Male DVI connector pins (view of plug)

Male DVI connector pins (view of plug) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

So I figured my monitor has a DVI in, and my relatively new laptop has a HDMI out, why not get an inexpensive HDMI to DVI cable to get the benefits of digital display, instead of the VGA‘s analog cousin.

As usual I did my research about HDCP’s issues (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection), which prevent you from dubbing HD contents digitally, and I found none. So I bought the cable at Amazon. The cable arrived and semi-excited I plugged the receptors in to their corresponding acceptors, and booted my laptop: Froze on boot!

So first,I checked BIOS. No option with display adapter. Un-plugged and booted into Windows 7 , 64X  , and no monitor shown after re-plugged HDMI- DVI cable. Tried varies combinations and permutations, no luck. I gave up.

Unhappy with the cable purchased, I went on Google, and not surprising tons of posted problems not so much with HDMI to DVI connection, but the problems lie with Intel 3000 graphics card on the motherboard that Intel never solved the known issues. So as usual, downloaded the most current driver to see if it would do anything! Once again, as usual, went through installation, and after two to three minutes, it said my laptop was not compatible with the driver version downloaded, I need to contact OEM!  WTF! Oh, yes, it did pre-warn me that if the driver was OEM installed, then it might not work. I thought Intel should support future upgrades regardless! I guess THEY DO NOT, so BUYERS BEWARE! looks like it is now all up to the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), in other words, if Gateway does not buy the licenses from Intel I am out of luck to use any latest drivers! This is game changing!

Anyway, another frustrated ending. Still not convinced, I Googled again, and in Intel communities’ forums, I finally found a temporary solution:

1) Unplug HDMI cable, and boot laptop

2) Once booted and log-in to Windows, plug your cable in, and go to Control Panel > Harware and Sound >Device Manager; Display Adapters > Intel (R) HD Graphic Family, right-click and select disable, and Yes, don’t worry about what it says or warns.

3) Repeat step 2, but select enable this time.

Caveat: Screen-saver will kill the setting and you have to redo step 2 and 3 to get multiple displays again : (

You should be able to peruse both displays.

So here is my point, if I am not semi-technie, I will be frustrated as hell! But one thing is sure, I have been putting up with Windows and hardware and software issues for so long that nothing is really surprising. Unfortunately, the annoyance variance is still far less than the premium demands of a Mac! (Mac has its issues too)

Cheers.

P.S. Result: DVI is better than using VGA! Essentially (very broadly) DVI is the same as HDMI, except there is no audio.  Also, my monitor does not have HDMI-in.