Plugged in second monitor, computer stopped providing signal to both monitors

[cadco96]

Hello,

I recently acquired a second monitor to help me be more efficient with some of my course work. My plan was to keep my primary monitor connected via HDMI and to plug in the second monitor with my DVI slot. I have a GTX 1060.

As soon as I plugged in the second monitor, signal dropped from my primary monitor, and I have since been unable to recover it. Even when I unplugged the second monitor, signal will not return to the primary one. I tried plugging my TV into the computer and still, nothing.

Any ideas?

 

[dudmont]

First question, your second monitor, is it the right dvi connection? there's 2 of them. Second, you plugged the new monitor in when the system was turned off, right?
Simple troubleshooting would be, unplug everything, pull your video card out, plug one monitor at a time(with the system off) into your mobo's connections, set your bios to use onboard graphics(assuming you have graphics on your cpu) and test each monitor at a time, to ensure everything is still working ship-shape. Then plug your graphics card back in, and try one monitor at a time and making sure to shut off on-board graphics in the bios.
Further, it never hurts to clear your cmos.

 

[cadco96]

I plugged the DVI cable into my PC while it was on, but the cable was not connected to the second monitor yet. At that point the primary monitor shut off.

Now, when I reboot the computer, the second monitor will turn on and very quickly flash the bios image, before going to the Windows 10 logo with a little loading circle under it. After 10-20 seconds the logo goes away and the monitor loses signal. I've had no luck with the primary monitor using the HDMI input.

 

[dudmont]

a long time ago, when I was a boy, I plugged a joystick into my computer's IO while the system was on. In the process of plugging in the joystick I fried the IO card in the computer. Let's hope that cable didn't fry anything.
We need to determine that all your monitors work, so pull the graphics card and test them using the on-board graphics. And make sure everything is turned off when you start doing anything at all, also wise to pull the power connection from the PSU.

 

[SgtScream]

You have to enable the monitor in display settings:
https://www.windowscentral.com/how-connect-and-set-multiple-monitors-windows-10#configure

 

[cadco96]

Both monitors seem to work when I plug them into the mobo after removing the GPU.

By the way, my motherboard supports both DVI connections while my GPU only has one option (the bigger white cable one)

 

[Darkvillain]

You probably need to enable the second monitor for your GPU to work properly.

 

[cadco96]

I just don't see how I can enable my second monitor if I can never get anything on either monitor. I can only get the BIOS on the primary monitor if I plug it into the MOBO, and I only get the windows loading screen on the second monitor with it plugged into the GPU. I get nothing with the primary monitor plugged into the GPU.

 

[mjslakeridge]

You should try resetting the CMOS. There will either be a pair of pins on the motherboard that you can touch with a metal screwdriver for a few seconds (WITH THE POWER OFF AND COMPUTER UNPLUGGED), or you can unplug the computer and take out the CMOS battery for a few minutes. Then connect both monitors to your GPU and power on the computer.

 

[cadco96]

I performed the CMOS reset my removing and replacing the battery, and there is no change

 

[cadco96]

At this point, it seems that absolutely nothing is coming from the HDMI port on my GPU, no matter what it is plugged into. I think that what is happening is I am seeing something on whichever monitor is plugged in via DVI until the boot sequence gets to the part where a user can log in. I think that my PC might be defaulting to HDMI, but for some reason the HDMI is not outputting a signal?

 

[dudmont]

Have you, one at a time, tried each monitor on the graphics card connections? And I know it's a stupid question, but humor me, have you confirmed that you have the correct dvi connection on your monitor for the graphics cards dvi-d connection?

 

[cadco96]

Unless I am missing something, the DVI ports seem compatible. They at least both look the same and have the same places for pins to connect.

I've connected both monitors via DVI-to-HDMI adapter and found that they both function the same, which is to say they flash the BIOS screen and show windows loading before losing signal. I don't have an HDMI port on the second monitor, but I have tried the HDMI on my TV and similarly got no signal whatsoever.

It seems like my HDMI port on the GPU may have malfuntioned, but I am unable to use the PC at all because it isn't displaying through the DVI port properly.

 

[dudmont]

A good primer on dvi connections...http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1647034/arent-dvi-cables.html
It's why I keep asking about it, they're not all same.
If you fried something important on your video card. You're not completely sunk, you can still run off your built in graphics. It won't game much, but you can do email, web surfing, watch videos, and other non-graphically intensive operations. Now, if you find that you're not using the right dvi connection(which is distinctly possible), you can fix that problem easily.
I run 2 monitors too, one dvi-d and displayport monitor.

 

[cadco96]

I guess that I should first say, thanks for the help. I really do appreciate it.

I'll check into the DVI stuff.

 

[SgtScream]

Post a screen shot of what your display settings look like.

 

[cadco96]

I can't view my display settings because I cannot get any display.

 

[SgtScream]

Ok, you said you get video from onboard but not when using the graphics card.
Question:
With monitors plugged back into the graphics card, can you see the bios spash screen when you first boot up the computer and can you see and get into the bios?

 

[cadco96]

If I have the monitor plugged in via DVI, I'll see the splash screen very quickly and be able to go into the bios menu. However, I never get any signal to anything plugged into hdmi.

 

[SgtScream]

My computer does the same thing. The bios splash screen and windows loading screen only shows on my DVI cable connection.
Second question:
Are you able to log into your computer in safe mode?

 

[dudmont]

What resolution were you running in windows?

 

[cadco96]

Sometimes I get the ability to launch safemode, but it asks for a password and doesn't seem to accept anything that I have used as a password in the past. That safe mode password display does show up on the DVI display, though.

I was running at 1920x1080

 

[dudmont]

Next time you get into safe mode, wipe out your video driver. This will allow/force windows to boot into a low res mode.

 

[cadco96]

Ok, I'll try that if I can ever find a way to get past the requested password when I boot in safe mode. I'm going to put my friend's GTX 960 in later and see what happens

 

[dudmont]

Ok, I'll try that if I can ever find a way to get past the requested password when I boot in safe mode. I'm going to put my friend's GTX 960 in later and see what happens

Good thought.