Remote Desktop Black Screen after successful login, then disconnects after about 30 seconds

Please excuse the long post but  I think a little setup information is due.

Here is my configuration.

I recently upgraded a second PC to Windows 8.1 pro so I have two systems (System A, and System B) running 8.1 pro using an Aten KVM to switch between the two systems.  System A is connected to the main monitor, the mouse and the keyboard via the KVM.  System B is connected to the main monitor, mouse and keyboard via the KVM as well.  System A is connected to a second monitor via a second DVI port on the back of System A.  So when I press the KVM button to switch between the two systems, System B is switched to the Main monitor but the second monitor continues to display the desktop of System A. The KVM is only capable of switching 1 monitor across two systems.  System B is set up to use the standard RDP port, and System A is set up to use a port above 30,000.  System A is running a Radeon 6700 Series graphics card and is an AMD 8 Core, 20GB RAM home built system.  System B is running a Radeon 3600 Series Graphics Card on an Intel Motherboard using a Core2 Quad processer and 8GB RAM, again home built.  Both system have all the latest drivers, and the latest Windows updates. Other than the problem outlined below, this setup works fine, no problem with the way it works.

Here is my problem:

When I use remote desktop to connect to either machine from a remote client they both work, sometimes.  I never have a problem connecting to System A, but sometimes when I try and connect to System B the following happens:

1. I execute the remote desktop client (Windows 7 Pro or other 3rd party Android Apps).

2. I am presented with the prompt to enter the computer to connect to and the user name.

3. When I click the connect button I am immediately provided with the password prompt.

4. When I enter the password the RDP client connects to the remote machine but the screen is black.

5. I am not able to do anything, CTRL - ALT - End does nothing, clicking on the screen does nothing.

6. After about 30 seconds it disconnects. 

I have read all the articles I can find on Microsoft's support site, and the various sites which all say to turn off bit map caching.  This does not fix this problem.  I've tried several other suggestions with no luck.

I have traced the issue down to be something related to the KVM switch when it is selected to use System A and I try to connect to System B.  If the KVM is set to System B when I initiate the connection, then the connection works every time.  If set the KVM to select System A and sit in front of System B, and connect to it with an RDP client, I get the black screen.  However, if before System B disconnects, and if I press the KVM switch to select System B, the black screen goes away and I am presented with the desktop and can operate normally.  After I get connected, pressing the KVM switch  and switching between the two systems doesn't have any effect on System B, it stays connected and works perfectly.  However if I disconnect System B, select System A on the KVM, then attempt to connect to System B, I get the black screen.  I can reproduce this at will without fail.  Every time, as soon as I press the KVM button to select System B, the black screen goes away.

To further complicate the problem, I removed the second monitor from System A to see if it was somehow playing a role in being able to connect to System A when the KVM is set to System B.  After removing the second monitor, and with no RDP clients running, I set the KVM switch to select System B. I then RDP into System A with no problems, so System A does not seem to care if the KVM switch is set to A or B, it works every time.  I then set the KVM switch to select System A and then RDP to System B, and STILL get the black screen. And as before, as soon as I hit the KVM switch to select System B, the black screen goes away.  So removing the second monitor from the mix doesn't change the symptoms.

Since I've tried both Windows 7 & 8 clients as well as 3rd party Android based clients and get the same results, it appears to be a server side issue, not the client.

HELP PLEASE!


  • Edited by JohnOra 19 hours 1 minutes ago
May 29th, 2015 8:13am

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