I'm just going to throw this out there, as I do not know your exact setup and everything. But the laptop has an external monitor button. Usually hold the FN button and on of the F keys up top to disable/enable it.

Again, seems like you tried everything, but sometimes its the smaller things we can overlook

I'm sure computer guru billmeek will have more ideas since thats his career

 

I don't see any mention of Function-F8 in your post. Could that be at the root of your problem?

That display-toggle function is not something I make use of, but I know it's a pitfall, and I see from a quick google that it's a hardware feature in the Intel chipsets, so it's going to OS-independent, if that's any comfort.

 

TDC- yep, hit F4 about hundred times

F8 on my HP laptop is the screen brightness up. This wouldn't affect the brightness in the 2nd monitor. Good try guys!

I've been making due with one screen. Having to keep track of graphics AND the attribute tables requires way more clicking that my carpal tunnel doesn't like.

 

It is the 'Fn' (Function)and 'F5' buttons for dual display. But you have to keep the 'Fn' button depressed and press the 'F5' several times as it cycles through it's various modes. The ports on your laptop aren't interchangeable as they are either male or female so the additional monitor lead will only fit into one.
Hope this helps.

Cheers,

 

Each laptop is different with what the function button does. Like my laptop, and Kory's, my F4 button toggles the display, F5 puts it to sleep :lol:

 

Kory,

I have been in the same quandary several times with our camera club computer and the solution I use is to right click on the opening screen and then click on properties. That leads you to a series of commands that will cause the projector to recognize the laptop. I'm sorry I don't have the projector here now along with the cheat sheet or I would give you all the commands.

I haven't figured out why my projector recognizes the laptop some times and at others I have to go through the drill again.

Frustrating, isn't it.

Ed

 

Thanks Ed, but I have already tried that!

Update: Took the computer home to try it with my HP docking station, which bypasses at least the physical VGA port. Still the same. When I go to the Personalize > Display Settings (Vista), I can tell it to extend my desktop to the 2nd monitor, but when I OK that, exit out and come back it, the check box that I used to extend the desktop is now unchecked. I hope that means it's a software issue.

 

Always check the simple stuff first:

Go into the bios and make sure the external video port hasn't been switched off. Test the external monitor on another machine. Try setting the external display to mirror the laptop display rather than extending it as mirroring is a lower resolution mode than extending. To eliminate the OS as an issue, you can use an bootable OS CD (i.e - Ubuntu) to test the external video port (dual display setup)

 

I haven't figured out why my projector recognizes the laptop some times and at others I have to go through the drill again.

This all depends on whether the external screen was plugged in before you booted windows or not. When the machine boots it will find new hardware including monitors. Things like USB devices are 'plug and play', these get found as soon as you plug them in, but not analogue monitors. To add to the confusion, sometimes on a laptop you maybe dont shut it down, but put it to sleep or hibenate. this means when you turn it on it come up much quicker. When this happens it just goes back to the exact state it was when it was hibenated. Even worse, some laptops have power saving features that turn off external devices not in use. ( you can do find new hardware of cause at any time ).

After hitting the CTRL-ALT-DELETE buttons a few times I got the login screen to appear briefly on the 2nd monitor. Problem: Colors were pinkish, everything was darker

Basically if you switch everything off, remove the battery and power. This will ensure a full reboot with not hibenate nonsense. Plug your external screen in and boot it up. If you then select extend on second monitor and still nothing I would check the video cable is not faulty, this would normally be the case as you said it was pinkish and darker. If your monitor looses its green or blue signal it will appear darker and pinkish. Try wiggling the video cable, see if the image flickers.

 

I'm back in town and still trying to resolve this. Thanks all that have tried, but I have been as thorough as my tech capabilities have allowed at this point. Here's a recap of what I've done thus far.

I have tried 3 different monitors
All options in the Display Settings have been tested
I took it home and tried on a docking station with a dual monitor setup where it has worked before
There were no options in the BIOS to change the monitor output (unless there is something I don't know about)
Updated the graphics driver
Updated/flashed the BIOS (never done that before--eek!)
Call the manufacturer of the projector (Epson) and they said that plugging the laptop in to the wrong port like I did shouldn't affect the computer.

I have attached a screen shot of my desktop. The display on the left is of my laptop screen, which I can see. The one on the right goes to the 2nd monitor that I can't not see on the monitor. The computer THINKS it's there, but it's not sending a signal.

[attachment=0:25dfucdu]Printscreen test b.jpg[/attachment:25dfucdu]

 

Do I have to come over there and fix it for ya? :lol:

Atleast Epson said that it ''shouldn't'' affect the pc, thats a positive. Doesn't mean that it couldn't either. None the less it appears that for whatever reason, the laptop is not sending the signal that says 'hey wake up monitor'. Since Windows is showing that it is producing the extended desktop image, I personally am leaning more towards hardware.

