U2415 Mini DisplayPort does not work

Question

I would like to begin this post on a positive note, specifically that the U2415 is nearly ideal for our studio and lab environments, particularly the HDMI 3.0 hub which give ready access for student external drives so they won't be messing around on the back of my iMacs.

Having said that, the primary reason why I bought the monitors is that we send multiple video feeds from our iMacs and Mac Pros as well as from the teacher's station. In this particular case, I'm trying to connect an HDMI feed from the iMac to extend the iMac's screen workspace (which works fine) and a VGA video feed from a distribution amplifier using an Apple Mini DisplayPort (mDP)-to-VGA adapter.

But regardless of the working HDMI video, I cannot get the mDP port to recognize the signal (which works fine with the previous Samsung monitor).

To date, I've accomplished the following troubleshooting steps:

- Activated DisplayPort (DP 1.2) capability via the U2415 onboard menu per Dell instructions.

- Connected an Apple mDP-to-VGA adapter to a verified working VGA feed from a VGA distribution amplifier--video feed was unsuccessful.

- Connected 2 verified working mDP-to-mDP cables between both Thunderbolt ports on an iMac--video feed was unsuccessful.

- Connected Dell's included mDP-to-DP cable between an iMac (tested both Thunderbolt ports) and the U2415's regular Display (input) port--video feed was successful (which tells me DP 1.2 was activated properly).

- Repeated steps 2-4 above on a different U2415 with the same results.

- De-activated DP 1.2 on the U2415 and repeated step 3 above.

After scouring user forums, it seems clear that most, if not all, Dell U-series monitors with the mDP port are problematic. Can I please just get a straight answer on this issue from a Dell representative who is fully aware of this issue? Otherwise, I will simply have to send back 10 brand new U2415s because I need the mDP capability to work.

Please advise--thanks,

Darryl Leach
Manager of IT
MTSU Department of Recording Industry
www.mtsu.edu/.../
615.904.4313

DELL-Chris M · Answer

I have read through this four times and still do not understand it all.

To use the U2415 DP in or mDP in, the source must be DP out or mDP out. So this works =
Apple computer Thunderbolt/mDP out --> mDP to DP cable --> U2415 DP in

But if the source is VGA or HDMI, you cannot send that through the U2415 DP in or mDP in. An HDMI source would need to go through the U2415 HDMI in. Source HDMI cannot upconvert to monitor DP/mDP unless you add an HDMI to DP/mDP active converter into the mix.

There are no source VGA to monitor DP/mDP active converters.

rimadmin · Answer

Thanks for the reply, Chris. The bottom line from your reply is that the DP and mDP ports will not accept a signal other than DP or mDP even when using an adapter (e.g., mDP-to-VGA). So for that reason alone I've returned the U2415s.

However, with regard to this comment:

"To use the U2415 DP in or mDP in, the source must be DP out or mDP out. So this works =

Apple computer Thunderbolt/mDP out --> mDP to DP cable --> U2415 DP in"

...I can definitively tell you that Apple iMac TB/mDP out-->TB/mDP to TB/mDP cable-->U2415 mDP in does *not* work with at least 3 of the U2415s I received. We have late 2013 27" iMacs configured with 3.5 GHz i7, 256 GB system SSD, 24 GB memory, and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 775M (2048 MB memory) running OS 10.10.5, so I can't imagine the iMacs are the problem since we are currently utilizing both TB ports. I also tried 2 different Apple TB/mDP to TB/mDP cables (verified working) for my testing on 3 of the U2415s with DP 1.2 enabled and disabled, but the monitors will simply not recognize the TB/mDP signal at the mDP in port. To absolutely clarify, though, the iMac TB/mDP connection to the U2415s DP in port *does* work using Dell's included mDP-to-DP cable.

Hope this clarifies things and provides helpful feedback.

Regards,

Darryl

Monitors

U2415 Mini DisplayPort does not work

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