Please could somebody put me right here. I have an active Startech mini DP to HDMI converter which I have been trying to use so that I can use an HDMI TV as a display for my laptop. So far nothing has worked. I have checked the BIOS and the machine has a built in Nvidia card.
I have searched a bit on the web but not found any answer that worked for me. Out of interest I booted the laptop to Windows 10 and this did light up the TV but only showed the windows desktop home screen but unpopulated. No icon, no browser, no mouse cursor… nothing else!
Any and all advice gratefully received.
As a footnote, because I need this to work before I take the laptop on a trip, I see there are converters to feed HDMI from USB 3. Should I look at one of these instead of spending time on the Startech adaptor and would they work in Tumbleweed?
Some TVs only play nice with computers through a select HDMI among several existing. If your TV isn’t one such, try a different converter, or dispense with the separate converter, and use a cable made for your connections.
USB-C is an option for many, but not all. The only USB-C output I have here, on an Asus LGA1200 motherboard, does not support HDMI or DisplayPort video output from its Intel RocketLake-S GT1 UHD Graphics 730 GPU. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give one a try.
DisplayPort can fall back in a HDMI mode and this is what most DP2HDMI cables use, you do not need any logic to do that, i.e. no active convertor. Can you post a link it?
I see the W530 has a NVidea Quadro K1000M and likely the display is driven by that. Here I see it is DP 1.1 not DP 1.2. I think you need DP 1.2 (dual-mode DP) to support passive mode.
Hi Malcolm,
Many thanks for the reply. The Startech device does not have a power connection so I do not see how it is active but I didn’t know this. Am looking at the info from marel and mrmazda too.
It seems that the display built in does not support DP 1.2. I still have other options available using usb or if necessary vga but so far not decided.
As a footnote I did try again with Windows. The screen Fn toggle does not work and the screen defaults to extendin picture to the right. This is why I had the plain screen as I found out later. To change I have to go the settings and then select screen and cannot have both. There must be a toggle switch somewhere but not found it and I really don’t want to use Windows if I can avoid.
Hi Marel,
Are there other adaptors which do work with DP 1.1 or do I give up on using the DP?
Strange that it works on Windows 10.
If I cannot find an adaptor which option is the next to try. Does USB work and will it on the TPW530?
Hi and many thanks for the info. I am not sufficiently familiar with display devices so do you think the W530 USB will support HDMI? The specs are pretty opaque to me.
I shall see what offerings are available on line but from your earlier post it seems unlikely that even a dedicated cable will work in the case as it will surely be passive only.
If I read your opening post, that is only very partially true.
I do not rule out you can find a working DPI 1.1 to HDMI convertor but I am no expert so I can not really advise you on this. It looks to me the Thinkpad W530 has only USB2 and if that is true that is also no option.
Hi Marel,
I checked in my BIOS and I do have USB v3. I have it on Auto at present but can force V3 if required. Will check our options but they seem to be quite expensive. The IBM spec tells me that the miniDP port should work with just a cable so will investigate this rather than a dongle first.
Also from the Lenovo W530 website I get:-
Lenovo Mini-DisplayPort to HDMI Adapter (0B47089)
The Mini-DisplayPort to HDMI Adapter conforms to VESA DisplayPort Dual mode adapter type 2 standard. The input could compatible with DisplayPort 1.2 specification and HDMI output support higher resolutions up to 3840x2160@30Hz. These features require that monitors and PC be able to support this capability.
Pity it doesn’t work!!!
@Budgie2 So the reason it’s not working is the nvidia driver isn’t loaded, which is likely needed for the hdmi port… Did you install the G04 Nvidia rpms?
good question. I have several nvidia packages installed, none G04, all mine are G06.
I have kernel-firmare-nvidia,
kernel-firmware-nvidia-gsp-G06
kernel-firmware-gspx-G06
nvidia-open-driver-G06-signed-kmp-default
and a few nouveau packages as well.
What others do I need? BTW one of the above is needing updating as it is obsolete. Could that be the problem and why has it not been updated by sudo zypper dup?.
This legacy card needs the legacy G04 drivers aka v390. That means you have no matching drivers for your card installed.
Have a look here how to install the drivers properly: https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:NVIDIA_drivers
According to Category:W530 - ThinkWiki “up to four external monitors” are supported. I would expect this to mean at least 3 via the mini DP connector using MST (DP v1.2), with the 4th likely via VGA. Without USB-C, and at age 12, I wouldn’t expect video support from your USB.
My experience with DisplayPort is limited to standard DP outputs, no mini DP outputs in house. My two DP-to-HDMI converters are passive. One is marked 1.2, the other unmarked. Both simply work or not, apparently depending on whether or not the GPU with a DP output supports 1.2 or better. On the iGPU on a 2008 Dell Optiplex 780, no video is output at all if only the DP with adapter is used, but both DP and VGA work as expected when VGA is also connected to a second display. My other 780 has a Radeon HD6450 and works as expected through the DP-to-HDMI adapter whether or not a second display is connected.
Hi and thanks for the help. I have now installed the G04 drivers and as I am not using secure boot on the laptop I didn’t have any issues but I confess I have no idea how or what to do next to ensure that the correct drivers are used. Also should I uninstall the G06 drivers?
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give one a try.