While high refresh rate monitors have been there for a while, there are still issues related to them which people come across every now and then. The most frequent problem faced by the users is usually not being able either enable higher refresh rate or even when they have enabled it, it doesn’t seem to actually work. So, if you are facing difficulties with your monitor’s refresh rate, you can follow a few steps to fix the issues.
You might not see the option to enable higher refresh rate (such as 75 Hz, 120 Hz, 144 Hz, etc.) or may not see the refresh rate which your monitor supports, like you may see maximum 120 Hz option while your monitor is 144 Hz or higher. Issues like these can happen due to various reasons. The most common reason for them are usually the cable (HDMI, DVI, DisplayPort etc.) or drivers.
Screen Refresh Rate Issues on Laptop?
Before we begin, if you are using a laptop which is supposed to be having high refresh rate display, but you are only seeing 60 Hz or 75 Hz on its own panel, then do check the model number properly. There are some laptops which comes with two models, in which one includes high refresh rate panel, and the other one includes 60 Hz or 75 Hz display.
There have been also instances when people got non-HRR panel model instead of the one with high refresh rate panel. So, it is important to check it first.
You can check your laptop’s model in System Information (search “sysinfo” in Start menu to open it) or at the bottom of the laptop. If you’re sure that your laptop actually supports higher refresh rate, then follow the article from Drivers part. If you are having issue with external monitor on your laptop then you can follow the complete article.
How to fix refresh rate for your monitor?
#1 Display Cable and Port:
Your display cable can also be the reason you are not able to use higher refresh rate. It is actually the most common reason people face this problem. So, be sure that your cable as well as the port supports high refresh rate. Yes, both should support it. Not just the type of cable/port, but you need to know the version as well.
Here are the types with the maximum refresh rate supported by them:
- DVI and VGA: 60 Hz.
- HDMI 1.3: 1080p (120 Hz) and 1440p (60 Hz).
- HDMI 1.4: 1080p (120 Hz), 1440p (60 Hz) and 4K (30 Hz).
- HDMI 2.0: 1080p (240 Hz), 1440p (144 Hz) and 4K (60Hz).
- DisplayPort 1.2: 1080p (240 Hz), 1440p (144 Hz) and 4K (75 Hz).
- DisplayPort 1.4: 1080p (360 Hz), 1440p (240 Hz) and 4K (120 Hz).
Remember, ultra-wide screen displays have higher resolution, so they will have less refresh rate capability than what you see above.
Apart from that, you should also look at the technical specifications of your computer’s motherboard or laptop. See if your hardware supports the higher refresh rate you are trying to set. In some cases, they might not provide the whole information there. If that’s the case, then you may need to contact their customer care team.
#2 Display Drivers:
Display drivers could also cause issues for you. It may cause problems especially when you have recently switched to a new GPU, and have directly installed the GPU drivers, instead of doing a clean installation. Sometimes, the leftover files from your earlier drivers can cause issues.
So, if you have recently switched to a new GPU then it would be wise to do a clean installation of your GPU drivers. You can do so by using DDU Tool.
#3 Windows Update:
Windows Update might also be installing wrong drivers for you automatically. It is rare but there have been plenty of complaints about this. If your refresh rate issue is happening because of Microsoft installing wrong drivers on your computer, then you can test it once by disconnecting your computer from the internet and then installing the correct drivers and restarting it.
If you can set proper refresh rate after that then that means it was Windows Update causing issues for you. You will need to disable automatic driver updates if that’s how it is for you, so you don’t face issues again in future. However, you will have to manually update drivers for your other devices too if you do that.
Conclusion:
So, these are the most common reasons why you might be having issues with setting or using higher refresh rate on your computer. There can hardware issues which could be causing the same problem for you but that’s something you need to diagnose. Once you are able to diagnose the problem, you can easily fix the refresh rate issue you are facing. It would be better to be in touch with local tech support for it, since they can diagnose it better.
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