T42 Problem: External LCD monitor on VGA is acting strange.

[tomchr]

Suddenly, I have this strange problem with the external vga output on my T42, which started a few days ago.
In the T42 BIOS I have chosen the VGA option, thereby turning the T42 'internal' screen off as default.

When I use the laptop for hours on end everything works as it should. However, if I leave the T42 on over night to download, turning off the external LCD screen, a strange problem occurs when I try to turn the external monitor back on again in the morning. The screen shows the Windows XP desktop for a millisecond but instantly goes black. Unplugging and replugging the display does not help either.

I am only able to restore the external LCD display by unplugging it from the T42, reebooting in BIOS, changing the LCD settings in BIOS back to the internal display and forth to VGA only again, and voila the external screen is working again.

Has anybody else had this issue?

BTW, it's a 14.1" T42 Thinkpad 1.8GHz w/ ATI Mobility Radeon 64MB, running Windows XP Sp3 with 2 GB RAM.

[GomJabbar]

Have you tried using Fn + F7 to switch displays? Do you have Presentation Director installed for Fn + F7?

[tomchr]

Sorry for the late reply, but the problem hasn't occurred the last two weeks

My guess is that Presentation Director settings had some issues.

Anyway, thanks for responding