Windows 10: Activating HDR on multi-monitor setup breaks taskbar previews

Discus and support Activating HDR on multi-monitor setup breaks taskbar previews in Windows 10 BSOD Crashes and Debugging to solve the problem; Hi, I have a multi-monitor setup, one of them is HDR compatible, however when its activated the taskbar app previews on mouse hover are black squares,... Discussion in 'Windows 10 BSOD Crashes and Debugging' started by maxiu92, Jan 15, 2021.

  1. maxiu92 Win User

    Activating HDR on multi-monitor setup breaks taskbar previews


    Hi,

    I have a multi-monitor setup, one of them is HDR compatible, however when its activated the taskbar app previews on mouse hover are black squares, but only for windows that are displayed on non-HDR monitors, the previews for windows displayed on the HDR monitor are fine on all displays.

    The HDR monitor is my main one, aside from that I have 3 others and previews for windows on all them are broken. Disabling HDR immediately fixes the issue.

    I tried disabling other things like gsync, nvidia profiles, change refresh rate etc. but this seems to the only culprit.

    Reconnecting the displays or disabling some of them doesn't help either.

    Any advice on this?

    :)
     
    maxiu92, Jan 15, 2021
    #1
  2. Seally Win User

    Blurry text on secondary monitor in multi-resolution, multi-DPI setup


    This is probably the most painful issue I have with Windows 10 right now (and likely previous versions as well, but I didn't have a multi-monitor setup back then).

    The monitors I have are as follows:
    1. 3840x2160 (4K UHD) monitor with preferred DPI: 144 (150%)
    2. 1920x1080 (Full HD) monitor with preferred DPI: 96 (100%)

    Whenever one of these monitors are set as primary, all desktop applications displayed on the secondary monitor (doesn't matter which) has blurry text. Exceptions are the Windows Store Apps like Windows Store and Microsoft Edge, along with the Taskbar/Start Menu, the Taskbar/Start Menu settings screen, the Taskbar context menu, and the desktop context menu which passes the DPI test with flying colours, with crispy text on both monitors (occasionally a DPI switch bug gets in, but I can mostly ignore that). The problem is, as you can probably guess, is that >99% of the applications I use aren't Windows Store Apps.

    Here are some screenshots. The "Taskbar and Start Menu Properties" text is what the text should look like while the Visual Studio 2015 text is an example of the text most desktop apps get. The blurry image is what happens when the UHD monitor is not the primary monitor.
    Attachment 48493Attachment 48494
    Note: Both of these screenshots came from the 150% DPI monitor so it's best viewed at that (144) DPI level. The 96 DPI monitor is similarly affected.

    Things I've already tried:
    • Reinstall the graphics driver (this was unhelpfully given by a Microsoft Support Engineer). Did this multiple times in fact for unrelated reasons.
    • Reinstall Windows 10 (through Reset This PC recovery option). I did this for also unrelated reasons but it definitely doesn't fix this issue.
    • Use the XP Explorer "fix". Merely worsens the problem.
    • Adjusting ClearType options. Alleviates the issue a bit but see next point.
    • Disabling ClearType on the affected monitor. The text obviously sharpens, but it's painful to read and a close inspection of the text reveals the issue isn't solved at all, only mitigated slightly.
    • Replacing the video card. I swapped this in with my older GTX 560 Ti but it's obvious the problem remains. Both it and my current card are NVIDIAs though, so it's vaguely possible the drivers or the cards themselves are the cause. I don't have an ATI/AMD card (that still works, at least) to test the setup and every Intel iGPU I have either has only one monitor output or is incapable of handling UHD resolutions.

    Things I won't try:
    • Setting both monitors' DPI to 96. Text would become microscopic considering the UHD monitor's actual size.
    • Use the text resizing feature instead. I'm going take a wild guess that this is not monitor-specific and would cause everything on the HD monitor to be far too large to the point that I'd rather unplug it.

    Does anyone have a multi-resolution, multi-DPI, multi-monitor setup with or without this issue? The text is painful to read on whichever is the secondary monitor right now, and is extremely apparent whenever the background is dark.
     
    Seally, Jan 15, 2021
    #2
  3. ttomosoft Win User
    Taskbar icons on Multi-monitor setup never seem to work

    I'm using 1 LG monitor and 1 Epson projector and I want the same taskbar icons on both monitors.

    The Taskbar Settings:

    'Show taskbar on all displays" is set to 'On'

    'Show taskbar buttons on' is set to 'All taskbars'

    'Combine buttons on other taskbars' is set to 'Always, hide labels'

    I tend to use the projector/Secondary Display
    as my main but when I want to multi-task I enable 'Extend' through the 'Project' option.

    The LG turns on and the Taskbar is switched to the LG correctly but the Epson Taskbar loses all of its icons except for :

    -Start

    -Cortana

    -Task View

    I then have to open Taskbar settings,

    set 'Show taskbar on all displays' to 'Off' and then back to 'On' to get the correct Taskbar

    The extra steps being a workaround for settings that aren't doing what they should. I tried the demo of Display Fusion but it also struggles with Taskbar settings and I don't think we should have to buy 3rd party software to run Windows 10 abilities.
     
    ttomosoft, Jan 15, 2021
    #3
  4. PDRHDR Win User

    Activating HDR on multi-monitor setup breaks taskbar previews

    HDR on HDR monitor causes issue on secondary, non-HDR monitor

    I have an Aorus AD27QD (HDR) monitor as my primary display and an ultrawide 34UM88-P (Non-HDR) as my secondary. If HDR is enabled in windows and I go to a full screen video on the non-HDR monitor after a few seconds it will flicker blue then become severely
    washed out. Coming out of full screen fixes this. If HDR is not enabled full screen shows the colors perfectly normally.

    Secondarily, with windows HDR on on the Aorus, the colors dim pretty drastically. HDR content great but anything that isnt HDR is dim enough to make me question if my brightness is turned down. (Its not, its 90/100). The white of a plain browser window
    seems so dim its nearly grey. I also tested this on what I know is a particularly vibrant (non-HDR) . HDR on? Terrible and muted. HDR off? Bright and vibrant.

    I have played with in-monitor settings, nvidia control panel, factory reset of monitor, basically everything I can think of. Everything points to it being a windows issue.

    I also tried out the suggestions from this post. And it pointed me to this
    set of OS release notes
    which didnt solve my issue either.

    I could really use some help because I am really feeling like I wasted my money on this monitor.

    PC:

    i5 7600k

    GTX 1080ti

    16GB 3000Hz Corsair RAM

    Windows, CPU and GPU on latest drivers available.

    Monitors:

    LG 34UM88-P (HDMI)

    Aorus AD27QD (DisplayPort)
     
    PDRHDR, Jan 15, 2021
    #4
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Activating HDR on multi-monitor setup breaks taskbar previews

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