NVIDIA display settings are not available

Hi guys, I need some help. I’m using a fairly new dell laptop. I’ve been using your plugable UD-3900 product for 7 months now without a problem. I am using a second monitor for my laptop so it’s always in a closed position while I’m using it. I was able to open the NVIDIA setting through my second monitor just fine. A few days ago while I was using my laptop, i forgot to switch on the power adaptor and the battery was drained to critical, and the laptop wasn’t able to turn on. After I switched on the power for a few seconds, it says I have critically low battery. I recharge it back to full. Now I can’t open the NVIDIA control panel through my second monitor. If I use the monitor on my laptop, it allow me to open the nvidia control panel. How do i fix this?
here are the few things I’ve tried:
I’ve tried uninstalling displaylink, but it won’t let me use 2nd monitor for the laptop, so i reinstall it again.
I’ve tried disabling the intel® UHD graphics 620, all it does it turn off my laptop monitor so i had to reboot the laptop and enable the intel grahics 620 again.
I’ve read people having the same problem as mine, however i know it used to work, so is there a way to fix it?
I’ve upload the spec of my laptop here.

Cheers.

Hi,

Thanks for reaching out to us, I am sorry this is not working as expected and I am happy to help!

Does the menu option for the NVIDIA Settings no longer show up in the right-click menu when on the external display connected to the docking station, or is it still available but not showing up when selected?

Thanks for letting me know how this behavior has changed.

Pat
Plugable Technology
support@plugable.com

Hi Pat,

Thanks for helping me. The NVIDIA icon is available there as pictured. I double click on it to get to the NVIDIA control panel, then the message pop up.

This happens while I’m using my second monitor. If I were to flip open my Dell laptop, thus turning on the laptop screen, I am able to open the NVIDIA control panel. However as soon as i close the laptop lid, the display switching back to my second monitor, then it wont let me access the NVIDIA control panel anymore.

Hi,

Thank you for the additional details and screenshot! That helps to demonstrate the issue.

The DisplayLink software ties into the Intel Graphics by default, when the laptop lid is closed only the Intel Graphics are being used and the system isn’t being told to activate the NVIDIA graphics so we receive this message.

I am not 100% sure why the system changed behavior but it may be related to a power settings change when the system ran out of battery power.

Our first step is to reset the Windows 10 power settings to the default values to see if this helps, please perform the following:

  1. Right-click on the start menu and select Power Options to open the power settings panel
  2. From the right column select Additional power settings, a blue link
  3. The system may have one or more Preferred Plans or Additional Plans
  • If available select the “High Performance” or similarly named plan
  • If no high performance plans are available select “Balanced” or the recommended plan.
  • Power saver or low power plans may be causing this behavior
  1. After selecting the High Performance plan please restart the computer to make sure the power plan is fully activated and let me know if this helps.

Thank you,

Pat
Plugable Technology
support@plugable.com

Hi Pat,

I’ve upload pictures of my additional power settings set up. I’ve researched and play around with this part when i set my laptop up for the first time. I look into them again just now just like you asked, there is no high performance setting in it. These settings basically give me options on how the laptop would do if i were to close the lid. I’ve make sure whenever the lid is closed while i’m on battery or plugged in the laptop will do nothing. So this setting is the same as it was when i was able to open NVIDIA control panel through my second monitor.

I don’t know if this helps, one thing I’ve notice is whenever i open the lid, my alternate monitor would have lowered resolution, when i closed the laptop lid, the resolution on my alternate monitor would revert back to normal. It has always been this way before and after this trouble.

Thanks,

Sunarto

the power plan was on Dell, I’ve switched it to balanced as you’ve instructed. However as I’ve wrote above, these plans only give me the same choices as pictured above (with different selections from each different plan)

Hi,

Thanks for giving that a try, not all of the settings controlled by the power plan are exposed through the user interface and some third party software will reference the current power plan to implement power saving features.

We can force the NVIDIA graphics to be active for specific applications, this should enable the NVIDA Control Panel on the external display when these specific applications are open and running:
Please perform the following:

  1. Open the laptop and on the internal display open the NVIDIA Control Panel
  2. Select the “Manage 3D Settings” link on the left if not already selected
  3. Select the “Program Settings” tab if not already selected
  4. Select a commonly used application like “Chrome” from the drop down under “1. Select a program to customize:”
  5. Select “High-performance NIVIDIA processor” from the drop down under “2. Select the preferred graphics processor for this program:”
  6. Select “Apply” at the bottom of the screen

After this close the NVIDIA settings, then close the laptop lid. On the external display open Chrome then try to launch the NVIDIA settings. This should activate the NVIDIA graphics card and allow the settings to open.

Please let me know if this helps,

Pat
Plugable Technology
support@plugable.com

Hi,

Thanks for your help. I have followed each of the steps until the last one. I don’t understand how to launch the NVIDIA settings from my chrome.

