Dell HDMI-to-VGA Adapter Fails

I have a new Win 11 computer and want to use Dell HDMI-to-VGA Adapter with my non-Dell combo monitor/TV unit. When I connect the HDMI cable I get a display but its too large for the screen (lose things at the edges) so I want to use the VGA connection (which I used with my old Win 7 computer and the screen displayed was the right size). When I connect the Dell adapter I get nothing, just a black, blank screen. To test it, I connected the adapter to an old, small Dell monitor and it worked. Could the Dell adapter work only with a Dell monitor?

If HDMI works but the screen dimensions are off I would opt to just correct the display settings. To answer your VGA question; it is not likely that the VGA adapter is specific to the Dell monitors. It may be that the computer is trying to output beyond the range of the VGA or the monitor in general which can result in no display.

I haven't encountered a proprietary video adapter in my 20+ years of IT and security

neemobeer said:

I haven't encountered a proprietary video adapter in my 20+ years of IT and security

Click to expand...

Those were the 'good old' days of simple compatibility with the user in mind.
Not like today with USB connectors.

You might get better help if you provided the model of the VGA to HDMI adapter and the make and model of the monitor/TV.

(A VGA to HDMI adapter takes a VGA input and outputs HDMI. HDMI to VGA takes an HDMI input and outputs analog VGA. Both adapter types are active, because HDMI is only digital, and VGA is only analog.)

I doubt that the adapter only works with a Dell display. Maybe the resolution and/or refresh rate settings are incorrect.

Do you need to use VGA?

Thank you neemobeer, OAT and bobkn.
The Monitor combo is Toshiba 19LV506. The HDMI-to-VGA adapter is a Dell adapter. There are a lot of numbers & letters on the label but it looks like the model is DAUBNBC084u.

The reason I want to try the VGA is that it perhaps it would resolve the problem of the display being larger than the screen. The display settings cannot be accessed when the monitor is in HDMI mode. They simply are not selectable with the remote control. They're accessable in TV and VGA mode only.

NewWin11User said:

Thank you neemobeer, OAT and bobkn.
The Monitor combo is Toshiba 19LV506. The HDMI-to-VGA adapter is a Dell adapter. There are a lot of numbers & letters on the label but it looks like the model is DAUBNBC084u.

The reason I want to try the VGA is that it perhaps it would resolve the problem of the display being larger than the screen. The display settings cannot be accessed when the monitor is in HDMI mode. They simply are not selectable with the remote control. They're accessable in TV and VGA mode only.

Click to expand...

Thanks.

There's a downloadable manual available for the TV.

Its HDMI input is mentioned up to 720P (1280 X 720). The native resolution of its screen is 1440 X 900. (That's a 16:10 aspect, not the 16:9 of standard HDTV.) Refresh rates aren't explicitly listed.

A Web search didn't find the part number for the HDMI-to-VGA adapter. I wonder if it's this one?

I don't know why you're getting a black screen with the TV and the adapter. The obvious thought is that the adapter is providing a resolution and refresh frequency combination that the TV does not support.

I don't suppose that you can connect the TV to the PC via HDMI, and then right click on the desktop, select Display Settings, and then choose a different display resolution? (1440 X 900 at 60Hz, maybe.)

Best of luck.

To fix the HDMI issue lower the resolution. Probably you are trying to display a larger resolution than your monitor native. If it is a TV monitor, then you have to disable overscan (or whatever is called) from image settings using your remote control. Also see if changing the aspect ratio helps. Regarding the VGA issue, I suspect your Dell adapter is from HDMI source to VGA monitor, but you try the other way around, to connect your PC VGA output into the HDMI input of your monitor. Of course this doesn't work. The adapter works only one way, not both ways. To make it work, connect the Dell HDMI to VGA adapter directly on your PC HDMI output and a VGA cable on the other end of the adapter and on your monitor. If you monitor doesn't have VGA input (aka PC input) you must use the HDMI cable directly without adapters and set the appropriate resolution or disable overscan as suggested above.

