Monitor goes blank

My wifes screen on her laptop got shattered, and she needs to get some info/work done on it. So i hook it up to my lcd monitor here on my desktop, and after the XP screen loads, it goes blank, and stays blank. I even took her screen completely out to see if that was it, but still does it. While its blank, you can still hear everything booting on the desktop, and hdd running. Anything else i can do, or need to do different?

 

Often laptops have a hotkey so you can change the output (internal/external display). It is usually Fn plus one of the function keys. If you have the manual, look for the shortcut in there. Press it when XP boots up and the screen goes blank. You may need to press it a few times to scroll through the different settings. But, your manual should have more information on doing this.

It could also be possible that the laptop's display resolution or refresh rate is simply too high for your monitor to display. Try booting in safe mode to load only the basic VGA drivers, and see if you can get a display on your LCD.

Edit: removed redundant word.

 

Fn key plus hot key worked like a charm. Thank you for the quick help. My wife thanks you as well.