Windows 7 - Need Help Connect PC to HDTV

I have a Lenovo H405-7223-1GU that I bought in June 2011. Yesterday I bought a Philips 32" HDTV 720p 60Hz. My PC won't recognize my TV at a monitor via HDMI cable. The ports on the TV and the cable is fine because I can connect my DVD player with no issues. Most help is saying to right click desktop, click "screen resolution"and then just tell the PC it's ok to send info over HDMI. That would be fine but I can't have my monitor and HDMI plugged in at the same time. As soon as the HDMI is plugged in my monitor (VGA) goes blank then comes back on with only the background image showing. No start button, no icons, no toolbar. I can see my mouse cursor when I move it but that is it. As soon as I remove the HDMI cable, my monitor comes back. Any ideas? Thanks

Hello Chex, and welcome to Sevenforums!

Let me see if I am able to help you out with these problems you are having. From what I can tell, you are able to see part of your desktop, but it seems like it is just centered so that the toolbar and start menu are gone. If you move your cursor to any side beyond the monitor's screeen, it disappears from view into nothing until you pull it back.

Can you Right-click the desktop to where a list shows up, and then select "Screen resolution"? Will the window pop up? You might try lowering the resolution before you connect the HDMI cable to 1280x720 (lower if needed), and then adjust higher later on. Let me know how this works for you. If it doesn't, please let me know the make and model of your computer and the type of graphics card you have (If it is integrated, let me know). If you need further help or would like me to explain in more detail, don't hesitate to ask.