Arch Linux

theguit

Member

Registered: 2025-10-17

Posts: 1

Gnome + Wayland : 2 external monitors one doesn't display anything

Hello,

I'm a bit lost. Since I updated to Gnome 49 and switched to Wayland, one of my two external monitors isn't working correctly. It's not always the same screen, it shows up correctly in the "Display Settings" but the screen remains black. Everything was working perfectly before.

The two monitors are identical: Samsung 34" S34J55x. They are connected via HDMI to a dock: StarTech 155NA-USB4-DOCK. The laptop is a Dell Inspiron 14" with a Ryzen 5 5500U and Radeon Graphics.

I don't even know where to start investigating: Is it a Gnome issue? A Wayland issue? The dock? The monitors? My HDMI cables? The moon?

I've applied all the recent updates hoping it would fix the problem. If I switch the non-displaying screen to a lower resolution (1920×1080 for example), the screen displays correctly. Both screens are active during the boot process, but as soon as I reach GDM, one of them turns off. The screen remains active even when black; I can move windows onto it.

Thanks in advance for any help,

unixman

Member

Registered: 2015-03-12

Posts: 182

Re: Gnome + Wayland : 2 external monitors one doesn't display anything

Everything was working perfectly before

So this software issue. try some lightweigt wayland WM's to test againist Gnome.
or try kde wayland.
are you want to use two monitor simultaneously as so called 'mirror mode'? or some more complex?
search for that name in your compositor docs/config/manual and archwiki of course.