In regards of the message “you are not currently using a display attached to an NVIDIA GPU”, Is it just the error message? am i not actually running NVIDIA display? cause before and after this whole problem occur, a video game I’ve played seems to perform just the same.

Sunarto

Hi Sunarto,

I apologize for the confusion, please try to open the NVIDIA control panel normally, while Chrome browser is also open ( it can be minimized or moved out of the way ).

By default the computer will switch between the Intel Graphics and the NVIDIA Graphics depending on the running applications. By forcing Chrome to use the NVIDIA graphics we can force the NVIDIA graphics controller to be active while the laptop lid is closed ( normally it would be disabled ).

Similarly launching a game with 3D acceleration should seamlessly activate the NVIDIA graphics controller.

Please let me know if the NVIDIA control panel can be opened while Chrome browser is also open ( although it can be minimized or out of the way ).

Thank you,

Pat
Plugable Technology

Hi Pat,

I’ve tried this as well, unfortunately it’s still not working.

Only one of the games i can play in my secondary display. Most of the games I can’t longer play. I tried to launch counter strike games on my secondary display (after I went into the manage 3d settings with laptop display and make sure the game runs on high performance NVIDIA processor), it will just lock up and freeze. I have to open the laptop lid to unfreeze the game and force close it from there.

I’d like to add that occasionally when I turn on my laptop, my secondary display resolution will be blurry. This maybe happen 1 out of 10 times. I turn on my laptop by opening the lid of it, then closing the lid again to activate my secondary display.

Hi,

Thanks for the additional details, in previous testing with the NVIDIA settings the above should have worked to enable the NVIDIA graphics controller while connected to the docking station.

We don’t recommend gaming through our USB 3 docking stations like the UD-3900, the DisplayLink software that drives the external display does not have access to low level hardware acceleration which is why the game is failing to launch or crashing, it is not getting the correct response back from the DisplayLink driver that it would expect to get from either the Intel Graphics Processor or from the NVIDIA Graphics Processor.

Our next step is to get some additional information from your system to see if there is a faulty driver version or another problem that could be affecting the expected behavior.

If you would, please keep the dock connected and monitor(s) connected and attach the output of our diagnostic utility PlugDebug ( http://plugable.com/support/plugdebug ) to an email to “support@plugable.com” with the subject line “Ticket #297857 - Attention Pat” as this will allow us to examine some log files from your system to help determine the next steps.

Thank you,

Pat
Plugable Technology
support@plugable.com

Hello Pat,
Thanks again for your assitance. I bought this plugable product early september 2019, while I was vacationing in U.S, just days after I’ve bought a new laptop. Unfortunately I didn’t get the chance nor do I understand the variation of plugable products.

However before the whole low battery fiasco, I was able to play an old game counter strike global offensive just fine at my alternate display, and I was able to access the NVIDIA setting just fine.

Thanks.

Sunarto

Hi Sunarto,

Thank you for sending the log file, based on the logs I think we are looking at the wrong culprit.

The system updated both the Intel and NVIDIA graphics drivers on what looks like on or around March 24th based on some of the file dates, just before your first post. Is this when the system restarted after the power failure?

If this is when the failure occurred it may have simply happened to coincide with the newer NVIDIA graphics driver and software becoming active after the computer restarted. In this case we can try to roll back to a previous NVIDIA driver, however the system will simply update to the latest drivers probably within a week or so after rolling back the drivers. If the older drivers work as expected then this will point to a problem with the latest drivers from NVIDIA being the cause of this behavior.

To install the previous drivers for this system please download both the Intel and NVIDIA drivers from the Dell download page below:
Intel: https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=65v37&oscode=wt64a&productcode=inspiron-15-7590-2-in-1-laptop
NVIDIA: https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=vngrv&oscode=wt64a&productcode=inspiron-15-7590-2-in-1-laptop
Save these to the desktop or accessible location.

I recommend starting with the Intel driver installation, double-click on the executable and follow the on screen instructions. When completed restart the computer and perform the same with the NVIDIA driver installation, restart when completed.

When you have loaded back to the Windows desktop please re-run the PlugDebug application to capture the current log files and verify the new drivers have been installed and are active.

Please let me know if this restores the original behavior and we can go from there.

Thank you,

Pat
Plugable Technology
support@plugable.com

Dear Pat,

You are correct, around March 24 I might have updated the file. I did it after the problem occurs however. It was my attempt to try to fix the problem. Should I still go ahead and do as you’ve instructed and roll back to previous driver?

Thank you,

Sunarto

Dear Pat,

I’ve done installed the 2 drivers from the link you gave me. The behaviours are still the same. It will not let me play counter strike global offensive through my alternate display.

Thank you,

Sunarto