Monitor on but black display
 

1. Left 3 RDP sessions open on the dual screens.
2. 1 on the main display and 2 on the secondary display all in full screen mode using single monitors.
3. Laptop screen was closed.
4. Step away long enough for the computer to turn off the display (30 mins currently).
5. Pressed shift on the keyboard and screens went from sleep yellow to awake green.
6. Main monitor was displaying video correctly and showing my main RDP.
7. Secondary monitor was black and no video even though the green light indicated it was awake.
8. Tried to drag the working RDP window onto the secondary monitor and it stayed black.
9. Started the displaylink support tool.
10. Prompted for user account control
11. Noticed second screen was now showing video again even though it was darkened because of the UAC prompting
12. Once I accepted the UAC it was fully working again and could be interacted with.

Sadly I did not have advanced displaylink logging on so when I turned it on the displaylink service was reset :( I did not reset the displaylink debug information so hopefully something is still in there.

Prior to this I have been using 7.4 M2 with the laptop lid open and all 3 screens active. The screens have gone to sleep many times and all 3 have woken up properly and displayed video. I am not sure why having the Lid closed and only the 2 displaylink monitors active makes a difference.

System compatibility check

• Pass: Basic mode support
• Pass: Device attached
• Pass: Device started correctly
• Pass: Graphics driver date
• Pass: WEI is above recommended 3
• Pass: No Other USB graphics software installed

System hardware and connections

• Dell Precision M4300

• USB 2.0 ports only
• Windows 7 Enterprise SP1 32 bit
• Kensington Sd3500v

• USB 2.0 laptop to Kensington USB 3.0 input (using usb 3.0 cable)
• Kensington Heaphone jack plugged into headset
• Microphone jack plugged into headset
• Ethernet cable attached to 1G switch
• DVI to VGA adapter

• VGA adapter to main monitor via vga cable
• HDMI to DVI adapter

• DVI adapter to main monitor via HDMI cable
• Power plugged into AC
• Kensington usb 2.0 out to Main monitor usb input

• Main monitor USB
• Dell USB keyboard
• Dell USB mouse

Interesting I shortened the turn off time to 2 minutes before leaving work last night. Left my user logged in on the host and locked the screen on the remote desktop session. I reset the display support tool and left it running. I left the monitors on so they would go to sleep (yellow) when the displays were turned off. Both monitors were sleeping (yellow) when I arrived. I pressed the shift key and both monitors woke up (green). Main monitor is displaying video, secondary monitor is black.

The second picture (Displaylink 20131031.jpg) shows that the second the screen should be showing my RDP full screen and locked according to a simple screenshot with the print screen button on the host.

The first picture (2013-10-31 07.02.45.jpg) from my phone shows the 2 monitors. It also shows the screenshot I took that indicates both monitors should be displaying video. Odly this picture shows that black screen and not the RDP I expect to see as indicated by the screenshot above.

What is going on here? Do you need shorter time between the debug log reset, problem, and collection or will the logs attached work?

I think while I wait for an answer I will go back to leaving the laptop lid open and the laptop screen active. I want to see if I can make it do it with the lid open.

Well I got an unexpected piece of hardware yesterday for testing.

Dell XPS L322x using Right USB 3.0 port
All other hardware and software is the same

1. Lid closed so that only the 2 displaylink displays are active
2. Sleep timer turns off monitor
3. Press simple shift key to wake
4. Monitors green light (awake)
5. Main monitor video
6. Secondary monitor black screen
7. Screenshots show the secondary monitor should be displaying the locked RDP video
8. Start displaylink support tool
9. Get prompt for UAC
10. seconday screen starts to show video again

1. Lid open so that laptop monitor and 2 displaylink displayes are active
2. Sleep timer turns off monitor
3. Press simple shift key to wake
4. Monitors green light (awake)
5. Main and secondary show video as expected

I have this XPS Friday and Monday if you need logs from them, otherwise I am pretty certain I can reproduce this on the hardware in the first post.

