2nd request - external monitor for laptop

[Joy]

I had asked this before, but when I replied, didn't hear any more. I use an
external monitor for my laptop, which is in a docking station. A little
over a week ago, I couldn't get a picture on the external. As suggested on
the NG, I tried the external cord directly to the laptop, but that doesn't
work either. Strangely, the laptop allows another external to work, and
conversely the original external works with another laptop. I have Windows
XP, the laptop is a Toshiba Tecra M2, bought in 2004, but with a new hard
drive as of a year ago. The external is a Samsung SyncMaster 203B.

 

[Richard in AZ]

Are you toggling the control keys that switch between: Internal, external & both monitors?
On my Dell, the control keys are fn+F8. I am not sure which keys are used on your Toshiba.
This would also be better answered in a Toshiba Forum since it is a hardware question, not a Windows
question.

 

[Thee Chicago Wolf [MVP]]

I had asked this before, but when I replied, didn't hear any more. I use an

external monitor for my laptop, which is in a docking station. A little
over a week ago, I couldn't get a picture on the external. As suggested on
the NG, I tried the external cord directly to the laptop, but that doesn't
work either. Strangely, the laptop allows another external to work, and
conversely the original external works with another laptop. I have Windows
XP, the laptop is a Toshiba Tecra M2, bought in 2004, but with a new hard
drive as of a year ago. The external is a Samsung SyncMaster 203B.

Some laptop keypads have a Fn key (usually in blue) that toggles on or
off the external display. Check that first. Second, make sure you BIOS
is up to date in case there is a fix for this issue (perhaps for
docked laptops that are using keyboards attached to the dock instead
of the laptop keyboard. Third, go into the BIOS and dig around for any
setting related to where the display gets output to and see if there's
an auto setting or, if not, try setting it to something different and
restarting. Also, we have some monitors that occasionally just need to
be unplugged for a few minutes and replugged in and then the display
comes back. Also, check the monitor to ensure it does not have one of
those inputs that allows two sources as it might be set to source two
when your laptop / dock is source one. Let me know how it goes.

- Thee Chicago Wolf [MVP]

 

[Joy]

Thank you. I'll hunt for a Toshiba group. Yes, I was toggling, and the
Toshiba key is F5. Since I wrote, I found out that the laptop will NOT
access a different external monitor; I hopefully have someone coming to the
house to try to solve this.

 

[Andrew E.]

You might try microsofts multi-monitor software,its for 2 or more
monitors running at the same time.Get it at:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/forpros/encoder/utilities.aspx