Member Avatar for Nickair

Hi
I have a dual screen setup with my HP laptop. I was wondering if there was a way to configure my laptop to display on my external monitor while restarting/starting. As of now when it starts/restarts the image switches only to my laptop screen until it gets to the login screen then displays the login screen on my monitor. I have a feeling this is normal for laptops, but i also believe that it should be able to be done.

On a side note recently i have run into an issue with my laptop not remembering that i have a monitor connected after restarting or starting after a complete shutdown. Each time i have to reset my external monitor to be my main screen.

If anyone has any ideas as to what i can try i would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks,
Nickair

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Member Avatar for Nickair

Oh i forgot to mention i am running Windows 7 and my laptop is connected through HDMI to my Samsung HDTV.

Thanks,
Nickair

Edited by Nickair because: n/a
Member Avatar for khakilang

On your notebook keypad there isa fn key. Press that together with F4 or the function key that has a monitor icon on it depend on the model of the laptop will trigger the external screen. Press the 2nd time will trigger both screen. Some people use it for LCD projector display when doing presentation or some just want to use a bigger screen for their work.

Member Avatar for Nickair

On your notebook keypad there isa fn key. Press that together with F4 or the function key that has a monitor icon on it depend on the model of the laptop will trigger the external screen. Press the 2nd time will trigger both screen. Some people use it for LCD projector display when doing presentation or some just want to use a bigger screen for their work.

Is this for having it display on my monitor during a restart?

Member Avatar for khakilang

Depend on the make and model of your laptop. Maybe you can go into the BIOS setup and check. I think upon power up you need to press certain keys. Like "Del" or "F2" key. It will show you when power on the laptop. If not you may have to press the fn key to get to the external monitor everytime when you boot into Window.

Member Avatar for Nickair

So pressing fn and F4 does allow me to change to extended view, but my main concern is why i am having to resort to doing this every time i restart. Also In my display settings i have my screens extended and my tv screen is set as the main monitor. I have this applied and as long as i dont restart my computer it stays this way. As soon as i restart and login it seems to reset and make my laptop screen the main screen.

Member Avatar for caperjack

to the best of my knowlege thats the way its gonna keep working for you too ,

Member Avatar for khakilang

Maybe you can check your BIOS setting or the CD/DVD which may allow you to have dual monitor upon booting up. If not that is the way the laptop was built.

Member Avatar for BBAD

In Windows, you need to set which is the Primary Monitor and the Secondary.
Since I have Nvidia Control Panel I can go into it and and do Setup Multiple Displays, and choose which is 1 and which is 2.

What Graphics card have you got in the Laptop?

Member Avatar for Nickair

The thing is though that it did not used to do this so i highly doubt its how my laptop was made...

I have an NVIDIA GeForce GT 130M with cuda.

Member Avatar for jaydeee

though I'm using dell guess this is also applicable to you, power on the laptop and let it start then close the laptop monitor to make external monitor primary.

hope it helps.

Member Avatar for Nickair

Well i tried closing the lid to my laptop after turning it on but it just boot up normally without displaying anything on my extended screen.

On another note i found that windows device manager is not very reliable. It said that i had the latest driver for my graphics card but i did not. What led me to this was in addition to the problems i have listed above i tried to go to my NVIDIA Control Panel but was given an error message that suggested i reinstall the drivers. After searching NVIDIA's site for the latest driver i fixed that problem and though this could fix this current problem with my extended screens but it did not work.

I dont know how or why but it seems that whenever i restart or shutdown the next time iboot into windows my screen preferences are reset...does anyone have any ideas as to why this would be happening? I mean i am clearly setting my monitor to be the primary monitor and clicking "apply" and as long as i keep my computer on it stays this way. Like i said before this has not happened before. Just a thought i cant remember if i mentioned this before but i am using an HDMI cable to connect the screen to my laptop...could this effect my problem?

thanks i appreciate your help.

Member Avatar for khakilang

To my knowledge the nVidia setting is for desktop computer with 2 monitor connected but not for notebook. For notebook it could the make and model. Have you check the BIOS just to be sure?

Member Avatar for Nickair

Ill check, but like i keep saying i have been using extended desktop with this laptop for almost 2 years and didn't have this problem before.

Member Avatar for Nickair

I am revisiting this issue because i have thought of a new possible cause for my computer disconnecting from my External TV/Monitor.

I think it is possible that my HDMI port and/or cable are bad or going bad. Please correct me if i am just speculating but it is the only possible explanation so far.
I am going to test my VGA connection to see if the problem persists.

I would appreciate comments on my thoughts.

thanks.

Member Avatar for Nickair

Ok i have determined that the cause is not isolated to the HDMI port but also to the VGA port witch means that my video card could be bad.

What i have noticed though, and i have said it before is that upon any restart all my display settings seem to be reset once logged in again. Can anyone shed some light on why this could be happening?

i have checked my BIOS settings and there is no display options in my model.

thanks.

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