THIS MONTH THE DOCTOR TACKLES...
↘ submit your questions to: [email protected]DVI to USB-C
Long-time subscriber for
more than 20 years here:
I have an LG 2 9-inch 2K
monitor, model number LG
29UM59-A. This monitor has
one HDMI and one USB-C
port. I have been trying to
connect a second computer
to the USB-C port without
any success.
The motherboard with
the USB-C port is an MSI
X370 Gaming Pro (with AMD
Ryzen 170 0X CPU and 32GB
RAM), with an MSI GeForce
GTX 750 TI video card with
2GB of memory. I'm hoping
to upgrade to an RTX 3070 or
RTX 3080 when prices come
back down to normal.
I’ve tried both USB-C-
to-VGA and USB-C-to-
DVI adapters and neither
works. I’ve not tried a direct
USB-C cable yet as I do not
have one. Is there some
reason why these adapters
don't work? Is USB-C
bidirectional? – RogerTHE DOCTOR RESPONDS:
First up, you won’t be able
to connect the USB-C port
on your PC to your monitor- that’s because the USB-C
port on your monitor’s
connector is more accurately
described as a DisplayPort or
Thunderbolt over USB-C one,
so it needs connecting to your
graphics card as you’ve tried
using the two adapters.
The issue with the
adapters is that they’re
one-way, so are designed
to connect a DisplayPort/
Thunderbolt over USB-C port
on your PC to a DVI or VGA
port on your monitor. You
want something that works in
the opposite direction—a DVI
to DisplayPort adapter. We
found a StarTech.com DVI to
DisplayPort adapter for $ 39
from CDW (www.cdw.com/
product/startech/4 888592 ).
You will need to pair that
with a bi-directional
USB-C-to-DisplayPort cable
to complete the connection
to your display—Amazon
Basics offers a 3ft cable for
around $ 15 (www.amazon.
com/dp/B081VK7Q94). These
two items combined should
enable you to use your PC
with your LG monitor and
when you come to upgrade
to an RTX 3070 or 30 80,
you’ll be able to use the
cable to connect it directly
to your monitor, allowing
you to retire or redeploy the
DVI-to-DisplayPort adapter
elsewhere.Change start-up sound
My issue is more an
annoyance than anythingelse: I’ve successfully
installed Windows 11 on
both desktop and laptop,
and on the whole, I’m happy
with it. However, I frequently
shut down my PC, and rely
on being able to hear the
Windows logon sound to
know it’s ready for me to use.
This wasn’t a problem
in Windows 10, but the
Windows 11 start-up sound
is too wimpy. Unfortunately,
I’m struggling to find a way
to change this sound to
something better – an online
tip suggesting a Registry
tweak failed to work. Can
you tell me how to change
the sound associated with
Windows 11 starting up?- GerryExstein
THE DOCTOR RESPONDS:
The Registry tweak Gerry
refers to, namely to navigate
to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\
AppEvents\EventLabels\
WindowsLogon and change
the ‘ExcludeFromCPL’ value
to 0, allows users to change
the Windows Logon sound
via the Sounds tab of the
old Sound Control Panel
(access this via ‘Settings >
System > Sound > More
sound settings’).
However, the reason the
option is hidden is that the
sound in question is nowredundant – it’s not the
source of the sound you’ll
hear when you log into
Windows.
The actual fix for Gerry’s
problem lies elsewhere
and would normally involve
patching a system file
(C:\Windows\System32\
imageres.dll). Thankfully, the
excellent portable (and free!)
Winaero Tweaker (https://
winaerotweaker.com) tool
does the heavy lifting for you.
First, you need to source
a WAV file of the start-up
sound you wish to use—you
can download the sounds
from earlier versions of
Windows from WinHistory.De
(www.winhistory.de/more/
winstart/winstart_en.htm),
for example.
Once downloaded, open
Winaero Tweaker and
navigate to Appearance >
Startup Sound. Clicking ‘Play
current sound’ will confirm
the wimpy sound you’re
hoping to change, then click
‘Replace startup sound’
to select the replacement
WAV file. You’ll be prompted
to reboot your system, but
simply opt to do it later, then
click ‘Play current sound’ to
confirm the sound has been
changed. Should you later
want to switch back, simply
click ‘Restore default sound’.quickstart