No display output when plugging an external display - PowerEdge R520

What resolution is the screen set for in Windows and what is the monitor able to display? If it works during POST it probably is not an issue with the ports. 

Hi DELL-Josh Cr,

Thank you for your response, the resolution in Windows is set to 1920 x 1080 if using Default Monitor on RDPDD Chained DD when using Remote Desktop and is set to 1024 x 768 if using Generic PnP Monitor (E173FP) on Matrox G200eR when using a physical console session and not when using the Remote Desktop console session. With regards to the resolution on the monitor, it is set to 1024 x 768 75Hz and it's optimum  resolution is set to 1280 x 1024 60Hz.

Kind regards,

RocknRollTIm 

Those resolutions should be fine for the physical console. Can you try to boot to our live linux disk and see if it displays video? http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=CWF92&fileId=3421361046&osCode=WS8R2&productCode=poweredge-r520&languageCode=EN&categoryId=DI

Hi DELL-Josh Cr,

Again thank you for your response but we can't really afford to have our server to be offline for along time as this is the main server we rely on for our network nor can we run anymore applications on this server due to memory maxing out on this server as we run Exchange 2010 on it which unfortunately utilises memory just like its predecessor, Exchange 2007. We can only really carry out this task during out of office hours with supervision from our IT Manager so I won't be really able to tell you whether the suggestion in your last post has cured or somewhat fixed the problem. I do apologise putting this problem on you but I don't really want to carry out an operation that will impact on this server, hope you understand with what I am saying and no hard feelings as I know you are wanting to help me.

Kind regards,

RocknRollTim  

Do you have an iDRAC enterprise license installed on the server? If so does the iDRAC remote console work?

Hi Dell-Josh- Cr,

Thank you for responding to my forum thread once again and sorry for the delay in getting back to you, we do have an iDRAC Enterprise license installed on the server and yes the iDRAC remote console is accessible when this happens, what were you going to suggest me to do in the iDRAC remote console? We have iDRAC remote console installed on each rack server which are all the same model except they have different Windows Server OSs on each.

Kind regards,

RocknRollTim 

Hi DELL-Josh Cr,

Sorry for keep asking you 21 questions but if the onboard video is fully operational when using the iDRAC remote console, how come when sometimes plugging an external display into either VGA port on the rack server doesn't display anything? Are there any error logs I need to comprehend in iDRAC as well as Event Viewer?

Kind regards,

RocknRollTim 

I think it is something in the OS, but with it being such a critical system and not being able to take it down, it is hard to be sure. Are there any errors in event viewer?

The only event that seemed to be possibly related was on the 9th, “The Desktop Window Manager was unable to start because a composited theme is not in use“

Hi Dell-Josh Cr,

There are errors in the Event Viewer, I have provided links for both the Application logs as well as the System logs below.

Application logs - https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=1550B779A1E09442%2110071

System logs - https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=1550B779A1E09442%2110073

Hope this helps.

Kind regards,

RocknRollTim

Hi Dell-Josh Cr,

Are there any steps you can recommend to resolve the problem highlighted in your last post? Also is there any information published about this error?

Kind regards,

RocknRollTim 

Turning off the desktop experience feature should do it.

Excellent Dell-Josh Cr, I'll suggest that to my IT Manager in order to fix the issue, thank you for all your help and if I encounter any problems or have anymore queries I won't hesitate to ask.

Kind regards,

RocknRollTim

Yes, that is correct.