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I'm having trouble getting my external monitor working with my Asus R556LA which has the Intel HD5500 integrated graphics on Ubuntu 16.04. The issue started appearing a few days ago, and before that period I had no issues whatsoever with using the monitor. When I connect the monitor with HDMI, Ubuntu does not recognize it in the "Display" section and the monitor itself keeps switching from analog to HDMI output.

Here's the output I'm getting by running lshw -c video:

sudo lshw -c video
  *-display               
       description: VGA compatible controller
       product: Broadwell-U Integrated Graphics
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 2
       bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0
       version: 09
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: msi pm vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
       configuration: driver=i915 latency=0
       resources: irq:48 memory:f6000000-f6ffffff memory:e0000000-efffffff ioport:f000(size=64) memory:c0000-dffff

The kernel version I'm running is 4.8.0-56-generic. I've found that the Intel integrated graphics are part of the kernel which leads me to believe that a kernel update might've wrecked the drivers for me. I've tested the monitor on another setup to rule out that the monitor was broken.

EDIT: For some reason it does seem to be working when I connect it with a VGA cable. I tried other HDMI cables to see if it was the cable but no luck there either. I'd like to get the HDMI cable working as VGA only allows resolutions up to 1024p while HDMI can use a higher resolution (1080p in my case).

EDIT2: Here's the output of xrandr with VGA plugged in:

Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 2390 x 768, maximum 8192 x 8192
eDP-1 connected primary 1366x768+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 344mm x 193mm
   1366x768      60.03*+
   1360x768      59.80    59.96  
   1024x768      60.04    60.00  
   960x720       60.00  
   928x696       60.05  
   896x672       60.01  
   960x600       60.00  
   960x540       59.99  
   800x600       60.00    60.32    56.25  
   840x525       60.01    59.88  
   800x512       60.17  
   700x525       59.98  
   640x512       60.02  
   720x450       59.89  
   640x480       60.00    59.94  
   680x384       59.80    59.96  
   576x432       60.06  
   512x384       60.00  
   400x300       60.32    56.34  
   320x240       60.05  
DP-1 connected 1024x768+1366+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 0mm x 0mm
   1024x768      60.00* 
   800x600       60.32    56.25  
   848x480       60.00  
   640x480       59.94  
HDMI-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

And here it is with HDMI plugged in:

Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1366 x 768, maximum 8192 x 8192
eDP-1 connected primary 1366x768+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 344mm x 193mm
   1366x768      60.03*+
   1360x768      59.80    59.96  
   1024x768      60.04    60.00  
   960x720       60.00  
   928x696       60.05  
   896x672       60.01  
   960x600       60.00  
   960x540       59.99  
   800x600       60.00    60.32    56.25  
   840x525       60.01    59.88  
   800x512       60.17  
   700x525       59.98  
   640x512       60.02  
   720x450       59.89  
   640x480       60.00    59.94  
   680x384       59.80    59.96  
   576x432       60.06  
   512x384       60.00  
   400x300       60.32    56.34  
   320x240       60.05  
DP-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
Ruben Homs
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    Please show us the output of xrandr. Actually run xrandr twice, once with VGA connected, once with HDMI connected... if possible... –  Jun 21 '17 at 09:07
  • I've added the information you've asked for. – Ruben Homs Jun 21 '17 at 10:42
  • Yes. Strange situation you have at hand. Apparently the VGA connection is reported as DP-1, which stands for DisplayPort-1. I have 2 suggestions:. The first: I have a Asus mini-PC connected via HDMI to my smart TV. For reasons still unknown, I must set the TV to HDMI first before I boot the PC. If I don't, the PC boots without detecting the TV. I have to use Remote Desktop to reboot the PC and then everything is ok. I know it worked before, but perhaps you can try this too; connect HDMI first, then boot your system. Then my second suggestion... –  Jun 21 '17 at 12:28
  • You mentioned there was a kernel update. I also think that somehow corrupted the driver, perhaps that is why the VGA is reported as DP-1. Before you start fiddling with drivers, you could try to add the desired resolution to the DP-1 so you can keep using the VGA connection. –  Jun 21 '17 at 12:32
  • Here is a link that shows you how to create the new resolution: https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1370258 –  Jun 21 '17 at 12:38
  • I just thought of something. With the HDMI connected, what happens if you try to force it on: xrandr --output HDMI-1 --auto –  Jun 21 '17 at 12:48
  • Awesome suggestions. The link you shared about setting the resolution seemed to work. Not immediately though, after swapping the HDMI/VGA cable in and out a few times it suddenly picked up on the resolution. (weird!) If you're okay with it I'll leave the question unanswered as I'd like to get to the root cause. Thanks alot for your help though! – Ruben Homs Jun 21 '17 at 13:16
  • What you described about having to swap the cable a few times is how I eventually found out my TV-PC anomaly. As it always works when I use the right sequence, I don't bother resolving my issue. I will keep an eye on your progress should you find the cause for yours. –  Jun 21 '17 at 13:19
  • Yeah the downside to the monitor is that I can't force it to stay on HDMI or I would've tried that. It's the kind that just cycles through all the inputs on an interval and then selects the one that works. – Ruben Homs Jun 21 '17 at 13:22

2 Answers2

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I ran into this problem today on Ubuntu 18.04. The solution was to completely disconnect and turn off the monitor then reboot the computer and finally connect the monitor and turn it on. Somehow it seems to fix the problem.

Here is a similar solution

Duilio
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  • Thanks... The solution was to turn off the monitor, restart the notebook once logged in, turn on the monitor.... :S. Otherwise it doesn't work... – Gabriel Feb 14 '23 at 12:27
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I recently ran into this issue with Ubuntu 17.10 and 18.04, and Linux Mint 18.03 with my Dell Latitude E7470 Laptop. The kernel that worked to restore HDMI for me was 4.15.18-041518-generic. I installed it using the ukuu tool from https://launchpad.net/~teejee2008/+archive/ubuntu/ppa .

matt2000
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