In many cases, faulty AV systems are caused by faulty connections, namely HDMI or VGA flyleads. These are the leads that are used to connect your laptop with your projector or LCD panel. They generally go into a wall plate are approx 3m long. This can be frustrating if at the beginning of a lesson or presentation, you discover this fault.
This can potentially be fixed by following this simple step. This involves sourcing an alternative HDMI or VGA flylead, to test the system and see if it is actually the cable that is faulty. Many IT departments in schools have some of these types of leads as spares for such occasions. If not, it may be worth considering having some of these on-hand to help future-proof this problem becoming a regular issue. This simple process of checking and testing with another flylead can sometimes be overlooked in the moment and could easily solve a lot of heartache.
The issue can sometimes be the laptop connection itself. If changing the flylead doesn’t solve the problem, you can see if it’s the VGA or HDMI port in your laptop that is faulty, by checking and connecting a colleague’s laptop (that you know works with a flylead).
Other steps to determine the issue with a HDMI or VGA connection issue is to inspect the connection plate (on the wall) to see if there is any visible damage to the connection points. For example, there could be bent or missing pins. If the actual cable does not fit well into the plate, it may due to a well worn cable connection or if the plate itself is loose, this may indicate a connection issue behind plate. May require a technician to come out a fix plate / connection behind plate.
If it appears that the plate is loose or the cable attached to the plate is not firmly in the plate, then a AV technician may be required to fix the plate, re-attach cables inside the wall that connect to the plate or replace the cable that runs from the projector to the wall plate.
Another useful point to mention in relation to faulty cables is the quality of the cables themselves. If you have a low-quality HDMI flylead cable, the connection may not be great and they wear out quickly from the continual plugging-in, taking-out process. This is where we have helped many schools solve this problem by recommending they use a Kramer HDMI KLock cable (flylead). They have a unique gripping mechanism on the outside and inside of the plug, which holds the cable firmly in place at the connection plate.
For assistance with your faulty AV system or equipment, you can log a fault here or call DIB Australia on (03) 9457-4800.
To find out more about Kramer KLock HDMI cables, CLICK HERE