No picture on LCD when unhooking external monitor!

I use my A8Jp at work on an external monitor. When I unhook the external monitor, it should revert back to the laptop display. It typically does not. Luckily, I also use an external monitor at home on the VGA port. When I hit Fn+F8 or whatever to change it to LCD+CRT, the external monitor blinks and then the picture reappears on it. It's like the A8Jp does not know that it's own LCD is installed.

I have succeeded in using the notebook panel once in the last 2 weeks. I'm not sure how i finally got it to come on. I think I just kept turning the laptop on and off. Does this sound like a driver issue or BIOS issue? I have updated to Catalyst 7.4 drivers at the latest release BIOS.

Does anyone have any insight as to what might be going on!?!

 

Do you close the monitor at work when you hook up an external (obviously you don't at home cuz you are able to hit Fn-F8 =P)? Otherwise the LCD SHOULD NOT turn off when it is hooked up. If you do then it is the same as hitting the LCD backlight button (Fn+F7). Try that. Some BIOS configs have it auto switch to external mode, but since opening the lid doesn't count as an event like closing it does (for some reason), it can't revert.
So (in order):

A) Try to use Fn-F7
B) Then Try Fn-F8 to LCD only
C) Update all drivers
D) Call Asus

 

When I used a external monitor and unplug it, my F3JP screen goes black, I listen to so buzz sound coming from the screen and I can only shut the Asus down.
I'm using the 207 bios posed in this forum that corrects de grain, and also using Catalyst 7.4 modded with Mobility Modder.
Could the modified bios be the cause to my problems?
Best regards

 

It could, that sort of problem is definitely BIOS related!

 

Well, with the laptop on, I hit Fn-F8 and all it says is CRT only. It does not scroll to the other options. I turned the laptop off, unhooked the monitor, and hit Fn-F7. BAM! The screen came on. I hardly ever use this laptop without an external monitor, so I've never really noticed the F7 function. My office at work is fairly low light also, so a faint image was probably always on the notebook LCD and I just didn't see it. Now with the external monitor hooked up, I can scroll through LCD, CRT+LCD, CRT only. I'm still baffled as to why it only showed 'CRT only' before I shut the laptop down. I'll know within the next couple days if it's going to do it again. Thanks for the F7 tip! I never would have seen it as I never open the lid except to hit the power button!

Thanks again.

 

Regarding the Catalyst 7.4, I didn't have to mod mine in any form or fashion when I installed them on the Mobility x1700. I downloaded the driver last Friday off of ATI's website and it worked. I was very surprised.

 

Can I assume that the bios F3JP207.T00 posted on this forum has problems?

 

Glad I could help!


Also @covenant
I have never used it, but it sounds like it may be giving you that issue. Try reflashing the old BIOS to see if it is fixed.

 

Ok, now I'm back to square one. It will not switch back to the notebook LCD. Right now, I can press Fn-F8 on the laptop keyboard, and on my external monitor it just says CRT, CRT, CRT... It never says LCD or CRT+LCD. When I power the unit off, unhook my external, then power it back on, nothing happens. Even when I do Fn-F7. I'm at a loss on what to do. I can't afford to send this thing off just yet. This is my work/home/travel/everything laptop.

Any other ideas before I absolutely have to send it to ASUS? I have the newst BIOS as of a week and a half ago. I figured that may solve the problem. It didn't.

 

Are you still using the Catalyst drivers as you mentioned in the first post?

If so, get rid of them and install stock drivers.

If you ask yourself why various features related to the video card do not work, when you have modded drivers, it's 90% the fault of the modded drivers.

Remove video card drivers, use DriverCleanerPro to remove even their traces from the registry and other places, then install stock drivers from the CD (not even updates from the ASUS website at first).

If that doesn't solve your problem, post back.

 

I upgraded to the 7.4 from ATI's website because of the problem mentioned. I'm almost positive I had 7.1 on here beforehand. I am uninstalling 7.4 though and trying 7.1 again from the driver CD. Will post with an update in a couple days.

 

I'd also suggest, if you downgrade to 7.1 from driver CD and still not working, download from support.asus.com the latest video driver if newer than the CD driver, and try that one as well.

 

I uninstalled the ATI software from control panel, ran driver cleaner pro, and installed the drivers off of the CD. my internal notebook lcd still will not function. When I hit Fn+F8 to switch monitors, all it displays on the icon in the top-left corner is the external monitor (dvi if at work, crt if at home). The drivers off of the website just got through downloading. I will post back if those are successful. If I do not post within the next 5 minutes, assume I am still having trouble.

Any other options before I send it to Asus? I can't afford to be without this thing for hardly even overnight, much less a week!

 

Okay, a few things.

First, when you boot up, does ANYTHING load up on your laptop screen?

second, when you view display properties (right click on desktop to "properties") and you go to the settings tab, under "display" do you have something like "moniter on <insert GFX card> there?

third, at control panel, administrative tools, computer management, device manager, do you see display adapters other than your external screen? anything disabled?

 

When I booted it up, nothing was on the screen. All it showed under Monitors in device manager were 2 plug and play monitors. I'm assuming those are the DVI and VGA ports. However, last night after the official Asus driver off of the website did not work, my temper flared and I hit the notebook basically just under the ASUS lettering on the monitor and the bluetooth/wireless keys on the base. The monitor came on! I haven't had a chance to take the keyboard off, but now I'm thinking it's just a loose connection.

When the notebook LCD was not working, it only showed 2 devices under monitor properties. Right now, it's showing 5. Assuming it was just a flakey connection, that'd explain why it would only show DVI when pressing Fn+F8.