Vista - Connecting external monitor to a laptop

When we connect an older ADI 19" monitor to a Vista laptop, it shows no images even though the monitor power light is green, indicating a video signal.

I played with all the display settings (refresh rate, resolution), the function-F5 key to select the display, etc. In display properties it shows the monitor as a non-pnp generic monitor.

When I connect a different monitor to the laptop it runs instantly.

When I connect the ADI monitor to a different laptop, an older WinME laptop, it works fine instantly.

I looked online to find a monitor driver, but when I tried to install it, Vista said it already had the most up to date driver installed. And monitors usually run anyway even without the driver, so I am not sure if looking for a driver is the way to go.

Any ideas?
Thanks

Might be of more use if we knew your system specs (lower left corner) so we know what video card, memory, etc

Ken

Hello YoVincenzo,
Can you right click desktop > Personalisation > Display Settings, and tell me how many monitors are showing there, thanks.

It is:

Toshiba satellite L355
Intel Core 2 duo T5550 @ 1.83 GHZ
3 GB 32 bit
Video: Mobile Intel 965 express

I am not at the location, it is my friend's computer. But I remember it very well.

In Display Settings, it shows two monitors. When I click the first one, it shows Multiple monitors on Intel 965. When I click the second one, it shows non-pnp generic. I've played quite a bit with the settings for the second monitor, for refresh rate, resolution, and more. Also tried different settings on Fn+F5 video output setting, but to no avail. I found one setting in the BIOS for auto detect of external monitor or always on external monitor, made no difference. (The laptop works fine with a different external monitor)

Thanks

Have you tried a restart with the second monitor plugged in ?.
I seem to remember i had a similar problem and a simple restart fixed it, i get the feeling it's not going to be that easy, but i would kick myself if it was, and i didn't say anything lol.

Yes I tried hot swapping and re-starting.

Hi YoVincenzo

Is it set up in your BIOS.

Yes, the BIOS has two options related to this: automatically detect, or external monitor always on. Tried them both.

non pnp (plug and play) suggests it may need drivers , if its non pnp yuor bios will effectively ignore it , so its no use tweaking that