jon_nais Posted July 13, 2017 Posted July 13, 2017 Hi, We have had a number of V5 75" 4k Activpanels installed, but we are having problems with cloning the display. If the ActivPanel is off when the PC is switched on, when the panel is switched on the pc and panel will clone the display, however if you then restart the pc the Panel then takes over and becomes the main desktop screen and the PC monitor is then the extended desktop. We are using HP Elitedesk PC's with HP official displayport to HDMI adapters to then go to the panels on high quality Kramer cables. The PC's are using Intel HD 4600 graphics and the drivers are updated to the most recent version. If you could please give me some suggestions as I can find no rhyme or reason why the ActivPanel appears to take over and they wont just stay on cloned desktop. Many thanks Jonathan.
phillyrovers Posted July 13, 2017 Posted July 13, 2017 Hi jon_nais, I will need to take some time out tomorrow to test this and see if we can replicate the behaviour. From what you have said it feels like the windows is defaulting to cloned mode when an external device is detected AFTER windows has booted. If that same device is detected DURING boot, then Windows is defaulting to extended mode. As I said I'm going to attempt to replicate this tomorrow and see if we get the same thing here, as my laptop has the same graphics card inside it ) If I get the same i'm going to see if I can force it to do one or the other.....just out of interest which mode would you prefer? Thanks
jon_nais Posted July 14, 2017 Author Posted July 14, 2017 Hi, Yes you have the problem correct, the only addition is that when the ActivPanel is detected during PC boot, then the ActivPanel becomes the main screen with the PC screen as the extended desktop. We would want to screens to be duplicated/cloned all the time. We are about to install 50+ of these screens so we would need this fixed as soon as possible or else chaos will ensue at the start of the session. Thanks Jon
phillyrovers Posted July 14, 2017 Posted July 14, 2017 Hi jon_nais, Having tested this today I can confirm that my laptop running the same graphics card running the very latest updated version of Windows 10, that my computer remembers the last settings that I used regardless of the order I have connected things up, or turned things on with. This setting is being driven by Windows, and I would suggest that you create a quick shortcut on the desktop that points to: C:\Windows\System32\DisplaySwitch.exe /clone If a user finds that they are in extended and want to quickly change to clone, they can double click the shortcut; this will still allow them the flexibility of changing to an extended desktop if they ever wanted to. I would suggest that you contact Microsoft to see if there is a way of forcing this clone via the registry, but from a quick glance, I couldn't see an easy way of achieving this. Thanks
jon_nais Posted July 14, 2017 Author Posted July 14, 2017 Hi, I'm a little confused, are you basically saying that I have to just live with it? We have over 150 ActivBoards in our schools and we have never had any issues like this. Once the PC is set to duplicate, it sticks. It is only since we have had these ActivPanels installed, which means the issue is not with the graphics card, but must be with the way the ActivPanel is connecting/communicating with the PC. I would expect that upgrading to the most recent panels in your product line would reduce our issues, not add to them. Jon
Boredguy Posted July 14, 2017 Posted July 14, 2017 To be honest, it's more of a windows/PC issue that the ActivBoard. Have you tried switching over which output from the PC goes to the board and which one goes to the monitor as one is always the default (which should be your primary display device)
phillyrovers Posted July 14, 2017 Posted July 14, 2017 Hi jon_nais, What I am saying is that I tested out the scenarios that you provided using my own laptop using Windows 10, and each time I connected the v5 75 4K panel with my panel on, or off, or my machine on or off, or rebooted etc, that my machine remembered the screen arrangement that I used the last time I connected the panel, including screen resolution, which monitor was the primary, and also whether the panel was on the right or left of the main monitor, and whether I was in cloned mode or not. The way that this works is that when you connect a display device (this can be any display device), Windows pulls down off the device it's unique ID, its table of supported screen resolutions and refresh rates, and then stores this information in the computer registry. You then set your desired screen arrangement and settings, and Windows stores this information as well. The next time you connect the VERY same display device to the machine, it looks into its registry and loads this information back up to match what was used last time. So based on the fact that for whatever reason your setup is not remembering this information, it could be one of a few things: 1. The settings are not being stored in the registry. 2. The DisplayPort adapters are not passing the correct information through each time a connection request is made. 3. The ActivPanel ID is not being read correctly by the computer. In order to start narrowing down the possibilities I would start with creating a brand new local admin user on the machine and see if the same thing happens. I would then recommend getting a computer that has a direct HDMI out and see if you get the same results. I would also highly recommend contacting Promethean Technical support so that they can start the ball rolling at their end to see if there is indeed anything with the panel that might be causing this in relation to firmware versions etc. The ActivPanel itself has zero bearing on whether a computer is going to clone or extend, it is simply a display device, much like a projector is.
jon_nais Posted July 14, 2017 Author Posted July 14, 2017 i disagree, the PC happily worked with the ActivBoard and projector. The projector was via VGA and the PC monitor was via the displayport. This has been switched round so that the ActivPanel is via the displayport and the pc monitor is now via vga. The only change in the system is the ActivPanel and how it is responding to the PC. Are there any Firmware updates for the V5 panels at all?
