Brand new Lenovo laptop. I am connecting the monitor via VGA to HDMI converter to laptop HDMI port . Laptop cannot see the monitor. Any advice on getting this to work?
Are you sure your adapter is HDMI to VGA and not the opposite? If it is, the converter may be bad. You might be better off with a USB to VGA adapter.
VGA to HDMI requires an analog to digital converter, so there will be a power connector, usually USB, on the device if it is VGA to HDMI. HDMI to VGA converters do not require the power connector.
When you say the laptop cannot see the monitor, you mean it doesn’t show up in the Display Settings?
USB video adapters are usually very slow, because they don’t make use of the computer’s video output capability. They are separate USB-connected video cards, and USB is too slow to do this well.
Unless it’s USB-C or Thunderbolt 3, which do support direct video signal output. (Though not all computers have that capability, even if they have USB-C ports. Most laptops do though.)
One way to do a test is to plug the laptop into something that has HDMI input. A TV set will do if you don’t have anything else.
That might narrow it down to the laptop’s settings vs. the HDMI-VGA connection.
I have two cheap USB to VGA adapters and they work fine for playing videos at 1080p. Probably too slow for games though. Don’t play games so I can’t test. All are plug and play, one requires USB 3.0 to go beyond 800x600 and I think the other one doesn’t work with USB 2.0
I have just a cable from the HDMI out on my laptop to the VGA in on my monitor. I think the cable was like $10 on amazon. I’m not running windows, but the version on Ubuntu detects and lets me configure the monitors how I want. If I was running windows, I would assume the same configuration would work.
You may already have tried all of this:
Make sure the laptop’s sound is turned on. If the adapter and the VGA cable are working correctly, there should be an audio notification when Windows detects the presence of the new monitor (when you plug the adapter into the laptop).
Windows or the laptop itself may choose to leave the second monitor blank/black until you activate it. Many laptops have a key to activate the external monitor (press Fn and F7 together, or similar). You can also right-click on the Windows desktop and select Display Settings (I think that’s how it’s called in English) and see if there are choices under Multiple Monitors.
I just bought a Windows 10 laptop. By default, it ignores an external monitor. I had to press the monitor key (it’s on the top row and has a little picture of a screen on it) to toggle among “laptop screen only”, “duplicate on both screens”, “separate images on two screens”, and “external monitor only”.
I didn’t get a sound, fwiw.
Ahhh…good call Heracles and puzzlegal. In addition, I think Linux automatically recognizes additional monitors, but sometimes in Windows you ahve to manually duplicate/extend them.
Actually I have VGA to USB converter into USB port. Tried to press the monitor key and chose both but still nothing on external monitor. The converter does not have a power cord into it. Went into windows setting and still does not detect the external monitor. I might just buy new monitor with HDMI out.
Can you borrow one first to debug the problem?
I have another monitor I will try that one later today and let you know if it works
Good luck!
My trouble with my new laptop is that it doesn’t have any traditional video inputs, just some USB inputs. But I found a “hub” that connects to the laptop with USB-C and takes power and HDMI as inputs, and also is a card-reader. So that has resolved my connectivity issues with this device.
Being pedantic to prevent confusion about what’s being discussed. It’s USB to VGA since it’s converting/outputting a VGA signal. And it’s USB ports which carry both inbound and outbound data. Also the monitor has HDMI IN, the laptop is sending HDMI OUT.
Getting an HDMI capable monitor is a good move as HDMI will give you much clearer image than VGA.
As for troubleshooting. Few things to try.
Right click on an empty spot on the desktop and click on Display settings to make sure the external monitor isn’t there.
Unplug the adatper, then right click on the start menu, then Device Manager > Display Adapters. It’s possible the device didn’t install correctly. If so, you’ll see it listed a a second device, likely with a triangle with an exclamation point. Right click and uninstall. Then replug the adapter and Windows should try to automatically install it.
It should ask or a driver if it can’t install it correctly. Check the manufacturer’s website for a download. If you can’t find a direct link to the manufacturer, check the specs of the adapter and there should be a chipset listed. Search for the chipset as the maker of the chipset will likely have generic drivers on their site.
FYI, not relevant to this situation, but AFAIK, no USB to VGA adapter works in Linux.
May be a nitpick, but I don’t know why multiple people in this thread are confusing inputs and outputs, or confused about video signals. The video signal is generated by the computer, and goes to the monitor to be displayed. So the video port on the computer is a video output port, and the port on the monitor is an input port. If your computer has an HDMI port and the monitor has a VGA port, you need a USB to VGA adapter (convert USB signal to VGA signal), not VGA to USB.
I’m not confused, I’m just being careless with the words. There are only a small number of places on my laptop where I can plug anything in: one USB A port, two USB C ports, a 1/8" audio jack, and a micro-SD card slot. All of those are I/O, and data can go either way. And the physical cord sticks into my laptop, so it feels like an “input”.
But yes, of course the data to the screen goes out, not in.
The difference between input and output was not the source of my problems, the physical shape of the cables and how they carry data was. I had to get something that would adapt an HDMI cable to a USB C port. Having purchases such a thing that does that, my screen now works. (I decided to get a hub that did more than just video, so it also provides both power and data inputs through that port.)
The only problem I have with it now is that whenever the laptop goes to sleep, it loses the connection to the screen, and I need to unplug and replug the HDMI cable so it finds it again. This is annoying, because I’d like it to “wake up” and remember where I left the various windows on that screen, and it doesn’t. But that’s a minor annoyance.
no luck with the other monitor that i know works. Guess the converter is bad. I will try to get a different one.
looks like I bought the wrong one. I need VGA to HDMI but I think I got HDMI to VGA