Puzzling TV/Monitor issue with different sources.

Wedding fair tomorrow, so may want to hang the biggest telly I have on the overhead. Trial run with a smaller TV threw up this conundrum. Backup laptop runs on ( I think ) Windows 7, and has VGA and HDMI. When I plugged this in to the telly via HDMI, it altered the screen on the PC, and nothing on the telly. Same with another telly.

Curiously, the Surface Tablet ( W10 ) is flawless on both TVs via HDMI. So is the main laptop, also W10. The interesting thing is, when I join the W7 lappy to a monitor by HDMI, it too is flawless. :daft:

So, don't laptops before W8/10 work on TVs with HDMI? :confused: I haven't tried it, but I have a sneaky suspicion that if I'd used VGA with the TV and W7 it would have worked. Thoughts anyone?

No expert - but I had a lot of 'faffing about' when I used to use Windows 7 for race nights, now on Windows 10 I can plug in vga or HDMI and it just works - almost like a macbook :zip:;););)

You can get it to work on 7/8 but you have to adjust your settings in control panel. If I was a bit cleverer I would tell you how, but for me I pressed a load of buttons until it worked lol

When plugging in either VGA or HDMI, if it doesn't show immediately, always give the device a full restart, with the newly inserted cable inserted.

That can often 'activate' it.

First thing to try is right clicking on the desktop of the laptop monitor once the external display is connected. Somewhere in there you should be able to find an option to tell windows what to do about the external display. Twas ever thus & you shouldn't need to reboot anything just because you connected another display.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/...y-in-windows-7

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Originally Posted by Nakatomi

First thing to try is right clicking on the desktop of the laptop monitor once the external display is connected. Somewhere in there you should be able to find an option to tell windows what to do about the external display. Twas ever thus & you shouldn't need to reboot anything just because you connected another display.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/...y-in-windows-7

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Exactly what Justin said!

I actually helped someone with this very same query only last week. Some laptops need you to activate the external display output - it's not as easy as just plugging it in! My laptop does this with the F8 key. Or you may need to right-click your desktop, go to Display (or Display Properies) and choose Multiple Monitors (or similar) there. You may need to click "Detect" to find the screen then you'll get options to adjust the display, resolution, etc.

Should this not work, then you may need a new cable. Remember that there are different classes of HDMI cables and you'll need one that can support your screen, and laptop, data bandwith. In fact, just buy the latest standard HDMI 2.1 as new cables are always backwards compatible! Less to worry about that way! ;)

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Originally Posted by Nakatomi

you shouldn't need to reboot anything just because you connected another display.

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I've always assumed that - but it was the restart that I did that saved a panicking best man the other week!

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Originally Posted by rth_discos

I've always assumed that - but it was the restart that I did that saved a panicking best man the other week!

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This sounds like your display adaptor drivers crashed rather than just it needing activating. These things can happen!

I'm not going to start multiquoting people, as it will take me a long time!. Thank you all for your input, much appreciated.

Dazzy and Justin, yes I actually headed down that path, but with no success, particularly with the detection thing. It didn't warrant further effort, so I didn't go on. Suffice to say, with a monitor, the Windows 7 machine worked perfectly, auto detected, and set itself up. With a TV, and the same cables, non starter. Windows 10 had no problems with anything. Pretty much the first time I've seen 10 beat 7/8 at anything.

I've just realised that you said "telly" and not "monitor". This may be a stupid question but are you sure you had the right input selected on the telly?

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Originally Posted by DazzyD

I've just realised that you said "telly" and not "monitor". This may be a stupid question but are you sure you had the right input selected on the telly?

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I shall treat that remark with the contempt it deserves! :p The TV is actually intelligent, in that it can tell which input has a connection, so yes I did! :D

It's not a question of selecting an input with a " blind" selector, it's an on screen process. I connected it up with a VGA cable out of curiosity, and it displayed no problem, except for the fact that everything had an exceedingly red tint, so at that point, as it wasn't vital to use this machine with it, I simply went with the newer laptop.

I don't think I said, but this was for a wedding fair, where I was the only DJ. ( Long story, but I'm now " The Special One ", due to a Christmas Party. :) ) I was very happy to find that by returning the windows 7 machine to its former duty as playout, with the VMS4, it freed the Windows 10 one for video duties.