Cannot change the rsolution on my 2nd monitor...

Question

The driver is up to date, and both monitors have been properly identified. I can change the resolution on monitor two, and it's set to the recommended resolution of 1680x1050. However, when I choose monitor one, and scroll down to change the display resolution, it's greyed-out and stuck at 800x600. I made display number two my main display, then extended the displays. This did not work. When I duplicate the displays, it applies the 800x600 screen resolution from monitor number one across both monitors, instead of duplicating the resolution of monitor number two across both monitors. I also tried to make monitor number one my main display, then go back and duplicate the displays that way, which also did not work. I know this should be an easy fix, but I need help. Can you help me, please?

Answer 1

I have a relatively new laptop (Dell Precision 5550) with two external monitors attached via a relatively new Thunderbolt 4 adaptor with dual HDMI. External monitors are identical Samsung LC27G54 units. But one was locked at 800x600 while the other showed up with full resolution capabilities (over 3K horizontal).

I tried all of the prior suggestions with no success. What finally -- sort of -- worked was to turn OFF HDR on all monitors via the display settings. Once I did that, the 2nd monitor started showing resolutions up to 1920x1200, while the 3rd monitor which had been showing up to 3K+, now shows only up to 1920x1200. This solution is a little workable for me since 1920x1200 is much better than the previous 800x600, but now the 3rd monitor won't show its full capabilities like it used to, and both external monitors are capable of 3K+ horizontal resolution.

A little success, but overall argh.

Answer 2

I replaced the display cable and that fixed the problem.

Answer 3

I had this issue and it was due to the port on my laptop (which is Windows 11). Some of the ports are USB 3 but one of them is only USB 2 (although they all look the same).

I had to use a USB 3 port to get the higher resolution.

It's ok because I have a hub that goes 1 port -> 4 ports and they are all USB 3. One wonders then what is the benefit of the USB 2 port at all as all my devices are in that hub.

In any case, once I used the right port I got a good resolution.

Answer 4

It is ridiculous that in 2025 adding a second display to a laptop can result in only having the option of 640 x 480, even under "advanced options".
Like how hard can it be? Microsoft have been making operating systems for decades and they can't get basic stuff to work.