Sony vaio vpcs12C5E geforce graphic card issues

[ebinfor]

I have Sony vaio VPCS12C5E laptop with geforce 310m graphic card

I prefer to use monitor as display, currenly I can't setup monior as primary display, the option is greyed out

I can't get any update driver on nvidia website, it refers me to Sony website which is no update at all

I am using Windows XP at the moment,

anyone has experience?

Thanks

[Blencogo]

Are you connecting by VGA or HDMI?  This is probably not a graphics driver issue.

Selection of the external monitor is made by holding Fn and pressing F7 to select the appropriate output.  It can also be selected by Right-clicking on the desktop and selecting Screen resolution. Then click the drop-down list next to Multiple Displays, select your desired setting, and then click OK. 

If this does not work, check that your FN Keys are all working.  Who installed XP and were all the Sony Drivers & Utilities reinstalled after the downgrade?  Was the XP Downgrade installer run?  It is available here: -

http://support.vaio.sony.eu/computing/vaio/downloads/updates/index.aspx?l=en_GB&m=VPCS12C5E&os=6

[ebinfor]

Hi, thanks for the reply

Yes, I have downloaded full package driver from Sony website

actually FN key is working, there is no issue to use external monitor,  the issue is I can't setup monitor as primary device, the option is greyed out

I also try to  use FN+F7 key, which  I can force system only use monitor as  display, then if I go to display properties to setup my laptop own screen as secondary display, then it switches to my laptop screen as primary display and monitor as secondary display.

[Blencogo]

I am sure I have seen somewhere that it is not possible to disable the laptop screen from being the primary display.  This is why it is not possible to drive two external monitors on a Vaio as the laptop screen always counts as one of the dual-view outputs.

[ebinfor]

could you please send me the link?

thanks

[Blencogo · Accepted solution]

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307873

See the last paragraph: -

On a portable computer, the primary monitor is always the LCD display screen.

[Mcgregorbart]

Hi Blencogo

I have the same issue Vaio VPCS12V9E no matter what i try via Nvidia or Windows properties laptop remains default primary screen. This is so frustrating I have a large 19 inch second monitor that i can only extend to let me know if you get anywhere with this..

Response I got from Nvidia below

Thanks for the update. If the option is greyed out then the notebook does not allow external monitors to be set as primary. This is not uncommon for some notebooks to prevent this and only allow the notebook LCD to be primary. This is a security measure to prevent users from unplugging the external monitor which then can result in no display. There is no such restriction from the graphics card or the drivers so it's like a limitation of the notebook. Contact your notebook manufacture to confirm, such restrictions are usually programmed into the system BIOS and can not be altered.

-Ray

Response (Ray)

Hello Keith, Thank you for contacting NVIDIA Customer Care. Unfortunately the NVIDIA Control Panel provided limited functionality with display arrangement and we recommend customers to use the standard Windows display properties to change the display order/arrangement. Simply right-click on the desktop background and then select "Properties" from the drop-down menu. This will bring up the "Display Properties" applet. Go into the "Settings" tab and you should see both monitors listed. Click on the secondary LG monitor icon to active it and then check the option to make this the primary display. Please note that Windows XP does not support hotplug so make sure to start Windows with external monitor attached otherwise Windows may not recognize the monitor. We are looking to offer more functionality in a future release of our drivers but for now you have to rely on the Windows display properties to set the primary display. Hope this helps, let me know if you have any further questions. Best regards, -Ray NVIDIA Customer Care

[Thalamus.]

As Blencogo's mentioned, in his previous post, it's a limitation with XP on a portable computer, the primary monitor is always the LCD display screen.