External Monitor Suddenly Stopped working with Lenovo X61t

[x61tuser]

My Lenovo X61t Tablet was working fine with an external Samsung SyncMaster 226BW monitor. One day, the external monitor stopped displaying anything with the X61t. The screen just displays "Check signal cable". The monitor works fine with a different laptop.
 
I have tried everything, and searching on the web, I have found lots of people reporting the same problem. And it is not limited to just X61 tablets, but lots of other Lenovo models as well like the T Series.
 
Though I have seen reports of lots of people facing this problem, I have not seen any solutions from any users or anyone from Lenovo. The problem is not new either. Some of the posts are as old as 2008.Some frustrated users have suggested that it is a Lenovo manufacturing defect. If that is the case, it is across several models and series.
 
Surely, someone at Lenovo should be able to throw some light on this problem, and suggest a solution or workaround. If Lenovo has not figured out the cause of the problem, then the problem is probably present in the new models too, making it dicey to buy any of the newer models coming out.
 
Any thoughts will be appreciated.

Thanks.

[RealBlackStuff]

Have you tried hooking up the monitor to the X6 Ultrabase, to check if the 'video-internals' are still working?
Tried Fn-F7?
Did you/Windows recently update the video drivers?
Tried it using a Linux Life-CD?

[x61tuser]

Thanks for your reply.

I have tried connecting the monitor to the X6-Ultrabase. That gave the same result.

I have tried Fn-F7 and various menus also.

When I change to Extended Desktop mode, some applications seem to go to the external monitor (i.e. they are not displayed on the laptop screen) but nothing is displayed on the external monitor, which stays black.

In the Screen-clone mode also the monitor does not display anything.

The same monitor works perfectly fine with another laptop.

I have not tried Linux-Live. I am not familiar with it. I am looking at the web to find the right one. Do you have any suggestions?

Thanks.

[x61tuser]

I booted with a Linux DVD and Ultrabase. Linux recognizes the external monitor and identifies it correctly as Samsung 22", but the monitor stays black with nothing displayed in either extended display mode or clone screen mode.

Since it does not work with Linux either, it does not look like a Windows driver problem.

Since it does not work with neither the VGA port on the tablet itself, nor the VGA port on the Ultrabase, seems to imply that its not the VGA port either.

Does that imply a faulty chip on the motherboard? It is surprising that this problem has happened to lot of different models of Lenovo machines, not just X61.


Here is a post for similar problem on T60: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... &view=next . There are numerous others on the web.

If Lenovo has figured out the problem, would be good to know what is causing and what workaround will work. Do I need to get a USB to VGA or DVI Adapter? If I got one, will it work, or whatever is causing this problem, will cause a problem with the adapter too?

Which of the few adapters out there works well?

Thanks for any suggestions.

[RealBlackStuff]

Well, it seems conclusive, that you have a partly-gone-bad graphics chip.
I have no personal experience with such adapters, but look in this thread, near the end.
Recommendation from tanstaafl: Encore EN-MUV2
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=95154

[x61tuser]

Thanks. Looks like I will need to get some sort of USB to VGA/DVI adapter. Encore one and Plugable UGA-125 USB 2.0 to VGA/DVI/HDMI Adapter seem like two candidates. I am planning to buy a new tablet at some point in near future, so hate to have to buy a new hardware piece for the old one at this point, but guess I have no choice.