Stumped! Secondary Display wont work!

datdude65265 · 05-10-2009, 07:59 PM

I have a dell inspiron 6000 laptop with windows xp and ATI radeon. I have been using 21" Acer monitor for about the past 4 months with no problems. Recently I had a corrupted user profile and after fixing it have lost the ability to use the external monitor. When i boot up and close the lid, the external monitor still gets no signal. In display settings the monitor is recognized, and it even reads the model of the external lcd, but I'm not allowed to detach the primary monitor or make the external monitor the primary monitor. If i boot up the computer with the ribbon from the primary lcd detached from the motherboard and the external monitor connected, then the external monitor will work...Any thoughts?

**grimx133** · 05-10-2009, 08:14 PM

Try the Fn+F8 to toggle between the internal and external? I use an external with my 9400 now and again, but extend the desktop to it and use both.

datdude65265 · 05-11-2009, 10:24 PM

Thanks for the response, but I've toggled the screen more than I'd like to admit over this thing. I'm pretty sure the card has gone bad, because now even with the primary lcd removed from the motherboard the secondary lcd still won't work, whereas if I did this before the screen would work for the first 30 seconds of booting up and then go blank. Like I said, the computer recognizes the monitor, but the monitor displays "no signal". The monitor works with other laptops, so it isn't faulty. The display settings seem to be right, and the primary lcd toggles correctly when using the Fn+f8 shortcut, just the secondary stays blank. If it is what i suspect, and the port or card connected to the laptops motherboard for the secondary display is indeed faulty, what is the actual name for the part and how do i determine if that's actually whats wrong?

05-10-2009, 07:59 PM	#1 (permalink)
datdude65265 Registered User Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 2 OS: Win XP SP3	Stumped! Secondary Display wont work! I have a dell inspiron 6000 laptop with windows xp and ATI radeon. I have been using 21" Acer monitor for about the past 4 months with no problems. Recently I had a corrupted user profile and after fixing it have lost the ability to use the external monitor. When i boot up and close the lid, the external monitor still gets no signal. In display settings the monitor is recognized, and it even reads the model of the external lcd, but I'm not allowed to detach the primary monitor or make the external monitor the primary monitor. If i boot up the computer with the ribbon from the primary lcd detached from the motherboard and the external monitor connected, then the external monitor will work...Any thoughts?

05-10-2009, 08:14 PM	#2 (permalink)
grimx133 Mentor Hardware Team Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Canada eh Posts: 3,133 OS: xp mce sp2, xp pro sp2, windows 7 beta My System	Re: Stumped! Secondary Display wont work! Try the Fn+F8 to toggle between the internal and external? I use an external with my 9400 now and again, but extend the desktop to it and use both. __________________

05-11-2009, 10:24 PM	#3 (permalink)
datdude65265 Registered User Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 2 OS: Win XP SP3	Re: Stumped! Secondary Display wont work! Thanks for the response, but I've toggled the screen more than I'd like to admit over this thing. I'm pretty sure the card has gone bad, because now even with the primary lcd removed from the motherboard the secondary lcd still won't work, whereas if I did this before the screen would work for the first 30 seconds of booting up and then go blank. Like I said, the computer recognizes the monitor, but the monitor displays "no signal". The monitor works with other laptops, so it isn't faulty. The display settings seem to be right, and the primary lcd toggles correctly when using the Fn+f8 shortcut, just the secondary stays blank. If it is what i suspect, and the port or card connected to the laptops motherboard for the secondary display is indeed faulty, what is the actual name for the part and how do i determine if that's actually whats wrong?