PS: The Dell adapters are not exclusive to Dell, they also work on any other PC. I am currently using a Dell DP to VGA adapter to connect my main PC (custom built, not Dell) to my monitor with VGA cable.

spapakons​

I don't believe there is an overscan setting on the monitor, at least not that I've found in HDMI mode. As for the VGA connection, that is precisely what I have been trying and what doesn't work: PC HDMI output port -> HDMI adapter -> VGA cable -> VGA input port on monitor.

bobkn​

I have the downloaded manual, thank you.The adapter you point to looks like the one I have though there aren't any markings on either one besides the Dell logo. The display resolution is 1280 x 720 which is the default and Win 11 PC recommended setting. 1440 x 900 is not an option in the displayed list.

Check in nVidia Control Panel. Go to Change Display Resolution, then select use NVidia Settings and see if switching Output Color Format between RGB or YCbCr422 or YCbCr444 makes any difference. Maybe the adaptor works only in RGB mode which is preferable as this should give better image. However, I think this setting is applicable at digital DP or HDMI, not on VGA. From there you can also select different resolutions and refresh rates and see if it makes any difference.

NewWin11User said:

spapakons​

I don't believe there is an overscan setting on the monitor, at least not that I've found in HDMI mode. As for the VGA connection, that is precisely what I have been trying and what doesn't work: PC HDMI output port -> HDMI adapter -> VGA cable -> VGA input port on monitor.

bobkn​

I have the downloaded manual, thank you.The adapter you point to looks like the one I have though there aren't any markings on either one besides the Dell logo. The display resolution is 1280 x 720 which is the default and Win 11 PC recommended setting. 1440 x 900 is not an option in the displayed list.

Click to expand...

1289 X 720 is a 16:9 aspect. The display is natively 16:10. If the image fills the screen vertically, it'll fall off the edges horizontally, unless it is distorted.

From Page 37 in the manual:


If you connect the monitor using the HDMI cable and use this setting, maybe things will display correctly.

I still have no idea why it's not working with the HDMI-to-VGA adapter.

In some TVs you can fill the screen by changing the aspect ratio from the TV image settings. Other TVs, like my Sony 19" I use as primary monitor keeps the aspect ratio, even in "full" setting and produces annoying black bars on top and bottom of the screen for 16:9 resolutions such as 1280x720. To get rid of the black bars I have to use a 16:10 resolution such as 1280x800 or 1440x900 or 1920x1200 for other models that support higher resolutions. That's the reason I connect via VGA, because HDMI is limited to 1280x720 with the black bars. The native resolution of 1440x900 is only supported in VGA connection. I get higher resolution than HDMI plus full screen without the annoying black bars. The image distortion from 16:9 to 16:10 is negligible and I can leave with that.

HDMI connection is the way to go because EDID info is sent back from the Monitor/TV. Thus Windows knows the capabilities of your Monitor/TV.

The TV being 16 years old with very little controls for PC HDMI input does not help in 2024. They seem assume PC input is VGA, p38,39 of the manual.
The display will not be great for Windows 11 with such a low DPI and other limitations p20,37.

1440 x 900 pixels is 16:10 aspect ratio.

The table given on p20 shows common display modes but nothing corresponding to the display panel native resolution, that is odd.
Further limitations given on p37 in the bottom notes.

HDMI - VGA adapter may not work because of the limited range of the VGA input.

The EDID data may not report the correct the native resolution. Or maybe the EDID data are not interpreted correctly by some graphics drivers. I have seen old legacy AMD drivers seeing 1600x1200 while the monitor is 1920x1080. Thankfully you can bypass EDID and manually force the correct native resolution. Also the specs of my own Sony 19" TV monitor refer 1680x1050 but this is not available in nVidia Control Panel. Creating that as custom resolution I get 1680x1050 scaled at 1440x900 which is useless and a little blurry, so I use 1440x900 directly.