Score:1

Dual 4k monitors - only one works at a time though both are discoverable

al flag

I recently purchased a couple 4k monitors for my Thinkpad P51s setup with a dock. I previously used two 1080p monitors with no issues via DisplayPort => HDMI connectors from the dock => monitors.

Now with DisplayPort => DisplayPort connections to the monitors, both are discoverable (and light up during boot), but only one is used by Ubuntu once Ubuntu boots up to the login screen.

They are both discoverable in Ubuntu 20.04, and I can make either primary, but even if I have the second one configured as secondary, only the primary displays.

The only thing that has physically changed is the dock (I have the exact same model, but I left the other one at a different workstation), and the introduction of 4k monitors at 60Hz instead of 1080p monitors at lesser frequency (~30Hz).

How should I go about troubleshooting this?

Some specs:

I was using X.Org X server -- Noveau display driver from xserver-xorg-video-nouveau (open source), but switched to Using NVIDIA driver metapackage from nvidia-driver-470 (proprietary, tested).

sudo lshw -C video
  *-display                 
       description: VGA compatible controller
       product: HD Graphics 620
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 2
       bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0
       version: 02
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pciexpress msi pm vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
       configuration: driver=i915 latency=0
       resources: irq:135 memory:eb000000-ebffffff memory:80000000-8fffffff ioport:e000(size=64) memory:c0000-dffff
  *-display
       description: 3D controller
       product: GM108GLM [Quadro M520 Mobile]
       vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
       version: a2
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list
       configuration: driver=nouveau latency=0
       resources: irq:136 memory:ec000000-ecffffff memory:90000000-9fffffff memory:a0000000-a1ffffff ioport:d000(size=128)
xrandr
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 3840 x 2872, maximum 16384 x 16384
eDP-1 connected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
   1920x1080     60.01 +  60.01    59.97    59.96    59.93  
   1680x1050     59.95    59.88  
   1600x1024     60.17  
   1400x1050     59.98  
   1600x900      59.99    59.94    59.95    59.82  
   1280x1024     60.02  
   1440x900      59.89  
   1400x900      59.96    59.88  
   1280x960      60.00  
   1440x810      60.00    59.97  
   1368x768      59.88    59.85  
   1360x768      59.80    59.96  
   1280x800      59.99    59.97    59.81    59.91  
   1152x864      60.00  
   1280x720      60.00    59.99    59.86    59.74  
   1024x768      60.04    60.00  
   960x720       60.00  
   928x696       60.05  
   896x672       60.01  
   1024x576      59.95    59.96    59.90    59.82  
   960x600       59.93    60.00  
   960x540       59.96    59.99    59.63    59.82  
   800x600       60.00    60.32    56.25  
   840x525       60.01    59.88  
   864x486       59.92    59.57  
   800x512       60.17  
   700x525       59.98  
   800x450       59.95    59.82  
   640x512       60.02  
   720x450       59.89  
   700x450       59.96    59.88  
   640x480       60.00    59.94  
   720x405       59.51    58.99  
   684x384       59.88    59.85  
   680x384       59.80    59.96  
   640x400       59.88    59.98  
   576x432       60.06  
   640x360       59.86    59.83    59.84    59.32  
   512x384       60.00  
   512x288       60.00    59.92  
   480x270       59.63    59.82  
   400x300       60.32    56.34  
   432x243       59.92    59.57  
   320x240       60.05  
   360x202       59.51    59.13  
   320x180       59.84    59.32  
DP-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-2 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI-2 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-2-1 connected primary 3840x2160+0+712 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 597mm x 336mm
   3840x2160     60.00*+  60.00    59.94    30.00    25.00    24.00    29.97    23.98  
   2560x1440     59.95  
   2048x1280     59.99  
   1920x1080     60.00    60.00    50.00    59.94    25.00    24.00    23.98  
   1600x1200     60.00  
   1600x900      60.00  
   1280x1024     75.02    60.02  
   1152x864      75.00  
   1280x720      60.00    59.94  
   1024x768      75.03    60.00  
   800x600       75.00    60.32  
   720x576       50.00  
   720x480       60.00    59.94  
   640x480       75.00    60.00    59.94  
   720x400       70.08  
DP-2-2 connected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
   3840x2160     60.00 +  60.00    59.94    30.00    25.00    24.00    29.97    23.98  
   2560x1440     59.95  
   2048x1280     59.99  
   1920x1080     60.00    60.00    50.00    59.94    25.00    24.00    23.98  
   1600x1200     60.00  
   1600x900      60.00  
   1280x1024     75.02    60.02  
   1152x864      75.00  
   1280x720      60.00    59.94  
   1024x768      75.03    60.00  
   800x600       75.00    60.32  
   720x576       50.00  
   720x480       60.00    59.94  
   640x480       75.00    60.00    59.94  
   720x400       70.08  
DP-2-3 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
cn flag
Did you try mirroring the primary display to the secondary monitor?
Joshua avatar
al flag
I don't see an option to do this in the display menu, do you mean to try this with `xrandr`? I ran `xrandr --output DP-1-2-1 --output DP-1-2-2 --same-as DP-1-2-1` and it didn't do anything.
cn flag
Drop the resolution to 1920x1080 on both monitors. Two things changed, different dock and resolution. Mirroring isn't working at 4k, try it at 1080.
Joshua avatar
al flag
@VXDguy That worked at 1080. What should I try to get it to 4k for both?
Score:1
cn flag

This is a possible solution according to a discussion on Ars. Their discussion is specific to the Thinkpad P51 which is the same model.

Joshua avatar
al flag
Thanks for the idea, just ordered a usb-c to dp cable, and will plan to try it out Monday and let you know.
Joshua avatar
al flag
Just plugged it in and it worked, but was laggy. I changed which dp dock port the monitor was plugged into, and this was fixed as well. Thanks for the help!
Score:0
al flag

After looking into VXDguy's suggestion further, I discovered that I was able to get dual monitors working with 1080p x 60Hz OR 4k x 30Hz. A little more research yielded the answer:

My 90W Lenovo 40A2 dock for the P51s has dual DisplayPort 1.2. Apparently DisplayPort 1.4 is required to run dual 4k x 60Hz.

I plan to content myself with a 2k x 60Hz compromise for now, with an eye to eventually upgrading to a newer Lenovo that has a mechanical dock with two DisplayPort 1.4 ports.

Feel free to add comments if anyone has further advice or can improve this answer, thanks.


EDIT

VXDguy's answer was successful. I plugged one USB-C => DP cable directly from my laptop to the monitor, and another DP => DP cable from the dock. Note that it was really laggy after doing this.

I did two things, and one of them seemed to fix the issue:

  1. Plug in the DP => DP cable into the other dock port (there are two DP ports on the dock).
  2. There were two "60Hz" options on the display menu for some reason, choosing the second one from the top seemed to help.

lewis4u avatar
it flag
I have 2x MSI MPG321UR-QD 32" 4K monitors, both connected directly to laptop, 1. HDMI->HDMI, 2. USB-C->Thunderbolt 3. Both work at 4K@60Hz, BUT, if I play some youtube video or have a meeting in Teams, the one on USB-C turns off and on and I see this message in journalctl: `kernel: i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] *ERROR* CPU pipe A FIFO underrun: transcoder`
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