Solo 9500 follow up.

Well I've struck out in a big way - I cannot turn my Laptop display off to
operate on an external monitor by itself. Ben is right, there are no ATI
Utilities on this 9500, either in Windows or ATI. The generic IBM utility I
downloaded and unstalled, closely following instructions given on the IBM
site just disappeared - twice.

So I'm left frustrated - with a lot of time invested and an extra monitor.
Sincerely, thanks for all the help guys. Regards, Denzil.

Denzil Hathway wrote on Wed, 28 Jan 2009 23:19:28 -0700:
> Well I've struck out in a big way - I cannot turn my Laptop display off to
> operate on an external monitor by itself. Ben is right, there are no ATI
> Utilities on this 9500, either in Windows or ATI. The generic IBM utility I
> downloaded and unstalled, closely following instructions given on the IBM
> site just disappeared - twice.
>
> So I'm left frustrated - with a lot of time invested and an extra monitor.
> Sincerely, thanks for all the help guys. Regards, Denzil.

Hi Denzil! This whole thing is starting to sound very bad. So you don't
see monitor 1 and 2 under Display, just one? That is a virtual guarantee
they cut a few corners. Here did you see this?

http://support.gateway.com/s/manlib/...47/8508147.htm

External video

* Supports dual display
* Supports simultaneous LCD/external monitor

Doesn't sound like you can have one or the other, just simultaneous.
What happens when you set it to a higher resolution that the monitor can
handle, but not the laptop?

--
Bill
Black Asus EEE PC 4GB
Xandros Linux

Bill, thanks for your interest. I was beginning to suspect that I was stuck
with simultaneous displays. Dammit - it doesn't make sense not to be able to
turn the laptop screen off.

If I change the resolution I get all or nothing, in other words, either the
same image on both screens or nothing on both. I had earlier thought myself
of doing this but in view of all the dire warnings about causing harm and
even damage I didn't attempt it before.

The whole purpose in introducing an external LCD monitor (available to me
cheap) was to protect a darkening native screen in which the brightness was
all the way up. I wonder, when the primary display fails if the external
will continue to work. You'd think it would ... no? Regards, Denzil.

=====================
"BillW50" <> wrote in message
news:glthcj$617$...
> Denzil Hathway wrote on Wed, 28 Jan 2009 23:19:28 -0700:
>> Well I've struck out in a big way - I cannot turn my Laptop display off
>> to operate on an external monitor by itself. Ben is right, there are no
>> ATI Utilities on this 9500, either in Windows or ATI. The generic IBM
>> utility I downloaded and unstalled, closely following instructions given
>> on the IBM site just disappeared - twice.
>>
>> So I'm left frustrated - with a lot of time invested and an extra
>> monitor. Sincerely, thanks for all the help guys. Regards, Denzil.
>
> Hi Denzil! This whole thing is starting to sound very bad. So you don't
> see monitor 1 and 2 under Display, just one? That is a virtual guarantee
> they cut a few corners. Here did you see this?
>
> http://support.gateway.com/s/manlib/...47/8508147.htm
>
> External video
>
> * Supports dual display
> * Supports simultaneous LCD/external monitor
>
> Doesn't sound like you can have one or the other, just simultaneous. What
> happens when you set it to a higher resolution that the monitor can
> handle, but not the laptop?
>
> --
> Bill
> Black Asus EEE PC 4GB
> Xandros Linux

