Laptop won't detect external monitor

[DanAtwell]

I am trying to connect my laptop to a new Samsung monitor using a USB-C to HDMI cable and the laptop will not recognize the device.  I get a notification that says I will have reduced functionality with whatever I just plugged in (in this case is the Samsung monitor).  I tried a different cable, I reinstalled and updated all software and drivers, I restarted everything, unplugged and plugged things back in...basically everything except pouring holy water on the device to get the demons out.  Anyone have any tips or tricks that might getting the monitor to work with this laptop?  By the way, this cable and monitor works with my wife's DELL just fine...help please.

[banhien · Accepted solution]

@DanAtwell 

The specs of your machine is

        https://support.hp.com/au-en/document/c06268334

No, you can't use UDB-C to HDMI to connect to an external monitor. The USB-C does not support Alt mode. The USB-C on your Dell machine definitely supports Alt mode.

Regards.

[DanAtwell]

I saw the specs sheet but I didn’t wholly trust it since I have a usb-c port that isn’t listed on there, and I also do not have the RJ-45 port that they list.  

thanks for the help!