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I've recently bought a new Dell XPS 15 laptop, which contains two graphics cards - Intel HD Graphics 4600 and NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M. It came preinstalled with Windows 8.1, including the driver software. The native resolution is 3200x1800.

I tried connecting a second screen to the laptop via HDMI cable. The screen is detected by windows and the backlight comes on, but the screen remains blank/black no matter what I try.

I don't think the screen is faulty as I am able to connect it to PS3 using same HDMI cable and screen output and it works just fine. It's an LG L246WH with native 1920x1200 resolution.

The screen appears in the Windows resolution settings with the correct name and resolution options. There is a warning underneath, saying 'Your resolution is lower than 1920x1440. Some items might not fit on your screen.'

Curiously, when I click the 'Identify' button, both 1 and 2 are identified on the same main laptop screen, like this:

enter image description here

I tried the following, without getting the screen to work once:

  • I purchased a HDMI to DisplayPort converter and connected the HDMI cable to it and to the laptop's DisplayPort

  • I downloaded latest driver installations, uninstalled both video drivers from Device Manager until I was left with Windows Basic driver (or something similar), reinstalled the Intel one, and restarted the computer

  • By default I'm trying to use the second screen as extended display, but I tried duplicating as well, without success.

  • I changed the 2nd screen resolution to various options. The screen remained blank and the warning persisted.

  • I figured the scaling could be a problem, so I ticked 'Let me choose one scaling level for all my displays' and set it to 100%. This made the warning mentioned above disappear but the screen remained blank.

  • I took a print screen and viewed it in Paint - the second screen appears there as it should - with only the desktop background.

I am at a loss with what might be wrong.

1 Answer 1

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Have you tried the Function keys on your Dell? Its the FN key plus one of the keys on the top row. This can sometimes help with second screen setups.

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  • I have. It's the F8 key that brings up the default Windows 8 'Project' menu on the right side.
    – Matic
    Oct 6, 2014 at 10:52

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