[Killer Whale]

How do I do it? I tried taking the VGA cable out of my computer (monitor works fine so I don't expect it's a problem with the cable, but it is missing the "Pin 14, VSync"[wiki=vga connector]) and sticking it between the laptop (windows XP, Toshiba) and TV (LG, Plasma, HDTV, HDMI...), when I started the laptop up the windows logo and loading bar appeared but after that it returned to "no signal" and wouldn't be persuaded to show anything else even after starting the nVidia wizard for hooking up monitors. I've been led to believe it's a lot more difficult than it appears, despite what the guides google gives me say. Any help

[Inquisitor]

Your TV manual should tell you what resolution will work.

[Nuke]

it might have something to do with the video driver initialization. try booting the computer first then start up the output for the vga out port. you might have to try different resolutions and aspect ratios untill you find one that works. might also try svideo or a different cable as well (if you can). my laptop also has hdmi but its not a format ive ever used.

i know things usually dont work as advertised when using vga or svideo in on tvs. i know i hooked my laptop up to a tv with an oddball resolution. for some reason i couldnt display the native res. even with forcing the res in the drivers, it would always get scaled or be pushed off screen. i think its because the vga decoder may just convert it to a rgb or composite signal then scale it to fit the tv screen. but inquisitor is right, rtfm.

[JGZinv]

I've done this a few times, but not over VGA or HDMI... typically over the Svideo out.
Hook it up, press your Function-key for switching the current monitor until the TV displays
the computer. Then use either the Intel/ATI/nVidia graphics control panel to tweak settings for
dual monitor support, which should have refresh rates and etc in there.

Sounds to me like it fired up outputting a signal to all ports, and then went back to the default monitor
when Windows had loaded enough drivers.

Granted it has a Intel chipset for graphics (hah) but I took a broken laptop from dell and shoved it in my media cabinet
and forced it via settings and BIOS to always start with the external monitor. Added a bluetooth keyboard and had a HTPC.
Toshiba, if I remember the one I just sold, also has a F key for the monitor switching.l Looks like two boxes next to each other usually.

[Killer Whale]

Your TV manual should tell you what resolution will work.

This TV provides Plug and Play capability, meaning that the PC adjusts automatically to the TV's settings. The TV perceives 640x480, 60Hz as DTV 480p based on the PC graphics card. If necessary, change the screen scanning rate for the graphic card accordingly.

The manual also told me to change my input from RGB/DTV to RGB/PC but it didn't help.

it might have something to do with the video driver initialization. try booting the computer first then start up the output for the vga out port. you might have to try different resolutions and aspect ratios untill you find one that works. might also try svideo or a different cable as well (if you can). my laptop also has hdmi but its not a format ive ever used.

i know things usually dont work as advertised when using vga or svideo in on tvs. i know i hooked my laptop up to a tv with an oddball resolution. for some reason i couldnt display the native res. even with forcing the res in the drivers, it would always get scaled or be pushed off screen. i think its because the vga decoder may just convert it to a rgb or composite signal then scale it to fit the tv screen. but inquisitor is right, rtfm.

I believe svideo is better so I want to try that first. Video driver instillation, start up the output for the vga out port, yerwha?, sorry I'm not computer literate enough to understand that. I think the resolution given is related to the rest of your post.

I've done this a few times, but not over VGA or HDMI... typically over the Svideo out.
Hook it up, press your Function-key for switching the current monitor until the TV displays
the computer...

Fn + F(1-12) do nothing to the TV.

[JGZinv]

Well I'm at a loss, but the next people will want this info to further help you.

Model number and anything we should know about a particular config of that laptop.
Sometimes models come in several versions they farm out with different hardware features
is what I mean. So I'm basically asking for the model and hardware specs of your unit.

[FUBAR-BDHR]

You did set the the desktop to 640x480? It seems that's all the TV supports.  If you desktop is set to 800x600 or 1024x768 or anything else as soon as the video drivers load the TV will go to no signal as it can't handle the signal. 

[Nuke]

it might have something to do with the video driver initialization. try booting the computer first then start up the output for the vga out port. you might have to try different resolutions and aspect ratios untill you find one that works. might also try svideo or a different cable as well (if you can). my laptop also has hdmi but its not a format ive ever used.

i know things usually dont work as advertised when using vga or svideo in on tvs. i know i hooked my laptop up to a tv with an oddball resolution. for some reason i couldnt display the native res. even with forcing the res in the drivers, it would always get scaled or be pushed off screen. i think its because the vga decoder may just convert it to a rgb or composite signal then scale it to fit the tv screen. but inquisitor is right, rtfm.

I believe svideo is better so I want to try that first. Video driver instillation, start up the output for the vga out port, yerwha?, sorry I'm not computer literate enough to understand that. I think the resolution given is related to the rest of your post.

whats happening is your trying to output to the tv as soon as the bios screen pops up, if the screen works at this stage at all, it will work untill windows loads the video card drivers, at which point they take over from the hardware and use their own settings. in a perfect world they would detect what was going on and adjust its settings properly, however thats not where we are. so instead of using the function key to enable the monitor at boot (mind you that key has its own driver too), hook up the cable (before power up, i find thats the only way it works) and let windows start. then go to your video properties and setup output to the video cable. usually the drivers will give a list of resolutions it supports for that screen, go through thouse till you find one that works.

[Killer Whale]

...then go to your video properties and setup output to the video cable.

where's the video properties?

@FUBAR-BDHR: Yes

@JGZinv: Attachment?

Could it be that the graphics drivers need an update or download they haven't got?

Edit: Attachment removed

[Killer Whale]

I have no idea what I did, but it decided to start working thanks for the help.

[JGZinv]

Well I didn't really look up anything based on what you gave there
since you said it's working again, but you might want to take
that image down since it shows your OS license number.

[Nuke]

(writes number down)