Elementary OS Driver Issue

Question

Hey guys having a problem getting a second screen working on Elementary. I’ve searched high and low, tried every sudo update drivers help that can be found but nothing works.

I’m using a Dell Inspiron N5110, Intel Corporation 2nd Gen Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics card. I’m trying to connect it to a Samsung TV via HDMI.

Problem is as the laptop starts and begins to load elementary it works fine. It also works fine in Windows. Problem only occurs after the login screen begins to load, at which point the screen goes back to the laptop screen as the main screen and Elementary doesn’t recognise there is a TV/Screen connected.

Ideally I wanted 3 screens connected. The main laptop screen, a side monitor I have connected via the blue VGA I think it’s called, connector to the back and the TV connected via HDMI side port to the TV on the wall. Couldn’t get it to work even on windows which makes me think it must be the Inter Family card being so basic it only allows 2 screens at a time and not 3?

It became such a hassle, at this stage I would be happy just getting the main screen and TV to work via HDMI.

But it’s driving me crazy why it has all the drivers needed on startup but once started up stops using them or forgets their location or something?

Any help greatly appreciated, thanks.

Answer 1

So after trying everything I could think of and not being able to find help from anywhere I decided to install Linux Mint on a separate partition.

To my surprise Mint recognised all the screens no problem but encountered an error when trying to activate the third screen from the display settings. Again, I think the Dell Family Card just doesn’t have enough juice but I’m a tech noob so don’t quote me.

I configured it the way I wanted it, TV as the main screen and laptop monitor as the second and it worked great.

Swapped over to Elementary and surprisingly whatever the issue was, installing Linux Mint fixed it. There’s a bug somewhere it would seem within Elementary but Mint doesn’t have the bug.

If others are stuck with the same issue and another install is an option I would do it, get your setup working as you wish then delete the OS you don’t want.