[Zuccolo]

Perhaps you guys can help; I've been searching online for solutions all day and have found nothing...

My Gateway T-Series laptop, operating Vista 32-bit, has an HDMI port. I've used this port in the past to connect my laptop to my Philips 47" LCD. I've gotten video and sound to work. This was last February.

I installed Windows 7 on my laptop, but when I realized that Microsoft is gay and only limits one CD Key per computer (rather than per customer, which it should be...), I had to go back to using Vista. I did a clean install of Vista, which deleted all of my previous drivers. I then reinstalled the necessary drivers which I downloaded from Gateway's website. I'm up-to-date on all of my drivers/Windows Updates/etc.

Today, I plugged my HDMI cable to my computer and TV. Before I turned on my TV, my laptop displayed a message which asked me how I'd prefer to view my laptop when it's hooked up to the TV: either with the laptop's screen on or off, while the TV displayed my desktop. Without thinking I selected to have my laptop's screen turned off. This leads to my first question: How can I reselect this? I've looked through all of my control panel settings and can't find this menu any where.

So I finally turned on my TV, set it to PC mode, switched to the proper HDMI channel, and waited. I saw my desktop flicker on the TV, then it disappeared. After a few moments, it flickered back on, then disappeared again. It kept doing this every so often. So this is my second, and most important question: Why can't I get a stable picture?

I've tried:
-Adjusting my TV's settings, such as toggling between PC Mode and HDTV
-Updating my TV's firmware
-Using another set of HDMI cables
-Plugging the cables into a differend HDMI port on my TV
-Downloading the ATI Catalyst Converter and toggling with its settings (although there is not much to do with it)
-Updating my laptop's video card drivers to the current drivers (I'm currently using an ATI Radeon X1270, running driver 6.0.6000 16615)
-Installing all of the current Windows Updates

I KNOW my laptop is capable of doing this because I've done it in the past. Why it's not working now is beyond me. Thanks in advance for any help.

[Zuccolo]

Oh, and if it helps, my TV's model number is: 47PFL6704D/F7

It is running the version 1.08 firmware.

[Thunderg0d]

My first recommendation would be have Catalyst Control center open when you plug it in. Most laptops have a monitor/vga toggle (should work the same with HDMI imo...) Usually like a function key + F2 or F6 or something stupid like that. Get it to display both.

Second consideration: What resolution is it trying to push to the TV? Could be an odd resolution that's pissing it off.

Third consideration: The refresh rate...make sure it's doing something your TV likes...If it's doing 30 hz (for some odd as shit reason) it could cause it to skip like that. Since you know your TV better than I do, make sure it's running the 60hz or 120 hz your TV is expecting.

[Zuccolo]

Thunderg0d, on 04 April 2010 - 10:54 AM, said:

My first recommendation would be have Catalyst Control center open when you plug it in. Most laptops have a monitor/vga toggle (should work the same with HDMI imo...) Usually like a function key + F2 or F6 or something stupid like that. Get it to display both.

Second consideration: What resolution is it trying to push to the TV? Could be an odd resolution that's pissing it off.

Third consideration: The refresh rate...make sure it's doing something your TV likes...If it's doing 30 hz (for some odd as shit reason) it could cause it to skip like that. Since you know your TV better than I do, make sure it's running the 60hz or 120 hz your TV is expecting.

My laptop's resolution is 1280x800, set at 60hz; however, when I go to my display properties, I have two monitors from which I can choose: Generic PnP Monitor on ATI Radeon X1270; and (Default Monitor) on ATI Radeon X1270. The former of which is my laptop's monitor. The "Default Monitor" is what I assume to be the settings for an external monitor. However, that can only be set to 800x600 (when I have nothing plugged into any ports), and the "Extend to Desktop" option unchecks itself when I try to apply new settings.

[Thunderg0d]

Ok quit being noob about it and use catalyst control center only instead of display properties....After all, CCC overrrides display properties. That's the only place cloning will even attempt to work. Verify it's picking up both monitors in there.

[BUDMAN]

Thunderg0d, on 05 April 2010 - 08:57 AM, said:

Ok quit being noob

This *IS* mike we are talking about...

[Zuccolo]

Alright. After some screwing around with CCC, I was able to clone the desktop to my TV with no flickering. It works pretty well (although the maximum resolution I can have my laptop is 1280X720...720p, I suppose...without color distortion). My only complaint is that I have to keep my laptop's lid open, otherwise the screen on my TV starts to flicker (I'm assuming this is the case because when I close the lid, CCC switches off cloning). Is there anyway to get around this, or am I stuck with keeping my lid open?

Either way, thanks for the help.

[SniperX]

change the default action on lid closed to nothing?

[Zuccolo]

SniperX, on 05 April 2010 - 11:49 PM, said:

change the default action on lid closed to nothing?

The reason why I would want to do that is because I don't want to wear down my laptop's display if I don't have to do that. Oh well.

[SniperX]

Zuccolo, on 06 April 2010 - 12:13 AM, said:

The reason why I would want to do that is because I don't want to wear down my laptop's display if I don't have to do that. Oh well.

The power to the monitor is generally killed by a mechanical switch that gets depressed when the lid is closed. Changing the default action will keep your laptop from attempting to enter a sleep mode.

[Zuccolo]

SniperX, on 06 April 2010 - 08:50 AM, said:

The power to the monitor is generally killed by a mechanical switch that gets depressed when the lid is closed. Changing the default action will keep your laptop from attempting to enter a sleep mode.

Right, I know that. I have my laptop set to just turn off the display when I close the lid--not go into sleep mode. But by closing the lid and turning off the display, the computer can no longer clone the display on the TV.

[Thunderg0d]

Zuccolo, on 06 April 2010 - 11:29 AM, said:

Right, I know that. I have my laptop set to just turn off the display when I close the lid--not go into sleep mode. But by closing the lid and turning off the display, the computer can no longer clone the display on the TV.

Typically laptops have a fn + button for swapping thru display modes (assuming there's software like CCC there to compliment it). Option 2 is to switch HDMI as primary when you need to do this. Therefore closing the laptop lid does not affect the "main" clone point. It may flicker for a second, but should behave as expected.

[Zuccolo]

Thunderg0d, on 07 April 2010 - 08:41 PM, said:

Typically laptops have a fn + button for swapping thru display modes (assuming there's software like CCC there to compliment it). Option 2 is to switch HDMI as primary when you need to do this. Therefore closing the laptop lid does not affect the "main" clone point. It may flicker for a second, but should behave as expected.

Tried that. That's FN+F4. All I get is flickering every few moments.

[Cizzo]

Question, what is the exact process you are performing when turning on the laptop. I had a mass deployment of laptops with external monitors attached at a place I used to work and some of the laptops had this annoying problem where the external monitor just would not turn on even though the settings were set just like the others via an OS image.

What we had to do was actually pretty lame but it worked for us lazy techs.

1. Turn off laptop
2. Verify connections from external monitor to laptop just to be sure.
3. Turn laptop back on.
4. Immediately close the laptop lid as soon as you see POST.


That seemed to work for us. It's cheesy and definitely not a fix but I guess it's worth trying.