Dell 5565 LCD + 2nd monitor: Viewsonic older LCD Makes Laptop display wonky <SOLVED>

[djcaptpln880]

Hello

I Have adell 5565 laptop and tried hooking up an older Viewsonic LCD display using VGA to HDMI adapter. The laptop has DVI HDMI Only cpnnector

I connect the monitor and it makes my desktop screwed up: in that the taskbar goes to the top and I cannot access the desktop - it's like its all screwed up out of position nothing matches and the screen almost goes blank.

WHen I unplug it it goes back to normal on the laptop LCD.

I tried going into display settings but beccause I cannot see what I[m doing, I cannot change the settings. IT worked somewhat briefly before but I couldnt' change the settings without the 2 monitors in the display settings area from 'ghosting' around.

Now it won't work much at all except the out of position thing explained above.

Any tips on what I should do to get it working? I want to make the external LCD my left hand side display and my laptop LCD the main right hand.

THanks

[djcaptpln880]

Here is my output:

System:
Kernel: 5.4.0-77-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 9.3.0
Desktop: MATE 1.24.0 Distro: Linux Mint 20.2 Uma base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal
Machine:
Type: Laptop System: Dell product: Inspiron 5565 v: 1.1.1 serial: <filter>
Mobo: Dell model: 0WJM4N v: A00 serial: <filter> UEFI: Dell v: 1.1.1
date: 07/17/2017
Battery:
ID-1: BAT1 charge: 26.6 Wh condition: 41.7/42.2 Wh (99%)
model: Simplo 0x33,0x35,0x43,0x48,0x00,0x00,0x004F status: Discharging
CPU:
Topology: Dual Core model: AMD A9-9400 RADEON R5 5 COMPUTE CORES 2C+3G
bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Excavator L2 cache: 1024 KiB
flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm
bogomips: 9582
Speed: 1395 MHz min/max: 1400/2400 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1397 2: 1397
Graphics:
Device-1: AMD Stoney [Radeon R2/R3/R4/R5 Graphics] vendor: Dell
driver: amdgpu v: kernel bus ID: 00:01.0
Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.9 driver: amdgpu,ati
unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa tty: N/A
OpenGL: renderer: AMD STONEY (DRM 3.35.0 5.4.0-77-generic LLVM 11.0.0)
v: 4.5 Mesa 20.2.6 direct render: Yes
Audio:
Device-1: AMD vendor: Dell driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:01.1
Device-2: AMD Family 15h Audio vendor: Dell driver: snd_hda_intel
v: kernel bus ID: 00:09.2
Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.4.0-77-generic
Network:
Device-1: Realtek RTL810xE PCI Express Fast Ethernet vendor: Dell
driver: r8169 v: kernel port: 2000 bus ID: 02:00.0
IF: enp2s0 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Device-2: Qualcomm Atheros QCA9565 / AR9565 Wireless Network Adapter
vendor: Dell driver: ath9k v: kernel port: 2000 bus ID: 03:00.0
IF: wlp3s0 state: down mac: <filter>
Device-3: Qualcomm Atheros type: USB driver: btusb bus ID: 2-1:4
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 931.51 GiB used: 261.98 GiB (28.1%)
ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Samsung model: SSD 860 QVO 1TB size: 931.51 GiB
Partition:
ID-1: / size: 774.56 GiB used: 261.95 GiB (33.8%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda5
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 41.4 C mobo: N/A gpu: amdgpu temp: 41 C
Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 2700
Info:
Processes: 212 Uptime: 2h 56m Memory: 15.11 GiB used: 2.05 GiB (13.6%)
Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 9.3.0 Shell: bash v: 5.0.17
inxi: 3.0.38

ANy idea how to get the proper video card driver installed for my dell 5565 ?

[Hoser Rob]

I don't know if I can fix this but looking at this ...

https://linux-hardware.org/?id=pci:1002-98e4-1025-1192

... you already have the right driver. Don't just dl the newest driver from amd, that's usually a mistake in Linux, and I don't see your card on the ampgpu-pro compatibility list ...

https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/relea ... -amdgpupro

... so I wouldn't touch that.

Hopefully someone else has something more useful.

[djcaptpln880]

YEs I am not sure what to do here except the driver?

Looks like from other threads this is a common problem with this video card/setup?

Thx

[SMG]

I Have adell 5565 laptop and tried hooking up an older Viewsonic LCD display using VGA to HDMI adapter. The laptop has DVI HDMI Only cpnnector

The specs I found indicate the laptop has one HDMI port. So are you using an HDMI to VGA adapter to connect the monitor directly to the laptop?

What is the model of the external monitor?

[djcaptpln880]

HDMI to VGA adapter yes connected to laptop

Monitor model: viewsonic va912b or vs10867

It was working at least somewhat correctly when I first tried it out, but now MAYBE because I was tinkering with settings it's not working much at all?

[SMG]

It was working at least somewhat correctly when I first tried it out, but now MAYBE because I was tinkering with settings it's not working much at all?

You were tinkering with settings on the monitor or on Mint? If it was on Mint, boot to a live session of Mint with your installation usb/dvd and see how it is.

I agree with Hoser Rob the graphic drivers do not seem to be the issue.

[djcaptpln880]

I wasn't doing much tinkering -- just wit hthe display settings GUI in mint.

I will try the LIVE CD next and let you know what happens. Anything I should try while in there?

[SMG]

I will try the LIVE CD next and let you know what happens. Anything I should try while in there?

I do not have any suggestions. Normally, when the graphic drivers install properly (and the data you posted does seem like they did), the monitor is picked up properly.

[djcaptpln880]

I booted into linux mint latest with the USB Key boot option LINUX MINT *MATE*

One thing I previously had a problem with was this: my dell 5565 had problems with display driver or something showing the desktop all messed up in a previous post here:

viewtopic.php?f=46&t=352080&p=2033876#p2033876

I had to switch to COMTPON window manager and that fixed the problem? http://duncanlock.net/blog/2013/06/07/h ... g-in-xfce/ **this is for XFCE but I used the same process for MATE?**

I don't recall if I had this issue with my CURRENT MATE install.

ANyway, I followed the tutorial on how to speedup Linux mint here https://easylinuxtipsproject.blogspot.c ... -mint.html

I switched to window manager marco+compton as recommended and that was a big speed boost.


Could that be an issue with dual monitor setup? * update: I tried switching to another window manager, and yet there was a different display screw up but it was more manageable and able to be restored.

[djcaptpln880]

Hello

I set "marco" as my default instead AND this got my dual setup working!

However!

It is acting as though the external monitor on the LEFT of my desk is acting as though it were the primary monitor for new programs to open?

It is NOT set as primary monitor in the display settings YET it is acting as though it is?

ANy idea? :_)

[SMG]

I set "marco" as my default instead AND this got my dual setup working!

It sounds like the issue in your original post has been solved?

However!

It is acting as though the external monitor on the LEFT of my desk is acting as though it were the primary monitor for new programs to open?

It is NOT set as primary monitor in the display settings YET it is acting as though it is?

ANy idea? :_)

That sounds like a different issue which means you should mark this one solved and create a new thread for that issue. That issue sounds like an Xfce display setting issue and not a hardware issue.