https://www.google.com/search?q=active+adapter+hdmi+to+dvi&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8 many results once I threw that phrase into it. Spent a good while clicking on some of the results, but wound up none the wiser. What benefit would we be looking for? You added the clue, "for testing purposes." In other words, once the correct contraption is figured out, what will it be testing?

As for the contraption itself, would http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/960934-REG/startech_hdmi2dp_hdmi_dvi_to.html this be an example? (Here's one along http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815158264 similar lines, inasmuch as my connections would need to be male.) The inclusion of the word "Active" was my tip-off. If this was the idea, the price would be a consideration.

Thank you, I'm grateful for the time you've spent thus far.

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