Seems USB 2.0 or 3.0 makes no difference.

Sadly 1 system is Nvidia based and the other is Intel based. I currently do not have a ATI based system to test against.

I am guessing this lies with the displaylink drivers or device at this time.

Thanks,

Apparently I can confirm the same issue. Came into the office this morning and found one monitor on, but just a black display. Rebooted a few times, even uninstalled/re-installed 7.4 M2 and tried to setup the displays again. Funny thing is that 7.4M2 has been installed since its release. On the 28th of Oct Nvidia released driver 331.65 for my Dell XPS 14. However, like I said this wasn't an issue until today.

Did you have the XPS lid closed so only the displaylink displays were active?

I know on my older system the NVidia driver are definitely not 331.65 :)

Were you able to wake the black monitor by starting an app that needed user account control permission?

Did you have the XPS lid closed so only the displaylink displays were active? No

I know on my older system the NVidia driver are definitely not 331.65 - Which is why I mentioned it as a potential source of problems

Were you able to wake the black monitor by starting an app that needed user account control permission? No luck, rolled back to 331.58 and its working as expected.

Interesting not exactly the same issue I am encountering, but similar and maybe from the same root problem. Up to the Displaylink gods to decide. If you could submit some information from their support tool they might be able to find the root cause.

I am back on the older system with the NVidia video. It is now using the 331.65 driver on a Quadro Fx 360M. So far all screens work normal as long as the laptop display is open and being used. The displays can go to sleep and wake up again properly.

The XPS 13 I was testing with is Intel based graphics, but good to know if you rolled back your NVidia driver the behavior changed.

I will get a few things done with the lid open today and then switch over to lid closed to see if the behavior is still on the bad side. Based on the Intel testing I am sure it will still be bad.

I remember in the older displaylink notification icon being able to force the laptop screen off from it. That option is not displaying anymore. It does look like I might be able to modify things in the screen resolution settings. Maybe I can leave the lid open but force the display off. It would be interesting to see how it will behave that way.

Has displaylink staff had a chance to look into the logs? Do you need any additional information collected?

I'm not intentionally going to re-break my system just to collect logs for DisplayLink. Its seems all I've done since I've owned this dock is troubleshoot problems and update the DisplayLink software....over and over and over.

I can relate. We haven't had these units as long as you, but I am starting to wonder if we can give them to other staff members and not have to worry about issues like this one.

Right now I am holding off on this particular unit because I know for certain the user will close the laptop lid and only want to use the dual displaylink displays. I know their computer configuration is configured to power off the monitors after x minutes. That combination will result in endless calls to me requesting something be done about it. Sadly my turning off the power saving features will not be acceptable with this user let alone leaving the laptop open.

Just bringing this post back to the top so that displaylink staff are aware the problem still occurs when the laptop lid is closed. Will someone be taking a look at the logs from 2 different computers and let me know if I need to supply additional logs and information.

edit 20131112 added 3rd report
I will go ahead and make a 3rd report.
Same hardware as the original post
The only differences are:

• Laptop lid is open
• Screen has been disconnected using the screen resolution control panel item.

Computer turned off the monitors
Here is what happened:

1. Monitors went to sleep yellow
2. Wiggled mouse
3. Monitors went green
4. Display 2 showed the desktop
5. Display 3 was black and not showing the expected RDP session
6. Screenshot attached shows there should be a RDP session on display 3
7. Support tool reports

8. Pass: Basic mode support
9. Pass: Device attached
10. Pass: Device started correctly
11. Pass: Graphics driver date
12. Pass: WEI is above recommended 3
13. Pass: No Other USB graphics software installed
14. Screen only displays black during the whole process for gathering support information
15. Select an item on desktop and choose to run it as administrator forcing the UAC prompt to dim the displays and show its prompt
16. 3rd display now is showing proper RDP session
17. cancel UAC prompt and can interact with the 3rd display again.

Thanks,