# Fixing resolution on my second monitor
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fixing-resolution-on-my-second-monitor/655801
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [April 15, 2013, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fixing-resolution-on-my-second-monitor/655801 "2013-04-15T23:59:42Z")
**Posts on this page:** 18
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Running\_with\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Running_with_Scissors)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2013, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fixing-resolution-on-my-second-monitor/655801/1 "2013-04-15T23:59:42Z")
I have a Dell laptop running Windows 7, with a docking station attached to two 24", 1920x1200 monitors (both the same model). The left-hand monitor, connected via DVI, works fine; however, Windows will only allow me to adjust the resolution on the right-hand monitor, which is connected via a VGA cable, up to 1600x1200. This monitor worked fine on my old setup (a desktop, also with one DVI and one VGA connector). The dock unfortunately does not have a second DVI connector.
I have unchecked the option to hide modes that the monitor does not display. In the right-hand monitor’s properties in control panel it only shows up as a Generic Non-PNP monitor, even though this is not the case, and the monitor connected to the DVI connector displays its ID properly.
Any way to fix this?
Thanks!
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### Author:  [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2013, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fixing-resolution-on-my-second-monitor/655801/2 "2013-04-16T00:17:54Z")
I normally do this through the video card’s management utility. For ATI that’s Catalyst. Don’t remember what nVidia uses. It’s very easy to do with Catalyst though.
Go to start–\>control panel–\>device manager
and under display adapter see who the manufacturer is. Then find out what the proper utility is.
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### Author:  [@Running\_with\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Running_with_Scissors)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2013, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fixing-resolution-on-my-second-monitor/655801/3 "2013-04-16T00:52:34Z")
It’s an Intel 4 series express chipset (i.e. built-in video). There’s no utility software from Intel, as far as I can tell.
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### Author:  [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2013, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fixing-resolution-on-my-second-monitor/655801/4 "2013-04-16T01:04:40Z")
On a second reading, I think it may be a limitation of the docking station. I don’t have much familiarity with these but if it’s anything like a KVM (keyboard/video/monitor) switch, these can only handle certain VGA resolutions. It sounds like this is what might be going on. If you have documentation for the docking station, it might tell you in the specifications.
edit: or it could be a limitation of the vga chipset on the laptop too I suppose.
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### Author:  [@Running\_with\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Running_with_Scissors)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2013, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fixing-resolution-on-my-second-monitor/655801/5 "2013-04-16T01:13:02Z")
But why isn’t it picking up the monitor ID correctly?
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### Author:  [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2013, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fixing-resolution-on-my-second-monitor/655801/6 "2013-04-16T01:19:58Z")
IDK. I have 2 24" Samsung monitors one is connected via DVI one HDMI. The HDMI one reports as generic and I have to configure it separately. No idea why.
edit: although I don’t know if vga has the ability to report that sort of information. HDMI should though (might depend on which version of HDMI - these are old monitors)
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### Author:  [@Running\_with\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Running_with_Scissors)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2013, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fixing-resolution-on-my-second-monitor/655801/7 "2013-04-16T01:27:50Z")
[QUOTE=deltasigma]
edit: although I don’t know if vga has the ability to report that sort of information. HDMI should though (might depend on which version of HDMI - these are old monitors)
[/QUOTE]
Any monitor made in the last 10 years should have that capability.
> **[Display Data Channel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Display_Data_Channel)**
>
> Display Data Channel (DDC) is a collection of protocols for digital communication between a computer display and a graphics adapter that enable the display to communicate its supported display modes to the adapter and that enable the computer host to adjust monitor parameters, such as brightness and contrast.
> Like modern analog VGA connectors, the DVI and DisplayPort connectors include pins for DDC, but DisplayPort only supports DDC within its optional Dual-Mode DP (DP++) feature in DVI/HDMI mod...
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### Author:  [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2013, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fixing-resolution-on-my-second-monitor/655801/8 "2013-04-16T01:38:50Z")
> [@Running\_with\_Scissors](#):
>
> Any monitor made in the last 10 years should have that capability.
