Video card -> DVI to HDMI cable -> LCD monitor

I am trying to do the following connection but I intermittently get "No Signal, check cable" on my monitor. I don't even see the BIOS screen on my PC when it boots if the signal is not working.
From PC ->
SPARKLE GeForce 8400 GS 256MB 64-bit DDR2 PCI-E x16 HDCP Ready

DVI out to ->

KINGWIN 6 ft. HDMI Male to DVI Male Extension Cable Model HDMIC-02

to HDMI in on ->

Hanns-G HG-216DPB 21.6" Widescreen LCD Monitor


If I unplug both the PC and the Monitor for a while, then turn on the PC first then the monitor I can sometimes get the Monitor to have signal just like normal. Resolution and everything is fine in my OS as well. Cycling the power like this is not 100% repeatable, sometimes it doesn't work.

However, if I shut down the computer then start it back up without unplugging everything, the monitor will not even display the bios info as the PC boots. The monitor just displays "No signal, check signal cable" and it continues to display this even when the PC gets to the OS.

Both the monitor and the video card are HDCP enabled, allegedly.

Using VGA -> VGA works as normal but does not get me the resolution I want, because it is not DVI/HDMI.

I've looked into this problem on several forums and have not been able to find anybody with the same issue.

Thanks in advance for your time.

With VGA connected I couldn't get my resolution that high. This is likely software related and I can figure that out on my own (I run Ubuntu 9.10 and the NVidia driver app did not let me select resolution higher than 1280x780).

I do not have VGA and DVI hooked up to the video card at the same time.

So I don't know why Ubuntu won't let me get my resolution up that high and I don't know why the HDMI only works intermittently.

Thanks for your quick response.

This machine only has Ubuntu currently.

Regarding the DVI/HDMI issue- Using a DVI -> VGA adapter I connected the monitor to the DVI port via a VGA cable so

DVI -> adapter -> VGA -> monitor's VGA port (not HDMI port like before)

This behaved exactly the same as before with the DVI-HDMI cable. It works sometimes (like 1/10 power cycles).

So this pretty much rules out problems with the DVI-HDMI cable or my monitor. It seems like my video card is not turning on the DVI port or something since I can even see my computers bios on boot.

---

Regarding the VGA issue in Ubuntu 9.10- It seems like over VGA it thinks my monitor is a generic CRT and won't allow for resolutions higher than 1280x720. I've looked into the issue online and there are few clear solutions. When hooked up under DVI either with HDMI or VGA on the monitor end, Ubuntu appropriately detects my monitor and lets me have 1680x1050 resolution.

This problem is all software, I really want to know why my videocard won't allow the DVI port to work 9 times out of 10.

Thanks again for all your responses.

*Bump*

Problem is still happening. After several power-on-off cycles I can get DVI output from my card.

Restarting causes the same loss of DVI connection as power-off.

I have a separate issue with VGA. Ubuntu 9.10 won't recognize my monitor as having the ability to do 1680x1050 (it recognizes it as generic CRT). This is a software issue.

My real issue is with the DVI as that is how I was initially working around the software problem. I have not noticed any significant blurriness. It's just strange that my DVI port on my video card only works from time to time. Any other thoughts?

Yah I don't get any "No display" beeps. I know my OS boots because it makes the normal sounds and if I switch to VGA I can see my OS, but with the resolution problem I described above.

I'll check the cables again when I get home. I think it may be the card as well. If it is what can be done about it? I bought the card months ago and it worked well up until January-ish. I can't think of anything that happened around that time that could have damaged the card in such a specific way.

But I can see the POST screen on the rare occasions that the DVI port does work (like 1 in every 10 power-on-off-cycles). And when I don't see the POST screen, I also don't see the OS when it boots, and in these situations I can switch to VGA and also see the OS.

So why won't my DVI port on my video card turn on?
And why in Ubuntu 9.10 does it think my monitor is a CRT and limits my resolution to 1280x780 when I can do higher over DVI?

I agree, except I can't explain why the same problem happens in both of these configurations:

Video card -> DVI port -> DVI-to-HDMI cable -> DVI input of monitor
and
Videocard -> DVI port -> DVI-to-VGA adapter -> VGA input of monitor

So you would recommend I try to get the VGA to work then since the DVI port was not meant for VGA or HDMI interconnectivity?

I started a new thread to cover the Ubuntu side of my problem.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...5#post18149785

Walford, thanks for all of your time.