How do i get my monitor working in 4k 60 Hz in Linux?

Question

I used linux for two years. I bought a new 4K Dell monitor, connected it to HDMI, booted into Windows, and it worked fine, then I booted into Ubuntu Linux and it just show no picture (the same thing happened in Elementary OS).

Then I booted into Fedora Linux and it also show no picture unless i got into settings and set it to 30 Hz (yes, I had a 60 Hz mode in it, it just did not work) - the same thing happened in Manjaro.

I could not get any picture at all in Ubuntu.

Notes:

1. I have secure boot disabled in my os because I disabled it for Manjaro installation..

2. Xorg drivers never worked for me, I always forced safe mode until I would not install Nvidia proprietary drivers..

3. I use AMD Ryzen 4th Gen mobile(laptop) processor, if it matters (I do not know how good is support for Ryzens in Linux)

I tried these solutions:

• Create an xorg mode with edid disabled and forced 60 Hz refresh rate,
• set a 60 Hz refresh rate, then I tried 54 Hz, and 50 Hz, nothing worked.

Then I just gave up after two days of trying.

Solution 1

The issue is as basic as I would not have ever suspected. All OS packages are very outdated.

sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt update

or if you're on Arch or any other Linux distro that has pamac instead of apt:

sudo pamac upgrade

After installing linux-firmware I noticed that the frame rate was improved, and I opened settings and there is by default 60 Hz, and it just works! There was another package that actually also "impacted the experience" of using a monitor, but I overlooked the name of it.

Solution 2

It is possible that some of your hardware doesn't support 4K @ 60Hz.
Here are two examples...

• Something is HDMI 1.4b: The bandwidth for the HDMI 1.4b specification only supports 4K resolution (4096x2160) at a max of 30Hz:

  • HDMI 2.0 and up support higher resolutions and faster refresh rates, like 4K @ 60Hz

  • You are limited by the cable or port that is the "weakest link". Make sure that everything actually supports HDMI 2.0 or higher. This includes the HDMI port on your laptop, the HDMI port on your monitor, the cable you're using, etc.

• You are using an adapter in a way that doesn't support 4K @ 60Hz:

  • You could fill a small museum with the assortment of video cables and connectors that are still being used today. The different types of video cables and connectors don't have have the same specifications and standards as each other. To oversimplify, they speak various languages, and sometimes things can get lost or delayed in translation.

  • One dramatic example of this would be if you have a HDMI > VGA cable. HDMI is a digital format and VGA is analog. The conversion to VGA does cause some loss in quality.

  • With digital formats, there is not a loss in quality like what happens with digital to analog conversions.
       "It either works... or it doesn't..."
    So if there is some bottleneck that reduces the bandwidth of the connection below the requirements of 4K@60Hz, you will not be able to successfully use this resolution and refresh rate.

Comments

[Nmath]

The asker has been trying to use Ubuntu in attempt to solve a problem. I don't think this is off-topic just because it was mentioned that other operating systems were tried as well. Hi Daniel - I think your issue might have to do with cables, ports or hardware. I'll compose an answer to explain why that could be a possibility.

[guiverc]

Only Ubuntu and official flavors of Ubuntu are on-topic here, please refer askubuntu.com/help/on-topic, Your question doesn't appear to be asking about Ubuntu at all, and concentrating on Fedora (esp. given tag) and non-Ubuntu OSes Appropriate flavors of Ubuntu can be downloaded from ubuntu.com/download/flavours which are on-topic on this site. The on-topic link provides alternate SE sites for non-Ubuntu OSes.

[Daniel]

I have a HDMI 2.0 adapter that supports up to 8k 60hz and as I said, it works only in Windows, but thanks for trying.. And it is an HDMI - HDMI cable..

[Daniel]

But however, thanks for all of your suggestions..

[matanster]

So you get 4K seamlessly working and everything including fonts rendered at a higher resolution compared to plain HD resolution, out of the box plus the package updates?

[Daniel]

It works even better that i thought!! I also upgraded linux kernel before that though(to 5.8).. (I do not know whether it could impact it, but i don't want to break it anymore).. But everything works nicely.. also, if you're using Manjaro, i'd suggest you to set the renderer in the compositor as OpenGL 3.1, not 2.0 and set the rendering to smooth, that will troubleshoot any rendering issues, also set tearing prevention to automatic..

[Daniel]

ibb.co/BGB9Dny

[matanster]

I wonder what's the situation with Ubuntu, to which this website is kind of dedicated.

[Daniel]

On elementary it does not work