Been using this L1 HDMI KVM since it came out and it’s been working great, up until just today.
I use it to switch between my work and personal PC’s since I work at home, and the KVM handles my one display, mouse, keyboard, and audio. The actual setup is a bit more complicated than that, as it goes like this:
First connection: my personal M1 Mac Mini, with audio, HDMI, and USB.
Second conenction: Anker 777 thunderbolt dock connected to my work Macbook Pro. I have the headphone out connected to the KVM’s 3.5mm audio input, and have the HDMI from the dock go into the KVM, but other wise it’s just a USB pass through for my keyboard & mouse.
Third connection: my personal rackmount HDD storage server. I don’t use the audio for it since it’s not needed.
Fourth connection: my other storage server, also not using the audio for this.
I have a Logitech G815 keyboard and a Logitech MX Vertical mouse connected to it.
What appears to be happening is that the KVM will randomly shut down, and the only way to turn it back on is to either unplug/replug the power cable on the KVM side or to do the same to the power brick.
The KVM’s been plugged into a Cyberpower UPS for as long as I’ve had it so it’s not like it got hit with a power surge, and there haven’t been any issues prior to today.
Anything I should try doing to fix this? Or is it a case where I shoudl try to source a replacement power brick?
Well I seemingly tracked down the culprit, and it wasn’t the power connector - it was the HDMI output from the thunderbolt dock.
It’s been working fine for the 4 months I’ve been using it, but between doing Macbook → thunderbolt → dock → HDMI → KVM → 3440x1440 ultrawide, I’m not surprised there were issues
I can live without the HDMI connection being controlled by the KVM since I can connect the dock to my display’s other HDMI port.
I guess this is more of a bug report if anything since I seemed to have solved it?
Seems I spoke too soon. After moving the HDMI that comes from my work Macbook’s thunderbolt dock from the HDMI KVM to being plugged directly into one of the HDMI ports on the monitor, everything worked for the 4 days that I haven’t posted, but now the issue has come back. Not sure what to try to dix it.
Unplugging the Macbook thunderbolt dock completely from the KVM
Plugging the Macbook Thunderbolt dock to the KVM and testing any and all USB devices connected to it (an HDMI capture card, and a 3.5mm audio output)
KVM was plugged into a UPS, so I tried instead plugging it into another UPS I have that I can confirm works with everything else that’s plugged into it
But it seems that the issue lies from plugging in a keyboard in any of the ports on the KVM - I tried two different keyboards, and the moment they are plugged in the KVM shits off. I tried multiple mice and the issue didn’t happen.
Is this an issue where the KVM isn’t able to supply power to the keyboards and gets overloaded?
Hate to tag @wendell but maybe you’d have more insight on all of this
Well, after trying to test out another keyboard, the KVM just flat out died. It no longer turns on at all, even when I try unplugging and replugging the power brick or the power cable going into the KVM.
Was thinking of getting a Level 1 DisplayPort KVM, but aside from it being currently sold out, I’m kind of worried about the longevity since I’ve had this KVM for just over 3 years (got mine in December 2019)
Tried to use the KVM a bit later and the power light turns on and off with a clicking noise, but it won’t remain powered.
Contacted Wendell directly through the support email on the store, he told me to try a different power supply that can do 12v 1.5a if I have one, and unplug everything from the KVM before plugging it back into power, but neither of those things fixed it.
Going through with an RMA, and didn’t think that’d be possible with the unit being from 2019 and the HDMI model being gone from the store.
Lmk when you receive the RMA number, I can respond back here with what I find this sounds like a problem where we’ll need to swap your KVM for a new one
Will do! Just curious, would the replacement one be the same 4-port HDMI model, or would it be one that’s still being made like the 4-port DisplayPort model?
And wanted to say that I’ve been testing the Anker 777 Thunderbolt dock I was using with the Macbook is seemingly creating a lot of EMI, so it could very well be that using this dock since September 2022 with the USB, 3.5mm audio, and HDMI ports connected to the KVM caused the KVM to die slowly over the past 4 months - but that’s just my theory.
this sounds like a problem where we’ll need to swap your KVM for a new one