laptop screen broken, external monitor 'no signal'

hi, i have jut installed windows 7 ultimate n 32bit, the problem i have is that i cant get my laptop to display on an external monitor - i need to do this as the screen on my laptop is damaged beyond repair - the startup process does, but after i get 'no signal'

now, when i re-installed xp a week ago, i had the same problem but managed to solve it by pressing F8 and choosing enable vga mode before xp loaded.
i tried to do the same with wndows 7 by choosing the low resolution option, however this doesnt work, i get the initial 'windows is starting' screen then 'no signal'

ive also tried pressing Fn + F5 once windows has loaded.

the laptop is an acer travelmate 4233, any help will be appreciated :)

Kinda begs the question on why you would want to upgrade a broken laptop...does the screen stay black? Does the welcome music play? Asking because Windows might be hanging up during boot....

if you reinstalled windows as you say did you download the keybind utility from acer? it usually maps the function keys as they are not standard and may or may not all work within a version of windows.

i know that some notebooks do work without the utility but have found many that don't as well.

there should be a function to switch the screen output to an external monitor but if thats not working then all i can suggest is either unplugging your laptop screen or getting a new screen for your laptop.