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Athanatos875 · 2011-12-18, 21:47

I have not seen anything posted in the forums about this. So sorry if this has already been brought up.

I currently have my HTPC on 24/7 since I am running Sickbeard and a few other servers on it. During this time, I always keep XBMC up and running on fullscreen mode and the TV is only turned on when I intend to use the HTPC. If the TV is turned off for two hours with my HTPC turned on with XBMC running, it will cause Windows to lock up completely.

I can turn the TV on but it will not get a video signal from the HTPC. On the odd occasion that I do get video from the HTPC, Windows will be in a state where nothing is working properly (i.e. not even letting me go into the task manager). The only solution at this point is to hit the reboot button.

I tried several things and I still get the same results. The XBMC logs do not report anything out of the ordinary. Initially, I thought this was a hardware issue. I have some older, but still functioning hardware that I tried using as a HTPC with my TV and I still get the same results. I have rebuilt windows completely and made sure to not install anything that is not needed to function (including the servers that I previously used). This will still lock Windows up. When XBMC is not running when the TV is turned off, then everything works like a charm.

System Specs:
Intel Core i3 2120
4G DDR3 RAM
Nvidia Geforce GT 430 with the latest official drivers
Using the Latest Nightly XBMC (This issue started with every nightly since the beginning of December)

Has anyone else had this issue?

cotdagoo · 2011-12-18, 22:36

I have a similar setup (24/7 htpc serving as file server) and have not had this issue at all. I've been updating nightlies every couple days for the past 6+ months and have been on the Dec 10th nightly (latest one) since it was posted.

Nvidia Geforce 9400
Intel Core 2 Duo E8500
Gigabyte GA-E7AUM-DS2H

-n3b- · 2011-12-19, 00:57

I'm currently looking into the same issue. It seems to be a problem with the HDMI handshake and when the screen is turned off. Windows drops the res to 1024x768 but when the screen is turned back on xbmc stays at 1024.
It's reported frequently in various ways but the solution is never the same.This thread uses EventGhost but I'm struggling to understand the program to use the solution.
Ideally the fix for me would be to suppress Windows changing the resolution on no signal but I haven't seen that mentioned anywhere yet.

Athanatos875 · (This post was last modified: 2011-12-19, 03:02 by Athanatos875.)

Thanks for the replies -n3b- and cotdagoo.

That seems to be in the right direction, -n3b-. There is something going on in there that is causing the video card to stop outputting a signal. I did try this with a monitor over DVI and it still failed after two hours so it cannot only be a HDMI handshake issue.

I, for one, never liked EventGhost. However, I might give that a try since that is pretty much the only solution at the moment.

One question: Cotdagoo, what skin are you using? I am getting a ton of errors in my debug logs with the Aeon MQ3 skin and I am trying to see if that is what is causing it.

-n3b- · 2011-12-19, 03:12

The two hour point causing issues is interesting, I know mine is handshake because it only happens when I turn the TV off. In your case there could be something else at play like power settings, Monitor off when idle perhaps?
I'm going to try Moninfo as a EDID override seems the be the best WAF solution for me.

Athanatos875 · 2011-12-19, 06:36

I have disabled all of the power savings features on my computer already and it will still fail.

It is interesting that it will take two hours of the TV being off for it to fail. I have tried it after 1.5 hours and it will work without any issues. It is an odd issue. Even the debugging logs will not pick anything up on what could be causing this.

realjobe · 2011-12-19, 07:13

I have similar problem with my Zotac ID40 HW (ION2) and Sony HX900 TV, but this has nothing to do with Xbmc. Sometime when I open the TV, Zotac Hdmi does show anything but no video. Two choises: toogle TV from HW switch on/off or toogle Hdmi cable (you can hear the new device sound aswell).

Athanatos875 · 2011-12-19, 19:29

I finally figured it out. Apparently I have to run XBMC with the option "use a fullscreen window rather than true fullscreen" enabled and it will work just fine. Did something change in the latest nightly builds that requires us to have this turned on?

Furion · 2011-12-19, 23:00

hey guys,
just cover pin19 of the hdmi connector with thin electrical tape
that disables the hot plugging detection
you don't have to use fake fullscreen

htpc guy · 2011-12-20, 02:05

Just wanted to throw my hat into the ring. I've been seeing this issue over the past week or so on nightly builds. Screen resolution switches from 1080p to 720p. System will also stop outputting signal and it will require hardbooting. I'm running the latest Nvidia drivers as well. I recently bought a new receiver that supports HDMI. I'm glad to hear others are having this issue because I was thinking there may be something wrong w/ the receiver. I'll try the full screen window and see if that helps.

Athanatos875 · 2011-12-20, 04:43

Let me know if that fixes it for you, htpc guy. I am curious since we have the same video card.

**DJVege** · 2011-12-20, 05:27

I encountered a similar issue so I thought I'd post in case it helps.

My HTPC is on 24/7, though I turn my amp & TV off. So whenever the TV and amp turn on again, the hdmi handshake occurs. If the HTPC goes to sleep, or if it moves into "monitor power saving" mode, there's some issue with the hdmi handshake whereby I either WON'T get anything on the screen, or I get a smaller resolution.

I solved this in eventghost by waking up the PC to take it out of any power saving mode for the monitor/tv before turning on the amp and tv. This solved the issue and I haven't had any resolution or handshake issues again.

Furion · 2011-12-21, 16:52

what's wrong with my suggestion?
it's completely os-undependent and is VERY easy to do/undo
just try it out... it was the easiest and most effective fix I've ever done

Athanatos875 · (This post was last modified: 2011-12-21, 21:17 by Athanatos875.)

There is nothing wrong with your suggestion, Furion. To have alternative solutions to a problem is always a good thing. Some people may not necessarily want to mess with the HDMI connector or mess with eventghost.

I am going to try your solution to see if that solves the problem for me so I don't have to have the fake fullscreen turned on.

Furion · 2011-12-22, 17:45

Don't forget to reboot Wink