And as far as flashing the bios for the first time... betcha that was scary/fun, all those warnings it gives you always make you doubt yourself and Dominion Power :lol: . Although I'm used to these warned with all the... ahem.. fun things I do to my electronic toys

 

Now eliminate the software as an issue completely. Download Ubuntu desktop, burn the CD, and boot to it. It should*** automatically recognize both displays and default to mirroring the primary to the secondary.

*** Just tested here and it did.

 

Here is another long-shot. I teach at a local TAFE college here in Aus and occasionally I have had a problem with the their projectors where reversing the cable seems to fix the problem with getting the display onto both the projector and the PC. The VGA cables are usually male to male so you can reverse them. I have no idea why this should make a difference and I can only report that on one occasion recently this was the solution to getting the display image coming out of the projector and back to the PC monitor after I had tried everything else I could think of.

I think the the previous suggestion to try the Ubuntu CD is the best way to isolate it to either a software or a hardware issue.

I guess reversing the cables is worth a try if everything else has failed!

 

I've eliminated cables as an issue since I've tried three different monitors and their cables.

It took me a while, but I did the Ubuntu trick. Hardware failure. Same situation as windows, it'll recognize the monitor, have all the info on it, think it's sending the signal, but the monitor is still in its "No Signal" mode. This is bad news, I have a feeling the company will not pay to fix it.

From what I can tell, it has an integrated graphics card. Is there ANYTHING I can do to just fix the graphics hardware? I can't figure what motherboard it has so I can search to see how much a new one would cost.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/docu ... 78&lang=en

 

Looking at the specs on that laptop, does it have an s-video out port? You might try hooking it up via that port to your TV and see if anything happens. The s-video operates on the same principle as the vga out in regards to software (as in bios, or that stupid FN+f whatever button). Just another thought.

As far as repair, even though its integrated, certain parts of MOST video cards can be replaced on laptops. HOWEVER, you are going to run into cost issues. Your best bet might to just go ahead and purchase another one, and sell your current one. You should be able to find one comparable, if not better, to the one you have for less than $500 easily, and could sell yours for $100-$200. Laptop parts are NOT cheap, nearly every bit is proprietary to the maker (ie in your case, HP/Compaq) besides the HDD/CPU/RAM

 

THanks TDC. I am working on a similar fix, using the expansion port to add a video card and disable the onboard video. I hate doing this part cuz I only do this kind of thing every couple of years and have to relearn it all everytime.

OK- scratch that. I don't quite understand the type of expansion port have, nor do I see ANY video cards on newegg.com.

Apparently this laptop was purchased at Costco, which has a good warranty, but we are not going to pursue that as of yet.

 

I dont believe they make a good video card to fit your ExpressCard 54 expansion port, it just lacks the capabilities to drive one. However, they do make external video cards

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... _-12225007

 

Apparently this laptop was purchased at Costco, which has a good warranty, but we are not going to pursue that as of yet.

I'd backup all my data and pursue this before attempting any other kludge-like workaround. If that is not an option, then reallocate the laptop to someone within the business that does not use (or need) dual-monitor support and replace it with another one.

 

As a work around, a USB video adapter will work, I use this one daily, with my laptop at work to have 3 displays (two run from the onboard video, one from USB)

http://www.microcenter.com/single_produ ... id=0290180

 

Kory:

Does your Epson have S-video or USB capability? I am an information systems analyst with the State of California, and in my experience the accidental reversal of cabling may have disabled or damaged your VGA port. I would first run hardware troubleshooting through the control panel, or "help and support," to see if Vista automatically recognizes any hardware issues (control panel-system and maintenance-problem reports and solutions (or performance information and tools). If that fails to show any problems, you might consider running the "system restore" function to a time before the problem occurred. This, of course, will attempt to restore your operating system to all of the settings before the video malfunction, including any registry errors that may have occurred. Please back up your system before attempting this. Your might also try a new cable in case the pins were damaged.

If all of this fails, you might try calling your laptop manufacturer to see if they have any ideas, especially if your machine is still under warranty. They can remotely look at your system to identify any problems.

I hope this helps...

Cal

 

I think Cal is right. The VGA port is damaged. The computer is currently sitting at HP getting repaired under an extended warranty through Costco.

THANKS all that offered to help!

 

Funny story. I was given a laptop by a coworker that was busted. The screen had died on it. No big deal for what I had planned with it (basicly a smaller pc to hooked up to my entertainment enter for online video watching on my TV rather than my big ol` desktop buried in there). Well, all went well for the most part, got it all hooked up and everything. This model HP, has the S-Video out, which is great because my tv doesn't have a VGA input. Anywho, got everything installed up and running, while using TV as monitor. As soon as I installed ATI video card drivers.... poof, there goes the screen, no signal. No matter what I did (so far, still tinkering with it) could not get screen to come back up. Either as 2nd monitor, or as the primary display. As soon as I uninstalled the drivers, viola came back up (uninstalled via my other laptop controlling it).

Of course when this happened, I immediately thought of you and your issues. Albeit completely different, similar none the less :lol:

Guess its a good thing you got the extended warranty, hope they can fix it.

 

Albeit completely different, similar none the less.

Or as translated to "Southern", Same thing, just different.