Trying to use HDMI instead of DVI, but monitor only says "DVI no input"?

[Plorf]

Hi, I've been using a standard DVI cable on my monitor (through my video card of course) but I have a problem I want to solve. Basically, my monitor has speakers and I have external speakers, and I want to use both outputs at once with different applications.

The issue is, when I plugged in an HDMI cable and turn the monitor on, it simply says "DVI no input". I tried seeing if I had the wrong HDMI port, but there seems to be just the one. What can I do to get this cable working? Thanks in advance.

Picture of my setup: http://puu.sh/4FxkL.png

Apologies if this is the wrong subforum.

 

[bigpinkdragon286]

Provided you understand the audio going through your HDMI to your screen will be a separate audio feed from the audio going from your audio output on the computer to your speakers, I see no major reasons why your setup shouldn't be working. Another idea is, if you had a DVI output working, you could try a DVI to HDMI adapter instead. Most graphics cards will still output audio over the DVI adapter, if you have HDMI at the other end.

 

[Plorf]

Provided you understand the audio going through your HDMI to your screen will be a separate audio feed from the audio going from your audio output on the computer to your speakers, I see no major reasons why your setup shouldn't be working. Another idea is, if you had a DVI output working, you could try a DVI to HDMI adapter instead. Most graphics cards will still output audio over the DVI adapter, if you have HDMI at the other end.

I understand that an adapter could work, it's just frustrating since both my graphics card and monitor support HDMI. My theory was that somehow Windows didn't know that I wasn't using DVI, but I dunno how plausible that is.

What exactly do you mean by seperate audio feed? I want them seperate, but do you mean that I could only use one at a time? I figured Windows is capable of multiple audio-outs at once.

 

[bigpinkdragon286]

No, no, I think we're both on the same page about the separate audio feed. I was just stressing that, the sound being fed to the monitor would be different than the sound being fed to your external speakers, in case that's not what you had in mind. You would not be able to feed the same sounds to both of them at the same time.

I think your HDMI out on the graphics card not working is probably a simple configuration issue. I would only go with the adaptor for simplicity's sake, as we know that your DVI out is working fine.

Did you leave your DVI cable plugged into your monitor or graphics card when you tested your HDMI cable? Perhaps the cable was still being detected at one end or the other?

If I were having to trouble shoot that problem, I would start by powering off both the screen and the computer. Not a Windows hibernate or sleep, but a full power down. Then power off the entire power supply by it's physical rocker switch. This will remove any standby power that may be floating around in the computer, in case the graphics card is using any of it for some odd reason.

After the full power off, I would then ensure the only thing between the graphics card and the monitor is your HDMI cable. If you have multiple HDMI inputs and outputs, use the very first one on each device. After about 15 seconds, it should be sufficient to turn power back on to the screen, then computer. If your graphics card is sending video out it's HDMI, you should see the regular POST and boot screens. If not, I would look to the screen to see if there are any configuration options available, such as having to manually select a different input, or telling your HDMI input to function as a PC input, etc.

 

[Plorf]

No, no, I think we're both on the same page about the separate audio feed. I was just stressing that, the sound being fed to the monitor would be different than the sound being fed to your external speakers, in case that's not what you had in mind. You would not be able to feed the same sounds to both of them at the same time.

I think your HDMI out on the graphics card not working is probably a simple configuration issue. I would only go with the adaptor for simplicity's sake, as we know that your DVI out is working fine.

Did you leave your DVI cable plugged into your monitor or graphics card when you tested your HDMI cable? Perhaps the cable was still being detected at one end or the other?

If I were having to trouble shoot that problem, I would start by powering off both the screen and the computer. Not a Windows hibernate or sleep, but a full power down. Then power off the entire power supply by it's physical rocker switch. This will remove any standby power that may be floating around in the computer, in case the graphics card is using any of it for some odd reason.

After the full power off, I would then ensure the only thing between the graphics card and the monitor is your HDMI cable. If you have multiple HDMI inputs and outputs, use the very first one on each device. After about 15 seconds, it should be sufficient to turn power back on to the screen, then computer. If your graphics card is sending video out it's HDMI, you should see the regular POST and boot screens. If not, I would look to the screen to see if there are any configuration options available, such as having to manually select a different input, or telling your HDMI input to function as a PC input, etc.

Oh man, now I feel really stupid. Your suggestions made me think to toy with my monitor's physical settings, and there was a handy menu to select input method. I switched from DVI to HDMI and it's good! No hard reset necessary. Thanks for the help.

Now, the computer is using HDMI-out as the primary audio output, is there any way in Windows to change which speakers I want and the master volume for each? I'm still kind of new to the OS, and the volume control options don't seem to be what I'm looking for...

 

[bigpinkdragon286]

Lol, we've all been there. No worries!

Provided you're running 7 or 8, the easiest way I know to set your default audio out device is to right mouse-click the speaker icon in the System Notification area and select Playback devices.

Select your preferred output device from the list of available devices and click the Set Default button at the bottom of the window.

Now that you have selected the device you want all sound sent to normally, you will have to instruct each program to send sound to any other output (such as your HDMI audio output) on a case-by-case basis.

Unfortunately, not all software, and in fact, most software, will not give you an option for which sound device to output to, but instead will just send all audio output to the default playback device in Windows.

The only software I can think of off the top of my head that lets the user specify which audio output to use would be Windows Media Player and DVD playback software. I'm sure there are others, but not using this feature much myself, I can't really give you an authoritative list.

 

[bystander]

Given that the monitor specifically says, "no DVI feed", I believe the problem is likely on the monitor itself. Open up the menu system on the monitor and search for a way to change the input. While a lot if not most monitors auto detect, not all of them do.

 

[bigpinkdragon286]

Thanks for your help, bystander, but if you followed the post, the OP got it sorted - "I switched from DVI to HDMI and it's good!"