External display not working (Inspiron 1420)

I've done a bunch of Google searches and haven't found anything useful.

I have a Dell Inspiron 1420 (about 9 months old), and I've tried several times to hook it up to an external display.

Right now I've got a 20 inch Dell external monitor, and I cannot get it to work. When I try to use it as a dual monitor along with my laptop, my mouse will disappear from my laptop screen, but the external monitor remains blank. When I try to switch from my laptop monitor to the external monitor, they are both blank.

Any ideas?

 

Well first off, welcome to nbr,

Have you went into the display controls in order to switch screens?
In Xp, right click the desktop, go to properties, than settings. You will see a box, with two screens in it, one with a 1 and one with a 2 in it. Select the box with the 2 in it, and then adjust the resolution, and select apply then okay.
In Vista, right clich the desktop, go to properties, than its one of the bottom ones, cant remember which. Than look for the box with the two screens, and select the one with the 2 in it. That will put the image onto the external screen.

Also, look at your keyboard, it shoule have a hotkey, like Fn + F8, which will swap the image from the internal LCD to the external screen.
To find this hotkey, look at the F keys above the numbers. One of them should say crt/lcd in small blue lettering. Push that key and the Fn key simultaneously to change the output of the screen.

Good luck,

K-TRON

 

Thanks for the help.

Unfortunately, I've tried both of those steps and neither seems to be working. Just to clarify, on Vista I right-click on the desktop and select "personalize". I then click "connect to projector or other external display" and go through all the steps. I still can't get it to work. Any ideas as to what the problem could be?

 

Bump. Anyone?

 

Have you tried some different drivers? Or could it be possible your 15-pin cable is bad?

 

Yeah, I've tried the drivers and I know the cable is fine. Anyone else have any idea what the deal could be?

 

Have you tried starting up the laptop with the external plugged in and closing the laptop lid after you press power? Some default to external vga with the lid closed. Also ultramon might be able to help.

 

How do you know the cable is fine?

 

because I tested it on another pc