old laptop- broke screen :(

so my thescreen on my (2 year old) laptop is toast - im going to replace it when i get the monies (hopefully next month). in the mean time i'd like to run linux on it, however, i have a few issues:

when i plug an external monitor in, it doesn't come on until windows starts - not sure if i can change this in bios or what

but, since the screen on the laptop doesn't really work, i can't get into bios to find out if i can set it to use the external monitor and change the boot order and stuff. any suggestions?

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Comments

JDMurray

When you reboot from Windows, the screen blanks after Windows shuts down and doesn't power-on until Windows starts again? What does the tech support Web page for your laptop say about the options for using an external monitor?

seuss_ssues

have you tried hitting the Function FN key and whichever F key switches to your external monitor?

Laptops in front of me:
HP NC8430 = FN+F4
and the three dells on my desk are = FN+F8

Darthn3ss

hrm, will look at that one. thanks.

malcybood

- What are you trying to do at the moment?
- Have you installed linux already?
- When you say "until windows starts" do you mean the login screen, desktop or the windows xp splash screen with the black background?

Can you not just select boot from CD and enter the linux setup? Most laptops are configured to boot from CD as default manufacturer settings these days. Also there is usually a boot menu i.e. press F2 or F12 for boot menu then select option 1, floppy 2, HDD 3, DVD/CD drive etc etc

If you find out this sequence from the manufacturer web site I don't see why it wouldn't boot to linux CD setup.

Let us know how you get on

Malc

Darthn3ss

The external monitor doesn't get an image until right after the XP splash screen with the black background... (when it goes blue and eventually you get the login screen)

linux is not installed, and i can not select boot from CD since the external monitor doesn't come on until after the XP splash screen. i tried using F2 but i didn't get anything... the built in monitor is too fooked to really be able to find out where im at.

goign to try a few things though.

Darthn3ss

was able to get into bios and change to boot from the cd finally. installing deb now. whooo!

thanks for the suggestion on using the external monitor with the FN key!

seuss_ssues

Congrats and let us know if you have any trouble installing linux.

Darthn3ss

linux install went smooth. thanks though!