Denzil Hathway wrote:
> Bill, thanks for your interest. I was beginning to suspect that I was stuck
> with simultaneous displays. Dammit - it doesn't make sense not to be able to
> turn the laptop screen off.
>
> If I change the resolution I get all or nothing, in other words, either the
> same image on both screens or nothing on both. I had earlier thought myself
> of doing this but in view of all the dire warnings about causing harm and
> even damage I didn't attempt it before.
>
> The whole purpose in introducing an external LCD monitor (available to me
> cheap) was to protect a darkening native screen in which the brightness was
> all the way up. I wonder, when the primary display fails if the external
> will continue to work. You'd think it would ... no? Regards, Denzil.
>
> =====================
> "BillW50" <> wrote in message
> news:glthcj$617$...
>> Denzil Hathway wrote on Wed, 28 Jan 2009 23:19:28 -0700:
>>> Well I've struck out in a big way - I cannot turn my Laptop display off
>>> to operate on an external monitor by itself. Ben is right, there are no
>>> ATI Utilities on this 9500, either in Windows or ATI. The generic IBM
>>> utility I downloaded and unstalled, closely following instructions given
>>> on the IBM site just disappeared - twice.
>>>
>>> So I'm left frustrated - with a lot of time invested and an extra
>>> monitor. Sincerely, thanks for all the help guys. Regards, Denzil.
>> Hi Denzil! This whole thing is starting to sound very bad. So you don't
>> see monitor 1 and 2 under Display, just one? That is a virtual guarantee
>> they cut a few corners. Here did you see this?
>>
>> http://support.gateway.com/s/manlib/...47/8508147.htm
>>
>> External video
>>
>> * Supports dual display
>> * Supports simultaneous LCD/external monitor
>>
>> Doesn't sound like you can have one or the other, just simultaneous. What
>> happens when you set it to a higher resolution that the monitor can
>> handle, but not the laptop?
>>
>> --
>> Bill
>> Black Asus EEE PC 4GB
>> Xandros Linux
>
>

A failed LCD display does not mean that an external display will not
work on a laptop. It all depends on the cause of failure. For example,
the Solo 9550 (you are lucky to have a 9500 with an ATI chip) has an
nVidia graphics chip soldered onto the motherboard. If the nVidia chip
fails, as they have been known to do, the laptop is history. If the LCD
fails because of age or because someone sat on it, the rest of the guts
of a laptop are generally still functional. When doing laptop repairs,
it is often the practice to test the bottom of a laptop using an
external monitor, to save a lot of time assembling then disassemling
again if something is not quite right... Ben Myers

Denzil Hathway wrote on Fri, 30 Jan 2009 00:10:01 -0700:
> Bill, thanks for your interest. I was beginning to suspect that I was stuck
> with simultaneous displays. Dammit - it doesn't make sense not to be able to
> turn the laptop screen off.
>
> If I change the resolution I get all or nothing, in other words, either the
> same image on both screens or nothing on both. I had earlier thought myself
> of doing this but in view of all the dire warnings about causing harm and
> even damage I didn't attempt it before.
>
> The whole purpose in introducing an external LCD monitor (available to me
> cheap) was to protect a darkening native screen in which the brightness was
> all the way up. I wonder, when the primary display fails if the external
> will continue to work. You'd think it would ... no? Regards, Denzil.
>
> =====================
> "BillW50" <> wrote in message
> news:glthcj$617$...
>> Denzil Hathway wrote on Wed, 28 Jan 2009 23:19:28 -0700:
>>> Well I've struck out in a big way - I cannot turn my Laptop display off
>>> to operate on an external monitor by itself. Ben is right, there are no
>>> ATI Utilities on this 9500, either in Windows or ATI. The generic IBM
>>> utility I downloaded and unstalled, closely following instructions given
>>> on the IBM site just disappeared - twice.
>>>
>>> So I'm left frustrated - with a lot of time invested and an extra
>>> monitor. Sincerely, thanks for all the help guys. Regards, Denzil.
>> Hi Denzil! This whole thing is starting to sound very bad. So you don't
>> see monitor 1 and 2 under Display, just one? That is a virtual guarantee
>> they cut a few corners. Here did you see this?
>>
>> http://support.gateway.com/s/manlib/...47/8508147.htm
>>
>> External video
>>
>> * Supports dual display
>> * Supports simultaneous LCD/external monitor
>>
>> Doesn't sound like you can have one or the other, just simultaneous. What
>> happens when you set it to a higher resolution that the monitor can
>> handle, but not the laptop?

Hi Denzil! Well don't worry about the laptop's built in display failing
and the external monitor quiting too. As the internal display is dimming
because the lamp (CCFL) or the inverter is getting weak. Usually dimming
is caused by an overly used lamp, but no always. And this has no effect
on the external monitor whatsoever. So no worries there.

As for your external monitor... it should tell you in the manual or
something what screen resolutions it supports. And that link I showed
you lists the resolutions the laptop can produce as an output. So stick
with those two and you should be good to go.

--
Bill
Black Asus EEE PC 4GB
Xandros Linux