Blinking screens and no signal !

My screens keep blinking (have 5 plugable multi-display adapters). Many times when I lock the computer and come back later to unlock it, one of the screens says it has no signal, so I have to switch the USB ports for them until it comes on.

I’m using Windows 7 (64-bit)

Hi Dan-

Thanks for posting, and sorry to hear about the issues you’re having with displays blanking out. suspect that these issues are hardware/connection level, and that our best chance for resolution lies somewhere in how the devices are connected.

Can you please share some details about how the USB graphics adapters are connected to the PC- via a USB hub, directly to the PC, any USB extensions, etc? Eliminating any hubs and extensions and connecting directly can help isolate a hub or extension that is failing. It’s fairly common for these sorts of issues to result from a USB hub with insufficient power for all the devices connected.

If changing your connections about isn’t making a difference, please send a mail to support@plugable.com, attention Jeff, with the output from the DisplayLink support tool.

Again, thanks for posting and best wishes-

Jeff Everett
MCITP Enterprise Support Tech
Plugable Technologies

Everything is plugged via USB directly into my laptop

Hi Dan-

Thanks for verifying all are connected directly to the PC.

In this case, I would suggest trying a powered hub if you have one available. Many laptop manufacturers share USB power across a couple of ports (usually ones that are next to each other) so avoiding having several adapters plugged in right next to one another may help since we’ll be relying on the hub’s power supply instead of the laptop’s.

If you don’t have a powered hub available, does your laptop have enough USB ports available to avoid plugging any of the USB graphics adapters in right next to one another?

We’ll need to experiment with different connection options till we find one that works consistently for you sine this is almost certainly not a software issue. If changing your connections about isn’t making a difference, please send a mail to support@plugable.com, attention Jeff, with a link to this thread and the output from the DisplayLink support tool.

Instructions for use and download of the tool are here:
http://plugable.com/support/tools/dis…

Best wishes-

Jeff

If I had a USB hub you were suggesting its probably failing, but now that I dont, I should probably get one ? You guys sure try to cover your bases :stuck_out_tongue:

Hi Dan-

I know the bit with whether or not to use a USB hub seems counter-intuitive, but considering that USB hubs may or may not have a power source, details about how connections are made can make all the difference here- it’s VERY common fo customers to have issues with unpowered hubs or simple “non-active” usb extension cables, so our first step is to try eliminating these.

Once we know we’re not splitting a single USB port’s bus power across all the devices on a hub, we have to move on to making sure enough power is being supplied by each port on the laptop due to the design differences I mentioned previously.

If you don’t have a powered hub available avoiding having two adapters plugged in on ports physically next to each other is the best thing to try next. Unfortunately hardware differences mean there are sometimes tricky issues- especially when resuming the connection.

Please let me know if I can help with any other questions- sorry this isn’t as simple/predictable as we would like it to be.

Best-

Jeff