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if my laptop has a dual link DVI port but i have a single link DVI cable, can it be connected to the laptop?

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5 Answers 5

There are two different types of DVI ports your laptop may have: DVI-I or DVI-D. DVI-I carries digital and analogue signals, DVI-D just digital signals.

You can connect any single-link DVI cable (DVI-I as well as DVI-D) to a dual-link DVI-I port. You can also connect a single-link DVI-D cable to a dual-link DVI-D port.

However, you cannot connect a single-link DVI-I cable to a dual-link DVI-D port.

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(Source and further information)

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Not only that:

Your computer DVI-I output may not output analog at all. For example: my graphic card has a VGA and a DVI-I connector. I tried connecting my monitor's VGA input to the Card's DVI connector using a VGA-VGA cable and a DVI-VGA adapter, but I couldn't get any image, no matter if I pushed the video input button on the monitor.

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The question is about the single and dual link compatibility (both are digital). There is nothing about the analogous dvi in the question. –  peterh Aug 8 at 12:44

Yes, a dual link port can support both single and dual link cables.

Source: I have the same setup

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Yes you can connect a single link DVI cable to a dual link DVI port but not the opposite.

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I just wanted to follow up to say a couple of things for those folks super confused!

First, a DVI-I dual-link (Digital+analog) female connector type will accommodate any DVI male connector you throw at it.


Just because you have a female DVI-I (d+a) doesn't necessarily mean that the adapter/dongle/cable you are using support specifically analog connections.

If for instance you attempted to plug a DVI-A into what looks like a DVI-I dual-link (d+a) female connection and you get no output, it is probably because the adapter/dongle/cable you have doesn't actually support analog IO.

Isn't that fun!

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