Dell Latitude C840 external monitor question
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From: Steve W. on 8 Apr 2010 01:24 I connect up an external monitor and want to see the same display on both screens. NVIDIA GeForce4 440 Go 64meg vid card, Dell drivers. I use the Function and F8 and select both displays. This is where I hit a snag. The monitor is designed for a maximum res. of 1280 X 1024 The C840 has a default resolution of 1600 X 1200 I go into display properties and set display 1 (LCD) to the proper resolution. Then select display 2 (CRT) for 1280 x 1024. The problem is that it doesn't seem to work that way. What am I doing wrong? And related? How does the S-Video out work? Do you need the special Dell adapter or just plug an Svid cable in and into the Svid input on the display device? I have the Dell users guide and the service manual. Is there a better users manual out there? Something that covers all the stuff the machine can actually do? -- Steve W.
From: Christopher Muto on 8 Apr 2010 02:08 Steve W. wrote: > I connect up an external monitor and want to see the same display on > both screens. > > NVIDIA GeForce4 440 Go 64meg vid card, Dell drivers. > > I use the Function and F8 and select both displays. > This is where I hit a snag. > > The monitor is designed for a maximum res. of 1280 X 1024 > The C840 has a default resolution of 1600 X 1200 > > I go into display properties and set display 1 (LCD) to the proper > resolution. Then select display 2 (CRT) for 1280 x 1024. > > The problem is that it doesn't seem to work that way. What am I doing wrong? > > > And related? How does the S-Video out work? Do you need the special Dell > adapter or just plug an Svid cable in and into the Svid input on the > display device? > > I have the Dell users guide and the service manual. Is there a better > users manual out there? Something that covers all the stuff the machine > can actually do? > afaik both the vga and the svideo connectors on the latitude c840 simply echo what is on the main lcd display. neither is a secondary display port. you can test this rather simply by bringing up the image on the external display and clicking the 'identify' button in the display properties page... either a big number 1 or 2 will appear on the display helping you identify which you are adjusting. i suspect the internal lcd and the externally connected (regardless if it is connected via vga or the svideo port) display will both show a big 1. why you have a display 2 in the display properties page is probably due to having the docking station software installed. the docking station for the latitude c840 has its own video port that can be set for a different resolution than the internal display for easy docking.
From: William R. Walsh on 8 Apr 2010 02:13 Hi! > I go into display properties and set display 1 (LCD) to the proper > resolution. Then select display 2 (CRT) for 1280 x 1024. > The problem is that it doesn't seem to work that way. What am I doing wrong? What you're doing there would be the thing to do if you were going to use the two displays separately...that is to say, you'd have different things on each one. (nVidia calls this DualView, and Dell disables it on some machines. My LatD800 didn't support it with Dell's drivers, even though it works perfectly.) Since you're going to clone the information on one display and put it on another, you need to find a resolution that is agreeable to both displays. Then set the internal panel display to that resolution, after which you should be able to use the hotkey to get the expected result. When the display is being cloned, both displays have to run at a resolution that is compatible to each one. Don't set the resolution for (or enable) the second monitor, because technically speaking, it does not exist when you are cloning the contents of one display to another. You *might* need to go into the advanced display properties and use the nVidia properties sheet to assure that the multiple displays are being placed in the right mode. The hotkey may simply select a default or whatever the last chosen mode was. > And related? How does the S-Video out work? Do you need the special Dell > adapter or just plug an Svid cable in and into the Svid input on the > display device? I believe you need the Dell adapter, but the C840 may be different in this regard. The adapter I have for the D800 breaks out into S-Video, composite video AND coaxial digital audio output. The docking station for this machine has the S-Video and coaxial digital audio connectors on it. > I have the Dell users guide and the service manual. Is there a better > users manual out there? Something that covers all the stuff the machine > can actually do? There's always the information provided by the companies who made the hardware in your system. However, not everything may apply to your system, so using that is a guessing game. The user's manual should actually do a pretty good job of explaining what you can do with your system unit. You may also want manuals for the various options (docking stations, breakout cables, port replicators, etc...) to better understand how they can be used. And of course there is always this group. Someone may have tried what you are thinking of and found out whether it works or not. Although this is not guaranteed, it's a good start. William
