Belkin Omniview 8-port KVM Switch

[Jester]

I have recently bought a second-hand KVM switch off eBay. This is a Belkin Omniview Pro 8-Port KVM Switch (F1D108-OSD) and I am having a small problem which so far even the Belkin Support people are having trouble resolving (have logged a call with them through their website).

The problem I am having is this:

I currently have 6 PC's running off this KVM switch, with an Acer 19" LCD screen, and a standard keyboard & mouse.

The PC's are all running one of any of the following O/S:

Windows XP Professional
Windows 2000 Server
Windows Vista Home Premium
Windows 7 Ultimate

The problem I am experiencing is that every so often, the screen blanks for about 2 seconds and then comes back. There is no pattern to the frequency of the screen blanking and it always comes back on after 2 seconds. However, very ocasionally, the screen blanking causes the mouse to disappear/freeze on the return of the display. This tends to be annoying as it then means rebooting all of the PC's. I know it is the KVM switch that is causing this as I hear an audible click from the switch at the same time that the monitor blanks for 2 seconds. But I don't know what is causing this to happen.

The monitor is connected to the KVM switch by a standard 15-pin cable. All of the KVM cables are Belkin-made cables.

The screen blanking also tends to be very annoying if one is playing a game on a PC at the time as by the time the screen comes back you have been killed !!

So far, the User Manuals that came with the switch have been of no use and Belkin support people seem to be grasping at straws.

I have a hunch that maybe the KVM switch is doing a port refresh occasionally, though I have no idea why it would do this. The other thing I am thinking is that maybe the versions of Windows I am using (as all except 2000 Server are plug-and-play) maybe causing the switch to behave in this way.

Previous to using this KVM switch, I had 4 PC's going through a Belkin Omniview E-Series 4-port switch and I did not get this problem.

Thing is that the 8-port KVM switch I am now using is older than the original 4-port KVM switch so this may also have some bearing on things.

Do any of you (Curlyben ?) use a Belkin Omniview Switch of any sort (as this KVM switch I have bought is a professional rack-mountable switch) in your line of work ?
If so, have you encountered this problem ?
If you have encountered this problem, how did you resolve it ?

Cheers

[Curlyben]

Re: Belkin Omniview 8-port KVM Switch

I did use a 16 ported for my servers, but I was never on it long enough to notice this type of thing.
Admittedly most of my server work is remote, especially now as my whole infrastructure is virtual on VMware ESX

With Belkin I do find you get what you pay for, hence my reason for moving to Netgear instead.

[Jester]

Re: Belkin Omniview 8-port KVM Switch

Interesting answer. Thanks Curly.

I have to admit that I have bought several Belkin products through the years and never had any problem with any of them. In contrast to your experience, I have also had several Netgear products (especially Routers) and had nothing but problems with them.

The difference is that Netgear have an active forum where one can resolve issues whereas Belkin do not !!

Anyway, I now no longer believe that the Belkin KVM switch is actually at fault...and here is the reason why:

I've been using the PC I am typing this message on now for well over an hour this morning without the Monitor Blanking problem raising it's head. This PC is running XP Professional and has an ATI Radeon Graphics card (inbuilt). None of the other PC's are switched on at the moment.

All of the other PC's that run through the KVM switch have nVidia graphics cards (either inbuilt or as separate cards) and run either W2K, Vista or W7.

I am erring on the side of ruling out the O/S because W2K at least is not clever enough to be causing Graphics problems because it is not Plug n Play.

So now I am gonna do some Googling to see if I can find any articles of issues of this type when used with nVidia graphics cards.

I did at one point think that the problem may be to with DDC/CI (which is the mode that enables a Monitor to be PnP to a Windows O/S). I had already seen an article that stated that 'some KVM switches' incorrectly interpreted the signals on certain pins, so turned off DDC/CI on the monitor to see if that made a difference. Sadly, it did not.

Anyway, that's my task for this morning. Will let you know if I make any progress

[Luminol]

Re: Belkin Omniview 8-port KVM Switch

I spoke to my OH about this, he uses the same at work (hes in the IT field)....he says:

'he has a Belkin one, he uses this generally at work, and they are known for being flaky..over a period of time they have noticed that the ports fail, but if its helpful to your research, he has ATI graphics on both his PC's and it happens on both of them. To use your set up reliably he would recommend upgrading to a better brand for your switch', 'Over the last year 2 of his ports will not work anymore, but its accepted across the IT dept thats what the Belkins do'

Hope that helps

Lumi x

[Jester]

Re: Belkin Omniview 8-port KVM Switch

Thanks for the reply Lum.

However, the plot thickens .....

I've decided to turn each of the PC's on, one by one, to see if there is a particular one causing this problem.

The PC running W7 has now been running for around 30 mins and no sign of the Monitor Blanking problem as yet. Will leave it running for an hour, if still no problem then I'll switch the next one on etc etc.

I happen to know that all the ports work correctly because I have tried them all.

However, I have since read (on a Microsoft Forum of all places) that others have experienced this problem when running a PC that has DVI outputs from their nVidia card.

The Gaming PC I have actually has DVI output (but is being fed via a VGA converter to the switch). That PC happens to be the only one running Vista. So that PC will be the last one to be powered up. The evidence so far strongly points to that PC being the culprit. If it is, then I will have to find a workaround.

I understand what your hubby (and Curly) say by getting another KVM Switch, but 8-Port KVM switches retail in the region of £200 - which I have always baulked at paying, hence the reason why I purchased this second-hand Belkin off eBay.

