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External monitor resolution problem

snic

New Member
I just got a new SP4. When I plug it into a monitor (mini display port to HDMI adapter), the maximum resolution I can select is 1920 x 1080. However, the monitor's native resolution is 2560 x 1080, and using exactly the same adapter and cable, my Surface Pro 3 gives me 2560 x 1080 resolution on this monitor.

I've replaced the graphics driver with the latest version downloaded from Into (Iris 540), which provides a utility to set up a custom resolution. But, when I try to do that, the utility gives me an error saying "custom resolution exceeds maximum bandwidth capacity".

What is going on, and how do I fix this?
 

PCAnyWhere

Member
I've only been able to resolve it by converting to the other inputs on the monitor. HDMI works fine on my 1440p monitor but my 1980x1200 monitor requires a VGA DSUB connector. I tried the HDMI and the DL-DVI and couldn't get beyond 1080p. I am also using the Surface Dock. I spent a bunch on cables and adapters to get one that consistently worked.
 
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snic

New Member
So after going through several MDP-HDMI adapters, none of them worked. When plugged into the Surface, the best the monitor would display was 2560 x 1080 at 40 Hz (it's capable of 60 Hz). When plugged into the dock, the monitor absolutely refused to work except at very low resolution - and even then, there was weird audio static on the monitor's speakers.

What FINALLY worked was to get a mini display port to display port cable. The monitor has a display port input, so I eliminated adapters entirely.

One thing to note, in case anyone is having similar difficulties: this second monitor is actually about 10 feet away from the Surface and dock (I use it for a treadmill desk, and switch between the first monitor at a sitting desk and this monitor). The long HDMI cable (20+ feet) may have been part of the problem - I didn't test it with a shorter cable. I did find that the 15 foot MDP-DP cable works fine, but adding a 6 ft Display Port extension cable caused the image to become unstable (jumped around, sometimes screen went black). So if the bottom line is that long monitor cables might pose a problem when using high resolution displays with the Surface Pro 4 (but not, oddly enough, the SP3).

Now, if only I could figure out how to get Windows+P to show me options for selecting just one of each of the three screens, I'd be in paradise.
 
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