External monitor question on the Z...

For those who have the Z series laptop and using an external monitor as the main display, how do you guys start up the system? The power on button doesn't seem to work with the lid closed and I have to actually open the lid for the power button to operate. With the hdmi-dvi cord plugged in already, it seems to have problems detecting the external monitor during the entire process. Once bootup is finished, my external screen stays blank and I can't even seem to get any visual on my notebook screen either. What's going on? Anyone actually use the external monitor before logging into windows and do the Fn+F7 key or what? Please help out because it seems way too much work to have to wait to load up Vista first and then plug in the HDMI-DVI cord for the external monitor to pick up the signal. Is there any way possible for the external monitor to detect the signal during the bootup sequence? Anyone?

 

External monitor functionality (whether as the main monitor or in dual display mode) is provided by the nVidia driver under a specific OS (Win XP, vista, ect.). This functionality is not part of the BIOS (as far as I know) so it will not be possible to have an external display on without a running nvidia driver.

The same applies to the Fn+[key] combinations. They only work in a certain software environment which requires a running OS and SONY utilities. They are not recognized by BIOS.

So I am afraid you must be log into win to have HDMI or DVI output.

 

My old xps m1330 booted up with an external monitor through HDMI... I don't see why the Z can't do the same thing...