Second Monitor Edges Cutting Off? Here’s How to Fix It!

For some reason, edges on the monitor can be cut off. If you’re experiencing this issue, not to worry. Below are four methods available to fix the problem. You can try them one by one and see if you can find one that works for you.

Method 1: Disable the Overscan function on the monitor
Method 2: Try to adjust your vertical position
Method 3: Set both monitors’ resolution the same
Method 4: Use a DVI cable

Method 1: Disable the Overscan function on the monitor

If the Overscan function on the monitor is on, the problem can cause.

What’s Overscan? Overscan is a feature that cuts off the edges of the screen, then stretches what you have left to fill up your monitor. Usually, the important content will be left, but in some cases, the content can be cut off.

So to fix the problem, you can try to disable the Overscan feature on the monitor. To do so, you can refer to the following steps:

1) Turn on your second monitor.

2) Press the On-screen menu button on the monitor to open the On-screen menu. You can see there are multiple buttons on the monitor. If you’re not sure which one is the On-screen menu button, press them one by one, then you’ll easily find it.

3) Select the ‘Picture Advanced‘ option (for some monitors, it could be ‘Picture’ option) from the menu.

4) Select the option reading Overscan (if available).

5) Select Off.

6) Check to see if the edges are cut off.

Note: Not all monitors have the Overscan function. If you can’t find this option on your monitor, it’s probably not available on your computer. Or you can google the monitor’s user manual to find the information.

If Method 1 doesn’t work for you, try Method 2.

Method 2: Try to adjust your vertical position

To fix the problem, you can try to adjust your vertical position. To do so, refer to the steps below:

1) Open the On-screen menu on the monitor.

2) Navigate to the ‘Position‘ option.

3) Select ‘Auto Adjustment’ (if available).

4) Check to see if the problem is resolved.

Note: Not all monitors have the Auto Adjustment feature. It’s generally applicable for analog (VGA, possibly DVI-A) connections only, and disabled in digital (DVI-D/HDMI) modes. If your monitor only has the DVI-D modes or HDMI modes, this option is not available on your monitor.

Method 3: Set both monitors’ resolution the same

To fix the problem, you can try to set the second monitor’s resolutions the same as the resolution of the primary monitor. Follow these steps:

1) Right-click on the desktop and select Display settings.

2) Scroll down to the Scale and layout section and find Display resolution.

3) Select the Display 2 monitor, then select the resolution from the drop-down menu of Display resolution. Select the resolution that is the same as the resolution of the primary screen.

If the problem persists, move on and try Method 4.

Method 4: Use a DVI cable

If you’re using a VGA cable or HDMI cable, the problem can occur. You can try to connect the monitor to the computer with a DVI cable. If your computer doesn’t have a DVI port, you’ll need to use an adapter (for example, HDMI-DVI adapter), so you can connect the monitor and the computer successfully.

Image by Andreas Lischka from Pixabay

Hopefully you can fix the problem with the above methods. If you have any questions, ideas or suggestions, feel free to leave a comment below.

11 thoughts on “Second Monitor Edges Cutting Off? Here’s How to Fix It!”

  1. One thing that helped in my case of everything being cropped out near the border of the screen:

    Go to the Display settings > Advanced display settings > change the Refresh rate to 60 or more.

    For some reason, this was the issue for me. Hope it helps!

    Reply
  2. Thanks this helped . For Mac users system preferences -> displays -> (for your monitor) increase the value of underscan to align the screen as you wish .

    Reply
  3. I wasted hours trying to fix this issue (edges being cut off on the second monitor, a LG Fll HD 24) until I found this article. By disabling overscan on the monitor menu, the problem was fixed immediately. Thanks a lot for posting it.

    Reply
  4. Thanks! My second monitor is much bigger than the primary (laptop screen), but each was set to its own max resolution. I brought down the resolution for the second monitor one step down and now it works, although it’s still much higher than that for the primary one!

    My symptom was that I could not use the top one third of the second monitor. If I dragged any window to touch that area, the window would snap right back down to bottom two third area.

    Reply

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