Not supported mode message

[ericg]

I have a HP pavillion dv6000 laptop computer that uses windows VISTA and I am attempting to hook it up to my SAMSUNG 32" flat panel LCD tv using a VGA cord.  When I first bought the computer 8 months ago, I was able to hook the computer up to the TV with no problems.  I do not know what is different, but yesterday I tried to hook the computer up to the TV and received a message on the TV that said "not supported mode".  I turned the computer off and re-started it.  Upon initial startup, I was able to see the images on the TV (you know the screen that shows the startup status and the operating system of windows) but once the computer got past the initial booting stages, the message came back up on the TV "not supported mode".  This leads me to believe that I am dealing with some sort of setting issue.  Like I said, I do not recall changing any settings that would have affected this.  Does anyone know what I might be doing wrong?  Thank you

[ericg]

A little update here....I read on another forum to try and update my BIOS.  So I went to the HP website and updated my BIOS.....still no luck getting the image to show up on the TV.  I also read to try and press the function and F8 keys to "switch" where the image can be seen (from the PC to the TV, from the TV to the PC, etc.) and this did not work either.

[ericg]

OK....I have even tried updating the driver for my NVIDIA video card (a 141 MB download) and that still did not correct the problem.  Another piece of information that I just discovered is that after everytime I disconnect my PC from the TV, the icons on the desktop do not stay where I had put them.  The ones at the bottom all move up towards the top.  Not sure if this helps anyone get any ideas or not....but there it is.

[Broni]

What screen resolution is the TV set to in your computer Display Settings?
Did you try different resolution?

[ericg]

I guess I didn't know I could set the TV resolution from the computer.

I have not changed the resolution on my computer since I got it.

I do not know fully understand the 2 different pictures that it shows when I go to the screen on the computer where I can change the resolution.  There are 2 different options.

Option one is "Generic PnP monitor on NVIDIA GeForce 7150M / nForce 630M"
Option two is "(Default Monitor) on NVIDIA GeForce 7150M / nForce 630M"

I have tried both of these options several times now (neither one made the image appear on the TV), and unfortunately, I can not remember which one was the default choice when I bought the computer.

[Broni]

Default monitor is your computer monitor, and Generic PnP is your TV. Try to play with the latter resolution settings.

[ericg]

I tried to change from option 1 to option 2 and even hit apply.  But when I go back into the "display settings", it goes back to option 1 which is "Generic PnP Monitor".  Guess I still do not understand the difference.  Also tried to change the resolution while in option 1 1280 x 800 pixels down to 1280 x 720 but it made the picture look stretched and blurry (it never looked that way before) and still did not let me see the picture on the TV.  There are only 4 setting total for the resolution.  I tried the other ones and everything but 1280 x 720 have the same blurry (or worse) pictures.

[Broni]

Something is wrong here. Your default monitor should be displayed by its name. Look at my settings:



If you go to Device Manager, is your computer monitor displayed by name?
If not, you need to reinstall video driver, or/and monitor driver.
When I hooked up my second monitor, it wasn't displayed by name, until I installed monitor driver.

[ericg]

Sorry, I can not post a print screen for some reason.

When I go to the device manager and open the "monitors" folder I see the words "Generic PnP Monitor".  I did try to update the driver, but it is telling me that my drivers are up to date.  I was unsure what would happen if I hit the disable or uninstall options, so I did not do either of those things.

I notice that your print screen shows the 2 monitors the same size.  I am not sure if this matters, but for my #2 monitor, it shows it to the right, and about 3/4 of the size of the #1.  It allows me to move these, but it then makes them both smaller but they still have the same resolution numbers.

Clearly I have no idea what I am doing.  I hope I am not screwing up too badly.

[Broni]

Only one monitor is listed in Device Manager?
Your TV should be listed too.
I just realized, it's a laptop, so no monitor name will be listed. "Default Monitor" is fine.
However, if TV is not listed in Device Manager, something is wrong somewhere else. Connection?

[ericg]

I do not have the TV connected right now.  If I have the TV connected I lose the screen on my laptop.  How do you leave the TV connected but still see the picture on the laptop screen.  If I could do that, I might be able to open the device manager and provide that information with the TV hooked up.

[Broni]

Try to set your laptop screen resolution to something lower, like 800x600, and then connect the TV.

[ericg]

I changed the resolution on the laptop to 800 x 600.  I then connected it to the TV.  The laptop image went away and I still got the same error displayed on the TV "not supported mode".

[Broni]

You may need to use some key sequence to switch to external monitor: http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000801.htm

[ericg]

You are a freaking genius.  I went to the thread you sent and then tried various function keys and F keys.  I found that when I hit Funcition and F4, the picture popped right up on my TV.  THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!