Make the laptop start using an external screen while leaving the built-in screen off.
Make the laptop start using an external screen while leaving the built-in screen off.
Hi, I need help making the laptop automatically connect to an external monitor when it starts, without having the internal screen attached. The current setup has the internal display disconnected, so it doesn’t show anything on the external screen. I’ve tried various cables and connections, but nothing works consistently. I’m hoping you can guide me through this issue. Also, I noticed the BIOS doesn’t have a setting for display output, and I’m unsure if I should try fixing the internal display or the ribbon cable. Let me know what steps to take next.
Might be a bit late with my reply but let me tell you about a workaround for it nonetheless. I have the same model of this laptop (X7 DT v7) except the GPU is a gtx 1080. The screen was broken and since I couldn't source a replacement for it I resorted to using it on external screen like you did. Here's the workaround that I mentioned earlier so that you can get display out on Windows 10 and not just the BIOS without having to attach the screen. 1, Unplug the DP/HDMI cable from the laptop before pressing the power button while the laptop is turned off. 2, Let it finish booting into windows while still being disconnected from the monitor (basically wait like 30 seconds) type your password if you have one and press enter blindly. 3, Wait a few more seconds after you log in until the nvidia driver takes control from the efi/windows default basic driver and then connect your HDMI/DP. 4. Boom! You're done, you'll get display out on the monitor without needing to connect the internal screen.
I faced a similar issue too. The only solutions that helped were installing drivers directly from the laptop makers' websites. I switched to safe mode, used DDU to remove the existing drivers, and then reinstalled the new ones. It functions now, but I still struggle with updating them—once I do, bugs appear and I need the internal display connected.
I thought it might work, but instead of seeing my graphics card disabled, Windows blocked it. Still, I’m sure an external monitor is possible.