unable to display Vostro laptop through LCD projector

I have used this laptop (Vista with service pack 2) uneventfully for the past almost 3 years. But today is the first time I have tried to connect it to an low end older LCD projector. And surprisingly I was unable to display any of the laptop through this projector i.e. toggling FN with F8 ("CRT/LCD") did not do the trick (I had a similar lack of success with another identical projector). The video card is the NVIDIA Geoforce 8400m. I am at a loss. What should/could I check?

 

Did you try restarting the computer with the projector connected? Some older notebooks only look for connected video devices when booting. (Hibernate + resume may also work).

John

 

Thanks John for the suggestion but I am not hopeful. The much older 5 year old XP school laptop has no problem being displayed through the same projector.

 

Hmmm....NVIDIA.....hmmm....

You neglected to mention the connection type, although I would assume you were using a VGA cable.

I'd advise you to try other projectors or monitors. You can upgrade your graphics drivers, or even revert to earlier drivers.

It's also possible you might have a hardware issue....hmmm....NVIDIA.....hmmm....