Comments for How do I connect a monitor to my laptop and have it work?

Comment from tony on 2009-04-07

2009-04-08T01:09:01Z

i have tried fn and the f8 combination sometimes it work an sometimes not

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A comment on: How do I connect a monitor to my laptop and have it work?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
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Comment from dave macheca on 2009-01-10

2009-01-10T23:19:57Z

How can I use the laptop as a desktop? When I try to close the lid on my Dell laptop the monitor goes dark.?

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A comment on: How do I connect a monitor to my laptop and have it work?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
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Comment from jo mills on 2008-12-10

2008-12-11T01:32:46Z

I have read all yoiur advise, however here is my problem...I have a laptop OPS as windows vista. I hooked up the correct cable to my tv and plugged it into the port on my laptop. It acts like it wants to switch but says no signal. I am sure all I need to know is what "magic" key/keys to press to make the change. It worked once and I cannot remember what I did. I don't have a fn key CRT/LCD to press.How do I make the switch.
I am so frustrated.
Thank you Jo

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A comment on: How do I connect a monitor to my laptop and have it work?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
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Comment from Ed Vance on 2008-12-06

2008-12-07T00:11:54Z

To: Jom

My AcerNote light laptop uses Fn key + F1 to show what F key to use with the Fn key.

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A comment on: How do I connect a monitor to my laptop and have it work?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
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Comment from David Irwin on 2008-12-01

2008-12-01T21:24:30Z

They do make external video cards for laptops as well. They connect to USB and provide analog or digital video. I have an Aluratek model UAV 100F.

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A comment on: How do I connect a monitor to my laptop and have it work?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
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Comment from Jom on 2008-11-29

2008-11-30T06:28:26Z

uhh i pluged in the cable into my toshiba laptop and put the cable into the samsung tv useing the vga cord.
it starts up fine but then it just cuts off... i don't use a dell so i don't know where the crt/lcd botton is it's just alot of pictrues which i don't know what they mean at the f1 f2 f3 ect. thing. i have found the fn botton though. the resilution is correct too.
if you could help me that would be great i really looked forward to playing on the big screen. anyways thank you if you could help me.I'm going to keep trying through trial and error but if you could get back to me thats great

How about checking with the documentation that came with your Toshiba, or the Toshiba support site. I'm sure it's one of those Fn+another key, but they'll have to tell you which one for your specific model.

- Leo
30-Nov-2008

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A comment on: How do I connect a monitor to my laptop and have it work?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
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Comment from Stuart on 2008-11-29

2008-11-30T04:13:49Z

Vista should also be aware that Presentation Settings behavior may be masking another problem. The graphics card probably has software that controls some of the same things that PS does. In my case, updating the driver for my NVIDIA graphics card and then using the NVIDIA Control Panel (accessed by right-clicking on a blank part of the desktop) solved my problem. Now setting up an external monitor is easy and reliable.

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A comment on: How do I connect a monitor to my laptop and have it work?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
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Comment from Dan on 2008-11-27

2008-11-27T14:57:13Z

To Richard Deem
Yep! When I close and reopen the lid, the monitor is resized to the laptop screen size. I have XP.

To Doug Proctor
Keeping XP on a new machine is an option but I guess I'll go for Vista since I develop free/sharewares apps. For the moment, I give them to my friend to test on his Vista box. Getting Vista would make me independent. He has the highest Vista version (I don't know the name) but given the trouble he is having with it, I'd appreciate comments on the best Vista version for my purpose (just an Internet, office and development machine.

To Michael Horowitz
Great link. Thanks!

Lastly, how about connecting an external keyboard to a Dell Inspiron? I have 2 spare keyboards but couldn't find a suitable connector on the laptop.

Dan

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A comment on: How do I connect a monitor to my laptop and have it work?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
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Comment from Michael Horowitz on 2008-11-26

2008-11-26T21:19:56Z

A new connection for an external monitor is starting to appear called a Display Port. This is an interesting article on the topic.
http://lenovoblogs.com/insidethebox/?p=161

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A comment on: How do I connect a monitor to my laptop and have it work?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
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Comment from Doug Proctor on 2008-11-26

2008-11-26T18:59:56Z

To Dan:
I choose not to go with Vista when I purchased a PC in June 2008, but I had to build it and purchase XP software. This is - and should continue to be - an option, and it just isn't that hard to build one.
Doug

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A comment on: How do I connect a monitor to my laptop and have it work?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
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Comment from Dan on 2008-11-26

2008-11-26T18:07:04Z

Thanks all for the input. I'll feedback here as soon as I have a chance to hook it up. Fortunately, I could keep away from Vista so far but I don't know how long I'll be able to escape it. This is off topic but let me ask you this in case my 7 year-old XP machine gives up on me : Which version of Vista should I get? I just use my PC for the usual stuff and to develop applications in Delphi (32 bit). Thanks for your time.

Dan

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A comment on: How do I connect a monitor to my laptop and have it work?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
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Comment from Richard Deem on 2008-11-25

2008-11-25T17:45:31Z

This is all fine and good for Windows XP. However, Windows Vista has this annoying feature called "Presentation Settings." Sometimes it comes on when I hook up my external monitor and sometimes it doesn't. When it does turn on, it flashes on and off about 10 times over the course of a minute before you can actually see anything longer than about 5 seconds. It defaults to preventing your screen saver from going on (which is useful if you really are doing a presentation, but not otherwise). In addition, Vista has the annoying "feature" of randomly going into mirrored, single or multiple displays depending upon what it "decides" to do when the external display is attached. The magical button may or may not fix the problem, and usually doesn't once you close the lid (since that is a different setting altogether on your laptop). The problems are actually much more significant than the article would indicate, especially if you are using Vista.

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A comment on: How do I connect a monitor to my laptop and have it work?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
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Comment from Packrat1947 on 2008-11-25

2008-11-25T16:36:52Z

No drivers are needed. Just hook it up and go.

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A comment on: How do I connect a monitor to my laptop and have it work?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
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Comment from Dan on 2008-11-25

2008-11-25T16:25:59Z

RE:hook up a monitor to my laptop

Thanks Leo. This is very useful (I have a Dell Inspiron). I didn't try to hook the second monitor yet.

My question is : Do I need to install the monitor driver first?

Thanks, Dan

Nope.

- Leo
26-Nov-2008

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A comment on: How do I connect a monitor to my laptop and have it work?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
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Comment from novice on 2008-11-24

2008-11-24T11:42:16Z

this is something really useful!

i presume the reverse is not possible? i.e. watching for example DVD player's output on laptop's LCD, because laptops dont have a video input channel?

i guess this is why graphic cards cant be added / upgraded in laptops

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A comment on: How do I connect a monitor to my laptop and have it work?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
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