HDMI Handshake torment

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This is perhaps the one thing that can make my blood boil in an instant ><

The hardware involved:

Monitor: Has HDMI, VGA (D-SUB) input connector.
Video Card: Has HDMI and DVI output.
Cables: HDMI(monitor end) to DVI (PC end), HDMI cable 1 , HDMI cable 2, HDMI cable 3 (all different brands) and DSUB (monitor) to DVI (pc) cable.

For 8 years I've used this monitor with an HDMI (monitor end) -> DVI end (computer plug) cable and it worked flawlessly. The monitor could be turned on by itself (PC being off) and I could access the monitor menu...when I turned the PC on it would show me the entire boot process,etc.

It worked even if I turned the PC on and then the monitor, it would display the boot process.


But, last week, I changed the cable to a 100% HDMI cable. The turd hit the the fan.

The monitor won't even turn on. Aka not even the power on light. It takes nearly 20 minutes after the PC has booted and it waiting in the win8 login screen for the monitor to suddenly work. It does not display boot process nor can I access the monitor's menu (because it wont even power on).

I've changed the cable 3 times (3 brands of HDMI cable). Same problem.
I've gone back to my original old cable (HDMI->VGA)... and now this $@#$# POS behaves like the pure HDMI cables.
I've used the VGA to DVI cable and the monitor gets a 'standby' power light but no video on screen nor can I access monitor menu.

When the cables do work (VGA to DVI never worked btw) I've gone through monitor settings and tried every combination of HDMI , PC/VIDEO settings there is and the problem remains. I've gone through my vid card and bios settings to see if there was something and there isn't.

Online I keep reading this is an HDMI handshake problem but there doesn't seem to be a solution.

Anyone familiar with this mind giving me a hand? Its driving me nuts every morning.

All devices must be HDCP (High Definition Copy Protection) compliant for an HDMI connection to work otherwise the handshake will not work

You should get a new monitor.

What baffles me is that the HDMI to DVI cable which I used for 8 years is now not working. I wanted to try full HDMI to see if it was any better video (it is noticeably faster).... but this grief is not worth the better image performance. I cant go back to my old cable...and I've no clue why.

Also, just to be clear, the HDMI connection DOES work... but after 20 minutes of grief.

How old is the monitor? Also check the resolution on the video card when the monitor works again, it shouldn't exceed the max resolution of the monitor.

max monitor res is 1900x1200 range. It is also its native resolution.

I run windows in 1200 or 1600 res however.

Monitor is about 9 years old but it is an LCD and it does have HDMI and DVI and VGA so its not 'that' old. It works perfectly fine up until last week so I see no reason to throw it away. The whole problem was the damn cable and something it did on the firmware or the monitor or the vid card.

Hmmm....puzzling.

that sucks hard!!

update: it was the HDMI. It ended up frying the monitor's mainboard. Cripes I was there when the monitor tech guy opened the monitor and the port and bus were black and melted.

Have a new monitor now... and having a tiny issue with it. Making a new thread for it.

Have you tried using a pure VGA cable? Theoretically it's not as "good" of a connection as DVI or HDMI as it's analog, but with a sufficient quality cable you shouldn't even notice a difference, and you won't have to deal with that HDCP nonsense.

BTW, how would someone get a 1920x1200 screen nowadays? It seems like they don't make them anymore.

I read your post and this is what I see that you are trying to do.

(PC HDMI output) -> (HDMI-2-DVI) -> (DVI-2-VGA) -> (monitor VGA input).

THIS WILL NOT WORK!! Let me explain.

HDMI is 100% digital video and also carries digital audio as well.

VGA is 100% analog video.

DVI carries BOTH digital and analog video signals. That said. A DVI 2 VGA adapter is NOT, I repeat, NOT a digital to analog converter. It only interfaces with the analog pins of the DVI connector and passes them to the VGA port. A graphics/video card in your PC has BOTH analog and digital signals in it. In the case of you HDMI 2 DVI conversion. You are only getting the digital part of the DVI signal, NOT the analog part. So connecting a DVI 2 VGA adapter on the end of that cable is worthless, since there is no analog signal there.