Laptop, VGA only output, and Multi Display problems.

[Gisenu]

Hey. I just finished installing my Win7, and having a major issue.
I have a MSI Ex600 which has a Nvidia 8400M graphic card. The card only has a VGA output, and for some reason, I cant make my laptop to recognize my 22' Mag screen as a seperate monitor. When I click the identify button, it just shows '1' or '2' on both screens, and it drives me insane because its not supposed to be like this, it makes 2 major issues:

1. When I close the lid, the monitor shuts down aswel
2. The laptop is running on 1200x800, so when it pops up on a 22' screen, its just huge nd not comfortable to use.

It only recognizes it as a different screen when I do the "Extend" otion. but I dont need nor want that atm. I just want to be able to seperate my monitor from my laptop and have it run on a bigger resolution, like it should.

I heard theres something about the framerates, and i tried changing it to all possible options but still got nothing. every time i try and send it to the big screen it just says "Mode is not supported" and gives me a range of Hrtz that changes every time I make it on a nother resul.

Please help me. I'm going insane here because its not fun working like this and it annoys me having my laptop open all the time.

I have to mention that I did get it to work once, but I restarted my CPU and I couldnt get it right again since, I tried everything but nothing worked. just pointing this out so you know there must be a solution, because it worked once.

Thanks for all the help.
Tom.

 

[Kari]

Hello Gisenu, welcome to the Seven Forums.

If I understood your post correctly, your displays are working exactly as they should in Win7.

You find all display options from Screen Resolution tool by right clicking desktop and choosing it. When desktop (display) is extended, if you want to use just one display you have to first make it your main display and then disconnect the one you don't need:




When using duplicated desktop and you want to use only one display, you have to choose Show desktop only on X, where X is the number of display:



If desktop is duplicated, screen resolution is same on both displays. In that case the resolution can not be bigger than maximum resolution on the display which has smaller maximum resolution.

When using extended desktop or when using just one display, resolution can be different on all displays

Hope this is not too confusing...

Kari

 

[Gisenu]

Yes, I do. but I dont want to extend my desktop, it can make things.. not the same as only using my monitor, like I want to. I tried to do the "disconnect" thing but it didnt show up, I can only do "show only on 1\2"
so how do I fix it to only work on the monitor when I plug the VGA in?
And how do I fix the monitor shutting off every time I close the lid of my laptop?

And thanks SO MUCH for that well written post

 

[Thorsen]

There should also be an option maybe in power settings for what happens when you close the laptop

 

[Thorsen]

I am away from my laptop, but I know there is a setting In Power settings(?) for what happens when you close the Laptop Lid. I had to change this setting when I got my laptop this year.

I know dual monitor settings can be tricky and every laptop that I have used has some quirk that makes setting them up a pain.

I am also new to the forums and new to Windows 7. Welcome to sevenforums. There is a lot of great people and tutorials and posts...have fun

 

[Gisenu]

there is nothing in power saving mode, i checked twice. just something that doesnt make it go to sleep. but the display still goes off.
im going insane here, anyone knows how to handle this?..

and the most stupied thing of all, is that if i try to only send to the VGA screen, nothing happens. only if its either duplicated or extended the monitor is working. how do i just make him send to the monitor while ignoring the laptops screen?..

 

[Kari]

I tried to do the "disconnect" thing but it didnt show up, I can only do "show only on 1\2"
so how do I fix it to only work on the monitor when I plug the VGA in?

You have two ways to disconnect your laptop display:

1. If desktop is duplicated, choose Show desktop only on 2
2. If desktop is extended, click the laptop display icon in Screen Resolution window and choose Disconnect this display from drop-down menu

As you will notice, the disconnect option is only available when extended desktop is chosen.

Whatever method you use, disconnecting laptop display when in extended desktop, or showing the desktop only on one display when in duplicated desktop, the result is same: you only have picture on the secondary display while laptop screen is turned off. When you then choose Do nothing when lid is closed in Power Options, you can close the laptop lid and only use your secondary display.

Kari

 

[Gisenu]

i saw that and i already marked "do nothing" when it closes.
what im trying to say is:

1. when its extended, i dont have a "disconnect" option because it does not recognize it as a secondery screen for some strange reason, and on device manager it does, so i have no idea why
2. when its on duplicated mode and i press "only show on 2", which is the other screen, my monitor SHUTS DOWN. saying "mode is not supported"

 

[Kari]

What make and model is your laptop? Which graphics card it has?

 

[Gisenu]

What make and model is your laptop? Which graphics card it has?

"I have a MSI Ex600 which has a Nvidia 8400M graphic card"
written in the main post
+ i just downloaded the latest version of the driver, and for win 7. so thats no issue.


Heres a pic. as you can see, im on extended but still cant remove any. and if i could, it would just tell me the error messege again "mode is not supported" on the monitor

 

[Kari]

Sorry, didn't go back to read it.

 

[Kari]

I found this on your laptop's manual:



Have you tried that?

Kari

 

[Gisenu]

I found this on your laptop's manual:

View attachment 52387

Have you tried that?

Kari

yeah, as i said before, it does the "mode is not supported" thingie. its same funcion as "show only on 1\2"

 

[Kari]

I asked some gurus to come and see your issue, to read this thread. Let's wait a bit and see if somebody has ideas. I don't.

Kari

 

[Gisenu]

I asked some gurus to come and see your issue, to read this thread. Let's wait a bit and see if somebody has ideas. I don't.

Kari

thanks alot for all your efforts, i really appriciate it and hope to get this fixed.

 

[Barman58]

A couple of things to check....

Most laptop's will ship with software to control the screens and switching of them, this is normally accomplished by the use of a function key combination and once the correct screen is the default then you should be able to set a better resolution. when in dual mode you will be, as stated limited to the smallest available resolution on both monitors, unless the software is provided on the laptop to control the graphics system, check for an icon in the system tray or a specific program in a utilities folder from the manufacturer

 

[Gisenu]

A couple of things to check....

Most laptop's will ship with software to control the screens and switching of them, this is normally accomplished by the use of a function key combination and once the correct screen is the default then you should be able to set a better resolution. when in dual mode you will be, as stated limited to the smallest available resolution on both monitors, unless the software is provided on the laptop to control the graphics system, check for an icon in the system tray or a specific program in a utilities folder from the manufacturer

software is working already. thing is, every time i try to switch between screens using Function button + the f3 button, it does the same thing that happends when i chose "show only on monitor 1\2". monitor goes black and doesnt respond.
i never had this problem with windows XP. its something relater to win7, that i can tell you for sure. and agian, i already did it once. i just have no idea how. but i saw it working. lid off, cpu on, on the maxed resul. question is how do i get there again :S

 

[ickymay]

what options do you have in your Nvidia control panel ?

 

[Gisenu]

same as i have in the "screen resolution screen", maybe a bit more (like chosing framerates and such).
look. if we solve the "mode is not supported" issue, we solved the problem. because i CAN make it send only to the monitor, but for some reason he just doesnt show anything

 

[Gisenu]

well i have a huge update on this one.
apperently, the problem is in the Mag screen. because i connected a 17' DELL sceren into my comp and it worked PERDECTLY. just conencted, comp lid went off, and just projecting on the dell monitor.
so what we have to do now is understand why the computer refuses to recognize my Mag monitor?
maybe its the framerates? the resul? i have no idea. please shed some light on this