I’ve got an HP laptop here that really needs its LDC replaced. I with effort, I can get a picture on the laptop’s screen, but what I did (with the XP that’s on it) was I connected an external monitor and then went into the display settings to activate it.
Now I’m thinking about installing openSUSE on it, but I want to make sure that when openSUSE loads it will show the display on the external monitor – I can’t very well go through the whole install, followed by figuring out how to set up multiple displays, through the bad monitor. Would openSUSE recognize the external monitor and display its image on it though the install and post-install boot? I just don’t want to end up accidentally needing to troubleshoot the bootloader to get either Windows or openSUSE to load without a monitor.
>
> I’ve got an HP laptop here that really needs its LDC replaced. I with
> effort, I can get a picture on the laptop’s screen, but what I did
> (with the XP that’s on it) was I connected an external monitor and
> then went into the display settings to activate it.
>
> Now I’m thinking about installing openSUSE on it, but I want to make
> sure that when openSUSE loads it will show the display on the external
> monitor – I can’t very well go through the whole install, followed by
> figuring out how to set up multiple displays, through the bad monitor.
> Would openSUSE recognize the external monitor and display its image on
> it though the install and post-install boot? I just don’t want to end
> up accidentally needing to troubleshoot the bootloader to get either
> Windows or openSUSE to load without a monitor.
>
> Thanks!
>
>
Hi
Is there not an option on the keyboard to set the display to the
external monitor?
Not that I know of – should there be (where)? However, I put the DVD in and the dvd’s boot menu showed up on the external display. Is this an indication of how it will remain throughout the setup and running of openSUSE?
UPDATE: When it shows the boot menu from the DVD, it comes up on the external monitor, but after I click “Installation” and it loads the Linux kernel, the picture leaves the screen and the external monitor says “Out of range: H. Frequency 46kHz; V. Frequency 87Hz”. What’s up?
>
> malcolmlewis;1830400 Wrote:
> >
> > Hi
> > Is there not an option on the keyboard to set the display to the
> > external monitor?
> >
>
> Not that I know of – should there be (where)? However, I put the DVD
> in and the dvd’s boot menu showed up on the external display. Is this
> an indication of how it will remain throughout the setup and running
> of openSUSE?
>
>
Hi
There should be little icons on some of the F(1-10)unction keys like a
monitor? These are usually pressed in conjunction with a Fn key. Sounds
like it is defaulting to the external screen ok, so I expect it should
be fine. At the end of the install I think you can unselect the auto
configuration after the reboot (when install is complete) so here you
would be able to check that the external monitor is selected.
>
> UPDATE: When it shows the boot menu from the DVD, it comes up on the
> external monitor, but after I click “Installation” and it loads the
> Linux kernel, the picture leaves the screen and the external monitor
> says “Out of range: H. Frequency 46kHz; V. Frequency 87Hz”. What’s up?
>
>
Hi
When the install begins, down the bottom…one of the F keys you can
select the screen resolution, try 800x600. Or set the vga mode in the
‘boot options’ vga=0x317
I installed openSUSE, and the screen shows up in the external display, but it seems to be lower resolution and it also extends beyond the boundaries of the screen (though it does seem to appear properly in the laptop screen).
The listed monitor in the yast settings indicate it as being the Viewsonic (external monitor), and in the personal settings for the display it just lists the resolution as something lower than the screens real resolution.
I tried changing what is listed as the main monitor, changing its parameters to that of the laptop’s screen, and enabling double-monitors with the settings of the viewsonic put into as the second monitor, but when I tested those settings, I am afraid to save it since while it shows up all right on the laptop’s internal monitor, the external monitor appears unreadably distorted (though it did say in the internal monitor that it cannot adjust positioning of the second monitor). What should I do?
Usually that function key you found cycles through various modes, in no particular order: internal LCD only, internal LCD + external display (mirroring), external LCD only. So if you hit Fcn+F4 a few times you should obtain the desired results.
Also if you are using an analog (“VGA”) connection instead of DVI (I know my HP only has analog on the machine itself and DVI is only obtained with the dockingstation) sometimes slight distortion or fuzzyness is normal. In the display’s menu find an option such as “autoadjust” and it should fix any remaining issues.
I wish. It’s not typical VGA distortions, it was like the X11 default grid background, except it was full of diagnal lines with colors around them, and I could see a square of virtical lines around where the mouse should have been. I’ve tried FN F4 many times and have tried everything I could think of, including auto adjusting the screen and all. The only thing left to do is trying to re-install openSUSE without the monitor so it installs with the correct idea of the laptop’s monitor then trying to make the external monitor set again. It’s just gonna be hard, if it would work…