Hello, sorry you’re having issues with it. Let’s start with your son’s laptop.
Could you send a photo of what the output looks like? If it’s garbled, this could be a number of things. It could be that the calibration isn’t loading correctly, in which case the example scene and the library should both notify you that this is the case. It could also be that the display for your Looking Glass has the resolution set incorrectly, though it seems you checked for this case. Finally, it could be that the screen “scale” is set to something other than 100%, which can cause issues with the Looking Glass.
As for your desktop, I’m not sure what that might be. Does the light come on when you plug in the USB of your Looking Glass? Are you using both cables that came with the Looking Glass (HDMI and USB) or are you using your own cables?