HTPC Green Screen

[TripleThreatTLT]

Hi All,

Just need a little help figuring out whats going on? Occasionally when turning my TV on the screen is all green. Nothing will respond and I have to reboot the HTPC to get it to work again. Once I hit the power button the desktop will usually flash up on the screen for a brief a second before rebooting.

The pertinent specs of the system are.

Panasonic ST50 plasma.
AMD A6-5400K
MSI FM2-A75MA-E35
8 GB Ram

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Tom

 

[Harveyjc2001]

Same exact problem. AMD A10 6800 with MSI motherboard. No errorless ages in the event log, and rebooting seems to be the only thing that clears it up.

 

[LoveMachine]

What version of Catalyst are you running? AMD has had some issues with it's HDMI drivers. I've had restart issues with many driver versions, but 12.8 and 13.6 seem to work for me. Since it's working, I haven't bothered with anything newer.

 

[Scheeringa]

I was having some goofy problems with my TV and resolutions (I have a Samsung plasma) and it ended up getting fixed once I ran a DVI to HDMI cable from the HTPC to an input specifically labeled "DVI". TV seems to handle the inputs better. Only downside is I had to run a audio cable, which really isn't a big deal.

 

[MaxDepth]

Green screen but you hear audio? I think it is a memory issue. Some background apps or windows are seizing memory and not releasing it.

I noticed this with when I had several VLC windows opened with each one showing normal and the last opened with a green screen. If I would close one of the working windows and refreshed the green one, it would appear normal. If I would open a new one, this new one would have the green screen.

 

[Harveyjc2001]

I figured out that instead of rebooting, I can just pop the HDMI cable for 3-5 seconds, plug it back in, and everything is fine.

Better than rebooting, but certainly not a wife-approved solution. :$

 

[Charlie98]

What version of Catalyst are you running? AMD has had some issues with it's HDMI drivers. I've had restart issues with many driver versions, but 12.8 and 13.6 seem to work for me. Since it's working, I haven't bothered with anything newer.

I'm having the same problem as the OP... it usually happens when I leave the HTPC idle and turn the TV off (for dinner or something,) and then come back and turn the TV on. I'll have to check the GPU drivers...

I figured out that instead of rebooting, I can just pop the HDMI cable for 3-5 seconds, plug it back in, and everything is fine.

Better than rebooting, but certainly not a wife-approved solution

HaaHaa.... my wife is forbidden to touch anything behind the AV cabinet!

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

This is usually a problem with an AMD service called "AMD External Events Service." It polls for the addition of new HDMI devices but also causes problems when resuming from sleep or if the TV is shut down while the HTPC is left on. Unfortunately there really isn't a good solution other than rebooting or unplugging and replugging the HDMI cable. It might be possible to set up a task to disable the service after your system has booted up, but since I gave up on using AMD GPUs with my HTPC a while ago and went with the Intel iGPU, after encountering too many frustrations, I can't test the specifics of that.

 

[Warsam71]

This is usually a problem with an AMD service called "AMD External Events Service." It polls for the addition of new HDMI devices but also causes problems when resuming from sleep or if the TV is shut down while the HTPC is left on. Unfortunately there really isn't a good solution other than rebooting or unplugging and replugging the HDMI cable. It might be possible to set up a task to disable the service after your system has booted up, but since I gave up on using AMD GPUs with my HTPC a while ago and went with the Intel iGPU, after encountering too many frustrations, I can't test the specifics of that.

Hello TastesLikeChicken (everyone),
I’ve recently helped someone with a similar issue. The user kept getting a driver error message stating “AMD External Events module stopped working”. After a search I found an explanation and a way to disable this service (btw, it’s a process that is executed when the AMD External Events utility is started during boot-up, known as the ATI Hotkey Poller that comes with the driver – according to the post, “the service is responsible for providing hotkey access to various ATI features. It is therefore recommended to disable the service if hotkeys are not used to manage ATI features”).That said, the following steps will help you disable the service:

• Click on the Start Button, and type Service in the search form (where is says “Search programs and files” (or go to your Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Service (Local))
• Press enter to launch the Services tool (once launched, you should be in the Extended page)
• Look for AMD External Event Utility and right-click on it
• Select Properties, and in the Startup Type pull down menu select “Disable”, then click OK.

I hope the above helps you solve the problem you’ve described, and avoid having to reboot your PC; give it a try and let me know how it goes.

 

[TripleThreatTLT]

I forgot all about this thread. Thanks I'll give that at try.

I have figured out some little things that minimize how often this occurs. It appears to be that if I leave a browser window open with either youtube or amazon prime video up that it will green screen. If I just close the browser before turning off the tv then the problem is solved.

I'll try changing the External Event Utility and see what happens.

 

[Midwayman]

Mine used to do that too. You running through an AVR? Everytime it went idle I got the green screen. Then recently I turned on "game mode" on the AVR and pass through for video. Basically turned off all processing and just made it a switch. The green screen disappeared and I started seeing the slideshow in WMC instead.

 

[RyC]

I had the same issue with AMD going through an AVR. I turned off HDMI passthrough when the AVR was off, and it seemed to resolve it.

 

[TripleThreatTLT]

Nope I'm not using an AVR. I tried the change listed above, if I get a chance this weekend I'll test it and try to make it break.