>
> [Display Data Channel - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Display_Data_Channel)
display modes yes, I thought we were talking about generic vs non-generic.😕
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### Author:  [@Blakeyrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blakeyrat)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2013, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fixing-resolution-on-my-second-monitor/655801/9 "2013-04-16T21:51:10Z")
What laptop model?
Laptop video cards typically have limitations on the total number of pixels they can pump out. I wouldn’t be surprised if the video hardware in your laptop simply can’t handle quite as many pixels as you want it to.
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### Author:  [@Running\_with\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Running_with_Scissors)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2013, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fixing-resolution-on-my-second-monitor/655801/10 "2013-04-16T22:53:09Z")
> [@Blakeyrat](#):
>
> What laptop model?
Latitude D6400
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### Author:  [@Blakeyrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blakeyrat)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2013, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fixing-resolution-on-my-second-monitor/655801/11 "2013-04-17T20:56:19Z")
Hm, I’ve been googling around and I can’t find any official statement on how many pixels that laptop can pump out.
I did find a post from someone [claiming to be able to run dual-1920x1200 monitors](http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-latitude-vostro-precision/312996-e6400-external-monitor-information.html) with that laptop, which is what you’re trying to do. So it ought to be possible, I’m not sure what he did differently from what you’re doing.
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### Author:  [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2013, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fixing-resolution-on-my-second-monitor/655801/12 "2013-04-17T22:00:38Z")
What’s happening is that Windows isn’t detecting the second monitor as what it is, so it’s using a generic, resolution-limiting failsafe driver.
Try [the instructions on this page](http://books.google.com/books?id=hoi0_Qc17YIC&pg=PA96&lpg=PA96&dq=list+all+modes+second+monitor&source=bl&ots=EQQyFQ268E&sig=EHPLwYIufks53nRhoF7laXTA32I&hl=en&sa=X&ei=KxtvUej2J8e5igKbqIGwAQ&ved=0CEAQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=list%20all%20modes%20second%20monitor&f=false), specifically the “List all modes” button in the 2nd monitor’s properties.
That, or go to the device manager and manually change the 2nd monitor’s drivers to match your first. Windows should already have the files for it because your 1st monitor uses them.
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### Author:  [@Running\_with\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Running_with_Scissors)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2013, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fixing-resolution-on-my-second-monitor/655801/13 "2013-04-18T00:02:17Z")
I managed to do it using the Displayport and a displayport to DVI adapter, which is the same solution that **Blakeyrat** ’s article pointed to. I had previously tried the “List all modes” button, but it didn’t show any resolutions higher than 1600x1200.
Thanks, everyone!
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### Author:  [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2013, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fixing-resolution-on-my-second-monitor/655801/14 "2013-04-18T04:51:14Z")
Just out of curiosity, did you use an active or passive adapter?
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### Author:  [@Running\_with\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Running_with_Scissors)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2013, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fixing-resolution-on-my-second-monitor/655801/15 "2013-04-18T15:04:39Z")
As far as I can tell, it’s passive - it was included with my HP desktop PC.
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### Author:  [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2013, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fixing-resolution-on-my-second-monitor/655801/16 "2013-04-18T15:47:13Z")
I ask because generally a passive adapter won’t work unless the monitor can understand displayport protocol. At least I think that’s how it works.
I had to get active adapters to use the display port outputs for a third monitor on one of my 7950 graphics cards since the DVI and HDMI were already being used. I was running that to pretty new (\<2 years) Sony LCD TV using the HDMI input. Using a passive adapter, the video card wouldn’t even recognize that the monitor was attached.
edit: of course the tv probably wouldn’t be designed to work with displayport, unlike a newer computer monitor (which may or may not)
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### Author:  [@Running\_with\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Running_with_Scissors)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2013, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fixing-resolution-on-my-second-monitor/655801/17 "2013-04-18T16:03:39Z")
My monitors (Soyo, remember them?) are probably over 5 years old, if that’s any help. I doubt they understand the Displayport protocol.
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### Author:  [@Running\_with\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Running_with_Scissors)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2013, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fixing-resolution-on-my-second-monitor/655801/18 "2013-04-18T18:32:07Z")
[This article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DisplayPort#Comparison_with_HDMI) states that it can be done with a passive adapter.