Need some help with HDMI output on an Acer

[gh4chiefs]

Need some help from you technical gurus out there. I just bought an Acer Aspire Desktop system (yes I know but it's really what I could afford right now) model AM3900G-U3802. It's running Windows 7 natural, and the problem I'm having is I can't get the HDMI output to work. Acer's support is worthless.

I've got it connected to a 27 in LCD Acer monitor and I confirmed it's HDMI input is working by attaching another HDMI source (my 360) to it. But when hooked to the PC, it gets no signal. The setup guide for the PC clearly shows you can use HDMI as your output setting.

I suppose I may have a defective unit, BUT I've got this feeling that there's probably a setting on the PC itself that I can change to get this fixed. I've googled it and can't quite find what I'm looking for.

So I'm reaching out here to see if anyone has any suggestions. Thanks in advance.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

There may be a copy protection issue at work here. Does the PC's HDMI output support HDCP? If it doesn't, the TV probably won't accept it.

 

[gh4chiefs]

Well unfortunately there's ZERO documentation (Other than the "quick start guide") that came with the PC, so I'm not sure about the HDCP. However, it's an Acer PC hooked to an Acer Monitor so one would think they would be designed to work together.

 

[gh4chiefs]

Upon continued googling, it appears it's not uncommon for Acer to disable the HDMI output if they put in certain types of video cards. I'm not sure that's what happened here, but seems like a likely possibility. So in other words, false advertising.

But I'm still interested if anyone knows of a work around.

 

[YellowSubmarine]

There may be a copy protection issue at work here. Does the PC's HDMI output support HDCP? If it doesn't, the TV probably won't accept it.

That's not even close to how HDCP works.

With HDCP, the video player transmits the video/audio data encrypted with a certain secret key (so secret you can find it on the Internet), and a HDCP-supporting TV is needed to decrypt it.

The TV should be able to decrypt the HDCP-encrypted stream. Nothing to do with blocking non-HDCP streams.

 

[zephramc]

You may have tried these things already but...

1 - Update the video driver. Based of my quick Google search it looks like you have an Intel video card of some sort. Try going to Intel's website and downloading the latest and greatest driver. Sometimes companies like Intel or Nvidia will farm out the video cards to downstream manufacturers like Acer, Sony, Toshiba, etc..., so you may be forced to download the driver from Acer. Try Intel first however.

2 - I'm assuming this is an on-board video card, so check the BIOS settings. Sometimes there are "features" you can enable and disable. HDMI may be one of them.

3 - Try a different cable

As you stated earlier, Acer may have disabled HDMI, or it might be a defective video card...

Not sure if this helps or not...

 

[gh4chiefs]

Thanks, I'll try 1 & 2, already tried a different cable. Right now I've got it hooked up through VGA and it seems to work fine, so I'm not really THAT concerned about it, unless I can prove it's definitely defective.