Question Power Surge And Now External Monitor and USB-C Video Cable Doesn't Work?

[pauly01]

I have an old dell xps 15 9550. I have it connected to 2 external monitors, a samsung 32' 4k monitor and an asus 24' 1920x1200 monitor. I use it plugged in almost always. For the last few months before I go to bed, I basically lock my computer and do not turn it off. The reason is once or twice I turn on my laptop in the morning and then it had that dell xps screen and then didn't load or something similar. Then I would hold the power button to power it off and then wait a bit and power it back on and then it would load like normal. However, I didn't want to risk having no laptop while outside the US so I figure I'm just not going to turn off my laptop at all then since I am here.



Earlier today when I was in bed, there was a huge thunderstorm. Where I am located, there are occasional power outages. I do have a power surge protector and it has protected my devices. Now when this happened, I was pretty certain I saw like an electric orange zap near where my laptop/power surge protector is at or it was a chair nearby it where i have electronics there. I am on the bed but I am positive I saw like an orange electric zap like you know how people outside do electric work and you see the orange electricity? Thing is I didn't have my glasses on but I am positive I saw an orange zap. Has anyone here seen a zap like that when a thunderstorm?



Now when this occurred, I kept hearing my laptop making a sound. When I took a look to see what this was... I wasn't even wearing glasses when I was looking at it, I notice it was the four port usb hub connected to my usb port causing it. It seem to make that sound when imagine you are unplugging and plugging it back in. Or when you unplug and plug in say a wired keyboard. I unplugged it and plugged it back in and the sound stopped. Then I went back to bed but I thought something might be wrong with my laptop when this happened. Now my laptop screen did still show the same background when in lock mode so I didn't think about this. My 2 external monitors, I power them off so they were off so I can't tell if anything.

 

[pauly01]

Today I get up, and first thing I noticed was it seems the four port usb hub doesn't work. I have a cable matters usb-c video cable and my wired keyboard connected to it. I notice my wired internet connection didn't work so no internet. But my keyboard also didn't work at all. I then unplugged the four port usb hub and plug it back in and now keyboard does seem to work. I then connected to wifi and that works. But when I disconnect wifi to use wired internet, it doesn't work. I see on device manager, there is a yellow exclamation mark on cable matters usb-c video cable. So what do i do now? This cable matters usb-c video cable is used to get wired ethernet cable. Thus its connected to a ethernet cable... and then connected to the four port usb hub.


Now my other big issue is my asus monitor when you power it on... shows the dvi no signal. I had this happen few times a while back and I normally just unplug the hdmi cable from my laptop and plug it back in and it does work. I use a hdmi to dvi d cable to connect to this asus monitor. I even unplugged the power cable for a bit as well and plug it back in... same exact thing. You see the asus logo show up... then the dvi no signal... then the power button on the asus monitor goes from white to orange and screen goes back to black. Could this be related to the power surge earlier or not? Is it possible that hdmi port got damaged during the power surge. As far as my laptop goes, everything else seems fine at the moment. But there is that yellow exclamation mark on cable matters usb-c video cable under Universal Serial Bus Devices under Device Manager. I checked online and many people have that asus dvi no signal issue and they say just reconnect the cables but that doesn't work? How would you even reset the monitor if you can't see anything on the screen?



Thanks.

 

[pauly01]

So at the moment its like this. I really would appreciate advice on this as this is stressing me out. The 24' asus monitor when turning it on, the power button is then white when powering it on, shows the asus screen but then it shows no dvi signal. Then the white light of the power button turns orange and the screen turns black. When you click on the button next to power button on the left, it shows input selection and Vga, dvii or displayport. It's already on dvi and checked so that isn't the issue. So what other options are there?



So does this mean my monitor this has to be the hdmi port on my laptop? It is either that, or the hdmi cable that went bad? Could it be the monitor or not because if it was the monitor, wouldn't it not turn on at all? Again when this thunder happened earlier, it was not only a huge thunder but I am positive I saw some orange electricity zapping while I was laying down on the bed and was looking at the laptop/power surge protector area. I know something zapped. Then a bit after that, I kept hearing the sound of when you unplug like a keyboard from the usb port as when the sound kept repeating itself, I went and unplugged the sabrent four port hub and then plugged it back in and then the sound stopped. I have 2 things connected to that sabrent port hub and that is my wired keyboard and a cable matters usb-c video cable that is connected via ethernet to give me wired connection.



There is that yellow exclamation mark on cable matters usb-c video cable under Universal Serial Bus Devices under Device Manager. It does say when you right click it and properties, says Windows cannot use this device because it has been prepared for safe removal but hasn't been removed from the computer code 47. To fix this problem, unplug the cable and plug it in again. I did that but that doesn't do anything? Do I need to remove the sabrent four port hub?



The thing is at the moment my wired keyboard works when having it connected to the sabrent four port hub. But the cable matters cable doesn't seem to recognize. What do i do now?



I have 2 usb ports on my laptop and 1 usbc port and 1 hdmi port. The other usb port I connect my wireless mouse to it and that is no issue. But the other usb port where I connect the sabrent four port hub still works right since well its connected and the wired keyboard is connected to one of those ports? The usbc port I connect a usbc to display port to my 32' 4k monitor and that has no issues.



So my 2 issues now is how come my asus 24' monitor doesn't work and has that no signal... and the cable matters usbc cable for my ethernet.

 

[pauly01]

Few things i want to mention.. I restarted laptop.



The yellow exclamation mark on cable matters usb-c video cable under Universal Serial Bus Devices under Device Manager is no longer there.



However, when I disconnect from wifi, it still doesn't show a wired connection.



