Hi,

I seem to have a problem with my Jaguarboard, which I haven't been able to solve. In brief, the board does not consistently output HDMI video. Sometimes it will boot absolutely fine, but other times there is simply no HDMI video signal at all. I realise audio over HDMI is not supported on the Jaguarboard, but my problem is entirely video-related.

On the first time that I opened up my Jaguardboard package and connected it up, the board operated correctly. The Intel logo boot screen and BIOS all operated normally and the board was able to boot into the pre-installed Fedora Linux system. I did not need to update the BIOS - the factory installed one seemed to work well, so I left it unchanged. I then put the Debian 8.3 netinstall ISO onto a USB thumb drive and booted into it to see if it might be possible to install Debian OS. I got to a point where I could see the ISO boot fine and so I shutdown the Jaguarboard without doing any Debian install. I was satisfied that all looked okay and would have a go at a proper install later.

The next day I tried to boot the Jaguarboard, but it does not show any video output to the screen at all (the monitor indicates that there is no signal). The HDMI cable is properly connected and on the Jaguarboard, the power LED lit up, followed by the 3 other LEDs (USB joint, USB hub then audio) and the keyboard Num Lock also lights up. However there is no HDMI video output (there wasn't even the Intel boot logo or BIOS). The keyboard also seems to be unresponsive it won't change the Caps Lock LED or any other input does not seem to do anything - it is hard to tell because I can not see anything on the screen). I have to remove the USB power cable and reconnect it to retry, but it keeps doing exactly the same thing. I tried this many times and also try unplugging the USB keyboard and USB thumb drive, but the Jaguarboard was still not working. I read another post on the forum that suggested to try re-seating the HDMI stabilising chip, so I disconnected everything and used chip extractor tool to remove and re-insert the chip. I tried to power up the board again, but there still wasn't any HDMI signal. I give up on that day and disconnected everything to think about it.

A few days later I decide to try the Jaguarboard again. I connected everything back like on the previous days and plugged in the power. The Jaguarboard worked the first time - all completely normally with the Intel boot/BIOS screen and into the factory-installed Linux system. I tried powering off and rebooting the board several times and each time it worked normally. This confused me because I did not do anything different - I used the same equipment as before - same monitor, same power supply, same TF card and USB thumb drive. I could not understand why and so I disconnected everything again.

A few days later I decide to try the Jaguarboard again, but just like on the previous ocassion, the HDMI did not work again. It was all exactly the same problem - power and 3 LED's light up, plus keyboard Num Lock light up, but no HDMI video output. The only thing that seemed to work was if I held down the power button next to HDMI chip for maybe 6 seconds, the 3 USB/audio LEDs and keyboard Num Lock switched off with the power LED remaining lit.

Today I have just tried the board again, and this time the video output correctly on the first boot. I jumped into the BIOS to have a look at the options to see if there might be any related video settings that might need adjusting. I did find some settings, however I didn't know what they would do so I thought it would be wise to Exit the BIOS discarding any changes. To my surprise, when the board then rebooted, the video output was lost (despite me discarding any changes). Again, no matter of powering off and rebooting would get the video output working again. I even resorted to powering off and disconnecting the HDMI display (in case it was supplying some sort of standby power to the board). No matter what I did, the HDMI video just wouldn't come back.

I think there must be something wrong because it seems to be so intermittent. It is almost as though when the problem is experienced, the board is operating fine, but it is simply not sending any HDMI signal. It is also very strange that it mostly either "works well" or "not work at all". Today was the first time that I have been able to get the video output to fail after it has been working well (and even then I didn't do anything to cause the failure).

I have great hopes for this board, but I can not seem to get it to show the HDMI consistently and I do not understand why not. I intend to use Jaguardboard as a standalone gaming console/computer and so working HDMI is absolutely necessary. I am in Australia and so I am using an Australian plug switch-mode power supply of 5v @ 2.25A. The power supply included with Jaguarboard is US style 5V @ 2.0A. I used a US/AUS converter socket to try the Jaguarboard factory US power supply, but it did not give me any HDMI output either and seems to work the same as my local Australian power supply. I have also tried a different HDMI cable with no improvement. Other devices output to the screen just fine, so I can only conclude the problem lies with the Jaguarboard.

As far as I can tell, I have not done anything risky that might cause a problem. As I said before, I did not update the BIOS and have not even gotten to a point where I would be partitioning or formatting any drives. The only thing involving any risk was reseating the HDMI chip, but I did not experience any problems doing it.

I have run out of ideas on what to try and what might be wrong. Is this simply a bad board or is there some other design flaw?

These are the same kind of problems I experienced with my board. The fix was to use a monitor that doesn't have an HDMI connection. It's the audio connection inside the HDMI that causes the problems. Use a monitor that doesn't have speakers so it will only have VGA or DVI type connectors, NOT HDMI. So the cord will have HDMI at the Jaguarboard but NOT HDMI at the monitor. Either DVI or VGA. Of course an adapter if you only have HDMI on doth ends might work too. I think the audio pass thru in an HDMI monitor pulls down the power supply and causes major trouble with the board. Good luck.

Oh how unfortunate - I see my hopes and recommendations starting to fade. In that case, another possible workaround would be to try other powered converters like HDMI splitters or analogue audio HDMI injectors (which could restore full HDMI AV functionality to the board). It is a pity that these will end up costing a sizeable portion of the cost of the Jaguarboard itself. Thanks for reporting your experiences.

Hi Sir,

We did receive some reports about the HDMI video issue and we are looking into it at the moment. We think it is a HDMI incompatibility issue because it only happened in some Monitor with HDMI interface and not all of them, some good, some not.

And if you use a HDMI to VGA or DVI adapter to connect Jaguardboard with VGA/DVI monitor, it works fine, there is not a single video issue reported from customers. Can you try that?

Anyway, we will update the result after we figure it out, thanks for your feedback and your patience!

I was really intending to use the board on a HDMI display and I don't have a converter cable on hand, but I'll have a look around on my next outing just for the purpose of testing the board.

With any luck, you are able to identify the problem and hopefully it is as simple as releasing a BIOS update.

This seems to have worked for my board: www.jaguarboard.org/index.php/forum/troubles...en.html?start=12#396

Would like to know what is this for.