Why can't my laptop recognize three monitors at once?

Question

1. I have Dell laptop computer?
2. I have 3 monitors connected to it.
3. two monitors are connected to it by VGA through "TripleHead2go" port.
4. One is connected by HDMI.
5. One of the monitors connected through VGA is a Dell monitor, the second is a Samsung monitor.
6. The monitor connected through HDMI is actually a Sansui brand TV that can convert to a computer monitor.
7. The TV has a port for VGA, but when i connect to it the laptop doesn't detect it. When I connect the HDMI the laptop detects it, but i cannot extend the desktop to it.
8. When i go to the Device Manager it recognizes all three monitors and all three monitors are working properly.
9. If i disconnect the two the monitors connected through VGA the laptop will then extend to the monitor connected through HDMI. But I cannot extend to all three at once.
10. I use Windows 7 Home Premium and Dell Inspirion 1764 laptop, and Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU (if any of that helps).

My question is how can i get the laptop to extend to all three monitors? at the same time? I have the same set up at work, except all three monitors are Dells, and I use a DELL laptop there also and everything runs perfectly. What am I doing wrong here?

Screenshots of Control Panel and Device Manager;

Solution 1

Short answer is: it's impossible to do what you want with equipment you have:

1. This laptop has 1st gen Core i5, which has Intel HD integrated into it, which will not support more than two displays.

2. Using TripleHead2Go from Matrox will not allow you to skip on this limitation, as it's using computer's GPU to deliver multi-display desktop, and additionally this one has its own limitation, which is the COMBINED resolution of ALL monitors connected to it. WHich is greater than max output of the graphics card of the laptop.

Your laptop is too old to do what you want using setup you described. I recommend switching to USB2DP converter like this (just example, I have different one):

https://www.amazon.co.uk/StarTech-Display-External-Monitor-Adapter/dp/B008CXFM64

If it won't work with your laptop you need to invest in powered usb hub.

But this solution would work - I've successfully used 2x2k displays connected to any machine that could deliver enough power to USB for the USB2DP device to work, and one of the computers was even older than yours.

EDIT: Additionally, this adapter let's you work around the hardware limitation of HDMI socket on most laptops with either dual GPU setup or just Intel integrated graphics (except most modern ones). Found out painfully that 1920x1080 is max on my other laptop (Dell Inspiron 15R Limited edition), which could not display more on external HDMI-connected 2k display, despite having Radeon 7730 with 2GB of RAM on-board. However, said USB2DP adapter worked like a charm.

Solution 2

Your integrated Graphics Chip (which is from an Intel Nehalem CPU from 2010) has never been designed by Intel to use more than 2 monitors, thus it's unable to do so.

The problem even comes from the driver, a Display Port won't even do the job for a 3rd monitor. This is clearly not a performance-related issue.

Consider upgrading to a newer laptop, with at least a Core Ix 3xxx (Ivy Bridge, 2012)

Also, please consider this: malfunctioning Matrox TH2G Digital on Intel HD 5500 GPU (detects VGA signal as DisplayPort, only provides low resolutions)

Comments

[Ravindra Bawane]

This is what I would consider the primary issue too.

[ziggurism]

Who was the gpu designed by, if not by intel?

[X.LINK]

Adapters that do video to USB converting is not what I call a reliable solution. It is very driver dependant, and the main company that does this (DisplayLink) isn't a good maintainer nor a good stable driver maker. Also, the CPU overhead is just quite big and one USB3 link is required per Monitor as the bandwidth required will be huge.

[X.LINK]

Intel used PowerVR graphics in the past, and may use AMD Radeon technologies for their new iGPUs. So Intel has not always made their iGPUs.

[AcePL]

Well, I've tested it on Dell E6400 with Nvidia Quadro NVS160m, which has only USB2.0 and worked great. Granted, it was with T9400 CPU and 8GB of RAM as well, but when connected two HP 2k screens (2560x1600) were working fine, in addition to the laptop native display of 1200x800. Load on CPU was bit over 20%. It was stable, but I do agree it's something more along the lines of emergency than long term solution.