When i close my laptop: NVIDIA Display Settings are not available

[mykdee311]

I am currently using a Lenovo P71 laptop with a Nvida Quadro P4000 & Intel HD P630.

I have a Wavlink docking station connected through a USB-C port on the laptop, using DisplayLink 8.4.3026.0

I run two 27" monitors through this docking station, but when i close the lid of my laptop and try to access Nvidia Control Panel i get "You are not currently using a display attached to an NVIDIA GPU."

I know the apps i am trying to use are still running off the NVIDIA GPU, otherwise they would not function. Also i tested a game (Forza Horizon 3) on ultra at 1080P/60FPS no problem. So i'm certain the Nvidia card is enabled and working, but i cannot access the Nvidia control panel or settings.

Lid open and it's accessible, close lid and it closes the Nvidia Control Panel.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Also, thanks for taking a look at my issue.

[AlbanRampon]

Hello and welcome,

The NVidia application is only looking at displays directly connected to the GPU.
They have not changed their utility with the notion of indirect displays added as standard in Windows 10 Anniversary Update.
This require a code change on their end.

Kind regards,
Alban

[Rob D]

Hi Alban,

I am new to this issue so please excuse if covered elsewhere. If I understand correctly, basically DisplayLink does not support NVIDIA GPUs (ie the point of DisplayLink is to run graphics over USB, ie by definition not connected directly to the GPU.) Why then does the site list a discreet NVIDIA processor under recommended specs for 4K (UHD) modules please? I find this completely counters the objective of a displaylink dock? Am I missing something please?
https://support.displaylink.com/know...rticles/524951

I also discovered this however (setup = Lenovo P51 with NVIDIA Quadro M2200 set to use the NVIDIA card for all apps by default, connected by USB-C to Dell D3100 DisplayLink triple monitor port, running 3x dell U2415 1920x1200 monitors via DP and HDMI.) Normally I have the same issue as the OP, ie I cannot access the NVIDIA control panel. Task manager / performance shows that GPU 1 (the Intel one) is in use. However, if I right click / disable the Intel graphics card display adapter in device manager, task manager / performance starts showing that apps are using GPU 1 (the NVIDIA). I still cant open the NVIDIA control panel though!

So am I right that just because we cant access the control panel, it doesnt mean that the NVIDIA GPU isnt being used (this counters your suggestion that the GPU can only power devices attached directly to it, if they have already been set up to use it using a monitor that is directly connected to it to access the control panel?)

[Rob D]

I have the same issue, whilst running 3 monitors via a USB-C displaylink dock. However, if I right click / disable the onboard GPU in device manager, then task manager / performance tab shows that apps are actually using the NVIDIA GPU. I still cant access the control panel though (I had set the control panel to use the NVIDIA GPU by default before connecting the additional monitors.)

[Dargen]

Originally Posted by mykdee311

I am currently using a Lenovo P71 laptop with a Nvida Quadro P4000 & Intel HD P630.

I have a Wavlink docking station connected through a USB-C port on the laptop, using DisplayLink 8.4.3026.0

I run two 27" monitors through this docking station, but when i close the lid of my laptop and try to access Nvidia Control Panel i get "You are not currently using a display attached to an NVIDIA GPU."

I know the apps i am trying to use are still running off the NVIDIA GPU, otherwise they would not function. Also i tested a game (Forza Horizon 3) on ultra at 1080P/60FPS no problem. So i'm certain the Nvidia card is enabled and working, but i cannot access the Nvidia control panel or settings.

Lid open and it's accessible, close lid and it closes the Nvidia Control Panel.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Also, thanks for taking a look at my issue.

My friend, are you sure that when you close the laptop you do not shut down the systems? Type as the entrance to the sleeping mode or something ... My laptop for example in the closed state cannot work (the old one) and your load can be in the video memory and disables or mutes the video card.

[Rob D]

I might not have been quite clear on my post: my issue occurs whenever the laptop is using external monitors via the port, regardless of the lid ((but I have my built-in screen disconnected when the external monitors are on so closing the lid shouldnt impact the display driver. I had assumed mykdee311's problem was that when the lid is open the NVIDIA control panel can control the built-in screen, but when its closed there are no monitors its capable of controlling hence the error message.

[AlbanRampon]

Hello,

Disabling the Intel iGPU *after* having booted has zero effect on indirect displays because Windows uses the GPU used for POST (the one used before and during boot). Disabling in Device Manager will get black screens if the iGPU is really disabled or no change whatsoever because on some architectures it doesn't disable anything.

Unless nVidia changes their application, nothing is going to change.
DisplayLink technology works on nVidia and nVidia is a supported GPU. What the add-on nVidia software does has nothing to do with GPU support.

What is the value of that nVidia add-on application?

Regards,
Alban

[Rob D]

Alban,

Thank you for your reply. leavinga side what happens immediately after I disable teh onboard graphics card, if I rebooot the machine this is the situation I end up in (attached.) Is it (a) the onboard card has been disabled and the NVIDIA card is being used by everything, (b) the onboard card has been disabled but the NVIDIA card still isnt being used: the Dell (DisplayLink) adapter software is separate to bothy cards, or (c) Task manager is incorrect and the onboard GPU isnt in fact disabled?

Im hoping its (a), in which case it doesnt matter that teh NVIDIA control panel doesnt work because I dont really need it any more?

Thanks again for your help,

Rob

[Rob D]

Incidentally, when I do this I do have one problem that when I start the laptop, it always changes my display settings from extending the desktop over 3 external screens with the built-in screen off, to duplicating the laptop and one external screen and extending it to the other 2. The problem of course is the external screen and built-in one are different resolutions, so I have to correct the setting every time. I dont have that problem when leaving intel card enabled.

[AlbanRampon]

Hello Rob,

Unfortunately, the screenshots seem too low resolution to be legible from my end.

Disabling in Device Manager doesn't switch off the graphics in the kernel at run-time.
Microsoft told me there was no point in doing so, any setting after boot is too late. It's about when the change is done regarding to the progress in the OS loading rather than when in time. It may change the behaviour for some applications, not for the OS itself. DisplayLink is not an application: we render pixels we get from the OS, we don't see applications, windows, menus or other objects.. we get computed pixels.
Have you observed any increase of general graphics performance after rebooting?

Upcoming Windows 10 includes a switch in the Windows Settings looking identical to some nVidia and Intel add-on application features. They blogged about it. I don't believe it works either on indirectly connected displays though yet. It's in the queue to be checked internally, but I haven't put it as a high priority as I don't see why it could possibly work.

We all need to keep pushing through the Windows 10 Feedback Hub to show it is important to us. Microsoft asked us to because this is how some new features are prioritised.

You are correct that today it doesn't fundamentally matter if the add-on app returns an error or not as it has no effect, but I feel it would be better if that application could start and understand a standard Windows feature introduced in the Windows 10 Anniversary Update. It most likely is a matter of priority rather than unwillingness to address.

Kind regards,
Alban