From: Steve W. on 8 Apr 2010 15:10 Christopher Muto wrote: > Steve W. wrote: >> I connect up an external monitor and want to see the same display on >> both screens. >> >> NVIDIA GeForce4 440 Go 64meg vid card, Dell drivers. >> >> I use the Function and F8 and select both displays. >> This is where I hit a snag. >> >> The monitor is designed for a maximum res. of 1280 X 1024 >> The C840 has a default resolution of 1600 X 1200 >> >> I go into display properties and set display 1 (LCD) to the proper >> resolution. Then select display 2 (CRT) for 1280 x 1024. >> >> The problem is that it doesn't seem to work that way. What am I doing >> wrong? >> >> >> And related? How does the S-Video out work? Do you need the special Dell >> adapter or just plug an Svid cable in and into the Svid input on the >> display device? >> >> I have the Dell users guide and the service manual. Is there a better >> users manual out there? Something that covers all the stuff the machine >> can actually do? >> > > afaik both the vga and the svideo connectors on the latitude c840 simply > echo what is on the main lcd display. neither is a secondary display > port. you can test this rather simply by bringing up the image on the > external display and clicking the 'identify' button in the display > properties page... either a big number 1 or 2 will appear on the display > helping you identify which you are adjusting. i suspect the internal > lcd and the externally connected (regardless if it is connected via vga > or the svideo port) display will both show a big 1. why you have a > display 2 in the display properties page is probably due to having the > docking station software installed. the docking station for the > latitude c840 has its own video port that can be set for a different > resolution than the internal display for easy docking. Hooked up the external and tried a few things. With the laptop set to the LCD, Identify puts the 1 on the laptop as it should. When set to display on both it shows 1 on the laptop and 1 on the external. If I select the extend my desktop to this screen then I get a 2 on the second display. None of the above allows me to have each display set to it's best resolution though. What I had hoped was that you could leave the LCD at it's native resolution and set the external to it's best and be finished. Guess that if I want to use the external I'll just have to live with the smaller display on the laptop. What I'm trying to do is set up a training location for my FD. I was hoping to show the different lessons on the external and I could watch on the laptop to narrate as required. HMM I wonder if extending the desktop would allow a powerpoint to run on the external display while I have notes open on the laptop? Haven't tried that yet. -- Steve W. (\___/) (='.'=) (")_(")
From: Steve W. on 8 Apr 2010 15:13
William R. Walsh wrote: > Hi! > >> I go into display properties and set display 1 (LCD) to the proper >> resolution. Then select display 2 (CRT) for 1280 x 1024. > >> The problem is that it doesn't seem to work that way. What am I doing > wrong? > > What you're doing there would be the thing to do if you were going to use > the two displays separately...that is to say, you'd have different things on > each one. (nVidia calls this DualView, and Dell disables it on some > machines. My LatD800 didn't support it with Dell's drivers, even though it > works perfectly.) > > Since you're going to clone the information on one display and put it on > another, you need to find a resolution that is agreeable to both displays. > Then set the internal panel display to that resolution, after which you > should be able to use the hotkey to get the expected result. When the > display is being cloned, both displays have to run at a resolution that is > compatible to each one. Don't set the resolution for (or enable) the second > monitor, because technically speaking, it does not exist when you are > cloning the contents of one display to another. > > You *might* need to go into the advanced display properties and use the > nVidia properties sheet to assure that the multiple displays are being > placed in the right mode. The hotkey may simply select a default or whatever > the last chosen mode was. > >> And related? How does the S-Video out work? Do you need the special Dell >> adapter or just plug an Svid cable in and into the Svid input on the >> display device? > > I believe you need the Dell adapter, but the C840 may be different in this > regard. The adapter I have for the D800 breaks out into S-Video, composite > video AND coaxial digital audio output. The docking station for this machine > has the S-Video and coaxial digital audio connectors on it. > >> I have the Dell users guide and the service manual. Is there a better >> users manual out there? Something that covers all the stuff the machine >> can actually do? > > There's always the information provided by the companies who made the > hardware in your system. However, not everything may apply to your system, > so using that is a guessing game. The user's manual should actually do a > pretty good job of explaining what you can do with your system unit. You may > also want manuals for the various options (docking stations, breakout > cables, port replicators, etc...) to better understand how they can be used. > > And of course there is always this group. Someone may have tried what you > are thinking of and found out whether it works or not. Although this is not > guaranteed, it's a good start. > > William > > Thanks for the information. I guess I figured it would be possible to run both displays at different resolutions. Guess the only way to do that is with a different type of video card. -- Steve W. (\___/) (='.'=) (")_(") |