Device experienced a power surge. External monitor and USB-C video cable are not functioning.
Device experienced a power surge. External monitor and USB-C video cable are not functioning.
I possess a used Dell XPS 15 9550. It's linked to two external displays—a Samsung 32" 4K monitor and an ASUS 24" 1920x1200 screen. Most of the time it stays plugged in. For the past few months before bedtime, I leave it on and never switch it off. Occasionally I turn it on in the morning and it fails to boot properly, then I try to shut it down by pressing the power button, only for it to restart normally afterward. I'm concerned about losing access to my laptop while traveling outside the US. Recently, during a severe thunderstorm, I noticed a significant electrical disturbance. In areas with frequent outages, I have a surge protector that has shielded my devices. When the storm hit, I sensed a strong orange electrical discharge near where my laptop and surge protector were positioned—or possibly on a nearby chair. I wasn’t wearing glasses, but I did see this orange flash. I’m wondering if others have experienced something similar during storms. Around the time of the event, my laptop emitted a distinct noise. Upon inspection, it appeared to be caused by the four-port USB hub connected to my USB ports, which produced the sound when cables were inserted or removed. The noise stopped once I unplugged and plugged it back in, or when I connected a wired keyboard. After returning to bed, I noticed my laptop’s display remained unchanged in sleep mode, so I didn’t suspect anything unusual. My external monitors are off now to avoid any interference.
I started my day by checking the four USB hubs, and it looks like one isn’t functioning properly. My USB-C video cable and wired keyboard were working fine, but my internet connection failed completely. The wired internet also didn’t work, and the keyboard stopped responding entirely. After removing the hub and plugging it back in, the keyboard functioned again. Once I switched to Wi-Fi, everything worked smoothly. However, when I tried to connect via wired mode, it didn’t. On the device manager, there’s a yellow warning on the USB-C video cable. This suggests a possible issue with the cable itself. The cable is meant for connecting to an Ethernet adapter, so it should be plugged into that instead. When I connected it to the hub, the monitor started showing DVI output without signal. I’ve experienced this before—simply unplugging and reattaching the HDMI cable usually fixes it. If you power on the monitor, the ASUS logo appears, then DVI output disappears, followed by a red power button and black screen. This could be linked to a power surge or a damaged HDMI port. As for your laptop, everything seems normal except for that warning. It might help to check if the hub is properly seated or if any cables are loose. If you can’t see anything on the screen, try resetting the monitor by unplugging it for a few minutes and plugging it back in.
Yes, a storm surge often causes damage to USB, LAN, and video connections. There might be blown fuses as well.
Check your display settings and ensure they match your preferences. Also, verify if the monitor is functioning correctly.
Right now it seems like things aren’t working properly. When you power on the 24-inch Asus monitor, the power button lights up white, but the screen displays the Asus interface instead of DVI. Once the light changes to orange and the screen goes black, pressing the power button next to the left side shows input selection along with VGA, DVII, or displayport options. It’s already set to DVI, so that shouldn’t be the problem.
What other possibilities are there? Could this mean the monitor is connected via HDMI instead of HDMI port on your laptop? Or maybe the HDMI cable is damaged? It could also be related to the monitor itself—if it were just an HDMI connection, it would turn on normally.
Earlier, during a power surge, I noticed orange electricity and heard a clicking sound like a keyboard being unplugged. Later, after resetting the hub, the noise stopped. I have two devices connected to that hub: a wired keyboard and an ethernet USB-C video cable. There’s a warning on the cable about not using it because it’s marked for safe removal. I tried plugging it back in after unplugging the hub, but nothing changed.
I have two USB ports on my laptop—one USB port, one USB-C video cable connected via Ethernet. The other USB port works fine when I connect a wireless mouse. However, the hub still functions properly with the wired keyboard and the USB-C cable.
My current issues are: the Asus monitor isn’t displaying anything, and the HDMI cable seems to be problematic. What should I do next?
Have someone share suggestions on how to proceed. When you disconnect the HDMI to DVI cable from your laptop to the 24-inch Asus monitor, there’s no sound at all. However, when you disconnect the USB-C to DisplayPort cable from your laptop to the 32-inch 4K Samsung monitor, you hear sound each time you plug it in and out. Could you try connecting the USB-C to DisplayPort cable to the Asus monitor? That monitor supports VGA, DVI, and DisplayPort. What steps should I take?
To check ports, locate a functional monitor first and then test it. Keep the same settings for USB connections. Begin identifying which ones work and which don’t. Try swapping cables and testing different outputs. For Ethernet, sometimes the modem needs to be reset—like turning it off and back on. On Windows 7, there’s a method to reset or diagnose it. Did you restart your laptop?
I need to note a few points. I restarted my laptop. The yellow exclamation mark on the USB-C video cable under Universal Serial Bus Devices in Device Manager is gone. Still, after disconnecting Wi-Fi, no wired connection appears. Once I unplugged the USB-C to DisplayPort cable from my laptop’s USB-C port connected to the 32" 4K Samsung monitor, it worked on the 24" ASUS monitor. The monitor powers on, shows the logo, and displays the same signal message, but then it functions. This suggests the issue isn’t with the monitor. It likely points to the laptop’s HDMI port or the HDMI to DisplayPort cable. How can I confirm this? Also, the USB-C video cable seems to work when ejected from the tray.
Restarted the laptop and observed the current state. This suggests the HDMI port might be damaged. Consider testing with another laptop using the same HDMI connection to DVI on that device. If the issue persists, the problem likely lies with the laptop's HDMI port. If it doesn't affect the other setup, the fault is probably with the original laptop. Alternatively, you could use a display link 4K plug-and-play solution to bypass the HDMI issue.