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Are you struggling to get your HDMI connection to work? Perhaps you want to hook up your laptop to a TV to stream a film, or maybe your new monitor isn’t connecting properly to your desktop computer, or you can’t get your video projector to work.
HDMI is a huge part of many home entertainment systems, with HDMI cables transmitting both picture and sound. Unfortunately, when HDMI doesn’t work, it can be tricky to figure out what’s going wrong.
Here are three very common HDMI issues you might come across, and how to solve them.
#1: You Have a Loose Connection
If you’re not getting any picture or sound, or your picture or sound keeps dropping, that could be due to a loose HDMI connection. If you moved the source device (e.g. your laptop) or the output device (e.g. your TV) after plugging in the HDMI cable, you may have accidentally pulled it slightly loose.
Solution:
Carefully unplug the HDMI cable and plug it back in again, at both ends. Make sure the connections feel secure rather than loose or wobbly.
There are also types of HDMI cable that are designed to be rugged and long-lasting. If you find that your cables are often loose, or if you need to plug them in and out a lot, you may want to opt for a more durable cable.
#2: Your HDMI Cable Itself Isn’t Working
While even cheap HDMI cables are normally very reliable, you may have got unlucky with your cable. Perhaps you bought a cable that has a manufacturing defect, or maybe you’re using a well-worn cable that’s no longer functioning well.
If your HDMI cable is the problem, you might see some of these symptoms:
- You have no picture and/or sound at all.
- You have a picture, but it definitely doesn’t look right. This might involve errors like sparkling white dots, or lines across your screen.
- The cable itself is visibly damaged: perhaps the rubber or nylon casing is torn, or the head of the cable feels loose.
Solution:
Hopefully, the solution for this is obvious: switch to a different HDMI cable. Use a spare one that you know is working, or buy a new (cheap) one to try.
#3: The “HDMI Handshake” Hasn’t Worked
One of the more frustrating issues with HDMI is when your cable is connected just fine, and it’s definitely in good shape … but things still aren’t working how they should. If your TV is showing “no signal” then the problem might be that your devices haven’t successfully recognized one another.
The process of the devices recognizing one another is often called an “HDMI handshake”.
Solution
Unplug your cable (at both ends) and plug it back in again. This may be enough to get the handshake to work. If not, switch off your source and output devices, then switch them back on. You may need to try switching them on in a different order: for instance, you might find that the HDMI handshake only works when you switch on your TV first then connect your laptop.
Once you figure out the right order, make a note of it so you can do it the same way each time … it’ll save you a lot of frustration!
If you’re having problems with your HDMI connection, try the above steps in order, and you’ll hopefully be enjoying your movie or games very soon.
Tip: If you’re having HDMI issues with a Windows 10 device and you’re still stuck, check out these steps for fixing the Windows 10 not detecting HDMI TV issue.