Windows 10 and Second Monitor

Hi Ya,

I have a noodle scratcher. I just purchased an Acer Monitor (R0 R240HY). It works great on my Raspberry Pi. I then tried it on my computer with Linux Mint, no problem. I then dual boot back to Windows 10, and for the life of me, can't get windows to detect that there is a monitor connected (display: Multiple Displays: Detect. Alternatively, windows key P). I am using the same HDMI Port/cable as when I used Linux. I found another monitor, and windows had no problem connecting to that.

So, obviously I think drivers. But I've updated the drivers several times, several iterations, several revisions. Current information:
Monitor R240HY
Windows 10 64 bit: 1703 (updated yesterday)
Zenbook i7, 12 GB RAM, GPU: Nvidia 940M
GeForce Game Ready Driver (whatever that means, but I thought I would try it) Version: 384.94.
Intel HD Graphis 5500: 10.18.15.4281 (Update Driver claims it's the best)
Nvidia GeForce 940M: 22.21.13.8494 (Update Driver claims it's the best)

I tried to get the drivers directly from Asus, but that didn't work, and they were old. I also tried the technique of disabling these two drivers and then reenabling.

Any help is SO SO appreciated, cause I've tried all I can think of.

Hi there. What's it looking like in Device Manager? Is it detected there?

When I unplug it, and plug it back in, it doesn't make a sound (like USB does), but I guess I don't know if HDMI works the same. The device manager doesn't refresh like it does with USB. So nothing new pops in there.

The Intel HD Graphics 5500 and NVIDIA GeForce 940M are listed.

THANKS!

Hmm. Strange. We can pretty much conclude that it's not hardware or hookup since it works with Pi and Linux.

You may be correct about the driver. Have the Acer monitor driver installed? Did you try to simply reboot? If not, reboot in Safe Mode.

Boot into Safe Mode on Windows 10 Windows 10 Performance Maintenance Tutorials

Yeah, the fact that it works on Linux is pretty solid evidence that it is a Windows problem.

Hrm, their user manual doesn't mention a driver. Their site does offer a driver: Product support

But it doesn't offer an executable program. And I don't see it pop up in Device Manager, so how would one install it?

I'll probably have to disable driver signature, but not sure what to do beyond that.

Thanks!!

Yes, it's weird. I downloaded the driver. No exe nor inf file.

Obviously Windows doesn't see the monitor at all to load a driver. Is this a UEFI system? Are you familiar with the BIOS? It may be a port setting there or with your video adapter.

I didn't think it could be a setting in the bios/ufei on account that it worked in Linux. But I just booted it up and looked around. The only seemingly GPU related setting was the DVMT (set to 32M).

Safemode didn't seem to help at all.

Well, this is "a noodle scratcher" for sure!

Ok so we know Windows can't see it at all. Back to hardware. Is the hookup HDMI, DVI, or VGA? Is the cable the correct one for Windows?

Welp, I got it to work, but I don't know how. Some notes for others in case they find themselves in this boat:

I thought, "there's no windows specific HDMI." But I gave it a shot anyhow: I found an HDMI to VGA cord and a VGA cord. With this I connected the PC to the monitor (HDMI to VGA). This did not work. I then rebooted into Linux. Supprisingly, the monitor would not work, but whatever. I then tried this on the Raspberry Pi, and that worked. OK. I then went back to just an HDMI cord from the Linux computer to the monitor. It worked (as before). I then rebooted back to Windows, and tada, it works.

This is really fustrating. I rebooted the system many many many times. I unplugged/replugged the system too. I also showed that it worked in Linux, didn't touch any hardware, rebooted to Windows and it would not work. But now it just does???

This is some twilight zone stuff here. I'll never restart or disconnect the system now...
Anyhow, many thanks, @HippsieGypsie!

Also, FYI, it is just an amazon basic HDMI Cable.

You're welcome. Learned something here. Perhaps there was a pin on the hookup that wasn't seated properly? Then when you reseated it connected. Only thing I can think of.

Glad you got it fixed.

Now you can enjoy that good feeling of accomplishment.