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January 5th, 2022 11:00
U3011, buttons don't work and input does not auto switch
Hello. I received a Dell U3011 as a hand me down, so I do not have any original purchase information. It is surely out of warranty by now. I cannot use it because: when I plug it in and turn it on, it flashes the "No DisplayPort Cable" dialog, regardless of whether I put things into its other inputs. And when I try to use the buttons on the side to change the input, those buttons do not seem to register. Only one of them (I think?) even lights up, and none of them cause any result on the screen. All of the diagnostics that posts here say to try do not work.
As a side note, I think the power button itself is somewhat broken: I do not seem to be able to turn the monitor off, regardless of how long I hold it. I still hear a click when I use it, and I need to press it to turn the monitor on after being plugged out, but otherwise I cannot turn it off again.
When I plug in a computer, the computer does recognize the device. I tried using a DDC/CI software (since it appears that this monitor is too old for the Dell Display Manager software) to remotely change the input, but that option was not available. My understanding is that DDC/CI needs to be enabled by the monitor. But this requires use of the buttons that are broken!
But otherwise the screen seems completely fine, and since multiple computers of mine recognize the device I think the logic is okay. So it is frustrating to be unable to operate the monitor. Is there some privilege elevation software that one can use to control the input it recognizes?
And is it worth it for me to buy a DisplayPort cable so that I can see if it actually receives input at all? I do not think I own any; all I have are HDMI and VGA cables (and perhaps a DVI adapter).
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DELL-Chris M
Community Manager
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January 6th, 2022 05:00
Correct, the warranty on this 2012 U3011 expired in June 2015. Sounds like buying a DP to DP cable is the only troubleshooting step left.
Acid Snow
4 Posts
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January 11th, 2022 18:00
Thank you for that. Before explaining my progress, I would like to amend my previous post: the power button does not need pushing when the power is plugged in; the monitor just starts up on itself. The side buttons do light up in some sequence (I think it's 1, 2, 3, 4 from the top then off?) but otherwise do not respond to touch at all.
Anyway yes, buying a MDP-DP cable did allow me to connect to the monitor. It worked fine. I was then able to use ClickMonitorDDC to change the input to HDMI. (I do not know if this forum is okay with 3rd-party software, but I feel the shout-out is worthwhile.) The monitor then complained about no HDMI cable, after which I plugged in my MDP-HDMI cable to my computer instead of the MDP-DP cable. It then connected fine. After plugging out the power then plugging it back in, it defaulted to HDMI, so I did not need to use DP. It was fortunate that the software was able to change the input; DDC/CI must have been enabled at some point in the past. But it does mean that I should make sure to (a) not change the input, using software, to a type that I do not have; and (b) remember what input was active when it was last shut off (i.e. plugged out) because I cannot rely on auto-switch and DDC/CI softwares cannot change input unless the monitor is actively recognizing the input.
Is this the right forum to ask about more hands-on fixes, such as opening up the back? Given that the picture is fine, I think there is a physical issue localized to the area near the buttons or with some connector from the button inputs to the main board that may have a quick resolution. But this may be overkill; now that I have it working, I do not want to break it again!