Monitor shut down when laptop door closes

I have a Dell Vostro 1500 laptop running Vista Home Basic. Recently acquired an Acer 24" monitor, and daily swap the laptop between 17" monitor and the new one.

Connecting to the new 24" monitor works great: plug everything in, start it up (from hibernate) and monitor displays.

Connecting to the 17" monitor, same process, unless I leave the laptop door open, the monitor shuts down. Opening the laptop door causes monitor to re-display.

The "Intel Graphics Media Accelerator Driver for mobile" (version 7.14.10.1272) options are set to Monitor (setting to Notebook does what it's supposed to). Using the Hot Keys to swap back and forth works as long as notebook door is open. Close the door, and I cannot get the monitor to display.

...More info: Restarting the laptop fixed the problem. Of course tomorrow we will see what happens when I connect to the 24", and then back to the 17" monitor. I hope restarting every time is not the key. That takes too long.

Any suggestion?
 
Last edited:

My Computer

You could try updating your graphics drivers. Find your card in Device Manager, right-click on it, and select Update Driver Software.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Jonathan King
    CPU
    AMD Athlon Dual Core Processor 4850e overclocked @ 2.92 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASRock A780 FullDisplayPort
    Memory
    6.0GB Dual-Channel DDR2 290MHz Crucial Technology
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI 3200 (onboard), nVidia 7200 GS (PCIe)
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17" Cybervison ds69T, 17" Starlogic
    Screen Resolution
    1024x768
    Hard Drives
    WD 320GB SATA, Hitachi 1TB SATA
    PSU
    Antec ea-430d 430W
    Case
    Antec 300
    Cooling
    stock cpu, 120mm rear, 140mm top
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Wired Desktop 500 (PS/2)
    Mouse
    Microsoft Wired Desktop 500 (USB)
    Internet Speed
    9.32 Mb/s download; 0.36 Mb/s upload
    Other Info
    Other OS's:
    Windows 7 Professional x64, Windows Professional x86, Ubuntu x64
Update... I found an explanation for the problem and also a solution:

Whenever I shut the laptop door, Vista redirected the screen to the monitor. However, it was using the last-used settings, which were for a 24" wide screen, running 1920 x 1200. BUT the monitor at home cannot display anything at that range, and so it displays an "out of range" message.

At that point, I could use the graphics "hot keys", ctrl-alt-f3, to direct output back to the laptop. Then, right-click on the screen, choosing Graphics Properties, Display Devices = Monitor, then Display Settings, changing Screen Resolution to the 1280 x 1024 recognized by the smaller monitor, and then click OK. It works!

Then when I connect to the 24" wide screen, it starts up with the 1280x1024, and I go through the above process to change it to the 1920x1200. IF I remember to set it back to 1280x1024 before hibernating, I can take the laptop home and start up with the monitor displaying perfectly.

Hope this makes sense.
 

My Computer

It Makes perfect sense glad you got it sorted and thanks for posting the results back
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Custom Built
    CPU
    Intel Core i5 2400 @ 3.10GHz
    Motherboard
    Foxconn H67MP-S/-V/H67MP
    Memory
    8.0GB DDR3 @ 665MHz (2GBx4)
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD HD Radeon 6870
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    SMB1930NW (1440x900@60Hz)
    Screen Resolution
    1280x800
    Hard Drives
    977GB Seagate ST31000524AS ATA Device (SATA) + 250GB WD iSCSI attached Drive
    Case
    Novatech Night
    Keyboard
    Standard PS/2 Keyboard
    Mouse
    Dell HID-compliant mouse
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