Black border around monitor when plugged into HDMI port

Question

Black border around monitor when plugged into HDMI port

I get about a quarter inch of black border around the edge of my monitor when I plug it in using the HDMI port on the back. This happens if I use a a HDMI to DVI cable, and also if I use an HDMI to VGA adapter going into a VGA cable.

I have two monitors, both are Acer B223w, and it does the same thing on both of them. Both work fine if I use displayport adapter to HDMI. Both get the black border any time I use the HDMI port on the back.

If I use the same cable going to the same monitor on my MacBook Pro, it fills the full width, even though it's coming from the same exact type of HDMI port!

Here are pictures for comparison between using Mac Mini and MacBook:

Troubleshooting I've tried:

- Every possible combination of rebooting with it unplugged, plugged in, unplugged as a second monitor, plugged in as a second monitor, as an only monitor, unplugged/re-plugged after already on, switching power on/off.

- Resetting the screen resolution to every possible combination, rotation, and color scheme.
- Using different cables (see above).

- Messing with options directly in the monitor (there is no way to adjust the horizontal width or vertical height, as some monitors have).

Mac mini, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.3), 16GB RAM, non-integrated gpu

Posted on Nov 10, 2015 9:57 AM

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Answer 1

Nov 10, 2015 10:50 AM in response to lllaass

I don't see it:

I realized my system specs is out of date--I'm running El Capitan now, maybe that's why I don't have the overscan option?

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Answer 2

lllaass

Level 10

210,459 points

Nov 10, 2015 10:06 AM in response to brentonstrine

In display Preferences there should be an overscan slider/setting. Try changing that.

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Answer 3

den.thed

Level 10

82,258 points

Nov 10, 2015 5:54 PM in response to brentonstrine

I'm not quite sure why your not seeing 1080P in the Scaled option...?

Cause I'm seeing 1080p on my 2012 Mini running 10.11.1 using the Apple supplied HDMI to DVI adapter with a 22" Samsung DVI monitor.

If you are seeing 1080p or 1920 x 1080 in the MacBook Pro Display Preference, but not seeing that on the Mac Mini's Display Preference...?

Then try resetting the Mini's NVRAM, as per > How to Reset NVRAM on your Mac - Apple Support to see if that helps.

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Answer 4

Nov 10, 2015 5:54 PM in response to den.thed

I reset the NVRAM as suggested, unfortunately it didn't fix the issue.

However, I noticed that the white screen during boot up goes all the way to the edge of the screen. The black border only appears a half a second before it gets to the login screen. 😮

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Answer 5

den.thed

Level 10

82,258 points

Nov 10, 2015 7:00 PM in response to brentonstrine

Maybe give Display Menu from the App Store a try to see if it will allow you to select 1920 x 1080.

http://displaymenu.milchimgemuesefach.de/

I quit using it when I upgraded to an SSD inorder to cut back on extra stuff. However I still have it on my HD and guess what, when I opened and tested it, it still works fine with El Capitan.

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Answer 6

Nov 10, 2015 7:23 PM in response to den.thed

Thanks for the tip. I installed it, but it doesn't seem to be helping anything. I should note, though, that the native resolution is 1680x1050, so it's getting the resolution correct, it's just not putting the pixels all the way to the edge of the screen.

Also, when I reset the NRAM, it stayed in the most recent video configuration I'd set up. So that worries me. I reset the SMC as well, just for kicks.

I also got another HDMI -> DVI cable. I thought maybe the problem was that my cable was single channel instead of dual channel, but the DVI-D Dual Channel cable does the exact same thing.

Running out of ideas here. The thing that really trips me up is that it works correctly on boot up, it only shrinks down when it gets to the login screen!

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