HDMI on Thinkpad

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Donald

Donald

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I have a work Lenovo Thinkpad with docking station. The laptop has a normal HDMI connector. The docking station has what looks like a HDMI except one side is straight and the other angled. My HDMI cable going to monitor has both sides angled and is plugged into laptop. Windows will not detect it.

Unsure what the connector is on the docking station.

Monitor worked last week with an HP laptop.
 
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Displayport

[Linked Image]
 
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Originally Posted by Donald
OK, so then the HDMI cable from my monitor needs to go into the laptop directly. But it does not seem to want to detect the monitor.


Chances are the docking station takes over the display outputs when you connect the docking station so you would need to undock your laptop to use the HDMI cable. You can use an active DisplayPort to HDMI converter like this one off amazon if you wish to use your docking station.
 
There are also passive conversions which are merely cables with a HDMI plug on one end and DisplayPort on the other end. They usually work.
 
There is usually a key combination that you have to press to enable an external display OR it might be under a utility such as "Thinkpad Configuration"
 
Fn + F7 does nothing. Already tried.

Pulling the cable out and inserting it back in on laptop produces a "no input signal" msg on external monitor for several seconds.
 
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We could try a couple things:

1.) Go into device manager -> display adapters and make sure the proper drive is installed and not the generic Windows Display Adapter driver (rare, but I've had it happen on a few HPs and Lenovos.)

2.) Let's test the cable, do you have another HDMI cable to test? Or another computer with an HDMI output?
 
Originally Posted by Pew
We could try a couple things:

1.) Go into device manager -> display adapters and make sure the proper drive is installed and not the generic Windows Display Adapter driver (rare, but I've had it happen on a few HPs and Lenovos.)

2.) Let's test the cable, do you have another HDMI cable to test? Or another computer with an HDMI output?


OK, it shows Microsoft Basic Display Adapter and I cannot change it. Not admin it says.

Plugged HDMI cable into my personal HP laptop and it works fine.
 
Windows Key + P is the key combo to cycle through display choices on Windows 7 and above.

You can get a DisplayPort to HDMI adapter pretty cheap. DisplayPort is nice because it can carry an analog signal (DP to VGA adapters), can carry audio and high-def video with high frame-rates (gaming monitors 144hz).
 
Originally Posted by Donald

OK, it shows Microsoft Basic Display Adapter and I cannot change it. Not admin it says.


That's why. That's the generic built-in Windows display driver and it won't allow multiple monitors. Run a windows update to see if the drivers get installed without needing admin privileges. If not, you'll have to have your IT department do it.
 
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Originally Posted by Pew
Originally Posted by Donald

OK, it shows Microsoft Basic Display Adapter and I cannot change it. Not admin it says.


That's why. That's the generic built-in Windows display driver and it won't allow multiple monitors. Run a windows update to see if the drivers get installed without needing admin privileges. If not, you'll have to have your IT department do it.


Yup, would need IT to take care of it if it can't be done via Windows Update (which I'd expect to have done it automatically by now if capable).
 
Was the laptop screen open or closed, maybe if the laptop screen close the display will output to the hdmi.

Or if the screen was closed is it set to go into sleep mode when the screen is closed.
 
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Wait, do you have the cable plugged into the laptop directly while the laptop is on the docking station? If so, it won't work. It'll have to be plugged into the back of the dock.
 
Originally Posted by Nick1994
Wait, do you have the cable plugged into the laptop directly while the laptop is on the docking station? If so, it won't work. It'll have to be plugged into the back of the dock.


See:
Originally Posted by Pew
Originally Posted by Donald

OK, it shows Microsoft Basic Display Adapter and I cannot change it. Not admin it says.


That's why. That's the generic built-in Windows display driver and it won't allow multiple monitors. Run a windows update to see if the drivers get installed without needing admin privileges. If not, you'll have to have your IT department do it.


He doesn't have the display drivers installed, so no amount of cable plugging is going to help until that's rectified.
 
Originally Posted by OVERKILL
Originally Posted by Nick1994
Wait, do you have the cable plugged into the laptop directly while the laptop is on the docking station? If so, it won't work. It'll have to be plugged into the back of the dock.


See:
Originally Posted by Pew
Originally Posted by Donald

OK, it shows Microsoft Basic Display Adapter and I cannot change it. Not admin it says.


That's why. That's the generic built-in Windows display driver and it won't allow multiple monitors. Run a windows update to see if the drivers get installed without needing admin privileges. If not, you'll have to have your IT department do it.


He doesn't have the display drivers installed, so no amount of cable plugging is going to help until that's rectified.


The hours I've wasted troubleshooting these exact issues when I should have just looked at device manager.....
 
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