New TV, HDMI connection problem

Awhile back I ran an HDMI cable from my computer to my TV and instantly had a good connection, if I could see and hear it on the computer I could see and hear it on the TV. Cool! The TV, despite being fairly old and definitely cheap, was HDMI ready and required no fiddling around to make it work. All good things must come to an end and my old, cheap TV was no exception. The TV crashed so I bought a nice, new LG smart TV.

Okay, the new TV is a real improvement over the old one but... The HDMI cable was already there so I figured I'd just plug it in and see how it works on the new set. It doesn't! I get the blue Windows 7 logo screen on the TV and I get sound from the computer but the picture never changes. With my old TV whatever I was looking at on the computer was reproduced on the TV but now all I get on the TV is the logo screen regardless of what is on the computer monitor. The sound, meanwhile, is working perfectly.

Why would I get the Win7 logo screen but nothing else?

George

Right-click on your desktop and select Screen Resolution. Then check Detect, Identify, and Advanced Settings. Your video card software may or may not have settings you can use for more than one monitor, and you may discover the problem lies there.

Has the new TV got more than 1 HDMI connect?

Try again .....our new TV tells me which HDMI is for the computer.

Good point, Arbon, but in actuality you have to tell the TV which HDMI input to use.

Okay, I've detected and identified but can't seem to find anything lacking. Nothing has been changed on the computer since when it was working on the old TV.

I have three HDMI slots and get the same results regardless of which I use. They are HDMI IN 1(ARC), HDMI IN 2, and HDMI IN 3 (MHL). I don't remember what the ARC and MHL designations are.

George

HDMI ARC is for two-way communication with a stereo receiver or similar item.

MHL is for hooking up, say, your tablet or cell phone.

All three work normally with normal HDMI devices such as laptop outputs.

Doesn't matter what might or might not have changed on your PC; HDMI is an aware technology, and can react to what it is plugged into. For example, when I turn on my DVD player, my TV HDMI cable auto-senses it and switches the input to the DVD.

When you checked on your PC, did it show you more than one monitor? If not, look for a little icon on the lower right of your desktop in the taskbar for a video display settings icon and use that. If not that, then download the latest drivers for your video card.

Sorry, no easy answer here.

Yes the TV was detected and properly identified.
The new TV has enough features that I probably won't miss the HDMI connection. I pretty much used up my bag of tricks when I turned the darned thing on/off/on/off a few times. I'll quit foolin' with things before I do something that I might regret.
Thanks, guys, for letting me pick your brains.

George

I believe helperguy is on the right track. It sounds like the computer is using two monitors. With all of it turned on and the window 7 screen on your TV, take your computer mouse and see if you can go off your computer monitor to the right. Does you mouse move to the TV or just stop on the right side of the monitor? If it just stops, try going up. Then down. Then to the left. If you find the mouse moves to the TV, then your computer is set to "extend my windows desktop onto this monitor". Change this setting and you should be good to go. Or you can choose to leave it and use the extended setting as two monitors. Just drag what you want to see to the other (TV) monitor. In any event, report back your findings.

mattoleriver wrote:Yes the TV was detected and properly identified.

P.S. reading this, I believe you new "TV" is not just a TV (like your old one). Your computer sees it as a monitor and has "installed it" as such. Then I believe it configured your computer to use it. This should be a really easy fix. Don't give up.

HelperGuy wrote:Good point, Arbon, but in actuality you have to tell the TV which HDMI input to use.

On this TV with 4 HDMI in connectors 1 is for computer, 2 is the audio return channel, 3 & 4

are for other video feeds with their own digital audio outlets.

arbon wrote:

HelperGuy wrote:Good point, Arbon, but in actuality you have to tell the TV which HDMI input to use.

On this TV with 4 HDMI in connectors 1 is for computer, 2 is the audio return channel, 3 & 4

are for other video feeds with their own digital audio outlets.

I don't think his TV input is the problem (although using 3 or 4 could solve the problem as well). He is able to successfully display an output from his computer (win7 splash screen). Thus he must have the right input. We just need to figure out what that output is and how to get it to be what he wants.

Tictoc, yes, you are right... I meant to point out to Arbon the difference between input selection, is all.

And you raise a good point, too, in that this set may be combination monitor/TV, although it should say so.

I think the manufacture thought we would know it just because they said "smart". They forgot that we aint smart...lol. I suspect the "computer" port is designed to allow resolution/device discovery (monitor), were as ports 3 and 4 might be "dumb" ports (like the old TV). But that is just a guess.

tictoc nailed it! When I moved the cursor to the right edge of the screen it popped up on the TV. Now if my rusty old brain will just retain this little trick I'll be all set.

Thanks to everybody
George

glad we could help