Thinkpads Forum

I have been given a ThinkPad 20Q5 from work to enable me to work from home. I essentially use it to connect remotely to my office desktop computer via VPN/Remote Desktop.

At home I have two VGA monitors connected to my personal desktop computer and I want to use them with this ThinkPad as well. I connect one monitor to the ThinkPad's HDMI connector using an HDMI to VGA adapter, and the second one to the VGA connector on a Lenovo C120 Travel Hub that's connected to the ThinkPad's USB Type C connector.

So far I haven't been able to get this arrangement to work. When I connect only one of the VGA monitors to either of the adaptors, it works fine, and I can use it in combination with the ThinkPad's screen. But when I connect both VGA monitors, the one connected to the HDMI to VGA adapter goes blank. In the ThinkPad's display settings, I can never see all three monitors (internal + 2x external). Clicking Detect doesn't find the second external monitor.

I have also tried connecting both external monitors to the C120 Travel Hub, connecting one to the VGA connector and the other to the HDMI connector via the HDMI to VGA adapter, but the two monitors display the same thing, as clones. Apparently there is only one video output on the C120, via two different interfaces (VGA and HDMI).

Does anyone know a way to get this to work?

The HDMI to VGA adapter is a no name that I bought online. The two VGA monitors are:
* Samsung B1940MR
* Mag LB2006AFW (old but still works well)

Any ideas?

Thanks.

Hi and welcome to the forums.

The 20Q5 is a Lenovo L490, so I moved your thread to the proper sub-forum.

Could it be a matter of maximum simultaneous displays? Can you get both VGA displays to work if the Thinkpad display is off?

YD Forums wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 15, 2022 6:19 am

Apparently there is only one video output on the C120, via two different interfaces (VGA and HDMI).

That's what I conclude from the documentation too.

Thanks for your reply and for moving my question to the correct place. I did not see any model number on the unit other than 20Q5, and even that was extremely hard to read.

Could it be a matter of maximum simultaneous displays? Can you get both VGA displays to work if the Thinkpad display is off?

I can only get one external monitor to work regardless of whether or not the ThinkPad display is on.

The IT folks at work think I might need a docking station.

YD Forums wrote: ↑

Mon Sep 19, 2022 5:58 am

The IT folks at work think I might need a docking station.

If they are willing to provide one, this, of course, is the preferred route. Depending on the dock, you would still need either one or two HDMI to VGA or DisplayPort to VGA adapters.

I have scored a Dell K17A docking station and everything's working a treat (one monitor. It has one VGA connector and one HDMI connector to which I have connected my HDMI to VGA adapter. Nothing other than the docking station connected to the ThinkPad connected to the Since the interface to the ThinkPad is USB Type C, it apparently doesn't matter that the docking station is Dell and not Lenovo.

What I want to know is how so many peripherals can be connected through a single USB Type C interface.

Thanks

Read about USB-C wiring here:

https://www.tempoautomation.com/blog/pc ... re%20data.