Question Smart TV set as primary monitor but won't connect, can't set PC monitor as primary

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Hi folks. I've had a Smart TV that I've been using as a monitor for my PC for the past eight months or so in addition to my standard PC monitor. I have been plugging both into my ATI Radeon 5770 on Windows 7 (yes, an old computer).

When I first got the Smart TV, I initially had some issues where it wouldn't register the connection to my PC, but I eventually got around those by doing some variation on the boot up order, where if I turned off both the PC and the monitor, booted up the PC, and then turned on the monitor, it would register and I could switch between the PC monitor and the Smart TV. At some point along the way, the Smart TV got set as the primary monitor, which is at the heart of the issue I'm having.

Just today, I left my PC on with the Smart TV as the display monitor. When I came back, the Smart TV had powered itself off, and when I turned it back on it wasn't receiving connection from the computer. The PC, however, was still sending its signal to the Smart TV instead of the PC monitor, and I was only able to get it to automatically revert back to the PC monitor by unplugging the HDMI cable to the Smart TV.

Now when I plug the HDMI cable back in, it automatically reverts to sending the display signal to the Smart TV since it's set as the primary monitor, but the TV still won't receive the signal. What's worse is that when the Smart TV isn't plugged in, it doesn't show up in my Display Settings panel, so I am unable to set my PC monitor as the primary monitor!

I am fairly sure that I would be able to troubleshoot the Smart TV's display issue that way I initially did after getting it if I were just able to set the PC monitor as primary while both are plugged in, but I have no way of viewing the display anymore while the Smart TV is plugged in, and so can no longer set it to being secondary. Is there any way to reset the primary monitor settings so that my computer still recognizes my PC monitor as the primary display by default when I plug the Smart TV back in? It's super frustrating that once my Smart TV was set as the primary display, I now can't set it to being secondary without it being used as the active display.

Thanks.

 

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HMPH. Well, I got around this by using the Windows + P keyboard command to set the displays to Extend mode blindly, and then was finally able to set my PC monitor to be the active display while the Smart TV was still plugged in. But now my usual tricks for getting the Smart TV to display signal aren't working.... oh well, feel free to archive this thread, mods, if that's a thing. Unless anyone has any tips about getting LG Smart TVs to receive signal from a PC, but that's kind of a separate issue.

 

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Welp, switching the HDMI port got it displaying on on the Smart TV again. Only a fix so long as I don't run out of HDMI ports to switch it to, though... do these things work themselves out eventually? Will I be able to expect to switch back to the original port someday?