XPS 15 9520 - Main External Monitor Not Working After Windows Update?

Question

I had a windows eleven update and then restarted my laptop.  I use 2 external monitors with it.  One is a 32' 4k monitor and the other is a 24' monitor.  I noticed after I restarted it to do the update, it showed the percentage update on my 2nd external monitor.  Usually whenever it does the windows update, it would show it on my laptop screen or my main external monitor.  After the update, it displays my 2nd external monitor as my main monitor.  My main 32' 4k samsung monitor doesn't seem to show anything?  When I go to display option, it does show 3 monitors though so it does detect it.   I went to restart my laptop and after doing this, only my 2nd external monitor and my laptop screen shows a screen. My main 32' 4k monitor doesn't seem to show a screen?   When I click on the power button on the monitor, all it does is show displayport on the top left corner.  I can power it off as well.  This is how the monitor is normally when laptop is powered off.    So it shows my laptop screen as monitor one in display.  Shows smaller monitor as monitor three in display next to it.  My big monitor is monitor two but you can't click or drag it?  So it does detect it as even device manager shows it.   But why does it not show anything?  This happened right after i restart laptop for update so this isn't a cable issue etc.     What are my options now?     This windows update was done very quickly, no bios update.   Also when i check the display, it shows it as display two and not active.  So that has to be the reason right?  The laptop screen and other monitor works fine and shows the display properties and resolution.

quickguide01 · Answer

Should i uninstall the windows update? Notice when i go to updates, it shows the update i did earlier

security update for microsoft windows kb 5023706

Also it shows my previous two other security updates i did before this.

Would powering off my laptop and then unplug the power cable from the bigger monitor and laptop and plug it back in and then power on laptop be good idea?

My bigger monitor is connected by usb c to displayport.

My smaller monitor is connected hdmi to hdmi to the dell 20A adapter connected to my laptop.

quickguide01 · Answer

Went and power off laptop and power it back on. Same issue with the 32' 4k monitor not showing anything.

Correction

My smaller monitor is connected hdmi to dvi cable. The dell 20A adapter is connected to my laptop and hdmi to dvi cable is connected from there.

quickguide01 · Answer

What am i suppose to do now?

Should i go and update my intel iris xe graphics here?

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/726609/intel-arc-iris-xe-graphics-whql-windows.html

my processor is i7-12700h

graphics card are

intel iris xe graphic

nvidia rtx 3050

But this is the intel iris since that is what is connected to all my monitors? Anyone?

Tesla1856 · Answer

I have this laptop. I was running 2 external monitors on it just the other day. It's tricky with the limited ports. You have to have at least one nice adapter/hub.

Do you have both monitors selected to Extend, and do you have the desired one set to Primary?

What BIOS are you running?

EDIT:
I see you posted this. Yes, this sounds about right to me.

My bigger monitor is connected by usb c to displayport. My smaller monitor is connected hdmi to hdmi to the dell 20A adapter connected to my laptop.

LinoaFr · Answer

Hello,

I have the same issue here, I have two external monitors connected to the dock, they are detected by windows but nothing is displayed.

I tried to connect them directly to the laptop, I reinstalled the latest bios drivers and nvidia drivers.

And nothing is working.

qchunney · Answer

I had this happen Mar 17. Dell chat sent me a link for BIOS update and that that fixed it. They also sent me graphics driver updates to try - which I am going to do because it takes forever for my external monitor to wake up.

BIOS UPDATE DRIVER ID 9447

BIOS Update for XPS 15 9520

LinoaFr · Answer

I went to Intel Graphics Command Center, then in the display menu and click on the three dots icons on each screen and activate them. I have all my screens back !

LinoaFr · Answer

I have already done the bios update. Could you please send link for driver update please ?

GoodKarma7 · Answer

This may not be related since you got it working through another dock....  But I could not display on my monitor either directly or through my WD19S even after loaded all Dell recommended drivers and bios updates to my new XPS 15 9520.  This is frustrating because my Galaxy Book 2 and Surface Laptop 4 both work on the monitors.  I finally disabled bitlocker and now it works.  If I re-enable bitlocker it will not work.  Disable works.  You get the pattern.  Come on Dell, Samsung and Microsoft are showing you up !

TWesty · Answer

Thank you for providing all of the details. I was facing the same issue and confirmed that uninstalling Windows kb 5023706 allowed me to enabled the external monitors again. So it is definitely something related to that update.

quickguide01 · Answer

I mentioned this issue as I was the original poster of the thread but fixed it with downloading a driver from the intel website? I forgot the exact site but it was something involving intel arc as well even though i have i7-12700h and rtx 3050.

I believe this was what I downloaded last time to fix my 2nd monitor not displaying. Should this be it? Notice there is an updated version so this would fix it?

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/726609/intel-arc-iris-xe-graphics-whql-windows.html

I haven't had the xps 15 9520 connected to any monitor in over the last month. During this time, I believe I had 2 or 3 windows updates and restarted it to update. Yesterday, I believe I had a dell firmware update and updated it. Right now, I then connect to my 2 external monitors... a samsung 32' 4k monitor and a 24' 1920x1200 monitor. I am having the same issue again where it says Display 2 Is Not Active

So only the smaller 24' 1920x1200 monitor is recognized like last time. My main 32' 4k samsung monitor doesn't work. Was it the recent dell firmware? How do I fix this issue? Am pretty certain it was the last Dell firmware update that caused this but then again there were 2 other updates I also had to do before this in the last month where I did not had laptop connected to monitor.

ispyder · Answer

@LinoaFr wrote:

I went to Intel Graphics Command Center, then in the display menu and click on the three dots icons on each screen and activate them. I have all my screens back !

Thank you so much for this.

Although this post originated in March I ran into this the other day (7/30/23). I have 2 monitors (Dell and a Lenovo) connected through a Dell WD224TB4 docking station that suddenly stopped working after being used earlier that day. Spent the next 8 hours plugging and unplugging them with little success; could get one or the other connected but connecting both killed both. Checked for updated drivers, and tried reinstalling the devices, but nothing resolved the issue until I found this. For some reason when both monitors were connected, they showed as disabled in this app (under the 3 ellipsis menu mentioned). Simply enabled them and they magically reappeared. Glad I stumbled across this but so frustrating that this was the problem as they didn't show disabled anywhere else.

XPS

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