Want to hook up my LCD monitor to my Dell laptop

I bought a new Dell Inspiron laptop, but I want to hook up my old LCD monitor to it. How do I do this? The Monitor is a Samsung SyncMaster 941BW (I have the CD-rom that came with it but not having any luck finding the driver to download) :confused

PS: I have Vista

 

what kind of connection do you have for an external monitor? some have s-video, d-sub (analog), and some are dvi (digital). Some newer ones are hdmi (Hi Def)

you can google each if you arent sure. whichever it is, you should be able to plug the monitor in and there is probably a function key on the laptop to switch displays. windows will detect the monitor automatically, so no need for drivers.

 

You don't need a driver.... just look around on the laptop for a standard VGA video port, it looks like this:

http://www.ust.hk/itsc/classroom/notebook/photo/notebook_vga_port.jpg
Then make sure the LCD is powered on, then look around on the row of "F" keys (you know, F1, F2, F3, etc; I think it is F5 on Dell laptops) for a key with a picture of a monitor on it, or it might say CRT/LCD. Then hold down the 'Fn' key in the lower left corner of the keyboard and press the F5 key (or whatever key you found) and it should work. If it doesn't come up right away, wait maybe 5-10 seconds and press it again. If you can't get it to work, post the exact model of laptop (like Inspiron 5100 for example) and we'll go from there.
:-D

 

Ok I did what you said (with the F8 key and Fn key) and my laptop screen went black. Is it supposed to do that?

 

Most times yes. Did you have the LCD monitor connected to the VGA port?

Most laptops can only do one or the other display.

 

Yes I did, thanks. But I've just realized that I don't have a powerstrip so I can't use the external monitor anyway (I was on battery power).

 

Have found on some laptops that you have to hold the Fn+F5 key for more than one quick click - say 3 - 5 seconds.

To know that you are in the ball game you should see a three-image menu displayed showing laptop screen only / external monitor only / both. Each tap of F5 moves the focus from icon to icon.

 

. . . . and we still don't know the model of the laptop, but maybe it doesn't matter . . . .

 

yeah, it does need it's own power

 

aloha all,
been a long time to visit this forum.
I'm trying unsuccessfully to hook up a sony Crt tv via a sony vcr to my dell latitude 410. I'm using a 15pin VGA converter cable to standard Y/W/R analog rca cables.
The VCR input in the front is line 2, the tv is on line 2, the home theater is on video mode. This hookup works for me to review my video camera footage on this tv thru the vcr.
I've found the FN key and the F8 key is the CRT/LCD. I've pushed them, held them for a several times between 5-30 sec count. nothing.
I've gone into the control panel and opened the "display" settings and hit the settings tab which opens and offers a "display" panel which has a drop down box with the option of selecting the default monitor or a plug-n-play monitor. nothing.
I've gone into the graphics card setup and this seems like the best option for multiple displays, but it can't recognize that something else is hooked up so the multiple display option is greyed out. nothing.
I'm out of things to try.
any new ideas.
konadon