Boredguy Posted July 14, 2017 Posted July 14, 2017 The graphics card is what normally defines which output is the primary one. The Activpanel is just a display device as far as Windows is concerned (or at least it is for our v4 panel)
phillyrovers Posted July 14, 2017 Posted July 14, 2017 Hi Jon_nais, As Boredguy says, it is the graphics card and Windows which dictates the output and arrangement. The ActivPanel is just the same as using a TV or HDMI connected monitor, it does not have the capability to dictate a mirror or cloned mode. The only times that this might "fall over" I have listed above. There are no "updates" to firmware, but a reflash of the mainboard firmware may be a good idea, as this will rewrite its EDID information, which is its supported screen resolution table, and unique ID mentioned above. Based on what you have said above the following changes have been made to the system: 1. A secondary HDMI (I'm guessing that the monitor is HDMI and not DVI?) device added (the ActivPanel). 2. You are now driving the PC monitor via VGA and not via the Displayport. If you log it with support and have them escalate the case, they have a team that can remote onto the machine and take a closer look to see if they can work it out.
MrFrostmaul Posted July 14, 2017 Posted July 14, 2017 We have had exactly same issue with support been able to resolve and been unable to resolve apart from startup script to set desktop to duplicate.. hdmi to board and VGA to computer monitor
phillyrovers Posted July 17, 2017 Posted July 17, 2017 Hi all, If any of you have contacted our support team, would you be able to provide the case number(s) that you have received? I want to ensure that we aren't missing anything and that the replication steps that I have followed on this page, match the reality of whats going on. As I said, each time I connected my v5 4K (75"), my computer remembered my previous screen settings, regardless of when and how I had connected the screen. Thanks
jon_nais Posted July 17, 2017 Author Posted July 17, 2017 I am trying to use promethean support, however I cannot log in to the support portal to register the panels as it appears no one can log in at present! I have taken a projector and plugged it in to the HDMI that goes to the ActivPanel, with this connected the PC happily sits with the outputs cloned with no issues at all, even after restarts and full hard boots. This issue must be with the ActivPanel, I have noticed that when the ActivPanel is connected that it states the optimal resolution for the screen should be 2880 x 288 which is a very unusual ratio. thanks
phillyrovers Posted July 17, 2017 Posted July 17, 2017 Hi jon_nais, The 2880x288 is telling me that something has gone wrong in terms of a communication break down somewhere. As I have mentioned in previous comments the EDID information (the screen resolution that the ActivPanel can display) is stored on the ActivPanel, when a display cable is connected the graphics card sends a request to the ActivPanel for its EDID information. If this is not being received correctly (for whatever reason) then this may cause display issues, such as the incorrect screen resolution being shown. A good test for this to see if this is being caused by the panel is to connect a direct HDMI cable to the ActivPAnel from a known working HDMI laptop or computer. If the correct screen resolutions are being picked up, then this tells us that the ActivPAnel EDID information is correct and is being sent back correctly. I would highly recommend that you contact Tech support via: https://support.prometheanworld.com/contact/ The registration portal and the registration of the panel does not dictate whether you can receive support via email, phone or chat. I know for a fact that the support team will be asking you to test the ActivPanel using cabling supplied by Promethean, directly connected to the ActivPanel, we cannot support cabling or equipment that is not supplied by us. Thanks
jon_nais Posted July 25, 2017 Author Posted July 25, 2017 Hi, I raised a case with tech support (00766726) and they have managed to resolve the problem. It turns out the problem was with the ActivPanel and the firmware version on it. I have been given a new version and updating this on the ActivPanels has resolved the problem. Jon
phillyrovers Posted July 25, 2017 Posted July 25, 2017 Hi Jon_nais, Many thanks for the update. I know this was a head scratcher at first, but glad we finally got to the bottom of it. @MrFrostmaul, If you could let me know your case number I will see if your panels are the same as jon_nais and arrange to have this firmware sent to you as well if they are. Thanks
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