hey guys this is justin welcome back to the fourth and final installment video for the new a2u series
by te smart today we're going to cover some common troubleshooting techniques if you haven't already
check out the other videos in this series where we cover the highlights setup and operations
for these units here's a quick outline of today's topics that we're going to cover
we've broken down each section so that you can skip ahead but watch
the critical tips before doing so alright let's get into today's video
if you have issues after setting up your kvm the first rule of troubleshooting is
always to reboot everything to do this you'll turn the kvm off unplug the kvm to drain the
board reboot your computers and then plug the power back into the kvm and turn it on
in the future you shouldn't have to unplug the kvm but it's a good practice if it starts to act up
if you're having issues with one input in particular try unplugging and replugging
the cables for that device this reestablishes the communication in that connection stream
if you're having persistent issues with one device in particular
try plugging that device into a known working cable and port for instance if your desktop pc
is working fine but your laptop isn't try plugging the laptop into the same cable and port that the
desktop was using if the laptop works then you can use the other cable in the same port
most troubleshooting has to do with the keyboard or mouse connectivity because of this we started
logging keyboards and publishing the results on our website we test with only pass remote on for
windows and mac but there are some linux distros that work better with pass-through mode off
but generally you're just going to want to keep pass-remote on all the time if your hotkeys are
not working make sure that your keyboard and mouse are plugged into the dedicated mouse and
keyboard ports in the back of the kvm these ports have emulation programming that allows the kvm to
recognize hotkey commands hotkeys can be assigned to either scroll lock or right control so if
scroll lock isn't working then try using right control instead if your keyboard does not have
a scroll lock key and the right control key is not working press and hold the yellow push button
for about 15 seconds until the kvm beeps this will change the key that is used for the hotkey trigger
if the keyboard or mouse isn't working at all test your devices by plugging them into the usb
2.0 port this is a common work around if a keyboard or mouse isn't supported
the only downside to the usb 2.0 port is that it's not going to recognize hotkey commands
so you'll have to use the push button or the remote control to switch on the other hand
the benefit of the usb 2.0 port is that it will not conflict with a mouse or keyboard software
if you're using it repeating characters is another common issue this is caused by a
conflict with the kvm and the mouse and keyboard software such as logitech options or corsair iq
if this is happening you will need to uninstall the software simply type in remove programs and
scroll through the applications until you see the software that you want to remove if you absolutely
have to use keyboard and mouse software then you can always use the usb 2.0 port as a work around
quite often customers will note that their wireless mouse or keyboards are jumpy or erratic
this is almost always due to rf interference and is a common problem in non-kvm environments
as well we recommend picking up a cheap little usb extender like this that we've linked below
then you're just going to get the receiver away from the kvm and closer to your mouse and keyboard
as we mentioned in prior videos the kvm does not have internal bluetooth because of this we
recommend not using bluetooth mice and keyboards at all but if you still want to try you can pick
up a bluetooth receiver like we have here and then you can try pairing to the receiver and
then plugging it into the kvm's usb 2.0 port we've really found that very few devices are
capable of doing this so it's best just to avoid bluetooth altogether important to understand that
the kvm receives audio over the hdmi connections then the kvm replicates the audio to the monitor
and to the analog audio output so if you're using external speakers like we've set up here
you're going to need to turn the volume on your monitor all the way down most audio issues are
actually caused by the operating system not selecting the correct audio output when the audio
isn't selected automatically you simply click on the audio settings in the lower right hand corner
of windows and select the option that looks like your monitor some customers have found that using
a usb adapter is a better and more reliable way for the kvm to receive audio this is especially
true if you're using a vga or dvi adapter since they don't carry audio signals if you have
persistent audio issues we recommend picking up a cheap little audio adapter like this on amazon
it plugs directly into the kvm's usb 2.0 port or hub and then you plug your analog speakers into it
now the kvm can receive audio over usb and you simply select usb audio on your operating system
most video issues are due to incompatible adapters or poor cables symptoms of this are
like blinking or blinking screens or no video at all and sometimes even just wrong colors because
of the frequency of this issue we made a list of tested and approved adapters on our website
if you have an issue with a device that needs an adapter try rebooting and reseeding the cable if
that doesn't work pick up an adapter from our list just make sure that you choose the correct from
and two conversions because most adapters are not bi-directional choosing the wrong from and
two conversions is actually a pretty common problem that we deal with if you're still
having audio issues make sure that you are using the correct port on your computer for
desktops if you have a graphics card you need to plug the video connection into the graphics card
and avoid using the motherboard's video ports for laptops with type c adapters you need to confirm
that your type c port has dp alt mode which means that the type c port can be used for either video
or data if you don't have dp alt mode you can always use a docking station with display link
once you do have video signal you can go into your operating system and then confirm that you
have the correct resolution and refresh rate right click on your desktop and click display
settings then select advanced display settings then display adapter properties finally click
list all modes and select the resolution and the refresh rate that you want take note that macs are
notorious for limiting these options and you might not have the same selections on a mac compared to
a pc alright that's it for today's video there are certainly many more troubleshooting steps
in what we covered here today if you still have an issue open a ticket by clicking the orange
support button in the lower right hand corner of our website thanks and have a great day