Troubleshoot the NO SIGNAL problem
Last updated
Last updated
The "NO SIGNAL" message is a VERY COMMON experience for people who have a pen display. Most often this can be fixed. But it can be challenging to diagnose the cause because there are so many factors involved.
What it means: The "NO SIGNAL" message tells you that the pen display is not receiving a display signal from the computer. Commonly when people encounter the NO SIGNAL problem, they will notice that their pen continues to work on the tablet, even though they can't see anything.
This guide lists every piece of information and tactic I am aware of that might help.
However, it may be that even this guide is not enough to help. And ultimately you should be prepared to contact your tablet manufacturer's customer support team.
The fact that you are seeing a NO SIGNAL message already tells you a few things:
The pen display is getting enough power. If it wasn't getting enough power, you wouldn't see this message.
The backlight inside the display panel is working. If the backlight wasn't working, this message would not be visible or incredibly difficult to read.
There is nothing wrong with the display panel itself. The fact that it is showing you anything at all tells you the display panel is working.
For some tablets, the NO SIGNAL message is accompanied bya POWER SAVING message.
POWER SAVING is NOT indicating a problem with POWER.
POWER SAVING means "The pen display is not receiving a display signal from the computer. So rather than wasting energy by keeping the display powered up but not showing anything, the pen display is going to shut down."
So, ultimately this message is telling you the tablet is trying to save you money not that there is a power problem.
Troubleshooting the the NO SIGNAL problem starts with understanding how your computer interprets an attached pen display. Pen displays are a single physical device that you connect to a computer. However, your computer thinks of the pen display as two separate devices:
a pen tablet (aka screenless tablet)
and a monitor/display
Your computer and operating system have no idea that these two devices are related in any way. Even if a single cable is used to connect your pen display to your computer, it will continue to believe two devices are part of the same pen display. On the other hand, your tablet driver will know that these two devices are related.
The reason it is important to understand this is that the NO SIGNAL issue is a display issue, not a pen tablet issue.
Another consequence of this "two devices" behvaior, is that even though you may be experiencing a "no signal" error, you can still use your tablet as a pen tablet (a screenless tablet). In fact this is often feature of drawing tablets, some people occasionally want to use them as pen tablets without the screen.
So, In general, messing around the tablet drivers WILL NOT HELP. So, don't bother reinstalling, upgrading, changing tablet drivers. While I do recommend having the latest drivers generally, it is very unlikely to help the NO SIGNAL problem.
Presumably, your computer already has one screen, so when you plug in your tablet it should at least recognize that there are two screens (one coming from the pen display).
In your operating system's Display Settings, you should see two displays. And one of them should be your tablet's display
If your computer doesn't think there is a display attached, it certainly isn't going to send a signal to it. So if you don't see this detection, follow these troubleshooting steps: Troubleshoot display detection
Sometimes you operating system knows the display is there, but it is deliberately not sending a display signal to it.
For example, in Windows for the display in your tablet, Windows might be configured to "show desktop only on Display <X>" - change it to one of the other options that will use the tablet display.
Try connecting your pen display to another source of HDMI input. This can be anything: another PC, a laptop, a XBOX, a camera, anything that sends a signal via an HDMI port.
Try connecting a monitor the the same HDMI port you want to use with your pen display.
Verify that your cables are fully connected.
Sometimes cables can sit in a port without fully "locking" in.
Check for lint or any other foreign objects in the port. They can prevent the connection from working
Turn off your pen display and DISCONNECT ALL THE CABLES, then plug it back in.
DO NOT just press the ON/OFF button while the pen display is connected. Actually DISCONNECT ALL THE CABLES
Some variations to try
Some people recommend to disconnect, then hold the tablet power button down for long time (30 seconds), and then reconnect.
Some people recommend that you try leaving the tablet disconnected for an extended period of time - like 30 minutes before you reconnect.
Your computer may have multiple HDMI ports, try different ones.
