"fun" with HDMI cables

[Pete M]

bought a long HDMI cable for my dad's laptop so he can put things up in the TV.  does pictures up on the big screen just fine, but won't do sound (which is still coming out of the laptop).  so I swap it out for a spare short cable and all works as it should.  back to the long cable and no sound at the tv.  ok, so the cable is bad.  but just to double check I grab my laptop and plug in the long cable and the sound comes from the TV like it should.  switch back to dad's laptop and still no sound at the TV.  what the heck. 

those dang 1s and 0s are going to be the death of me yet... 

[ghetdjc320]

How long is the hdmi your trying to use? Is it an “active” hdmi cable? An active hdmi is directional and has  a source and display side. If it’s active, you’ll need to force the laptop to output audio over hdmi. Assuming windows 10 just search for “audio output” after clicking the start menu. 
 

Under Hardware and Sound > Manage audio devices > Sound, you need select the “Playback' tab. Then you need to left-click the “Digital OutputDevice (HDMI)” feature. This makes the device as the default option for audio in Windows 10. Now try to reboot the device.

[Pete M]

I hate windows 10.   my laptop still rocks 7 so that's probably a clue.

 

this is as far as I can get

 

 

[eaglescout526]

I remember having to resolve an issue like this with an old copy of Battlefront II. The game wouldn’t run due to some issue with the audio device and I had to select something to enable the device in order for the game to recognize it and run. Windows 10 is no XP or 7 and I’ll give you that for a fact. Perhaps a quick Bing search could yield something. 

[Jesse J]

I'm no expert but it might be like somehow his laptop doesn't have enough juice to go the whole length of the cable?

[Dzimm]

You arent likely to find an HDMI cable for sale that is too long to work that isn't an active cable of some kind.  20-25ft is usually the furthest you can go before you start seeing issues.  If it's an active cable it can go further but those get expensive.  Converting to Category cable is the way to go for longer distances.

 

I would recommend checking for windows updates, audio driver updates, and restart the computer and see what your sound settings show afterwards.  It should be "speakers" for the output for an HDMI connection.  I'm guessing its the one up top that is showing its not plugged in.

 

Audio on windows 10 is broken I swear, especially with hdmi.  I have an issue on my desktop where one program sound will go to the monitor (it's actually a TV), and another program audio will go through the headset plugged into the tower.  I can get it to work properly but it requires changing the audio outputs back and forth and restarting the computer.  Then usually my mic breaks once I get the audio output working how I want.  I usually give up when everything at least works even if it's not the way I want it to.

[Pete M]

it's a 20 footer and everything worked fine with the previous 20ft long cable before the end of it got... squished. 

[89 MJ]

Perhaps it is an issue with the cable. Maybe buy another one and try it. If that doesn't fix it, you should be able to return it.

[Pete M]

I do believe I've defeated the demons.  it was a combination of the software and a faulty HDMI adapter (of course HP needed to have a custom plug back in the day ).  all is well now!

[Minuit]

2 hours ago, Pete M said:

I do believe I've defeated the demons.  it was a combination of the software and a faulty HDMI adapter (of course HP needed to have a custom plug back in the day ).  all is well now!

HP and bizarre custom parts... tell me about it.