Playing computer on tv

I have a Toshiba Satellite w/Win 7 64 and would like to connect to TV so I can watch on TV what is on my laptop. I connect HD cable from laptop to TV and nothing happens. Do I need to make some setting changes? I'd appreciate any help.

 

Also, you may have to press the project function key, may be Fn + F8; to toggle between display modes; which usually are Laptop screen, dual screens, 2nd screen.

 

OK. I already did that and didn't get any results. I have a Blue Ray player that I have used w/DVD that is also plugged in with a HDMI cable - I unplugged the cable from the BR and plugged it into the laptop using the same HDMI source and only get a message on the TV screen that says "no video signal"

Any other enlightenment?

 

http://techchannel.radioshack.com/switch-hdmi-toshiba-laptop-2343.html

 

Thanks for the link; checked it out and tried it but problem was that when I clicked on desktop I did not have a "Graphics Options" selection. Any other suggestions?

 

What type of graphics card are you using? If it is nVidia, check your nVidia control panel; by right clicking on your desktop and selecting NVIDIA Control Panel.

If not, check whatever graphics controls you have, this may be found in the control panel.
OR
Right click on your desktop, go to properties OR go to control panel, Appearance and Themes and click on Display. Either will get you to your Display properties dialog box.

From here, go to Settings tab, and click on Advanced, from the tabs listed, you should see one with the name of your graphics adapter. There should be a button here to get you to your graphics adapter's settings.
Look for a heading similar to 'Set up multiple displays' check that your hdmi hdtv is recognized and listed, and select it as your display. Click OK to confirm and you're done.

Do it again and select your laptop screen or just disconnecting your hdmi cable should get you back to your laptop display.

 

Thanks for taking the time and trouble to try to help me.

I have no idea how to find my graphics card. I ran Belarc Advisor but I don't see anything that would tell me about my graphics card. I have AMD Radeon HD 7520G on the laptop - is that something about graphics?

Please enlighten me further.

 

You're welcome.

Yes, that is your graphics card.

Since you don't know much about graphics, I'm assuming you didn't update your graphics drivers or software in a while and that is always a good place to start as new drivers offer better more efficient processing and newer software offer more features, some of which you may use for this process.

You can check HERE to determine the software package that is right for your system, but from the information you gave, I did a preliminary search and came up with THIS.

Use the second link only if you don't know what to put into the first one. Using can use the first link and use auto to have the website probe the laptop for your graphics card and select the correct update for you.

While updating is not urgent, it is recommended

 

For AMD graphics, look in your task tray (right side of taskbar) and look for an amd/ati/radeon icon which should be a shortcut to the ati/radeon control center.
It may be a red icon with ATI written in white, that will launch ATI Catalyst Control Center or AMD VISION Engine Control Center depending on your software version.

You can also right click on your desktop (blank area on desktop) and select 'AMD VISION Engine Control Center' from the pop up menu.

Try to find this control center and report back.

 

OK. Amd is updated and working. I tried the hooking up of the cable from LT to TV and there is the same message on the TV; no video signal. I did open the control center but didn't understand what I was to do. What's next?

I do appreciate the tools and enlightenment you are providing.

 

hi ron- this is pretty simple, or should be. does your laptop have the original software installation or has anything changed, like reinstallation or restore from the restore partition? if original, it should be a simple key sequence to toggle through the displays. different laptop makers have different schemes, but one of your Fn [function] keys, top row of the laptop, should have a little image of a monitor, or some just have a rectangle [and you're supposed to figure that out :-D]. on some laptops, the keys are armed for those special functions and just pressing that key will toggle; on others, you have to press the Fn key [lower left of the keyboard] and hold it as you press the display-switch key. if not that, it may be the Ctrl key or the Alt key. press and hold the lower left key [Fn for instance] while you tap the Display key. it should blank your laptop screen and put the image on the TV; keep the laptop AND add the HDTV; and/or revert to just the laptop by itself.

if you locate the key, and doing all this pressing does nothing, then the drivers/mapping for those function keys is missing or incorrect. I have not seen a laptop that did NOT have the function, but I've seen numbers of them that the key sequence would fail on. Note the MODEL number of the laptop, on the label on the bottom most likely, google it for "Function Keys" and see if you can spot an image that explains the mapping of the keys.

finally, there are a few HDTV's out there to that don't do a great job of syncing HDCP and will fail to gain a signal for that reason. I doubt that is the case here, because Radeon rigs are usually very good and making the external display sync up. Intel.... not so hot.

Using the AMD CCC [Catalyst control center] you can accomplish the same thing, but I've already typed too much... just look for the "Displays" section of the CCC menus. j Find CCC in your list of All Programs.

 

Great, you are 90% there.

In windows 7, you can try this shortcut, I'm not sure if it will work;
With your HDTV connected, Press the windows key + P. That should cycle between laptop screen, duplicate/clone display (both laptop and tv showing the same), extended display (extends the desktop to cover both screens), hdtv screen, and then back to laptop.

If that doesn't work, continue with the catalyst control center.
There are 5 ways to open the ATI Catalyst™ Control Center
From the desktop click on the ATI Catalyst™ Control Center
Or by right-clicking anywhere on the desktop select the Catalyst Control Center.
Or by clicking on the ATI logo on the taskbar
Or by Clicking Start | Programs | ATI Catalyst™ Control Center
Or by Clicking the Predefined Combination keys (Ctrl+Alt+C)

Open the Catalyst™ Control Center in Advanced View or look for view and select advanced

Click on Displays Manager

The TV set or monitor icon should appear under "Attached displays currently disabled". If not, click on "Detect Displays". Should the TV set or monitor still fail to appear, please check your cable connection.

Right-click on the TV set icon or monitor icon and select the desired configuration.
Replace*the active*display*with*this*display
Clone Main with TV / Clone Main with monitor

Click ok
Click yes when prompted

 

Note my answers in the body of your message to me.

Thanks for your patience.

 

Try booting up your Laptop with the HDMI cable connected to the TV while it is turned on.

How to Tell If My HDMI Port Is Bad?

Also, can you post a screenshot of your Catalyst Control Panel with you click on Device Manager with the TV connected and turned on?

 

I went to the link you provided and didn't see the HDMI thing in Device Manager so it looks like I will need to have HDMI socket installed. After that if I still have problems I will get back to you.
Thanks for all your time and trouble.

 

Ron, I never saw above that you looked up the specs for your particular LT model to see what is the proper Key to press to cycle between displays.
you really need to do the simple things first.

you have a amd A6-4400 processor. I've used that model a lot [and its siblings]. its hard to NOT get a display with that rig as it is very friendly to sync. The simplest "Occam's razor" explanation for what you are seeing is that the key hasn't been invoked - no video is being routed to your hdmi port.
the second simplest is what was said at the outset, make sure your HDMI port number is correctly chosen on the HDTV. Just because a BDP was plugged in and working on that port does not mean that something else plugged in to the port will just magically come up. HDTV firmware differ in that respect [many moving parts, so to speak]. Some will skip the port once the expected signal is not found and revert to a different setting. Hit the "Source" button and make sure you are selecting the port num you're plugged into.

IF your OS etc on the Laptop have been reinstalled from scratch buy someone, there is a chance that the chipset drivers were not loaded, but even if so, my guess is that it would not stop the HDMI display. not likely to be the issue.

perchance did you try the vga port just for grins?

 

there is no HDMI thing in Device manager on fully configured, fully functional AMD APU-based systems.
somebody correct me if I'm wrong but I have three of them in front of me and none have such an entry in dm....

 

There will be no specific DM entry for a HDMI port. It's part of the GPU.