Using a monitor for extended display while working with your laptop could enable you to accomplish whatever you’re doing more efficiently whether at your workplace or home. Yet, it can be frustrating when your laptop can not detect your monitor.
READ ALSO: laptop to tv HDMI no signal [what to do if your laptop won’t connect to tv HDMI on windows 10]
laptop not detecting Monitor
4 things to do if your extended display is not working
Below are the 4 steps to follow ;
- Check Display settings
- Run Hardware and Devices troubleshooter
- Perform a System Restore
- Install the latest driver updates
1.Check Display settings
Go to your laptop’s display settings. Below the Display settings, you’ll see an option for Multiple Displays. If your laptop won’t detect the second monitor, this option will not show at all.
However, if your laptop detects it, then the Multiple Displays option will appear in the drop-down menu list next to Display.
If you can’t find it under this drop-down list, click Detect, but ensure the monitor you want to extend to is turned on and plugged into your video port correctly.
Also, don’t forget to select the correct source labeled on your monitor’s controls so that you’re using the correct video port.
2: Run Hardware and Devices troubleshooter
If your laptop won’t detect the second monitor, the next thing to do is to run a Hardware and Devices troubleshooter in your laptop to resolve the issue.
Hardware and Devices troubleshooting helps to check for commonly occurring issues and ensures if any new device or hardware is correctly installed on your computer.
Below is how to go about it:
- Right-click Start
- Select Control Panel
- On the top right corner, scroll and click on the “View by” option
- Click the drop-down arrow and select Large icons
- Click Troubleshooting
- Click View all option on the left pane
- Click Hardware and Devices
- Click Next to run the troubleshooter
- Follow the instructions you see to run the Hardware and Devices troubleshooter. When the troubleshooting is running, it will begin detecting any issues that may be causing your laptop not to detect the second monitor.
Solution 3: Perform a System Restore
What does a system Restore accomplish? What it does is enable you to create restore points when you install new apps, Windows updates, or drivers, or when you create restore points manually.
However, if the laptop still won’t detect the second monitor, you should then try and restore the system and see if it helps.
Below are the steps to perform a system restore:
- Click Start
- Click on the search field box and type ‘System Restore’
- When the new page opens, click System Restore in the list of search results
- Enter your administrator account password or grant permissions if prompted to
- Choose a different restore point from the System Restore dialog box, click Next
- Scroll and click a restore point created before you experienced the problem
- Click Next
- Click Finish
If you’re concerned about the personal files on your laptop, you can be assured that restoring doesn’t affect your personal files. However, what ‘restoring’ does is that it removes apps, drivers, and updates installed after the restore point was created.
If you want to go back to a restore point, follow the steps below:
- Right-click Start
- Select Control Panel
- In the control panel search box, type Recovery
- Select Recovery
- Click Open System Restore
- Click Next
- Now scroll and choose the restore point that is related to the problematic program/app, driver, or update
- Click Next
- Click Finish
Solution 4: Install the latest driver updates
The fourth thing to do if your extended display is not working is to install the latest driver updates. Below are three ways to do this:
- First, Check Windows Updates for the latest driver updates and install them
- Install drivers from manufacturer website
- Install drivers from Device Manager
You should check Windows Updates and ensure that driver updates are available. If not, install them and check if it helps fix the problem.
To do this, follow the steps below:
- Click Start
- Go to the search field box
- Type Updates
- When the Windows Update settings window opens, click Check for Updates, and then install all updates listed there.
Once you do this, Windows will automatically detect your system’s configuration and download the appropriate drivers for it.
Important drivers that need to be downloaded after installing or upgrading to Windows 10 include the chipset, video, audio, and network (Ethernet/wireless) drivers. For your laptop specifically, download the latest Touchpad drivers.
You can also install drivers from the manufacturer website
Go to the manufacturer’s website’s support section for your laptop type. When the page opens, go to the Software and Drivers sub-section (depending on your laptop brand, this name can be different). You can as well search for drivers using Google so you can get a direct link to your device’s manufacturer website.
On the website opens, you now have to find and download, and install the appropriate drivers missing from your laptop that can make the laptop not detect a second monitor.
Install drivers from Device Manager
If the Windows Update doesn’t detect your driver, or you couldn’t get it from the manufacturer website, try using Device Manager on your laptop and manually install the driver using the steps below:
- Right-click Start
- Select Device Manager
- Select the device
- Right-click on it
- Select Update Driver Software
- The update driver wizard will launch. When it does, click either Search automatically for updated driver software, or Browse my computer for driver software.