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611690
Three monitor setup with E6420
I am trying to set up my laptop to use two (2) external monitors (both Dell monitors). I am using a Dell Latitude E6420 laptop that has an external VGA connection as well as an HDMI connection. I can currently use the laptop LCD screen as one display and an external monitor (either VGA or DVI) as the second, or I can use both external (VGA and DVI) as my extended output. But I am unable to get it to work with all three. Is this a hardward limitation? or Setup limitation? Do I need third party software to accomplish that?
The laptop is running Windows 7 Enterprise 64 bit.
ksanner
1 Message
2
June 30th, 2014 16:00
Hi there,
It is possible to use 3 displays at once on a Latitude E6420, but it is dependent on 2 things.
1) Your laptop has an NVIDIA dedicated GPU, not just an integrated intel GPU.
2) You have enabled the nVidia Optimus settings in the bios. This part may require you to upgrade your laptop's bios, and be careful about doing this if this laptop belongs to your company.
Once the Optimus setting in the bios has been set, Windows (for me, windows 7 64-bit) automatically discovered both the 4200M and the intel HD graphics cards. One more reset and I found that I could now have my laptop display and 2 external displays up (Using a dock for 2 Display ports) I am unable to use more than 2 DVI/Display port connections through the dock at a time. I also can use the VGA port on the dock for a total of 3 external displays + the laptop display. I tried to see if the VGA port on the side of the laptop could also be used, but my laptop did not detect when I plugged in a 4th monitor to that port. I have not tested the HDMI port on the laptop in conjunction with this, but at this point I am limited more by desk space than by monitor ports.
Hope this was helpful
Waldie07
1 Message
1
January 26th, 2015 15:00
Bottom Line Up Front: I was able to successfully run three external monitors, using extended display, through a port replicator.
I just thought I would provide an update to this post as I have some conflicting information.
Note: The following hardware was used to successfully run the three external monitors
Latitude e6420 with an NVIDIA NVS 4200M Network Card
2 ASUS VK248 Monitors (Connected via DVI)
1 Viewsonic VG1930MW Monitor (don’t laugh it was just sitting around for testing purposes)
A Dell model PR02X port replicators
I am running Windows 7 Enterprise 64bit.
I had to first enable the Optimus feature in the bios.
I connected both ASUS monitors to the DVI ports on the port replicator and booted into windows.
Once in Windows, I connected the third monitor to the VGA port on the back of the port replicator and it was discovered in the NVIDA Control Panel.
I extended the control panel and utilized the windows screen resolution settings to extend the desktop onto the third display.
I hope this helps everyone. I do not typically reply to questions but I wanted to share this information should anyone desire to do this in the future.
travis.johnson1
3 Posts
2
August 31st, 2012 07:00
E6420's will only support two displays. So you can use two exteral monitors on any interface or one external + the internal LCD display. If you want to use a 3rd display you need to buy a USB video adapter like the Display Link ones or there are a few vendors that actually make a completely usb powerd/driven external monitor but they don't seem to be as feature rich as a standard monitor.
ccannella
1 Message
0
January 2nd, 2013 12:00
How exactly did you manage two external monitors? I'm using a docking station and the vga cable works fine. I havedvi cables, but when I run one from the docking station to the second external monitor, nothing happens. Do I need to enable the dvi out on my docking station? As with the thread, I am using a e6420.
Thanks in advance for any assistance.
softwarelineman
1 Message
0
March 20th, 2014 13:00
This was also answered in another thread, where the poster showed a picture of all 3 monitors, with the laptop screen closed:
http://superuser.com/questions/384447/can-a-dell-latitude-e6420-run-3-external-monitors
ccben
2 Posts
1
May 26th, 2015 08:00
The trap is not to use both display ports, by which the 3rd monitor won't come up. Either use DVI+DVI+VGA or DVI+Display+VGA should support 3 monitor setup for E6420.