Dell Inspiron 13-7359 HDMI to VGA Adapter

I have a Dell Inspiron 13-7359 solid-state laptop with Windows 10 and I wanted to connect it to my second monitor. Sadly it’s a old VGA monitor that still works great. Alas I only have an HDMI port on the laptop!

I tried two HDMI to VGA adapters and it was a struggle to make them work. My monitor is an old Gateway LCD. When first connecting  the error I got was “Frequency Out of Range”.

This is what I did to make it work :

  • Click screen bottom right the hidden icons
  • Select Intel HD Graphics Control Panel
  • Click Display
  • Click Multiple Displays
  • Set #1 Primary Display as your Built-in Display
  • Set #2 as your Digital Television

It took awhile to keep the settings in place. But once you get it, you’re good to go. I did have an issue once I closed the lid and the laptop went to sleep. The laptop got stuck in tablet mode and all the desktop icons moved.

This is what I did to fix it:

  • Move all the icons back where they belong
  • Click setup bottom right (it’s the gear icon)
  • Click System
  • Click Tablet mode
  • Set When I Sign in to “Use desktop mode”

Now that I had the monitor working. I didn’t have sound. Is there no end to my struggles?  The laptop was trying to play the sound on the monitor. This is great if you want to use the monitor as a TV.  But that’s not my situation. I want to use the monitor to extend my work-space.

This worked:

  • Click screen bottom right speaker icon
  • Click “Playback Device
  • Set Default to “Speakers” not the Display

These are the models I was able to use successfully:

HDMI to VGA, 1080P with Audio Port, Rankie Gold-Plated Active HDMI HDTV to VGA Adapter Converter Male to Female with Micro USB & 3.5mm Audio Port Cable – R1150

VicTsing Gold-Plated HDMI to VGA Converter Adapter for PC, Laptop, DVD, Desktop and other HDMI Input Devices – Black (VS1-VC38BVT-VD)

The links connect to Amazon.