# [SOLVED] Temporary Fix for LCD Monitor Problem



## treelzebub (Oct 15, 2007)

Hi everyone,

Recently, I accidentally spilled water onto my laptop :sigh:, and quite luckily the only thing that is damaged is the monitor. The video card itself appears to be unharmed, as I have been using an external monitor with no problems since it happened.

I am running an HP Pavilion zd8000 (XP SP2), with an ATI Mobility Radeon x600 video card. My problem is that I can't afford to have the laptop looked at quite yet, and I want to make my external monitor the primary one, so that everything opens up on it by default. I am currently having to move most things using Alt+Space M and then dragging the window from the dead monitor to the external one. Not everything allows me to do this, and I get very frustrated haphazardly clicking and dragging on the monitor whose display I can't see, in attempts to view windows that open up on it.

In my display properties, the check box, "use this device as my primary monitor" is checked and greyed out for the LCD screen, and just plain greyed out when i select the external monitor. Otherwise, I would not be posting this :smile:

I have tried reinstalling the drivers for my video card, and searching for software that might do this for me, but to no avail.

All I want is for Windows to recognize my external monitor as the primary device, and if possible, ignore the LCD screen altogether for now, until I can afford the repair. Any suggestions?

Thanks!
-tre


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## ebackhus (Apr 21, 2005)

*Re: Temporary Fix for LCD Monitor Problem*

When you open the display control panel does it show two blue boxes? If so you can use that screen to make the external display the primary.


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## treelzebub (Oct 15, 2007)

*Re: Temporary Fix for LCD Monitor Problem*

they are not blue, but, yes i have boxes labeled 1 and 2. this is what i was referring to when i said the box that says 'use this device as the primary monitor' is greyed out. is there another way?

thanks!


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## ebackhus (Apr 21, 2005)

*Re: Temporary Fix for LCD Monitor Problem*

Box 2 should represent the external display connector. When this is selected and in use (it'll be solid blue and you'll see output on the connected monitor) you can use that as the primary display.


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## ygtgxi (Oct 15, 2007)

*Re: Temporary Fix for LCD Monitor Problem*

actually simplest solution would be to just set your graphic card property to display your external monitor as a clone of ur screen so it would show the same thing


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## treelzebub (Oct 15, 2007)

*Re: Temporary Fix for LCD Monitor Problem*

my graphics card does not seem to have that capability. and no amount of just clicking on box 2 makes that your primary monitor. you have to be able to check the 'primary monitor' box, which i can't.

turns out, my laptop has a fairly awesome capability that i just found out about that solves all my problems. the HP Pavilion zd8000 has a button ( fn + F4 ), which toggles between using 2 monitors at once (extended desktop only, no cloning), and then between just the laptop screen and the external monitor.

all fixed! thanks anyway for your help, guys!
-tre


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