Dell Display Management application buggy?

[Balverine]

Two days ago I got my new monitor (Dell U2414H) shipped. Setting it up and installing drivers and stuff couldn't have been easier but about 3 hours later the monitor was acting up.

 

First the mouse cursor didn't move anymore (or only occasional and inaccurate), same for the keyboard. So I had to press the reset button but I didn't get a post displayed, only the message "Engergiesparen aktivieren" (which is German for "activate power saving"). The only way I got it to work again was by connecting it via HDMI (enabled/disabled Displayport 1.2 in the OSD too, didn't do anything). But then the screen was significantly smaller (the scaling was off and had to be adjusted with AMD Catalyst Control Center). Changing the input to mini-Displayport only got me a black screen and the power saving message from before (with the cable connected), while every other port (normal-sized DIsplayport and the second HDMI) showed "no connection found".

After a short google search I found out that some Dell monitors have problems with Displayport and that the mini-Displayport cable it comes with ain't of good quality, so I decided to order a new one the next day and went to bad. But later I found out that this doesn't seem to be the case with mine.

 

When I turned on my PC the next day I was greeted with the blue log-in screen from Windows 8.1 but there was nothing I could login to. Reset, same again. Switched to mini-Displayport, reseted again and it suddenly worked.

 

But today things got messed up again. Suddenly I had severe lags (not in games, but on the desktop and in Firefox.....but I think it wouldn't have made much difference which application was running). Suspected Adobe Flash but that wasn't the cause of the problem.

DDM (Dell Display Management) advised that I should use a supported monitor (which I was already using). Uninstalled it and now it works fine.

 

Has anyone else encountered any of those problems?

[Shaqo_Wyn]

I got my U2414H about 2 months ago, the DDM works fine for me but up to now I've only used HDMI. I mostly use the OSD to change the settings. The way you describe things it sounds like it might the cable, only time I've had problems is because my old crappy HDMI cable kept disconnecting. Did you try going back to your old monitor to see if problems persist? If you rule out hardware problems (for example I've heard that drivers etc. can clash with the display port too although this is mostly supposed to be limited to Nvidia GPU's) you might have to RMA it. There was fix for the GPU thing though, maybe look that up and apply it?

[Balverine]

I got my U2414H about 2 months ago, the DDM works fine for me but up to now I've only used HDMI. I mostly use the OSD to change the settings. The way you describe things it sounds like it might the cable, only time I've had problems is because my old crappy HDMI cable kept disconnecting. Did you try going back to your old monitor to see if problems persist? If you rule out hardware problems (for example I've heard that drivers etc. can clash with the display port too although this is mostly supposed to be limited to Nvidia GPU's) you might have to RMA it. There was fix for the GPU thing though, maybe look that up and apply it?

 

I don't have any issues since I uninstalled DDM, Everything works fine now. Not much of a loss, didn't use the features anyway.

 

Just googled a bit more and on a German page someone stated that "Enabled Displayport 1.2 is not supported by DDM". That might have caused those "lags".

 

That nVidia GPU issue doesn't really concern me, I have a AMD R7 260X.

 

I installed DDM 1.20.1450 again with DP1.2 disabled. I was offered to download a newer version but I'll test this one first to see if this might be depending on the version. Waiting for the issues to appear again. I'll upate in ~30min-1h (shouldn't take that long IF the issues appear at all).

 

Edit: Update: No issues whatsoever. Looks like DDM really fucks things up if DP 1.2 is enabled.

Edited December 13, 2014 by Balverine

[Shaqo_Wyn]

I don't have any issues since I uninstalled DDM, Everything works fine now. Not much of a loss, didn't use the features anyway.

 

Just googled a bit more and on a German page someone stated that "Enabled Displayport 1.2 is not supported by DDM". That might have caused those "lags".

 

That nVidia GPU issue doesn't really concern me, I have a AMD R7 260X.

 

I installed DDM 1.20.1450 again with DP1.2 disabled. I was offered to download a newer version but I'll test this one first to see if this might be depending on the version. Waiting for the issues to appear again. I'll upate in ~30min-1h (shouldn't take that long IF the issues appear at all).

 

Edit: Update: No issues whatsoever. Looks like DDM really fucks things up if DP 1.2 is enabled.

 

Ah okay, glad you've resolved your problems. I'll keep the display port issues in mind when I hook up my GTX 970. Cheers!

[Balverine]

Ah okay, glad you've resolved your problems. I'll keep the display port issues in mind when I hook up my GTX 970. Cheers!

 

If I remember correctly it's just the other way round with nVidia GPUs. DP1.2 should be enabled because otherwise the monitor will be detected as an HDTV and the color range will be reduced (no matter if it's connected via DP or HDMI).

 

This article might be helpful for you (found it while looking up solutions for my problem): https://pcmonitors.info/articles/correcting-hdmi-colour-on-nvidia-and-amd-gpus/

 

According to a review, even the 780 still has the same problem (only showing color range for HDTVs) when connected via DP -> http://pcmonitors.info/reviews/dell-u2414h

[Shaqo_Wyn]

If I remember correctly it's just the other way round with nVidia GPUs. DP1.2 should be enabled because otherwise the monitor will be detected as an HDTV and the color range will be reduced (no matter if it's connected via DP or HDMI).

 

This article might be helpful for you (found it while looking up solutions for my problem): https://pcmonitors.info/articles/correcting-hdmi-colour-on-nvidia-and-amd-gpus/

 

According to a review, even the 780 still has the same problem (only showing color range for HDTVs) when connected via DP -> http://pcmonitors.info/reviews/dell-u2414h

 

That was very informative, thanks!

[Balverine]

That was very informative, thanks!

 

No problem! Hope it helps.

It's a shame a product from a company like Dell has such issues. I really like my new monitor but a bit disappointed in Dell because those problems (luckily for me it was more like a "read the manual, you dumbass"-situation) taint the otherwise great user-experience.

 

There are also a lot more complaints about issues with Dell monitors on the web (malfunctioning DP ports, that color range issue, faulty buttons, etc.).