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I'm trying to connect my laptop to my TV, to use an old laptop as a HTPC. The laptop only has VGA connection, so using HDMI, DVI or DVI-S is not an option.

The laptop has windows 7 home, and the TV is a 32" philips PFL5604H. I'm trying to connect using a VGA cable (I have tried switching between 2 to check that it's not the cable that's defective, and it works with other monitors).

The weird thing is that the laptop "kind of" recognizes the TV meaning that it will pop up as a "Generic non-pnp monitor", but the TV says "No video signal". It does recognize that I can have resolutions up to 2048, so it is recognized as a larger screen.

I'm thinking it may be a driver issue, or something to do with timings, but I have no idea how to resolve it.

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What is the laptop Make and model you are using? In some, there is a fnc+key to swap from attached monitor to a VGA out items like a tv or projector. –  Carl B Sep 30 '12 at 13:51

2 Answers 2

There are several things you could try. But I reckon this is your best option:

Click Start
Type 'Display'
Click 'Change Display Settings'
Click 'Advances Settings'
Click 'Monitor'
Check the Box 'Hide modes that this monitor cannot display'

The value x Hertz above should change to a lower value. If it doesn't change it down manually. (50 Hertz is probably your best value.) Hope this helps

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up vote 1 down vote accepted

This issue was resolved, by changing the resolution on the second screen, apparently my TV could only display certain resolutions and in my case, changing to 1600x1280 made the tv show the screen.

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