I then unplugged the usb-c to displayport cable from my laptop usb-c port from the 32' 4k samsung monitor. I plugged that usb-c to displayport on the 24' asus monitor with the issue. The asus monitor powers on, shows the asus logo, shows the same message no signal... but then it works. So based on that, that means it's 100% not the monitor right? So that has to be the laptop hdmi port or the hdmi to displayport cable? How do i figure this out?



But what about the cable matters usb-c video cable? My laptop recognizes that cable because when i go to the tray on the right of the laptop, you can safely eject it.

 

[Mtop]

If you saw an orange zap your power stirip has most likely failed and needs to be replaqced.
Do you know someone with a similar laptop with know woring outputs?
Test all monitor inputs 1 at a time and compare.

 

[pauly01]

If you saw an orange zap your power stirip has most likely failed and needs to be replaqced.
Do you know someone with a similar laptop with know woring outputs?
Test all monitor inputs 1 at a time and compare.

I saw orange electricity zap when this happened I believe. It was orange or blue but I didn't have my glasses on but I saw a zap. The power surge protector still works now at the moment. I connect several things to it. Also I did several tests earlier so it appears the laptop hdmi port got fried or damaged?


In device manager, now it shows the Exclamation Mark to Cable Matters USB-C Video Cable Again under Universal Serial bus devices yet again.


But not only that, when I unplugged the Cable Matters USB-C Video Cable from the sabrent port, I noticed the back of the adapter had like a big spot in the back of it. Then I smelled it and it has a burning smell like it was fried. Well I don't think its suppose to have that kind of smell normally? It smells like it got fried. But I am not sure thats how it normally smells after using it for a while if it gets hot?


Also I assume its not my blue ethernet cable then right and the cable matters cable fried? Thing is before i unplugged it from the sabrent port, it does allow you to click on the right tray and eject it to safely remove it. So that means it did recognize it? But now when i plug it back again into the sabrent port, it doesn't show it in the right tray.



Also, I found the hdmi to hdmi cable that the 32' 4k samsung monitor uses which i never used because i always used the usbc to displayport cable for that to get 60hz. I unplugged the usbc to displayport cable from the 32' 4k samsung monitor. When i connected the hdmi to hdmi cable from my xps laptop to the 32' 4k samsung monitor, it show no display signal. I put hdmi1 and hdmi2 and it doesn't work.



I then used an old chromebook that I have and decided to plug the same hdmi to dvi cable to the asus monitor. The asus monitor does power on with the same cable. That chromebook has tons of problems so I don't use it much but it does display the asus monitor.



So based on that, that means its 100% the xps hdmi that got fried or damaged right? The asus monitor works with the same hdmi to displayport cable on my old chromebook.


So what are my options now? Could i just buy an hdmi adapter to connect to my xps laptop somehow? Because I use 2 external monitors with it and at the moment, cannot use the asus monitor because the hdmi port is damaged? But I read online, you need to replace the entire motherboard to fix this issue? But not only that, if it fried the hdmi port, this xps laptop will have more problems in the future... is that true? So what do you recommend here?

 

[pauly01]

Not long ago, there was a huge thunderstorm and big thunder. Next thing I noticed was I believe there was some orange electricity zapping near my computer or the surge protector that the laptop is plugged in. T his happened at night and I am pretty sure I saw electricity. Next thing, my laptop make sound of like when you unplug and replug a usb device. I have a sabrent port hub connected to one of the 2 usb ports on the laptop. I have a wired keyboard connected to one of the port hubs and a cable matters usb-c video cable connected to another. This is for using wired ethernet internet. I then without thinking just unplugged the sabrent port hub from the usb port and plug it back in to stop the annoying sound. But I forgot to click on safely remove at the bottom right tray and click on the cable matters video cable though.


Now later on I get up and notice my asus monitor connected to my hdmi to dvi cable doesn't work and shows no signal. My primary monitor connected usb-c to displayport is a 32' 4k samsung monitor and no issue with that. I also notice my wired internet doesn't work and it seems the cable matters cable fried? It smells like it's fried when I remove it. But it also has that yellow exclamation point of


Universal Serial Bus devices

Yellow Exclamation Point - Cable Matters USB-C Video Cable


I tested the asus monitor with the same hdmi to dvi cable on a chromebook and the asus monitor works. I tested an hdmi to hdmi cable from the xps laptop to the 32' 4k samsung monitor and no signal.


What are my options now? I have to use 2 external monitors. The hdmi port is certainly fried right? But would buying a thunderbolt displayport 4k that cost around $150 or so work? So you plug it into one of the usb port hubs and then you could connect 2 more external monitors if you like? What about my ethernet? Could i buy another cable matters usb-c video cable or there is already damage to the xps board where that won't work? Not worth it for repair shop to replace the board? Do I just buy a new laptop?

 

[lvt]

Why didn't you use Wi-Fi instead of LAN cable for the Internet?

 

[pauly01]

Why didn't you use Wi-Fi instead of LAN cable for the Internet?

That is what I'm using now because I can't used wired internet. I prefer wired internet because it's faster.


So what about my laptop then? No point in getting the hdmi port repaired right? But how can I use a 2nd monitor since the hdmi port doesn't work? If i buy another cable matters usb-c video cable, the ethernet should work when plugged into the sabrent port hub right?

 

[lvt]

That is what I'm using now because I can't used wired internet. I prefer wired internet because it's faster.


So what about my laptop then? No point in getting the hdmi port repaired right? But how can I use a 2nd monitor since the hdmi port doesn't work? If i buy another cable matters usb-c video cable, the ethernet should work when plugged into the sabrent port hub right?

If your monitor supports daisy chain method, you can try this :

https://www.dell.com/community/XPS/XPS-15-9550-how-to-connect-dual-DP-monitors/td-p/7398883