Receiver HDMI problem

As Cerrot says the handshake is vital. Also make sure all your resolution settings are the same on each component in the signal chain. Whether it be 720p or 1080p, everything needs to be the same to help in that "handshake" with HDMI. In my experience also, make sure you give the time required when switching. In my system sometimes I get picture and no sound and find that switching source inputs on the processor can trigger that handshake between the two, but also sometimes it can take two or three minutes to get results. In short HDMI sucks but we are stuck with it.
You can argue cable brands and quality here all day long, but my finding has been that matching the brands helps. This all my opinion based on research, seminars and frustration/experience. Good Luck!

"You can argue cable brands and quality here all day long, but my finding has been that matching the brands helps."

When you say matching the brands, are you talking about cables or components?

Has the cable box ever worked over HDMI?

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I have a huge room and I use a 40 ft HDMI cable from Monoprice ($50). No problems ever with this cable.
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Thank you to everyone. So I'm going to start working through these issues. I have blue rigger HDMI cables for the long runs. I first started with CAT 5/6 to HDMI converter from monoprice but the converter blew within a week. I though it safest to accomplish my hookup by using 35' HDMI cable which I snaked through the wall. Actually I snaked 3 cables for redundancy.
What about using an HDMI BaseT over CAT instead of HDMI?
To answer a question I do get normal 9.2 Audio from my cable box through a marantz 7008 receiver but no picture.
I will also likely try the EDID solution someone mentioned as it's simple enough to try (and return if unsuccessful)
Tom