If the computer PC has graphics card, it have HDMI ports
Always first try the HDMI port on your graphics card first - it's better to use them than HDMI ports on your motherboard
Some people suggest that motherboard ports NEVER work. This is NOT true. It is highly dependent on the specific machine. I can confirm I have several computers where the motherboard does work.
IF your computer has a USB-C port that supports a display signal there are a couple of options for you.
More here: USB-C support for display signal
If your tablet has a USB-C port and your computer has a USB-C port that supports a display signal, then you might be able to use a USB-C to USB-C cable.
You can try a USB-C to HDMI adapter. More here: Using HDMI adapters with pen displays.
if your PC has a DisplayPort or DVI output, try an adapter. More here: Using HDMI adapters with pen displays.
Sometimes adapters themselves can be the source of the NO SIGNAL problem.
Try a different HDMI adapter .
Try NOT using an HDMI adapter.
HDMI Splitters are are also sometimes a bit "flaky" and can cause a NO SIGNAL problem. more here: Using HDMI splitters with pen displays
Try connecting WIHOUT an HDMI splitter
If you have a computer, disconnect all other displays and then only connect your pen display. Sometimes computers get tripped up when multiple displays are being used, so by trying this procedure you help force it to use the pen display.
If that works, start reconnecting the other displays until they are all plugged back in and working.
Typically you PC will already have one monitor attached to it. So the pen display will be the second screen.
You have two options in your operating system:
Mirror the contents of your desktop across both screens. This means they will show the same thing.
Extend the contents of your desktop across both screens. This means that the screens will show different things.
If you are getting no signal in extended mode, then try mirrored mode. And vice versa.
Graphics cards usually have multiple ports for sending a display signal. However, sometimes not all of them can be used at the same time.
Suppose your graphics card has 4 physical HDMI outputs. It's possible your card only supports using 3 of them at the same time. And so if you plug in the to the 4th port, you may get a no signal issue.
Read the documentation for your graphics card to verify how many it supports.
If your computer recognizes that a display is attached but you are still getting no signal, try changing the Refresh Rate the computer is using for the display.
Sometimes a misconfigured refresh rate causes the computer to not send a signal. For example, I have seen this happen with a Windows Update, my pen display worked, but then after the update I saw the NO SIGNAL error. Somehow the refresh rate had been set to some unsupported value, once I changed it back to 60Hz it all worked again.
So always verify the refresh rate.
Start with a lower refresh rate, and build up to higher ones.
Typically pen displays only go up to 60Hz.
If your computer recognizes that a display is attached but you are still getting no signal, try changing the Resolution the computer is using for the display.
First try a very low resolution first and then build up to higher resolutions.
Some users report that if they are getting NO SIGNAL with their pen display, they have been able to connect the pen display to another computer where it does work. And then once it worked, they reattached it back to the first computer where it then began working.
See this reddit comment: https://www.reddit.com/r/huion/comments/109wjgx/comment/j41ekyk/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3
The reason this process might work is not clear. It could be because depowering the pen display was the reason. It could be because the connection to the other computer altered something in the pen display. In any case, it is worth a try if you continue to have problems.
The Wacom One 2019 GEN1 is very sensitive to the orientation of the how the 3-in-1 cable is plugged into its USB-C port. Usually the orientation that works, is when the cable sticks out to left side of the Wacom one.
It sometimes happens that monitors require firmware updates to make getting a display signal work. For example: This ASUS monitor required a firmware update to get video to work over USB C.
IMPORTANT: Don't install firmware updates on the general hope they will improve things. Please consult your manufacturer and support team to verify whether they recommend a firmware update to solve the problem.
This is one of the most surprising things about the NO SIGNAL problem is that it can occur to an existing working system. It's happened to me.
Here's what can trigger it
A GPU driver update
An Operating System update
| Windows 11 | MacOS (Ventura) |
|---|---|
