Laptop/ Video Card Won't Recognize Second Monitor

Having exhausted every avenue, I'm turning to you guys. I have had a dual monitor setup with my laptop(Inspiron 1545 with GM45 Intel Card) extending to a regular LCD screen. It worked for two months and until recently has stopped working.

I have uninstalled, reinstalled, uninstalled, reinstalled the newest drivers, changed the cables(power supply and VGA), system restored back a month to when it was working, and changed the power outlet.

This originally worked flawlessly and now the laptop is not recognizing any device I attach via the VGA output. I have plugged the laptop into another monitor with no avail as well. I find it hard to believe that this would stop working one day with no notice or any problems. I have also tried attaching a projector that had worked for over a year with the laptop and have gotten nothing.

I receive a black screen as if to say this something being outputted, but nothing is displayed. Both windows screen resolution and the intel GUI both do not recognize another device.

HELP???

Processor: Intel64 Family 6 Model 23 Stepping 10
Processor Speed: 1995 MHz
Vendor ID: 8086
Device ID: 2A42
Device Revision: 07
* Accelerator Information *
Accelerator in Use: Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family
Video BIOS: 1706.0
Current Graphics Mode: 1360 by 768
* Devices Connected to the Graphics Accelerator *
Active Notebook Displays: 1
* Built-in Display *

Monitor Name: Generic PnP Monitor
Display Type: Digital
Gamma Value: 2.2
DDC2 Protocol: Supported

Hello dukeagles21 and welcome to Seven Forums.
Try the monitor and projector on another computer to eliminate them as being faulty or not. If indeed they both work it remains that there is something wrong with the lap top somewhere.

Was it by chance dropped or received a hard knock?

Thanks for the welcome Britton.

It hasn't been MOVED in three weeks. I virtually use it as a desktop. And both the other displays work as well. One of the other monitors is currently hooked up to another desktop and is working fine.

One thing that is weird is when uninstalling, the VGA driver can't be installed? Any ideas where to find that?

If you mean WINDOWS VGA driver, it can't be uninstalled without some registry hacks I don't know about. Try going to Device Manager from Control Panel, does the monitor show there?
IF so, right click it and click Update Driver Software.
If not click the Scan for Hardware Changes at the top, kind of a magnifying glass.
In my sig is a link for Revo Unistaller, you can download and see if it shows in there. Driver Sweeper would be another software to try.

If you are comfortable working in your BIOS, make sure it is set to have the VGA port active.

No Go on anything there. BIOS doesn't have that option anywhere. Not found in device manager after searching for it and still getting a black screen when outputting through VGA.

SOL?

dukeagles21 said:

It worked for two months and until recently has stopped working.

Click to expand...

Do you have Windows Update set to Automatic?

Checked your function keys? (Fn+Whateveryourmonitorkeyis)

I have uninstalled, reinstalled, uninstalled, reinstalled the newest drivers

Click to expand...

Have you tried older drivers?

The old drivers and new driver used to work. My updates is set to automatic, but I rolled back my system to Mid July when it was working to get rid of that error, still a no go.

I don't think its the drivers, tbh. I think it's something else. In the screen resolution screen in the Windows GUI, it would say the type of monitor I had when it was attached. However, now it just asks to extend on VGA anyways.

The fact that it simply 'stopped working', doesn't respond to different drivers and exhibits the same behaviour on two separate screens, doesn't bode well for the port.

I assume you tried different cables?

Yes sir. Both VGA and power cables. Maybe reseat memory and the card? I don't really want to do that tho.

Still haven't found a solution. Is there anyway to test the VGA port and figure out if that's the problem?

I've rolled back the drivers to a previous time when it worked and still getting no output. HELP!

Is there any way to test the port via software? I think it's the port that's gone. My friend has the exact same Inspiron 1545 and looking at the updates, they're all the same. Tested with the same wire, monitor, and driver for the Mobile 4, it works with his. Anything?

It would seem your tests have condemed your port. I know of no software to test a port, but you may take it to a shop. Maybe they can measure output from it.