The new XP laptops don't seem to always figure out there is an external monitor or projector. If you try to connect your laptop to a projector, and it doesn't send the signal, then these steps below should help solve that.
Step 0) Connect your laptop up to the external projector or monitor, and make sure that it can send the signal if able. [You might find that the signal is sent, and you don't have to do anything else ... but, if not, you must have it connected for the next steps to work.]
Step 1) Go to the START menu and then the CONTROL PANEL. Double-click on the DISPLAY icon.
Step 2) Click on the SETTINGS tab on the top, and then the ADVANCED button below.
Step 3) You should see information below the Monitor and the Panel (but it shouldn't say that the monitor is not connected). Click the two green "buttons" in the upper left of the Monitor and Panel boxes {Items 1 and 2 below}. CLICK THE APPLY BUTTON! [The screen should flicker, and ask you if you want to keep the settings.] Then, if you want, you could save that scheme to call it back up {this doesn't seem required, but not a bad idea}. Step 3 would be to add a name, and then step 4 to save it. At this point, you can close the boxes - and you should be able to switch back and forth between the two screens (on the COMPAQ machines, it is FN - F2 ... on the MPC machines I think it is FN - F3).
Optional Step 4) You might run into the situation of wanting to play a video, on your screen, and show it also on the overhead projector. The short answer is that you may not be able to do that. Now, wait, don't get all huffy, let me explain. It seems like there is some weird quirk where if you are sending the video signal to both the laptop and the overhead, only one of them can receive the movie-video signal {though both could see the other stuff on the windows screen}. In this case, you need to make the projector the PRIMARY display (for the video to appear on the overhead, and a black box to appear on your screen).
The quickest solution is ... to run a video in a window - send the signal ONLY to the Projector (so it doesn't show up at all on your laptop). Once the video is over, you can switch it back to displaying on both screens.
If for some reason, you still want both screens showing (and are willing to settle for a black box on your laptop screen), you can go to the displays applet, as before, and set the projector as being the primary (of the two devices). Here are what the two settings would look like:
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This shows the projector/monitor as the PRIMARY (notice the "target" button has been selected, and then click APPLY). |
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This shows the Laptop as the PRIMARY (notice the "target" button has been selected, and then click APPLY). |
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My experience is that you only need to make this setting change once (as long as the projector is connected before you start this setting process) - the next time you connect to a projector, you should just be able to use the keystroke combination to cycle through the (projector, laptop, projector and laptop) modes.
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Last Updated = Friday, 03-Feb-2006 22:34:28 EST Of the 1334 people that have visited this site, you are the most recent.
