# Problems connecting laptop to TV



## VIZIO REP (Feb 22, 2008)

Before you say it, I _did_ search the forums for an answer to my problem, but didn't find an answer.

I'm using a Dell Latitude D610 with an ATI Mobility Radeon X300 card.

I'm trying to connect my Dell laptop to my Vizio using a VGA cable. I figured it would be just like any other video cable and would automatically show up when I switched to the RGB input on the TV. Didn't work. I've tryed going through the display settings and adding the TV as another monitor. I've tryed going through the troubleshooting process on my computer but only found out how to connect my TV using an S-Video cable. It seems like I've tryed everything but still can't get the slightest picture to show on the TV. Any help is appreciated.


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## maxibhoy (Jan 19, 2006)

Maybe your tv just doesn't take computer input via vga. I've had tv's before with vga ports yet don't support computer input. you could however use a s-video lead. Check your tv manual. Max.


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## VIZIO REP (Feb 22, 2008)

Well I know that's not the problem. My TV designates the VGA port as the PC input.

I think the problem lies with my laptop and getting it to display on a secondary monitor (the TV). Whenever I go the the display settings with the two boxes, one designated as '1' and the other '2' and try to enable the second one my laptop screen turns black for a couple seconds, then returns to normal but the laptop says the second monitor is disabled. So how the hell do I _keep_ the second one enabled? Oh yeah, and the TV doesn't respond at all when I do this.


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## maxibhoy (Jan 19, 2006)

You're probably right but check the manual for tv. Max


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## Zbrakkovich (Feb 22, 2008)

I have had a couple similar problems when adding monitors or connecting a windows machine to a television.

1.) Doesn't recognize tv at all. => Reboot system while connected to television and television set to input that notebook is on.

2.) Recognizes a device is connected, but won't "extend my desktop to this monitor" => The reboot definitely worked for me, but on Vista I just had to open/close and retry changing my desktop preferences a few times before it kicked in.

3.) Windows Machine plugged to HiDef TV => I actually did this a couple times. First time I couldn't figure out what was wrong, but by leaving the tv on and on the RGB input (or w/e it's called on _your_ tv for the VGA input) and connected to the PC and restarting, it worked. Second time, it didn't work right away on start-up, but after changing settings on PC a couple times, it worked. Third time, worked w/o a problem.

Basically, always try to check the most simple (and usually cheapest ... in this case, free) things first. In my experience, it's just a trial-and-error experiment conducted with the TV on and tuned to the correct input while you reboot or change settings on the PC.

Oh, and remember that you can always go other input routes. S-Video is usually standard on most graphics cards, even in notebooks.


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## DeBug (Feb 19, 2008)

Try to do a Force TV Detection from ATi Catalyst Control Center!


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## VIZIO REP (Feb 22, 2008)

Thanks for the help. I finally got it to work after about 4 hours of trial and error. It came down to a couple of display settings I had to configure and an 'Fn' button combination.

Playing Sins of a Solar Empire looks great on this tv.


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