I cant bring back a signal from my topical laptop to an external monitor ( win xp ) . Old one works fine ?
Answer:
You can try using the function key on the keyboard... commonly function F8 works (as said by another poster), but if you look at the laptop you'll notice some symbols on the F* key which may signify a monitor that use a different key. It can rise and fall from brand to brand. Just toggle this combination slowly several times to see if the monitor activates from a signal.
Sometimes you own to reboot the laptop with the external monitor already connected, otherwise the laptop keep the external VGA disabled to conserve power. IBM/Lenovo laptops do this a lot.
Another possibility, if it's an LCD monitor, is that the resolution on the laptop is too dignified to be reproduced on the monitor. LCD displays are far less forgiving than CRTs when you use a different resolution. Try adjust the resolution under display properties (either surrounded by the Control Panel or right clicking on the desktop and selecting Properties, afterwards settings.)
Good luck! Feel free to add more comments if any other details give the impression of being relevant.
Fn+F8 will toggle through the various external display option.
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