Solved 1 monitor black when lid closed, other on, laptop screen remains on


Three years later and this issue is still happening. Also created an account just to say thanks and to help ensure that this remains at the top of google searches for the issue.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
Thank you, Bassmaster_P!! I also created an account just to thank you! This has been causing me trouble for months and now it's fixed. All hail the bassmaster!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
Thank you so much!

Hardware: Dell Precision 7560, Dell Docking Station WD19DCS, two monitors with DisplayPort and HDMI

The solution was a bit more complicated in my case:
- It started at "Show only on 2".
- I selected "Extend these displays" but it was always switching back to display 2, without any message or the usual keep/revert dialog.
- I have tried many settings before I finally got it to work as expected. I think the relevant part was switching to "Show only on 1". I had to try this multiple times before it accepted that change (and you have to click "keep" fast enough, as usual).
- Then, switch to "Extend these displays".

Some additional observations, in hope that it might be useful to some who find this thread: The dock is rather unreliable and will often have a degraded connection to the laptop. This is usually (but not always) indicated by only one of the two lights being lit. Sometimes there is a message from Dell tools or BIOS (e.g. "multiple docks are not supported"). Sometimes you only notice by monitors not working as expected (e.g. higher resolutions not available or blurry image despite high resolution). We have these issues with many laptops and WD19 docking stations, so this is not a faulty laptop, dock or cable.

When the connection is degraded, both monitors remain on, i.e. the bug doesn't occur in that case. Windows still shows the vendor and model of both monitors but it seems that it cannot turn off the second monitor. This isn't useful, of course, because the degraded connection is not enough to run both monitors at a useful resolution.

The monitors have been bought at the same time and their DCI information are very similar. This might be part of the problem. Nevertheless, something must have changed in the last weeks because it was working fine for years.

I recently updated PowerToys and enabled the new "Power Display" feature but it can only control one of the monitors. The issue might be related to this but it wasn't fixed when I disabled Power Display.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell
Check that Windows Update hasn't replaced your working graphics drivers.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro 23H2 (5699), 25H2 (8457)
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Extensa 5630EZ
    CPU
    Mobile DualCore Intel Core 2 Duo T7250, 2000 MHz
    Motherboard
    Acer Extensa 5630
    Memory
    4GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Mobile Intel(R) GMA 4500M (Mobile 4 series)
    Sound Card
    Realtek ALC268 @ Intel 82801IB ICH9 - High Definition Audio Controller
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1
    Screen Resolution
    1280x800
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB SATA Device (250 GB, SATA-III)
    Internet Speed
    VDSL 50 Mbps
    Browser
    MICROSOFT EDGE
    Antivirus
    WINDOWS DEFENDER
    Other Info
    Legacy MBR installation, no TPM, no Secure Boot, no WDDM 2.0 graphics drivers, no SSE4.2, cannot get more unsupported ;) This is only my test laptop. I had installed Windows 11 here before upgrading my main PC. For my main PC I use everyday see my 2nd system specs.
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro v25H2 (build 26200.8457)
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom-built PC
    CPU
    Intel Core-i7 3770 3.40GHz s1155 (3rd generation)
    Motherboard
    Asus P8H61 s1155 ATX
    Memory
    2x Kingston Hyper-X Blu 8GB DDR3-1600
    Graphics card(s)
    GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 3050 WINDFORCE OC V2 6GB (GV-N3050WF2OCV2-6GD)
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD audio (ALC887)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Sony Bravia KDL-19L4000 19" LCD TV via VGA
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900 32-bit 60Hz
    Hard Drives
    WD Blue SA510 2.5 1000GB SSD as system disk, Western Digital Caviar Purple 4TB SATA III (WD40PURZ) as second
    PSU
    Thermaltake Litepower RGB 550W Full Wired
    Case
    SUPERCASE MIDI-TOWER
    Cooling
    Deepcool Gamma Archer CPU cooler, 1x 8cm fan at the back
    Keyboard
    Mitsumi 101-key PS/2
    Mouse
    Sunnyline OptiEye PS/2
    Internet Speed
    100Mbps
    Browser
    Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Windows Defender
    Other Info
    Legacy BIOS (MBR) installation, no TPM, no Secure Boot, WDDM 3.0 graphics drivers, WEI score 7.4

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