By the time Christmas arrives, I will have another two old Dell PC's which will added to my stack, thus taking it up to full capacity (two of my kids are having new baseunits for Xmas). I plan to configure those two PC's up with Linux and OSX Leopard (via a hackintosh install).

I know this may seem terribly geeky to you all, but I have always been a real geek when it comes to technology. If it can be done then I want to try it

I've already had a Hackintosh running on a Toshiba Laptop successfully, but I have yet to get a distro working on a PC (which I want to do). I also want the Linux installation because I know very little about that O/S and want to learn it (will prolly be Ubuntu as I have installed that previously a few years ago and much preferred it to other Linux distros).

Eventually, the Hackintosh will prolly be given to my oldest daughter (as she is studying for a 3D Animation Degree at University) because an AppleMac is the best tool for the kind of work she is doing (and I can't afford an AppleMac anyway). When that happens, she will have that PC in her bedroom sat next to her Windows PC and operating through the (now redundant) 4-port KVM switch that I used to use.

Isn't this fun ? lol

*Excuse me while I wander back to Geek-land*

[Luminol]

Re: Belkin Omniview 8-port KVM Switch

I'll show my Oh this post when he gets back from the corner shop, see if he has any opinions

[Jester]

Re: Belkin Omniview 8-port KVM Switch

Thanks for the reply Lum.

However, the plot thickens .....

I've decided to turn each of the PC's on, one by one, to see if there is a particular one causing this problem.

The PC running W7 has now been running for around 30 mins and no sign of the Monitor Blanking problem as yet. Will leave it running for an hour, if still no problem then I'll switch the next one on etc etc.

I happen to know that all the ports work correctly because I have tried them all.

However, I have since read (on a Microsoft Forum of all places) that others have experienced this problem when running a PC that has DVI outputs from their nVidia card.

The Gaming PC I have actually has DVI output (but is being fed via a VGA converter to the switch). That PC happens to be the only one running Vista. So that PC will be the last one to be powered up. The evidence so far strongly points to that PC being the culprit. If it is, then I will have to find a workaround.

I understand what your hubby (and Curly) say by getting another KVM Switch, but 8-Port KVM switches retail in the region of £200 - which I have always baulked at paying, hence the reason why I purchased this second-hand Belkin off eBay.

By the time Christmas arrives, I will have another two old Dell PC's which will added to my stack, thus taking it up to full capacity (two of my kids are having new baseunits for Xmas). I plan to configure those two PC's up with Linux and OSX Leopard (via a hackintosh install).

I know this may seem terribly geeky to you all, but I have always been a real geek when it comes to technology. If it can be done then I want to try it

I've already had a Hackintosh running on a Toshiba Laptop successfully, but I have yet to get a distro working on a PC (which I want to do). I also want the Linux installation because I know very little about that O/S and want to learn it.

Eventually, the Hackintosh will prolly be given to my oldest daughter (as she is studying for a 3D Animation Degree at University) because an AppleMac is the best tool for the kind of work she is doing (and I can't afford an AppleMac anyway). When that happens, she will have that PC in her bedroom sat next to her Windows PC and operating through the (now redundant) 4-port KVM switch that I used to use.

Isn't this fun ? lol

*Excuse me while I wander back to Geek-land*
------------------------------- merged -------------------------------
How the hell did my post end up appearing twice almost half-hour after the first one ?

[Luminol]

Re: Belkin Omniview 8-port KVM Switch

You could try, mixing up O/S and ports.

Hubby says you shouldnt get the same problem with only 1 PC on, so you should do the your testing with at least 2 pcs on at the same time, but vary which 2 are on, so by process of elimination you may narrow down the cause of the problem.

Hope that helps your testing, Geek land isnt that bad Im a permanent resident, with PC bits allover

Lumi xx

[Jester]

Re: Belkin Omniview 8-port KVM Switch

Am now up to three PC's on. Problem still not manifesting yet

[Jester]

Re: Belkin Omniview 8-port KVM Switch

Sorted !!

[LuggerBugs]

Re: Belkin Omniview 8-port KVM Switch

Sorted? You can't just leave it at that!!!!

I was going to say that I had a similar problem with a 4 port, and it turned out to be an intermittent bad connection on one of the mouse cables.

What was your issue????

[Jester]

Re: Belkin Omniview 8-port KVM Switch

pmsl .... I bought a second-hand Aten Masterview CS9138 off eBay for £20 and hey-ho, problem solved !!

I suspect the problem on the Belkin is simply it's age. I think the Belkin I had was a mechanical KVM switch rather than an electronic one. No matter what I did, I could not get rid of the problem. I couldn't find anywhere that could reassure me the the Belkin was DDC2B compliant. Eventually I gave up as the problem was so annoying. One thing I am certain of is that it was not the Vista machine with GT9800 graphics card that was causing the problem.

I saw the Aten KVM on eBay originally at £35 (and it was rated DDC2B compliant). But I haggled the guy down to £20 and bought it. It arrived yesterday evening. I installed it in place of the Belkin and hey presto, no more problem.

Am now using the Belkin as a doorstop !!

BTW, I already had a Belkin 4-port and it worked brilliantly for two years never giving me any problem. The 8-Port KVM was simply replacement for the 4-port as I have outgrown the 4-port (have too many computers)

[LuggerBugs]

Re: Belkin Omniview 8-port KVM Switch

Fantastic. Belkin are off my Christmas card list anyway, since they flat out refused to provide Vista drivers for my video capture wotsit.

It was crap anyway, but at least I'd found a work around for it on XP.