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How strange that fast boot would do that. Poor system design, if you ask me. No one should need to go into the bios for something so basic.
Glad you solved it, though. Victory dance?
Thanks.
And yes, I tend to agree about the poor system design. And, considering that no-so-little quirk, you would think Lenovo tech support would be well-trained and ready for help with this issue. Because it is clear from online searches that TONS of people have struggled with this. But they had no clue.
But that said, and problem solved, I have to say that I couldn't be happier with this machine at it's $349 price point. Mine is an Ideapad 300-17ISK. And I've had only minimal (solvable) issues with running every one of my W98 & XP era software programs in Windows 10. Given all the W10 horror stories floating around out there, that really surprised and pleased me.
For the first time ever, I now see the big advantage to HDMI. It didn't make a damn bit of difference on my XP machine with it's GeForce 6600 card. 'Course, with that card I had to run a DVI to HDMI adapter cable. I was told that was essentially equivalent to straight HDMI since they are both digital. And maybe that's truth or maybe there's more to it than that and something is lost in the transition. Anyway, glad I can run pure HDMI now.
How strange that fast boot would do that. Poor system design, if you ask me. No one should need to go into the bios for something so basic.
Agreed.
I wouldn't be too annoyed at Lenovo, though. They don't make the Bios they get it from a 3rd party, usually American Megatrends, I believe. Hell, you should call them back and let them know so they can tell the next guy. LOL!
Just like that - for no explicable reason whatsoever - I lost my HDMI again. Black screen with a vague gray flickering just as before. VGA still works fine, just as before. Went back into the BIOS to re-verify the FAST BOOT setting that had solved the problem just over a week ago. Was right where I left it at 'disabled', for full functionality. Not that a change in that setting would have made any sense, but stranger things have happened in the world of computers.
It was roughly the same length of time that HDMI worked on my first (smaller) Lenovo laptop that I got at the end of August. Then it disappeared, just as it did today on this second one, that fortunately also has a VGA output. I made sure of that before trading.
For 16 years I ran machines that I built myself and never had a bit of trouble but for the need to replace the cheap power supply that came with a case I bought in 2000 for a Windows 98 machine.
If this experience with two different brand new name brand computers is any indication, it would seem I'll need to build another one myself if I want real reliability. So much for my plan to use this one laptop for home and travel.
So if it has happened to 2 different laptops connected to the same TV... could it be the TV?
It's a 22" Samsung monitor that it's connected to. And the monitor was bought new in February this year.
But, of course, that's a valid question. So I plugged my old re-built XP machine's HDMI output into it, as I did before to verify the monitor's status, and I get normal HDMI operation and picture with it.
I realize that my experience with these 2 laptops is a tiny sample and no general conclusions should be drawn from it. Nonetheless, I have very little confidence left in Lenovo products at the moment. I can't help but wonder if this is typical of lower-end machines across the spectrum of brands. That perhaps one needs to spend closer to $1000 to get a decent product? Or would a comparable HP or Dell product be a more solid choice?
But who knows - could be an issue with Intel HD graphics, which are used in huge numbers of new computers these days. Could be any number of things and I may never know.
Maybe I'll start a new thread soliciting opinions/experiences with different laptop brands.
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