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External monitor used to work but is now blurry

Anonymous
2023-01-25T17:47:35+00:00

Hello everyone, I have an Intel laptop running Windows 11, and an HP external monitor that supports 4k. When I first bought it, it looked great, but one weekend I was on vacation and when I came back it looked blurry and just not as sharp.

I noticed the computer was outputting to it at 1920x1080 rather than 4k which I believed to be the issue. However, it was brought to my attention that my laptop is not capable of outputting 4k, so it never was to begin with. I have tried tons of different things such as swapping HDMI's, updating drivers, etc.

My latest hunch is that my laptop is detecting the wrong size for the monitor. It won't let me upload a picture, but in the display settings it used to show the '2' screen (external) as larger than the '1' screen (laptop) which it is. Now it shows them both as the same size.

If anyone could help with this it would mean the world, thanks for your time.

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Display and graphics

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  1. Anonymous
    2023-01-26T03:37:34+00:00

    Test with image Only on external display or extended (Win+P), it might show you other resolutions too. If that does not happen reset the monitor from its OSD and retry. You can also restart the PC with external monitor connected to see if any changes are available.

    May be use drivers available from the Windows update by uninstalling the current driver from device manager followed by a restart. You can also obtain updates from Start>settings>windows update>advanced>optional updates, install any and all optional updates there, be it firmware, BIOS, Graphics or other drivers.

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-01-25T20:09:56+00:00

    That's interesting then if it does support 4k. Whenever I go to change the display resolution for the external monitor the highest it offers is 1920x1080?

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-01-25T19:25:22+00:00

    I checked with the model details, even if the PC is of most basic model, it still supports 4K. You may set scaling to some other % & resolution to 4096x2160@60Hz if that helps. Next thing may try reset the monitor settings from its OSD menu. One thing to mention, if you duplicate the screens then it is limited to the lowest resolution of either the PC screen or external monitor. You may try with Win+P to show the image on external screen only or extend the screen.

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-01-25T18:56:56+00:00

    Awesome thanks Tamal

    Display scaling is set to 100% (default)

    I'll look into the monitor settings.

    The monitor is an HP v28 4k and the laptop is an Inspiron 15 3511

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  5. Anonymous
    2023-01-25T18:38:32+00:00

    Hi Andrew

    This is Tamal trying to help you with the issue.

    Please check if there is display scaling set to some bigger size say 200% or 400% under display settings for the external monitor.

    Now a days most laptops support 4K natively. May be yours one too supported.

    Next thing you can check if there is option in the monitor itself to change resolution upscaling/ blur control, different refresh rate, or different viewing environment variables. Tweaking with those settings may also help.

    You can tell me the model details of both laptop & the monitor that I can do some quick research on them.

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