What's The Correct Method To Attach LCD To Laptop

[DasFox]

I have a HP G60-243CL and I'm using it to watch tv and movies with on a 21" Samsung LCD.

The HP has a Nvidia 8200M which seems to power the LCD pretty nice at 1920x1080.

I'm wondering in what order should I be pluggin in the LCD to the laptop.

1. Should I plug it in the vga cable before I power on the laptop and leave the LCD with the power off?

2. Plug in the LCD vga cable with the laptop running, then power on the LCD?

3. Also is it ok to close the laptop lid to put the display to sleep while watching on the LCD?


Yesterday when I selected to configure independently from each other the system was acting goofy.

Like I could open the Nvidia control panel on the LCD, but then I could only look at it on the laptop, also when I tried to watch a video on the LCD it would only appear on the laptop. This of course is while it's configured independently and should be allowing me to watch on the LCD but all I'd get is the application minimized in the taskbar and when I tried to maximize the application window on the LCD it flew off the screen to the right, then would appear on the laptop.

It seemed like it started acting up when I closed the laptop lid to put the screen to sleep, but I don't know if that was the problems or the nvidia drivers were just acting up, so that is why I wanted to know if there is a method to which one should attach a LCD to a laptop and in what order to start doing things.

The problem started with the HP OEM driver found here on their site:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfr...s=2093&product=3860190

After finally getting the LCD to behave when I was done watching it I installed the 179.48 drivers for the 8200M on Vista 32 but I haven't tested them out yet to see if this improved this problem or not.

THANKS

 

[unfalliblekrutch]

You can use the windows display settings dialogue to configure the external LCD. If you want to,you can extend the desktop and be able to drag windows from one to the other. Or, you can clone it (possibly set the external LCD to be the one with overlay mode), then watch it that way.

 

[DasFox]

Originally posted by: unfalliblekrutch
You can use the windows display settings dialogue to configure the external LCD. If you want to,you can extend the desktop and be able to drag windows from one to the other. Or, you can clone it (possibly set the external LCD to be the one with overlay mode), then watch it that way.

Did you read the post? I'm more concerned about the questions 1-3 I asked not the software settings.

I know how to do the software settings but I'm setting it up in the Nvidia control panel not the Windows display settings.

THANKS

 

[mpilchfamily]

You don't have to worry about the order in which you connect the monitor. Your not going to hurt anything weather the screen has power or not while plugging it in.

Course how the laptop will act when you close the lid will be determined by your video settings. On default i beleive closing the lid puts the system to sleep thus cutting the signal to the monitor.

 

[unfalliblekrutch]

1. if you want. you don't have to. Obviously, you can't leave lcd power off unless you don't want to see anything on the screen. Some laptops will autodetect external displays, so if you have one that does, i believe it detects better in most cases if you hot plug with the monitor on.

2. I don't see how this is different from 1

3. Yes, but check your power settings in windows to make sure it doesnt sleep/hibernate/whatever when you close the lid

 

[DasFox]

Ok well what I've been doing is turn the laptop on, then plug in the cable then power on the LCD.

I set the laptop screen to sleep when you close the lid, I thought it meant to only shut the LCD screen off, put it to sleep, not put the laptop to sleep. I want the screen to go off when watching. I didn't think it would be good to have the screen sitting on for many hours while watching shows. Because I set it up to use only the external LCD and the laptop goes blank with only the wallpaper sitting there. So I thought after hours of sitting with just the wallpaper on it might cause a burn in effect on the laptop screen.

THANKS

 

[unfalliblekrutch]

the screen should turn itself off when you close the lid no matter what settings you have in windows. On the other hand, burn in should not be an issue. However, it's just an eye sore to see an extra screen if you're watching a movie or whatever.

 

[DasFox]

Originally posted by: unfalliblekrutch
the screen should turn itself off when you close the lid no matter what settings you have in windows. On the other hand, burn in should not be an issue. However, it's just an eye sore to see an extra screen if you're watching a movie or whatever.

Hmm, I always thought in the power options that the options to do something when you closed the lid were the choices you had to give it and if you didn't give it any option then closing the lid did nothing.

THANKS

P.S. I checked after posting, yes it turns the screen off when closing it. I guess because I put it on sleep when I closed it that is what messed it up...

 

[DasFox]

Well stupid thing still acts up trying to get only the external LCD to run alone with the laptop screen left open.

I constantly have to click over and over again to try and get to run it alone, I wouldn't think that it would be so unstable.

I did realize that if I simply shut the laptop screen it just pops on the LCD alone, but what if I want to game and use the LCD for gaming, I still need the laptop keyboard.

Seems like the default drivers HP has for the 8200M are to old and the Nvidia ones are only beta, either way the support seems to suck. This is pathetic a consumer pays for a product that can't work more reliable then this.

P.S. The nvidia drivers only have 3 options, single, clone, the 3rd one I forgot the name, that's the one I try to use with the laptop screen on and running, that's such a pain....

I just noticed Nvidia released a new mobile driver today, yeahhhhh, I'm going to try that and hope it has better support....