laptop to tv via s-video

[EmoHawk]

I am trying to hook up a laptop to a tv, seems simple enough. When I hook the laptop up using a standard cable and use the fuction keys to swap the output it works fine. However the tv I need to connect to only has an s-video in and when I connect and swich the the graphics mode (windows display properties) nothing happens... Any ideas on what I doing something wrong? Is there a way of switching the laptop to use the s-video rather than the standard out?

The laptop is a Dell Latitude D800 and the tv is a phillips 26" widescreen LCD.

 

[loic2003]

TV's usually runa at 640 x 480 res, try dropping it down to this then switching over to the external output.

You might be trying to make the TV do some kind of resolution/refresh rate that it really isn't happy with...

 

[loic2003]

Also, sometimes you need to right-click the second monitor in th display properties and select 'connected' to let windows know to use the second output.

What do you mean by standard cable?

 

[EmoHawk]

Done and done.. thanls for the help though. I am trying to use a s-video cable from the s-video out straight to the s-video in on the tv

 

[sivart]

most Dell's have a feature with their video card drivers where you can right click on the desktop then scroll down to display --> output to --> TV (or something similiar). It then should adjust the resolution and output via S-video.

I know that this sounds kind of basic, but make sure the TV is on the correct S-video input if there is more than one.

 

[HN]

Just for the heck of it, did you try moving your mouse or a window to the second screen?
(I did laptop/tv once and thought it wasn't working because the tv screen was just black. after trying different things, i inadvertently slid a window over and lo and behold, it showed up on the tv 😱 )