Switches from External Monitor to Internal When Lid Lifted

[BillW50]

I suppose Microsoft calls this a feature. But yes, if I raise the lid of
my laptop when docked, the external monitor goes blank and the internal
one lights up. So how do I stop this from happening?

 

[SC Tom]

I suppose Microsoft calls this a feature. But yes, if I raise the lid of my laptop when docked, the external monitor
goes blank and the internal one lights up. So how do I stop this from happening?

We had that same behavior on some Dells and HP/Compaq laptops we used at work. Turns out it wasn't a Microsoft
"feature", but the manufacturers'. They all required updates from the manufacturer to correct it.

BTW, my Gateway M-6850fx doesn't do that when hooked to an external monitor through the HDMI port. If I raise the lid,
both displays are up. I haven't tried it through the VGA port, which is what I assume it would be using if there WAS a
docking station for it.

 

[Char Jackson]

We had that same behavior on some Dells and HP/Compaq laptops we used at work. Turns out it wasn't a Microsoft
"feature", but the manufacturers'. They all required updates from the manufacturer to correct it.

BTW, my Gateway M-6850fx doesn't do that when hooked to an external monitor through the HDMI port. If I raise the lid,
both displays are up. I haven't tried it through the VGA port, which is what I assume it would be using if there WAS a
docking station for it.

I used to have a Dell Latitude D600 (it's been several years, but I
think that was the model). There was a Fn-F8 key combo that would
cycle through several display modes, from internal, external, both,
and auto. Above, BillW50 described the auto setting.

I never seemed to have it right when I was setting up to give a
presentation, so I'd end up cycling through the options (usually twice
because I'd miss it) until I got to the mode I wanted. No idea if that
capability came from a specific Dell driver or if it was somehow baked
into the laptop hardware somehow.

 

[BillW50]

We had that same behavior on some Dells and HP/Compaq laptops we used at
work. Turns out it wasn't a Microsoft "feature", but the manufacturers'.
They all required updates from the manufacturer to correct it.

BTW, my Gateway M-6850fx doesn't do that when hooked to an external
monitor through the HDMI port. If I raise the lid, both displays are up.
I haven't tried it through the VGA port, which is what I assume it would
be using if there WAS a docking station for it.

Thanks Tom. I have six of these Gateway M465 and this is the fastest one
out of the six and the only one I run Windows 7 on. I didn't check, but
it wouldn't surprise me if some of them have different BIOS versions.

I know my three Gateway M6124 have a BIOS update for Vista (back when
Vista was first released). And I never updated the BIOS on any of them
and I did run Windows 7 RC on one of them.

The reason why I didn't update the BIOS on those is because there was a
warning to only use the updated BIOS if you are going to run Vista. And
I always wanted to leave the door open to go back to XP once again. And
as far as I know, there is no turning back to an older BIOS unless you
have a BIOS burner. I do, but it won't work for these chips.

I'm luckily with my five Alienware laptops. As the BIOS are socketed on
them. ;-)

 

[Char Jackson]

The reason why I didn't update the BIOS on those is because there was a
warning to only use the updated BIOS if you are going to run Vista. And
I always wanted to leave the door open to go back to XP once again. And
as far as I know, there is no turning back to an older BIOS unless you
have a BIOS burner. I do, but it won't work for these chips.

I've never had a problem rolling back a BIOS to a previous version, so
that comes a surprise to me.

 

[BillW50]

I've never had a problem rolling back a BIOS to a previous version, so
that comes a surprise to me.

Well American Megatrends at least on Asus EeePC flash software checks
version numbers first before doing anything. And if you try to go back
to an earlier version, it won't let you. So you can always flash newer,
but never older.

Are they the only ones who does it like this? I don't know? But I hate
to run into this on another machine without a BIOS burner.

 

[BillW50]

I used to have a Dell Latitude D600 (it's been several years, but I
think that was the model). There was a Fn-F8 key combo that would
cycle through several display modes, from internal, external, both,
and auto. Above, BillW50 described the auto setting.

I never seemed to have it right when I was setting up to give a
presentation, so I'd end up cycling through the options (usually twice
because I'd miss it) until I got to the mode I wanted. No idea if that
capability came from a specific Dell driver or if it was somehow baked
into the laptop hardware somehow.

Hi Char! Yes this has been pretty standard on laptops since at least by
the late 90's. And yes the monitor hotkey works fine, so no problem there.

Oh aside note: If you are ever on a Windows system and Windows or the
hotkey won't let you switch monitors, close all video players and try
again. As it had taken me years to figure that one out.

Anyway you give me some ideas. Under Screen resolution I told it to
always use the external monitor. And that behavior of automatically
switching screens when the lid was opened stopped.

So I rebooted to see if it would stick. Nope, Windows 7 defaults back to
the original settings once again. And I tried it again and now I can't
get it to stick anymore.

I don't often lift the lid while is it docked, so I guess I can live
with it. And I do occasionally use them off of the dock using the
internal screen. So that all works, just don't raise the lid while the
external monitor is in use.

I have more of these same models, but they all have XP on them. And
raising or lower the lid, Windows XP doesn't care (I always have it set
to do nothing with the lid switch). If I want to switch to another
monitor, XP allows me to but I have to do it manually.

 

[SC Tom]

Well American Megatrends at least on Asus EeePC flash software checks version numbers first before doing anything. And
if you try to go back to an earlier version, it won't let you. So you can always flash newer, but never older.

Are they the only ones who does it like this? I don't know? But I hate to run into this on another machine without a
BIOS burner.

My last two Asus MBs (one Award BIOS and the current one AMI) had a feature called Crash-Free. It allowed to boot from
the driver CD/DVD and restore the BIOS to whatever version is on the CD/DVD. Then, after rebooting, you could flash it
to whatever newer one you wanted. I had to try it out when a new flash made my system unbootable and it took a few tries
(and somewhat long wait times), but it worked well. I then re-flashed to the version I had before the screwed up
version, and I was back to where I needed to be. <whew!!> I had some heart-stopping moments there for a while, thinking
it was never going to take.

Bottom line: it wasn't pretty, but it worked

 

[cameo]

Hi Char! Yes this has been pretty standard on laptops since at least by
the late 90's. And yes the monitor hotkey works fine, so no problem there.

Oh aside note: If you are ever on a Windows system and Windows or the
hotkey won't let you switch monitors, close all video players and try
again. As it had taken me years to figure that one out.

Anyway you give me some ideas. Under Screen resolution I told it to
always use the external monitor. And that behavior of automatically
switching screens when the lid was opened stopped.

So I rebooted to see if it would stick. Nope, Windows 7 defaults back to
the original settings once again. And I tried it again and now I can't
get it to stick anymore.

I don't often lift the lid while is it docked, so I guess I can live
with it. And I do occasionally use them off of the dock using the
internal screen. So that all works, just don't raise the lid while the
external monitor is in use.

I have more of these same models, but they all have XP on them. And
raising or lower the lid, Windows XP doesn't care (I always have it set
to do nothing with the lid switch). If I want to switch to another
monitor, XP allows me to but I have to do it manually.

I use my HP Pavillion tx1000 series notebook with an external monitor
withe res that is higher than that of the notebook's display. When I
open that display, however, both displays resort to the laptop's native
res. Once I close the lid, the external monitor returns to the higher
res automatically and the laptop's turns off. I wish the two displays
could work at the same time with those different resolutions, but that
would probably take different GPUs. Lacking that, I'm pretty content
with what I can do now.