Inspiron 1720 connecting to external monitor problem

Hi,
I'm currently having problems with trying to connect my laptop up to an external monitor using a vga cable. When I first bought it (Jan 15) it was working fine when trying to connect it to an external monitor but when I tried to connect it up today the external monitor has a blank screen....
I've tried reinstalling the video card drivers but to no avail.
I've borrowed my mates laptop to hook it up to the monitor and it works successfully!!
But when I try to hook my laptop up the monitor screen remains blank
I really hope its not a technical issue which requires me to send the laptop back to dell

I'll be really grateful if anyone can help me solve this annoying issue!!

Also the problem only started occuring after coming back from home to university where I plugged it up to a 42" panasonic hd tv which worked successfully but now doesn't seem to want to work with the external monitor!!!

 

It is a driver problem. Do you use the official dell ones or the modded ones? Also, try restarting your computer to see if that helps.

 

i'm using 169.09 from laptopvideos 2 go..
i've tried reinstalling it but to no avail..
i've tried restarting it but to no avail..

 

There ya go. Use the Dell drivers. That should fix your problem.

 

but i've heard the 169.09 are the most stable drivers to use :S

 

i'm just downloading the 171.76 version but do u reckon it would solve the issue? or should i go for the dell official ones instead of the ones from laptopvideo2go?

 

Ok i've downloaded the official dell drivers (156.55) and then uninstalled the current ones (169.09) and installed the dell drivers but the problem is still there.. The external monitor is still blank

 

See if installing the Dell drivers helps.

 

Ok i've tried 169.09, dell drivers (156.55), and 171.16, and none of them solve have solved my problem

 

also when i say dell drivers i mean the 'official' ones from their website designed for the inspiron 1720 and nvidia geforce 8600m gt!!!!

 

*bump***********

 

Check the dual monitor settings - the laptop might be attempting to force the 42" settings to the smaller display.

 

could you expand on this please? do you mean reduce the resolution? i've changed it to 1280x960 but it doesn't make a difference.

 

in the 'windows mobility centre' it says that the display is connected!! could it be that the gfx is damaged in some way? or the vga slot itself???

 

I have an ATI card, so I don't know if you'll get the same screens I do, but here's what I would check:

Right click on the desktop, select properties, then click on display settings. Make sure your external port is set to something small like 800x600.

You might also want to check the device manager and verify the DVI/VGA port isn't disabled somehow. You could try removing whatever is listed under monitors and reinstalling it.

 

first one doesn't make a difference.. second one- i'm can't seem to find the dvi/vga port setting in device manager..

Also the strangest thing is that the monitor does come on but at random times e.g. every 15-25 minutes and would only last for about 10 seconds..

 

What's listed under the monitor section?

 

two monitors.. one for the laptop and one for the external..

 

And that's with the external unplugged? If so (even if not so), remove it and then reboot Vista. After restart, check to see if there are still two monitors listed.

 

Ok before I restarted the laptop it listed two monitors whilst the external was plugged in but after unplugging it one was listed..

I've just restarted the laptop and in device manager it only lists one monitor and when I plug the vga cable into the laptop the external monitor's power button goes from green to amber along with a slight crackling sound coming from inside the monitor..
also just to recap the monitor works perfectly once i tried to connect it to my friends laptop..

 

i've also deleted the external monitor from device drivers then did scan for new hardware but the monitor refuses to show any pictures

 

At this point, I would try the Dell diagnostics during boot (I don't recall the key combination to run the diagnostics) and do a complete system scan, as there might be something wrong with the port. I would definitely contact Dell.

If you have some drive space available, you could try a dual boot with Ubuntu and see if Ubuntu can use the external monitor. The LiveCD might be able to use the external port, but I'm not sure about that. Try that before actually installing Ubuntu. (If you have an external USB drive, you can install Ubuntu on that and test the external port.)

As a last resort, you could reinstall Vista or dual boot with XP.

 

i got a feelin i'll need to send the laptop back to dell for it to be fixed!!
but in my current situation i cant do that due to my heavy reliance on it for uni work... i'll try contacting dell and see what they say.. and i'll try some the above actions to see if it would solve the issue..

thanks for your help anyway !!!

 

If all else fails, see if you can reconnect to that 42" display - maybe it will start working again.

 

just came off a 30min call to dell and the guy was proper sound he's organised an engineer to come round and replace the motherboard on thursday even though i have the collect & return warranty.. how sound is that

 

That's fantastic support from Dell. Hopefully a new mobo fixes your problem.

 

I basically said to them that I can't send the laptop back to them as I really need to do my uni work and have deadlines coming up..
So he went away and asked his manager who said it was fine! although this is a only one off but still i'm quite happy at the level of support given to me due to my current situation

 

Any update on this? I have an 205BW and it had been working fine since October. It just gave me a black screen a few weeks ago after it fuzzed up for a second or two. Hooked up an older 17" sony LCD and it was fine...but I didn't have it on for long. I got a replacement for the samsung today and the replacement worked for about 30 seconds, got a bit fuzzy for a second or two, and it is now a black screen, too.

Did the tech coming out to replace your mobo end up solving your problem?