How to fix your monitor not being detected by your PC
Are you wondering why the PC is not detecting your monitor? Here are some of the possible reasons and ways to fix the problem.
Do you have a session of a game to join or want to get on a group call, but nothing shows up on the monitor? Don’t worry. The monitor not getting detected by the PC is one of the most common issues that most of us face.
A faulty cable, a buggy software/driver update, or even an unplugged cable could be some of the most common reasons behind this problem. Here’s how to quickly fix the issue and get going within a few minutes.
Check your cables and ports
Check that you’ve actually plugged it into the right port. Laptops usually only have a single port, but a PC can have several. Check the cable is in the correct HDMI or DisplayPort.
Make sure the HDMI or DisplayPort cable is plugged into your dedicated graphics card, and not the Motherboard.
A graphics card will often override or disable the motherboard display output if you have a GPU installed. So it is best to check where the cables are plugged in.
If you don’t have a separate graphics card, check the ports on your motherboard and ensure the cables are plugged in securely.
One monitor isn’t displaying on dual-monitor setup
If you’ve just plugged in a new monitor for say, a dual monitor setup, and one isn’t displaying, you can try the following steps:
- Go to the Desktop
- Right-Click on the Desktop
- Select Display settings
The monitors you have connected should now be displayed. If not, try unplugging them and reconnecting them whilst Windows is still running. This can sometimes jog Windows into recognizing them.
Quick monitor settings
If you can see your connected monitors in this menu, but nothing is displaying, try the following steps:
- Press the ‘Windows key’ and ‘P’ together
- A small menu will appear asking you how you want your PC to act when using Monitors
- Select either Mirror or Extend the Desktop. This should now be displayed on the new monitor.
If this also fails to work, it is a good idea to test some different HDMI or DisplayPort cables to eliminate an issue with the cable causing the problem.
If your new or additional monitor is still refusing to display, then you will need a known good monitor so work can be done on the graphics card drivers.
Reinstall your graphics driver
- Open the Start Menu
- Type Device Manager into Windows search
- Select Device manager
- Locate Display Adapters and select your graphics card from the menu
- Right-click and select ‘Uninstall device’
- Follow any instructions that come up.
- Your screen may act oddly during this process. Don’t worry, that is normal.
- Once you have finished uninstalling the driver, restart your PC
- Go back to the Device Manager
- Select ‘Update Driver’ from the menu and follow the instructions
New monitor only shows a black screen on Windows PC
If you can only see a black screen when you plug in your new monitor, try this:
- Press CTRL + WIN + SHIFT + B
This will restart the graphics driver, and should hopefully bring an image up on your monitor.