Question

Unable to connect laptop to HDTV through VGA.

Asked by: Extortioner15

I'll just sum up the details:
I have an HDTV which I always used to connect to my laptop in order to stream movies and games. Usually my laptop would autoscale to the TV's resolution (1360x768) and it worked perfectly. A week or so ago it suddenly stopped working, and the only resolutions it will accept (the TV) are 800x600 and 1024x768. My laptop also stopped auto-connecting to the TV, but I didn't upgrade my drivers or anything like that.

When I select a resolution > 1024x768 and go to my TV (FN+F8 combo) it will just say "Mode not supported".
Now, I checked the manual, and from what I could gather I'm suddenly on VESA GTF instead of VESA (see this image I got from the manual: http://img388.imageshack.us/my.php?image=samsungresolutionvgaab5.png)

System:
Samsung LE26S81B
VGA Cable and 3.5 Mini-Jack
Dell Inspiron 6400 with Geforce 7300 Go

A big thanks and points for whoever helps me! :)

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Asked On
2008-10-09 at 09:25:05ID23801472
Tags

Samsung

,

LCD TV

,

LE26S81b

,

Connecting laptop to TV through VGA.

,

Home Theater Wiring

Topics

Home Theater Systems

,

PC Laptops

,

LCD & Plasma

Participating Experts
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Comments
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Answers

 

by: CallandorPosted on 2008-10-09 at 11:41:12ID: 22681186

Check the connection with a computer monitor - you need to determine whether it's your laptop or the TV that changed.  Next, a 1360x768 resolution should appear when you try to configure the resolution for the external VGA port - if it doesn't, your driver may have changed or been corrupted, even though you didn't purposely update it.

 

by: Extortioner15Posted on 2008-10-09 at 12:23:52ID: 22681579

I tried connecting it to a normal monitor and it all works fine.
When I choose the resolution for the external connection my TV gives me the "Mode not supported" error.

 

by: CallandorPosted on 2008-10-09 at 12:34:51ID: 22681664

>I tried connecting it to a normal monitor and it all works fine.

That indicates that the problem is with the TV.  The port may have been damaged by a surge, and you'll have to get it repaired or use a different port.

 

by: Extortioner15Posted on 2008-10-09 at 12:52:09ID: 22681803

Argh, I hope someone can still get me a fix because I want to keep that as a last resort :S

 

by: CallandorPosted on 2008-10-09 at 12:55:19ID: 22681832

If the monitor worked fine, then I'm afraid you're going arrive at this conclusion eventually.  The laptop sounds like it is working normally with it.

 

by: Extortioner15Posted on 2008-10-11 at 05:57:43ID: 22693742

Ok, I got it to work for a minute, but then for a reason my driver did something wrong and it got messed up again.
I think the combination Nvidia control panel & FN+F8 combination messes something up, and I'm 100% sure it's not my TV.
Anyone got any ideas to configure exactly what the FN+F8 combo does and disable Nvidia Control panel's domination?

 

by: CallandorPosted on 2008-10-11 at 16:39:47ID: 22695653

The only way you can be 100% sure it is not your TV is to try a different computer with it.  There is a small possibility that the laptop and TV combination don't work together, but it is a small possibility, and I would not jump to that conclusion without testing the more likely possibility that the TV is broken.

Fn+F8 typically switches between your laptop screen only and having the external VGA port turned on - this is manufacturer specific.

 

by: Extortioner15Posted on 2008-10-12 at 07:21:27ID: 22697504

I tried connecting my main PC with a DVI -> VGA connector and it worked, gave me the right resolution and everything but it's just not easy to control that way.
Next I totally uninstalled my drivers and reinstalled the ones from the Dell website and it works (kinda), the only problem is that for some reason windows detects the external monitor as inverted (vertical resolutions like: 768x1024, 1024x1280) and I have no idea how to change that.
I'm positive that once I get that fixed everyone will work.

 

by: CallandorPosted on 2008-10-12 at 12:16:37ID: 22698522

Try Powerstrip http://entechtaiwan.net/util/ps.shtm and see if setting the correct resolution (1366x768) makes the TV recognize it.  If it does, then we will know the hardware is ok on the laptop and the TV and the next step is to get Dell's drivers back to working order.

 

by: Extortioner15Posted on 2008-10-19 at 06:17:25ID: 22752045

I got it to work on my own after editing some driver files.
Thank you for your help, but it seems none of the solutions helped.

 

by: CallandorPosted on 2008-10-19 at 14:13:33ID: 22753753

You should post what you actually did - "editing some driver files" is not specific enough to help someone looking for a solution.  If you don't know exactly what you did, then this question should be deleted, instead of a comment accepted as a solution.

 

by: Extortioner15Posted on 2008-10-20 at 05:52:13ID: 22757125

I downloaded the old Dell Nvidia drivers (as opposed to the ones Vista has been pushing out and installing, I had to hide this update), extracted the files and opened up the .inf file.
(Under [nv_SoftwareDeviceSettings] look for the line that starts with
HKR,, NV_Modes, %REG_MULTI_SZ%,) then I just added the resolution (which in my case was 1360x768) so it looked like this:
HKR,, NV_Modes, %REG_MULTI_SZ%,  "{*}S 720x480 720x576=1;720x576=8032;SHV 1680x1050 2048x1536x32=1;1920x1200x32 1920x1440x8,16=1D;640x480 800x600 1024x768 1280x768 1280x800 1280x1024 1600x1200  1920x1200x8,16=3D;1920x1440x32=9;1920x1080=C01E;2048x1536x8,
16=D;1152x864 1360x768 1440x900=FFF;{40A-40F,42F}S 1920x1440x64 2048x1536x64=1F;640x480x64 800x600x64=1FC2;848x480x64 960x600x64=1FFF;1920x1200x64=2;{191-19E,400-42F,600-6E4}S 720x480x64 720x576x64 1680x1050x64=1;"

Then I installed this driver, rebooted and now it works (although only in dualview).

 

by: CallandorPosted on 2008-10-20 at 06:07:10ID: 22757262

Looks good - thank you for the solution.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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