Vista Laptop Dual Screens

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Hi all,

I havent posted for a while but i wonder if any of you guys could help me out please.

I have a laptop running Vista ultimate and had it set up in a dual screen config with the internal display as the primery display. was all running smoothley untill one day half closed the lid to plug in my printer to the back usb port big mistake. as when i moved the display to the near closed positon it touched that little switch that turns off the internal display when you close the lid.

this has made my external display teh primary now and its very annoying,


i have tryed all the usual stuff like rebooting with the external display unplugged and then plug it back in sitll comes up as the "primary display"

i have unisntalled the moniter dirvers and rebooted with it unplugged then plugged back in and reconfigured no luck

then i delved into the registry.

i removed a couple of reg keys hopeing this will fix it
the key was

HKCC\System\CurrentControlSet\Video\AdapterGUID ( this recreates on boot)

this didnt work

so i went to
HKLM\System\CurentControlSet\HardwareProfiles\0001\System\CurrentControlSet\Video\AdapterGUID\0000

and renamed the keys for the 2 screens so the external screen is Mon10000001 and the internal screen is Mon1000000

and did that for each hardware profile(unsure why there is 3 but never mind


then rebootted machine with the exteranl display discontected and reconnected when back in windows asnd as soon as i reconnect the display it comes back as the primary and the internal is the seccondery

any help is much appreciated.

 

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I always thought the primary display on a laptop could not be changed to an external display. This is probably set in the OS somewhere, but it could be hard to find... maybe time to a format and reinstall.

 

What is the graphics chipset, maybe the manufacturer has software that controls it, like the nVidia Control Panel? Under the *Display* menu, there is *set up multiple displays* and there two drop down lists where you can set the primary display to what you want.

 

its an ATI mobility 200M chipset. and i cant see any control software on it, i did download the drivers form teh ATI site but they never installed no applications just pure drivers.


and i origionally thaught the same as nigthwalker that there was no way to change the primary display but i have just by closing the lid on teh laptop while logged into windows.

 

It’s a glitch in the Matrix. Have you tried doing the same thing to try and reverse the change?
(probably wont work, but worth a shot)

 

i would have thaut disconecting the ext display woutl have set it back but it didnt

i did fix it before but i cant remember how i did it i think it was a reg key

 

A heavy google session may turn up the answer. Chances are its happened to others before you.

 

Looks like what i may have to do, its happened to me before but icant remember how i fixed it. if i cant work it out tonight i will bug the seccond line guys at work and see if they can work it out. even tho some of our idiot customers have told one of them he doesnt know **** and should learn about when hes doing. ( hes the most experianced there and knows a hell of a lot.

 

Customers quite often say stuff like that; who's the one phoning up a national rate line asking for help

 

Also it could be a function key on the laptop, when all else fails, read the manual (RTFM).

 

The usual way to handle multiple displays is from the Advanced button on the Settings tab on the display properties. And also on the Settings tab is a tick box 'Use this as primary' or similar.

That is the way I always deal with this.

Harry.

 

If you find the following registry key HKLM\Software\Microsoft\TMM and then rename the Dword value called UseIViewHelper to UseIViewHelperxxxxx and restart it will recreate the key and hopefully solve the issue.

NB

 

harry i cant actually set it as a primary screen as that the first thing i looked at but the option is greyed out see my screenshots

and no combination of ticks will let you click in teh make primary button. also the laptops screen used to be listed as 1 but it is now listed as 2

 

Have you tried unchecking the extend the desktop on to this monitor box?

 

Ive fixed it,

being vista all the admin type stuff is hidden away and "simplifyed" so its gummied things up and bineg a laptop it was even more squiffy.

if it was an XP machine or a Vista desktop harrys suggestions would have worked.

but i ended up going into the control panel in mobility options adn then clicking connect display which makes it re-detect the external screen then telling it to extend my desktop right and it works and now my internal display is the primary and the external is the seccondary.

oh and the system restore didnt work it just unisntalled the drivers for my mouse.

 

Glad you got it fixed. Its nearly always a tick box, its just finding the right one

 

Hey this information came in handy for me trying to install another laptop screen! Saved me a lot of money from buying a new tower!