[SOLVED] Help: laptop with HDMI 1.4 only supports 1920x1080 on LG ultrawide screens?

[tr0gledyte]

For work, I have the following Dell Inspiron 5593 laptop. The configuration I have is 8GB memory, 256GB SSD, i5 CPU, Intel UHD graphics. It has a HDMI 1.4 port. There are no USB-C or DisplayPort output, only a couple regular USB 3.1 ports.

At work we have two types of displays made by LG:
38UC99-W (3840x1600 native)
34UC99-W (3440 x 1440 native)

I can connect my laptop to the 34UC99-W screens and run at 3440x1440 30hz just fine. For work, 30hz is sufficient.

When connecting my laptop to the 38UC99-W screen, however, I am unable to run anything other than 1920x1080. I am unable to select any other resolutions and trying to "force" a higher custom resolution has no effect. 1920x1080 on these screens looks magnified/stretched, which is not acceptable. I've reinstalled GPU drivers, tried tweaking many display settings, but to no avail.

From what I've read, HDMI 1.4 should be able to handle even up to 4k @ 30hz. My coworkers (with different laptops) that have HDMI 1.4 outputs can use these screens just fine @ 30hz.

Does anyone have any idea of what's going on? Anything else I could try? I've considered buying a ($100+) USB 3.1A -> HDMI 2.0 adapter but I feel like it should work without an adaper. I don't care if it's only 30hz, I just want my pixels.

Any tips to get this working would behighly appreciated, thank you!

 

[Lutfij]

By reinstalling your drivers, did you use DDU to uninstall your GPU drivers? When reinstalling the drivers, you're suggested to manually install the drivers in an elevated command, i.e, Right click installer>Run as Administrator

You might also want to see if your laptop has any BIOS updates pending. If there are updates, gradually work your way to the latest, keeping in mind any MEI updates along the way. Also, do you have a discrete GPU onboard the laptop? Your link shows that the laptop comes with an Nvidia discrete GPU(on certain models).