I had an interesting yet frustrating issue pop up after buying a refurbished dell desktop. I wanted to do a fresh install of Windows 10 on the machine so I hooked it all up. The computer I bought only had integrated intel graphics so that is what I plugged my Dell 2412M (1920 x 1200) monitor into. The computer booted up and I could view the bios just fine, but when I booted to the USB drive to install windows, I ran into a problem.
The windows logo would show and then the dots would circle, then the screen would go black and I would get the error message: “Input Signal Out of Range”. Puzzled, I restarted the computer. I again could see the BIOS followed by the windows logo with the rotating dots. Yet again the monitor went dark and displays the same message as before. (Honesty check: the dell displays a different message than input signal out of range, but my second monitor had that message instead).
So I ran downstairs and grab a spare lower resolution monitor sitting in my garage. I brought it up and plugged it in and into the computer. Same message. Weird. So it isn’t the monitor – it’s the computer. Googling the issue brought me to others having this issue, even trying the steps outlined here: https://www.infopackets.com/news/9901/how-fix-windows-10-display-not-compatible-when-upgrading.
Yet the only real fix I could find was to get a graphics card and hope that solves the issue. This was an unacceptable solution as I had a 24-hour turnaround on this build and I wasn’t in the mood to shop at several stores to try to find a low-wattage low profile graphics card that wouldn’t be sold at rip off prices.
The fix ended up being pretty simple though – when I plugged in the second monitor I didn’t bother to restart the computer – I just did a straight swap. So this time I turned off the computer, swapped the screens, and turned the computer back on. Voila. Success.
This might not fix your problem, after all who else has multiple monitors just sitting around? But maybe there is someone out there who this helps.