The latest graphic cards have multiple ports, which is a handy feature if you want to connect multiple display screens. However, if your graphic card comes with just one HDMI port to connect a monitor or projector, you can use an alternative one located at the back of your motherboard.
You can enable motherboard HDMI by enabling integrated graphics using BIOS, connecting your monitors, and by updating the latest drivers for integrated graphics.
Today, CPUs with integrated graphics eliminate the need for an external or dedicated GPU. However, a motherboard must have built-in connections such as VGA, DVI, HMDI, or Display Port for the display output.
We’ll talk about this, including why you need to enable HDMI on the motherboard, and later guide you with a step-by-step method to complete the task.
Why Is There a Need To Enable Motherboard HDMI?
A few reasons for enabling HMDI on the motherboard can be a need to connect multiple monitors by adding multiple ports to expand your capabilities, multitasking, or increasing the speed of workflow to improve productivity.
Furthermore, you may want to do it if the HDMI Port on GPU is damaged and you don’t want to spend money on repairs.
Enabling Motherboard HDMI
Enabling motherboard HDMI can be complex if you don’t know what you are getting into. The good news is that our step-by-step instructions will take you through the entire process and explain everything very clearly.
So without keeping you waiting, here is the single method with multiple steps that you need to follow to enable the HDMI port on your motherboard.
Make sure your CPU has an integrated graphics card to proceed further and enable motherboard HDMI.
Step #1: Verifying Integrated Graphics
In the first step, you’ll need to verify that your CPU has integrated graphics. To do this in Windows 10, type Settings on the search menu of the taskbar. Next, click System and click on About at the bottom of the left pane. Here, you can view the processor model name in the device specifications.
Afterward, head to your computer’s manufacturer’s website and verify the specifications for integrated graphics.
Step #2: Enabling Integrated Graphics Using BIOS
Now that you confirmed that your CPU has integrated graphics, you can enable the onboard HDMI. First, back up your hard drive and reboot the system. Once you see the Boot entry notification, quickly press the keys (ESC, DEL, F1, F2, F8, or F12) to navigate to the BIOS menu.
Next, depending on the computer, select the tab called Advanced, Advanced Settings, Chipset, or Peripherals and select IGPU Multi-Monitor, Internal Graphics, Processor Graphics, or IGD Multi-Monitor.
If the particular setting is disabled, enable it to turn on the motherboard HDMI. Save changes, exit the Boot menu, and reboot your system.
Step #3: Connecting New Display
After enabling the HDMI on the motherboard, plug the primary monitor into the HDMI port located on the back of the video card. Afterward, connect the Secondary monitor to the HDMI port on the motherboard.
Now hook other ends of HDMI cables into their respective monitors, and your computer will detect them after it restarts.
You can change or rearrange the respective display settings by right-clicking on the desktop and selecting Display Settings.
Step #4: Installing Latest Integrated Graphics Driver
In the last step, you’ll install the latest drivers for integrated graphics. To do this, launch Device Manager in Windows, expand the Other Devices section, and look for Unknown Devices in the list.
Next, right-click on your integrated graphics, and install the latest driver. You can let Windows automatically locate and install the latest driver or install it from your processor manufacturer’s website.
Not all motherboards support onboard video ports, even if the dedicated graphics card is installed. Also, the motherboard can permanently disable the HDMI port if the graphics card is installed in a PCIe slot. Check the user manual or contact your manufacturer to know for sure.
Summary
In this guide about enabling motherboard HDMI, we shared the reasons behind the need to have multiple HDMI connections and explained a method in detail on how to enable the port.
Hopefully, you understood the method, and now you can enable the HDMI port on your motherboard without getting your head confused with complicated and technical stuff.
Frequently Asked Questions
Make sure that your HDMI cables are correctly connected. Plug the cable firmly back into the port. If you have additional HDMI inputs, you can use a different one to check your connections.
Sometimes, you just need to update your system, which can fix the problem.
No, it is not possible to use motherboard ports without integrated graphics as they are not designed that way. If there is no GPU to establish a signal for the HDMI port, that port will be idle and unable to do anything.
