Hook Laptop to TV

[jimmyj]

Help! I have a new TV and a laptop that is pretty new running Vista. The info I have says to take a VGA cable and hook it to the TV and the laptop. OK, went to store, got said cable, no signal at TV side. I know the laptop is aware of the cable as it "beeps" when I hook the cable in. I figure, OK use F9 to tell the laptop to send a signal through the cable. No, nada, zippo.

Any ideas folks? You were very knowledgeable when I bought the TV so I figure I may get some help.

Laptop is Toshiba, TV is SONY Bravia.

Thanks in advance.

 

[beppington]

Here's my guess anyway ... Have you tried using your remote to switch signal inputs? Like the way you choose between "Cable", "Air", "A/V", "Component" ... I can't think of others, but hopefully you get the idea.

If that doesn't work, you may need to drill deeper into the menu to find a setting that lets the TV know your VGA input needs to be active.

 

[jimmyj]

I should have said that yes I did try that, alternating inputs. The TV tells me the laptop is not hooked up for some reason. That seems to indicate that the laptop is not sending. Or so I am guessing. I wonder if I have a bad cable.

 

[beppington]

Try this: How To Connect Laptop To TV | Geek with Laptop

 

[Red Beast]

have you tried right click on your desktop, select screen resolution ( or similar, I am looking at W7 not vista), then check your monitor setup. You will need to tell your laptop how to handle the second screen, eg duplicate, or extended desktop, your second screen (TV) may not even appear as an option.
RB

 

[zzvyb6]

Several things to do: If its a new TV, then I presume you have HDMI, 15 pin analog video monitor, VGA and S-video input receptacles for it. Likewise, the laptop has a VGA at least and S-video and most likely a 15pin VGA analog monitor output.

Choose the hookup you can get the best resolution from (Analog monitor/projector most likely), use the correct cable, then use the TV remote to scroll thru the list of alternate input signals on the TV and select the proper one. Then you need to go to Vista Control panel/Display to select the output port (S-video, analog monitor etc. Sometimes one of the function key sets (Fn + f4) is enabled to switch between the laptop screen and the analog monitor or VGA outputs. The are actually 3 settings in the Fn selector: 1) the screen display only, 2) the alternate output only, and 3) both screen and alternate output. This has to do with alternate monitors, presentation projectors, power saving options (the laptop screen takes a lot of power).

You might also have to change the resolution of the display settings in order to match the capability of the TV. You can do this for just the alternate monitor (TV) output, so that when the TV is used, it looks good, and when the laptop display is used, it also looks correct.

Then get rid of Vista and upgrade to Windows 7. It will give you a desktop icon to select that will make all these changes for you by sensing the cable you plug it. Vista does this too, but you have to create the icon and shortcut yourself.

I bought a cheap laptop with an HDMI output port. You should see TBN on a 47" display in 1080P. Actually you can port it to the PIP (Picture in Picture) selector and watch your TV channel AND do the TBN all at the same time. My PIP frames are bigger than my monitor, so its a win-win for me.

 

[CinderSchnauzer]

I have an HP laptop running Vista, but not where I am now so I can't try it to help you.

Try doing a search of Vista help using "multiple monitor" or "dualview" and see if anything comes up that helps or see if there are setting in "Control Panel - Display"

On my HP it is selected with one of the Function keys (don't think F9). the options are laptop / both / TV only.

 

[/pine]

You need to select the input port on the TV's remote control...

there should be several selections...i.e, HDMI,1,2...AV1 AV2, Component etc... one of them will be the VGA port... or it may even be labled PC...

You may need to close the lid on the laptop after restarting...

 

[Chuck52]

Sounds like the same issue I have when I use the projector to display my computer output for a class. There's some function on the computer to tell it to send the screen data to another display. I fix it by calling Bill. You want his number?

Chuck

 

[Dmace]

All Toshiba laptop's that I've used had the F5 key as the video output switch and not F7 plus the function (F) keys usually double as other keys like volume and contrast control which means you need to HOLD DOWN the function key (Fn) then press the key labeled F5.

Hope this helps.