[ale] [OT] need help xp internal mon broken, ext mon inop

Ron Frazier (ALE) atllinuxenthinfo at techstarship.com
Wed Mar 20 22:11:10 EDT 2013


YES.  I want to thank you all for your suggestions.  Sometimes, just 
talking things through is helpful.  I think I've got it back now.

I went into the bios and set the display to activate the external port 
and lcd panel.

I went into safe mode.  I could then see the display.  I restored a 
system restore point to yesterday.  I went into device manager and 
disabled the internal panel.  I rebooted and I could see the screen, but 
it was the wrong resolution.  This may be due to the kvm.  I went into 
advanced settings and told the system not to hide modes the monitor 
couldn't display.  I was then able to set it to 1280 x 1024 (normal for 
this pc).  I went back into device manager and disabled a 2nd pnp 
monitor that it thinks is attached.  I have no idea what it is, perhaps 
a port on the internal video controller that doesn't have an external 
port.  I think I'm back up and running now.  I still have to reinstall 
the patches, etc., this time with the monitor attached.

Thanks for the suggestions guys.  I just needed that little extra 
outside perspective to kickstart my brain.  Had this not worked, I was 
prepared to try more radical measures that you had suggested.

Sincerely,

Ron


On 3/20/2013 8:34 PM, Greg Clifton wrote:
> Ron,
>
> Well, if you have the disc and the license code, you can 
> always re-install (guaranteed cure for all Windows problems ;-) But 
> then that will probably want to use the primary display so probably 
> won't work. But, if you had a current backup you might 
> try restoring that.
>
> If you see the BIOS screen, you should be able to go into the BIOS and 
> set it to boot from a CD or USB stick so maybe UBCD4W would help?
>
> Now if you had a delay set for how long the computer waits to actually 
> start loading Windows, you might be able to catch it and go into safe 
> mode and MAYBE you'd get your external monitor back in safe mode, but 
> I doubt it. If that did work and you knew which setting to change, 
> which I don't off the top of my head. The external monitor was 
> probably auto-disabled when the system booted and didn't find it.
>
> Maybe a serial console, but probably that would have needed to have 
> been configured beforehand?
>
> Best,
> Greg
>
>
> On Wed, Mar 20, 2013 at 6:15 PM, Ron Frazier (ALE) 
> <atllinuxenthinfo at techstarship.com 
> <mailto:atllinuxenthinfo at techstarship.com>> wrote:
>
>     Hi all,
>
>     Please don't flame me, but I need XP help.  I KNOW it's getting
>     obsolete (per other threads), but there's something cool about
>     keeping a vintage computer running as long as I can.  You guys are
>     the geekiest people I know and I don't hang out on Windows forums.
>
>     I have a vintage 2002 laptop.  It's still very capable.  2.4 ghz
>     cpu, 1 GB ram, 320 GB hdd.  The laptop hinges broke and the
>     internal monitor is non functional, but the OS THINKS it's
>     functional.  For years, I've been running on an external monitor
>     via a kvm along with other pc's.  Through a series of unfortunate
>     events, including rebooting with the kvm switched to another pc,
>     as far as I can tell, the system now thinks the external monitor
>     is both the extended desktop and is deactivated.
>
>     So, when I boot the PC, I see the bios requesting my password ON
>     THE EXTERNAL monitor, so I know the monitor and vga port works.  I
>     enter it.  I see the boot menu on my external monitor.  I select
>     Windows XP.  The monitor goes blank and never returns.  I can only
>     assume that the windows login screen is showing up in the internal
>     monitor (as far as the OS is concerned), but I cannot see that.  I
>     know the OS is running, because I can press the power button
>     briefly and, after 5 seconds or so, the system shuts down.
>
>     I've tried the function button on the keyboard to switch from
>     internal to external monitor.  That does no good.  I tried the VGA
>     mode boot option from the boot menu, and that worked.  Operating
>     in 640 x 480 mode is REALLY fun, not.  However, when I do a normal
>     mode boot, it stays blank again.
>
>     Does anyone know how I can force the system back into mirror
>     monitor mode, or better yet, permanently disable the internal
>     monitor?  Even if I have to boot Ubuntu and mess with files, etc.,
>     that would be OK.
>
>     It won't kill me if I can't get this back, since I can boot Ubuntu
>     and get to the files.  I just didn't want to retire the unit just yet.
>
>     Any help is greatly appreciated.
>
>     Sincerely,
>
>     Ron
>
>
>
>     --
>
>     Sent from my Android Acer A500 tablet with bluetooth keyboard and
>     K-9 Mail.
>     Please excuse my potential brevity if I'm typing on the touch screen.
>
>     (PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might
>     want to
>     call on the phone.  I get about 300 emails per day from alternate
>     energy
>     mailing lists and such.  I don't always see new email messages
>     very quickly.)
>
>     Ron Frazier
>     770-205-9422 (O)   Leave a message.
>     linuxdude AT techstarship.com <http://techstarship.com>
>
>
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-- 

(To whom it may concern.  My email address has changed.  Replying to former
messages prior to 03/31/12 with my personal address will go to the wrong
address.  Please send all personal correspondence to the new address.)

(PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to
call on the phone.  I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy
mailing lists and such.  I don't always see new email messages very quickly.)

Ron Frazier
770-205-9422 (O)   Leave a message.
linuxdude AT techstarship.com

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