GTX 980 Ti and HDMI switch causing blank screen issues?

[Dave3000]

A few weeks ago I bought an HDMI switch for my monitor. Sometimes when I restart my PC with the my PC connected to the switch via HDMI there would be only a blank screen and I would have to power down my PC and then it behaved normal. The a few days ago I upgraded to an GTX 980 Ti graphics card and today I got the blank screen at boot up and it got into Windows 10 but with a blank screen but I did hear the Windows 10 beep like the sound when a USB device gets plugged in. I turned off the HDMI switch, turned it back on but still blank screen. I power down my PC and powered it back up but still blank screen even through it booted to Windows (heard the USB detecting sound). I then powered down my PC once again but this time I unplugged the HDMI cable from the switches HDMI input and plugged my PC directly to my monitor's HDMI input and this time the screen showed image. This lead me to thinking that it was the HDMI switch since it also happen last week with my old video card but only that time I was restarting my PC during Windows 7 installation, not powering up my PC.

I returned the HDMI switch for a refund today but later on today when I booted up my PC, the blank screen problem reoccurred but Windows did load because I heard that USB device detection sound, which required me to power down my PC and power it back up to get an image on the screen.

Is it possible that both the HDMI switch and the GTX 980 Ti were causing the blank screen issue? Right now I'm back to my GTX 780 Ti with a direct HDMI connection to my monitor and will see if the problem is resolved.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Replace your HDMI cable? That's the first thing I would probably do.

 

[RaulF]

I have been having black screen switching issues since i switched to Nvidia, also a 980 Ti. I am still trying to figure it out. I just removed my DP cable and im trying DVI see if it goes away.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Do you have multiple monitors connected? Why are you running through an HDMI switch?

I've had issues running multi-monitor on my 980ti through an HDMI switch. My PC is hooked up to an entertainment center through an HDMI cable running through a switch, and roughly one third of the time I switch to that input, I have issues, either with the TV failing to register a 1080p signal at 60 Hz, or with the receiver not listed in the list of available devices in Nvidia control panel. That requires flipping the switch off and on again, or sometimes the receiver; there doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason to it. I've also had woes with the DisplayPort output. Basically the only monitor I can be sure will function correctly every time the computer turns on is the one hooked up via DVI. Could you run a DVI -> HDMI cable to the switch or do you need sound running through HDMI as well?

 

[cmdrdredd]

I've had some HDCP problems with a monoprice HDMI switch. I had to use it with a previous AVR I owned with only 3 HDMI ports. It was hit or miss and I had to do lots of plugging, unplugging, shutting off equipment and starting in a specific order for everything to sync up. Sometimes the PC would tell me my display isn't HDCP compliant and other times it would say it is.

 

[Dave3000]

I was using an HDMI switch because my monitor does not have stereo audio pass-through output even though it has an HDMI port and switching between HDMI and DVI is a hassle on my monitor because I have to go through the menu to switch input as there is no input button on my monitor. I had my PC and Roku 3 connected to the switch, that way I can quickly switch between inputs and have stereo audio going to my PC speakers from the HDMI switch's stereo output jack to get sound for my Roku 3.

Anyways, I returned the GTX 980 Ti for a refund since it also happened with a direct connection to the monitor from that card. I rebought the same HDMI switch again in case the one I returned was defective. I had problems with other HDMI switches in the past such as screen blinks in the desktop interface and flickering during watching a Blu-ray through Power DVD in Cinema mode in another HDMI switch that I returned last month.

Do you have multiple monitors connected? Why are you running through an HDMI switch?

I've had issues running multi-monitor on my 980ti through an HDMI switch. My PC is hooked up to an entertainment center through an HDMI cable running through a switch, and roughly one third of the time I switch to that input, I have issues, either with the TV failing to register a 1080p signal at 60 Hz, or with the receiver not listed in the list of available devices in Nvidia control panel. That requires flipping the switch off and on again, or sometimes the receiver; there doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason to it. I've also had woes with the DisplayPort output. Basically the only monitor I can be sure will function correctly every time the computer turns on is the one hooked up via DVI. Could you run a DVI -> HDMI cable to the switch or do you need sound running through HDMI as well?

 

[sxr7171]

HDMI and GPUs and drivers can be a huge hassle. I hate to say it but some of my issues were gone when I switched to 100% Gefen HDMI switching/extending/splitting. The problem being the cost. It doesn't solve every problem and even then the solution for such problems is another Gefen product called the HDMI Detective.

HDMI is a horrible standard and it pains me to have to spend so much to solve all the issues.

My gaming PC is now stable (nVidia card) but my Intel NUC HTPC (Intel GPU) gives me issues occasionally, like black screen or no sound. I don't have the HDMI detective connected and I hope a driver will fix the issue, but if it doesn't I have to use the HDMI detective again.