display issues with 2 screens

[jamez]

OK, I have a problem that has stumped my colleagues and I, we have around 30 PC that are attached to touchscreens (smart 6065/CTouchs) and a monitor, these are set to duplicate. The problem is that randomly during the day they will change to "show only on display 2" sometimes its at first turn on other times during lessons some times not at all, its completely at random so replicating it is next to impossible.

 

only effects PC that are duplicated, extended mode has not caused any issues (the powers at be have ruled that extended mode is not acceptable fix)

 

there are 5 different models of PCs, 7 different models of CTouch and 1 6065 so there no correlation between hardware

 

What we done so far since September 2015

 

Re-image machines

Deleted profiles

Change the cables

revert back Windows updates (and disabled them)

Updated the on-board graphics card driver

Added graphics cards

c-touch themselves came to see if there is anything wrong with the screen.

Update the bios to the latest release(this update shows multiple displays feature on the bios)

Enable multiple displays on the bios.

Download driver for the monitor (digital driver)

 

current band add is running a script that clones the displays at start up

 

if anyone has any ideas please let me know

[ZeroHour]

Hmm that is a pretty strange one, if it was only at boot I would turn off bios fast boot to see if that helps but since it happens while in use as well its very hard to tie down.

[NokiX]

Do you have any machines with the same setups which work without any issues or is it affecting all your machines which are set to duplicate? If it's affecting all of them I would say it's more likely a windows related bug of some sort as I have seen similar issues with Windows 7 but it happens extremely rarely and for no apparent reason.

 

If this affects all your PC's which are set to duplicate have you tried a machine on Windows 7 or Windows 10 just to see if the same problem occurs since that may be worth looking into to try and nail down where the issue is occurring (hard, software or the OS itself).

[MYK-IT]

Sometimes we get similar issues, with duplicated output, regardless of projector/display type used.

 

Usually a cable issue, or sometimes the sequence computer/projector etc is turned on. Staff know to use [Windows] + [P] to change display settings.

 

In rare circumstances we've just installed a VGA splitter box, connected to single output of PC/Video Card then, in turn connect to monitor and projector/touch screen.

 

http://www.lindy.co.uk/audio-video-c2/splitters-c159/2-port-vga-splitter-pro-350mhz-p1503

 

Or similar (if using HDMI/DVI etc) or perhaps, even the cheaper y-type splitter cables.

Edited February 4, 2016 by MYK-IT

[VeryPC_Anthony_L]

Are they using powerpoint as this can cause display settings to change.

[mowgli82]

Are they using powerpoint as this can cause display settings to change.

 

^^ on Office 2013 and above there is a setting you can change in Powerpoint to stop it from doing this.

[jamez]

it's effecting all PC that are set to "duplicated" it does not matter what displays they are attached too, I have got a test PC attached to 2 monitors and its happening to that.

 

personal I think its a windows issue (what is causing it I don't know)

 

the director of IT has said no to down grading to win7 and no to Video splinters so I'm going to try and use a base image 8.1 from Disc disable updates see what happens ....

[NokiX]

it's effecting all PC that are set to "duplicated" it does not matter what displays they are attached too, I have got a test PC attached to 2 monitors and its happening to that.

 

personal I think its a windows issue (what is causing it I don't know)

 

the director of IT has said no to down grading to win7 and no to Video splinters so I'm going to try and use a base image 8.1 from Disc disable updates see what happens ....

 

If the director of IT is saying no to the solutions then there isn't much you can do. Frankly I agree with MYK-IT since it would be the most logical solution to take the problem away from the OS and just let the splitter do the job instead.

[dapaulio]

We had similar issue where it turned out staff were pressing the win p key and/or fn f# on laptop and weren't admitting they had when asked. With some I an sure it was intentional but other were trying to print thinking they were clever or something confusing ctrl p as the shortcut.

I only caught one user out as I was monitoring her lesson and she stated that she wanted to print at the time.

It was a face in palm moment. I was truly speachless as i explained to the teacher she was triggering "ID Ten T" protocol.

I never applied a fix as I now know what they are doing

 

You may be able to block this shortcuts. Google it and try it out. If it stops occurring then you know the problem is stupiduty

Edited February 7, 2016 by dapaulio

[daveyboy]

We found it was the Teacher in the room in the previous lesson setting the screens to how they wanted - the settings carried over to the next user.

[GeekyPete]

it's effecting all PC that are set to "duplicated" it does not matter what displays they are attached too, I have got a test PC attached to 2 monitors and its happening to that.

 

personal I think its a windows issue (what is causing it I don't know)

 

the director of IT has said no to down grading to win7 and no to Video splinters so I'm going to try and use a base image 8.1 from Disc disable updates see what happens ....

 

I still think this is happening between Chair and Keyboard. Your test machine, is it in your office or out in the wild? Have you grabbed a second monitor for your computer and set it up to see if it happens to that one too? Do you have any it's never happened on? What happens if you swap it for one that is affected. OK you can't downgrade the whole estate to Win 7. but how about one computer for diagnostic reasons?

 

It really sounds like someone's pressing WIN+P instead of Alt-p to me though.