I'm having this infrequent but annoying issue with my desktop that I use as a HTPC. Basically I have a desktop hooked up to a normal TV, quite often I will turn off the monitor or switch to a different device (roku or smart TV), and occasionally when I try and switch back to the desktop there will be nothing there. As in the TV reports no signal from that input.
At first I thought it was a handshake issue for the video signal, but the computer also seems unresponsive. I've tried using win+X keystrokes to try and blindly get the computer to shutdown/restart and nothing happens. I've tried mapping specific hotkeys to initiate a restart and nothings happens. I have an IR receiver and a program that watches for IR inputs, which I've setup to restart when it sees a certain IR input, and again nothing happens. Inevitably the only thing that works is hitting the reset button on the case which does initiate a restart and everything comes back as normal.
There's never an event log associated with the issue, except for the unexpected shutdown when I hit the reset button. I also never have issues while I am actively using the pc. It's possible that it is a sleep issue (where usb ports are disabled so none of my external devices can wake the pc?), but at this point I've turned off every kind of hibernate/sleep/low power functionality I can find in the power settings and it still happens.
Computer is running windows 10, it is a nvidia 750ti video card, and I use an active DP to HDMI adapter
from accell. I've tried updating the graphics driver a few times and it doesn't seem to have any effect. I believe I tried removing the adapter at one point (using just hdmi) and I still had the issue, but I'm not 100% on that. I may try again.
Probably a long shot but if anyone has any other ideas I'm open to suggestions. My Wife Acceptance Factor is taking a hit with this problem.
Posts
Unlikely, but also see if you have Wake-On-LAN turned on or not.
A quick way to check if a computer is frozen is to hit one of the keys on the keyboard that has a indicator LED. So next time to check try Caps-Lock or Num-Lock and see. Note though that it may not work in all cases, since in principal the keyboard support can be frozen on its own.
I tried hitting the caps lock key when it was not responsive and the light did not come on. So I guess that confirms that the computer is frozen? I can also confirm that fans and LEDs are still on for the case, so it doesn’t seem like it is in any kind of sleep mode.
You may want to do some searches related to your TV model and it being connected to a HTPC. Without much knowledge there, I wonder if there is some sort of feedback signal that either isn't happening or is sending info that your computer doesn't like.
Alternatively if it does is after long periods of inactivity can you set a screensaver to run forever and see if it stays responsive?