Thinkpads Forum

Hello,
I have a T420 on a ThinkPad Mini Dock Series 3 and two beautiful Samsung LED monitors. One monitored plugged into the serial port and works great. Bought a DVI-D to VGA Adaptor on Amazon and hooked it up tot he second monitor and nothing... Any thoughts/ideas on how to get the second monitor hooked up? I tried a HDMI CABLE I had here and that plugs into the monitor HDMI port fine but seems to be different on the dock - it won't plug in there.

Any help is appreciated!

The DVI port on the Dock is digital-only, so a DVI to VGA passive adapter like this will not work.


The Dock does not have HDMI, but Displayport, which is why the HDMI cable you bought does not fit.
I believe a Displayport to HDMI passive adapter will work, but since I don't have a Mini Dock Series 3, I can't confirm this.

I have an X220, which came at the same time as your T420. I use a Displayport to DVI passive adapter cable (Lenovo FRU 43N9160) with a DVI to HDMI adapter to connect to our LED TV. This is why I believe a Displayport to HDMI adapter will work on the Dock.

You do not have a DVI-D to VGA adapter. Such adapters don't exist. You probably have a DVI-A to VGA adapter (which explains why you don't get any signal), or an active DVI-D to VGA converter (which doesn't explain it).

You will not get any signal from the dock's DVI port hooked up via a passive DVI to VGA adapter. Because the dock outputs only DVI-D (digital), and these adapters only work on the analog side.

The dock also has a DisplayPort output, and from your explanation, your monitors have an HDMI input. You can get a DisplayPort to HDMI adapter and use that, with your HDMI cable, to get the second video output.

i have had good luck getting all sorts of adapter cabled from amazon..
you might give that a try..

Thank you for the replies!

Here is what I originally purchased: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009MP ... ailpages00
Shows as a DVI-D to VGA adaptor and looking at some other references that 24+1 pin layout is consistent with DVI-D

I look into Displayport to DVI and DVI to HDMI and hopefully that'll resolve it!

Thanks again!

Frankly wrote:Here is what I originally purchased: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009MP ... ailpages00
Shows as a DVI-D to VGA adaptor and looking at some other references that 24+1 pin layout is consistent with DVI-D

Yep, and these adapters are a complete scam, as they can never work, under any circumstances. This is evident from all the 1-star reviews there. The people giving it 5 stars and saying it worked are clearly reviewing a different product (with the 4 pins above and below the horizontal pin).

Frankly wrote:I look into Displayport to DVI and DVI to HDMI and hopefully that'll resolve it!

No need for this. You can just go DisplayPort to HDMI directly.

dr_st wrote:No need for this. You can just go DisplayPort to HDMI directly.

Think this will work? http://www.bestbuy.com/site/insignia-di ... Id=5812034

I believe it will.