After searching the forum and knowledgebase, I didn't see an answer to my issue. I just got this U530 and wanted to use a dual monitor setup with a monitor that only supports DVI inputs (Samsung SyncMaster BX2335). I bought a cable for the purpose: an HDMI to DVI-D cable. I cannot seem to get the laptop to recognize that there is a monitor attached, however. 

Is this a problem anyone else has had and solved? Am I going to have to use a port replicator instead or use some sort of USB 3 to DVI setup? This should be a no-brainer to work. I have no other video output options built into this computer.

Looking for ideas.

hi radiotube,

Welcome to the Lenovo Forums.

AFAIK, plugging-in the HDMI to DVI-D should automatically "clone" or "extend" the monitor's display to the Samsung external monitor. If you get a "no signal" from the external monitor, can you check in the U530's display settings, if the laptop is recognizing the Samsung monitor:

    - Sample image

If the Samsung monitor is not visible under the display settings, then there might be a problem with the cable. In this case,  I would try to use a different PC to test HDMI to DVI-D cable.

If the Samsung monitor is visoble under the display settings, try to lower the resolution on the laptop (eg. 1020x768). When done, install the Samsung Device Driver and match the resolution on the monitor by setting it also to 1020x768 and check if you can now see a display via clone or extended mode.

Regards

I had not considered that the cable may be flawed. I just received it via Amazon. I will look and see if I can find an alternate source of HDMI in the house that I can temporarily hook up to the monitor to test the cable. I will report back my findings when I complete this task.

Thanks for your suggestion!

I am having the same problem. I have an LG monitor... REGARDLESS I literally just had this working not less than a half hour ago I could even post a picture if you'd like. I'm trying to install Oracle VM to start up a LAMP server which is giving me a hell of a time thanks to windows 8. 

It was telling me I needed to do something to the bios to get the VM to work and in order to get into the bios I had to hold 'shift' then shut down the computer. Well I did that and nothing really changed... when the computer booted up I hit F1 and F2 and maybe F9 or F10 a few times to see if I could get into my BIOS but it did nothing. Now the 2nd monitor just will not work. It's not even detecting it in that screen that someone had mentioned above?

What gives???? God this is so frustraighting. I absoultely hate Windows... This is such garbage.. windows 7 was great. I've had nothing but problems with Windows8... They forgot to add the 1, 9, and 4 to it and call it Windows 1984. >:(

Please help!

Just spent 3 hours doing a system restore as I thought maybe it was just some little setting that messed this thing up and nothing. Glad to see no one from Lenovo has responded yet. I'm going to take this thing back into Best Buy to see if I can exchange it at the very least but their return policy is 15 days normally and it's been 17 days since I bought it. /pray that corporation will understand but I doubt it.

This is ridiculous and just plain pathetic that a $900 device is breaking down like this. Obviously Lenovo doesn't know anything about "word of mouth" marketing. As I have built up my own web development company. Guess what computers I won't be recommending??

I get that most the service people are in Asia somewhere so maybe the time difference is just off. It'd be really great if we could get an answer back besides maybe it's the cable.

Hi sethlenovo, welcome to the forum. :smileyhappy:

      It's always a treat to talk with someone from Mad City.  :smileylol:

     (To other posters, it's an inside joke. If you're not a Wisconsin Badger Cheesehead,  you probably won't understand it.)

     Which one of your questions would you like answered first? You stated that you hated Windows 8, but are you really using 8, or 8.1?

     Well, to activate your second monitor, you could try this:

1. Attach the HDMI out cable end to the laptop.

2. Attach the DVI input cable end to the LG monitor.

3. Make sure the monitor is turned on.

4. Reboot the U530.

5. After the system is up, and running, go to the Devices and Printers in your control panel.

6. Click on Add A Device.

7. If connected properly, it should discover your LG.

8. In the charms bar, select Devices, Project, Duplicate.

      The sequencing of the connection steps (1-4) seems to be some sort of rule for many laptops. Once the external monitor is discovered, subsequent connections appear to be easier.  If the LG is not discovered in step 6, it's EITHER a bad cable, or you truly have a bad port. To rule out the bad port, you could try to connect the laptop to another HDMI capable TV.  Just sayin...

     The reason you have 2 GPUs, is because the Intel HD Graphics are there to run your "normal" graphical processing, and the Nvidia is for your intensive Gaming rendering.

     Here is your U530 User Guide. You are using a U530, aren't you, or did you hijack this thread?

http://download.lenovo.com/consumer/mobiles_pub/ideapad_u530touch_ug_english.pdf

     On page 25, it tells you how to get into your BIOS:

How can I start the BIOS setup utility?
To start the BIOS setup utility, do the following:
1 Shut down the computer.
2 Press the Novo button and then select BIOS Setup.

     The location of the NOVO button is on page 5, although you should already know that, as you did a system restore.

Cheers

DragonRider

  Another way to get to the BIOS is from the Run command (Windows Logo + R): Shutdown.exe /r /o

  As described in this article, How To Access The BIOS On A Windows 8 Computer.

Well it looks like I owe you guys an apology. Forgive my surly attitude on the forums here, but after 6 hours of trying to figure out something so simple I was getting on edge.

Funny thing was late last night I still had the monitor plugged in and I had to do a restart because of some program I install and it just worked. I wanted to kick myself. Thanks so much for laying that out step by step, and answering all the other little questions I had sprinkled in my rants.

Cheers!

Ok so I figured out what made this problem happen in the first place.

I siwtched the order of the monitors as I have my extended monitor on the left side instead of the right. 

Unfortunately I am experiencing this problem again as I didn't mess with the order for a while after I fixed it, but I thought I'd try switching the extended monitor on my left side to make moving stuff around not so backwards.

Whelp now the monitor is gone again and not detected... Is there any easy solution to this? I tried rebooting again with it plugged in and it's not fixing it this time. :( Please help