Still no joy for Windows 8 with 7.1M1

[hpatel]

I bought and have been using a Plugable USB to HDMI adapter to connect my pc to my HDTV. While I was running Windows 7 & the Displalink software up to the 6.2 version everything was just great. Version 6.3 and above have never worked for me. My graphics card is an EVGA Geforce 7900GS. Old but ok for my needs.

So I shoulda stayed with Win 7 and the 6.2 driver, but stupid me decided to upgrade to Win 8 which I like so far except for the fact that the USB to HDMI adapter has never worked no matter which version of the driver/core software I use. I was hoping that 7.1M1 would be the one that did the trick but no, its the same. Installs fine, but as soon as I plug the adapter into the USB 3 port, it blue screens and reboots. As long as I leave it plugged in, the PC will get to the desktop and blue screen thereafter.

If I unplug the adapter, I am able to get to the PC back to normal by using the End User Cleaner application.

I am reading on other threads that some have had issues with Nvidia drivers and the 7.1M1 finally got them going. I'm not sure what if anything I'm missing or perhaps doing wrong during the install. The Nvidia driver version is 307.96.

I'm hoping one of the Displaylink fellows will take a look at the attached files and tell me what I need to do.

Thanks.

[hpatel]

Just as a lark, I used the end user cleaner to completely remove the displaylink software and driver, and then downloaded and installed the 6.2M2 version which the website lists as the first version with Windows 8 compatibility. Well to my surprise, the PC did not blue screen but instead the primary display started to flicker on and off rapidly and all but made it impossible to use.

In reading the release notes for one of the later versions, I did see where one of the issues fixed was a rapid flickering of the primary display with Nvidia graphics.

Since my PC did not blue screen as with all subsequent versions, I'm wondering if the "fix" for the flickering on the primary display somehow is incompatible with the Nvidia driver I'm using.

[hpatel]

Also one more thing that might provide a clue to the Displaylink sleuths - everytime the PC blue screens after the Core Software install, the blue screen has this message about a Video_TDR_Failure (nvlddmkm.sys).

I just went to Nvidia's site and they have a new driver out for my card, the version number is 307.74.

So I installed that and tried the 7.1 M1 version of the Displaylink driver.

No luck. Same issue. Driver and core installs fine, but after I plug in the adapter it blue screens shortly thereafter with the same video_tdr_failure message.

This message never appears otherwise, only when the Displaylink driver is installed.

[jmyers]

It's possible to disable Timeout Detection and Recovery --


Here's how to disable TDRs:

Open notepad (hit Windows-R and type "notepad"), copy in the 3 lines below, and save with a name like tdr2.reg on your desktop:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\GraphicsDrivers]
"TdrLevel"=dword:00000000

Then find the tdr2.reg file on your desktop and double click. You'll get two dialogs: one access control, and another about trusting the source. Say yes to both dialogs.

Once that's done, reboot to make the registry change take effect.

[hpatel]

It's possible to disable Timeout Detection and Recovery --


Here's how to disable TDRs:

Open notepad (hit Windows-R and type "notepad"), copy in the 3 lines below, and save with a name like tdr2.reg on your desktop:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\GraphicsDrivers]
"TdrLevel"=dword:00000000

Then find the tdr2.reg file on your desktop and double click. You'll get two dialogs: one access control, and another about trusting the source. Say yes to both dialogs.

Once that's done, reboot to make the registry change take effect.


Thanks for your response. I appreciate it. I will create the reg key and reboot and install the 7.1 M1 version and see if that helps.

[luiset83]

Note that the reg key text has a space... Contro l --- it should be Control *
Thought I'd point out that error.

[hpatel]

Unfortunately disabling the TDR notifications as per the reg key method did not work. The notifications are gone, but instead of a blue screen announcing that the PC has crashed, and an eventual reboot, I get simply a hung PC with a black screen. I then have to power off and then on to reboot.

This is really disappointing. Thanks to jmeyers for suggesting a fix (even if it did not work), but I had also hoped that one of the Displaylink guys would at least take a look at the logs I attached to my first post to see what is going on and weigh in with some sort of response.

I had bought the Plugable USB display adapter solely to avoid having to buy a new video card with an HDMI out. The old video card I have now (Nvidia GeForce 7900 GS) is sufficient for my purposes (non-gaming PC usage) but it appears unlikely that a fix for whatever is preventing my displaylink adapter from working with the 7900 and Windows 8 is going to be forthcoming anytime soon.

I would've been better off buying a new video card with the $60 that I spent on the usb adapter, it now seems.

[luiset83]

Unfortunately disabling the TDR notifications as per the reg key method did not work. The notifications are gone, but instead of a blue screen announcing that the PC has crashed, and an eventual reboot, I get simply a hung PC with a black screen. I then have to power off and then on to reboot.

This is really disappointing. Thanks to jmeyers for suggesting a fix (even if it did not work), but I had also hoped that one of the Displaylink guys would at least take a look at the logs I attached to my first post to see what is going on and weigh in with some sort of response.

I had bought the Plugable USB display adapter solely to avoid having to buy a new video card with an HDMI out. The old video card I have now (Nvidia GeForce 7900 GS) is sufficient for my purposes (non-gaming PC usage) but it appears unlikely that a fix for whatever is preventing my displaylink adapter from working with the 7900 and Windows 8 is going to be forthcoming anytime soon.

I would've been better off buying a new video card with the $60 that I spent on the usb adapter, it now seems.

By all means, if that's what you're trying to accomplish, see if you can return the adapter and go with the new card, a GT620 (rebadged Fermi) or GT640 (Kepler) card would suffice and most of those models have HDMI.

[hpatel]

Can't. I've had it too long, and probably don't have the box and all either. As I said earlier it worked flawlessly with Windows 7, the 6.0 or 6.1 version of the DL software and whatever version of the Nvidia driver was current at that time.

This also sucks because my early great enthusiasm for the adapter led to several people into buying these units - one guy uses four or five of them to run multiple monitors for his foreign exchange trading activities.

I'll have to warn them to be careful before going with Windows 8, though in my unqualified opinion its more a matter of the Displaylink software not playing nice with the Nvidia driver rather than the OS.