No video display if htpc boots with receiver and tv OFF
#1
Ok here is my situation:

I have an HTPC with NO graphic card. I use onboard's HDMI output. The HTPC is linked through HDMI to my Onkyo home theater receiver and then from the receiver it output to my HDTV

My problem is that i absolutly need to power on my htpc AFTER i open my receiver and my TV, or else it seems that the motherboard isn't outputting video. If my receiver and HDTV is turned off, it doesnt detect any monitor or tv so it boots without outputting video and the TV will be blue.
It is really just a video problem, since i can still access my computer remotly with VNC server after it boots.

If i open my receiver and my TV and then after that i turn on my HTPC, then everything will work fine.

I checked everywhere in the BIOS, all i found is an option called "Init Display First"
Description is "If more than one display device are installed on the system, this item selects the primary display"

Options are PCI Slot, Onboard, PEG or PEG1. I set it to Onboard since i don't have any graphic card

note: i don't want to buy any video card even if it could solve my problem, i bought the new AMD A6 APU with onboard video to avoid having to buy a graphic card... it's an HTPC i want minimum heat

My motherboard is A75M-D2H and i'm on Windows XP
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#2
Problem is that when the receiver is off and htpc is on the hdmi output is a passthrough, meaning the hdmi cable is passed through to a non functioning device.

Only way I can think of is if you connected the hdmi cable to the tv first and then use the audio outs on the tv and connect those to the receiver. With setting the htpc up to tv then outputting audio to receiver, turning on htpc would display without receiver being on, but I do believe that all the media you then play would on be in stereo. I am not sure on this but it would seem logical.

With hdmi from htpc to receiver then to tv you would let the receiver decode the pass thru audio, which would then play all the formats your receiver supports.

I have an Onyko setup with 7.1 and have it set to out the hdmi to receiver then to tv and all sounds good. I also have a dual output video card so I can see my htpc on a monitor along with the tv, but do not have to have the tv turned on to have a display.
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#3
I had a similar issue with a Gigabyte MB in the past. You may find the following info useful. It was from a recent missing remote review of the AMD Llano A8-3800 CPU and GIGABYTE A75M-UD2H microATX Motherboard.

Quote:In operation, the system was generally stable but not completely flawless. It often exhibited an issue (which has consistently plagued AMD’s GPUs) where an HDMI display that is connected through a repeater or audio video receiver (AVR) is not recognized when the PC resumes from standby or powers on when the repeater is not keeping the connection active; either because it is off or another input is selected. This problem is aggravated by the lack of support for HDMI hot-plugging, so reinserting the cable will not provide redress; this shortcoming is documented in the A75M-UD2H’s manual but it is unclear if is due to the motherboard or platform. Fortunately there are a few workarounds available including:
  • HDMI CEC – The control features of CEC require an active link, so enabling it causes the port on the AVR to continue providing valid EDID information to the GPU; however, this does not completely address the problem with reoccurrence still observed after the A8-3800 resumed from standby when it was not the currently selected input on the AVR-1909.
  • HDMI Detective – This device maintains constant EDID information to downstream HDMI components so they do not realize that the AVR/display have been powered off. This approach is flawless, but the HDMI Detective runs ~$85, so price is a consideration.
  • Use Another Display - The root cause of this problem is that HDMI is not treated as a “first-class” citizen when it comes to video output, so connecting another display type (DVI for example) which does support hot-plugging and using it to navigate to the “Adjust Screen Resolution” Control Panel widget to click “Detect” (forcing the GPU to rediscover the HDMI device) is another workaround for this issue. Obviously this is not really a palatable solution when using the system as a dedicated HTPC.
  • StandbyHelper – Given that the previous workaround provides extremely reliable results, only lacking automation to remove the requirement for a second display, adding support for this feature seemed like a good fit for StandbyHelper’s functional area, so it now supports mapping a hotkey combination to triggering display detection.
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#4
Thanks, that helped me quite a bit. It didn't completely resolve the issue by itself, but as long as I keep the DVI monitor hooked up I have no problems.
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#5
I also had this problem. Fixed it by adding my tv's edid to the xorg file. This is assuming your running Linux, if it's windows I cant help.
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