Inspiron 600m Laptop: trouble getting display on Dell external LCD monitor

[John DeCarlo]

On 8/28/06, Alain Squindo <alainjsquindo at hotmail.com> wrote:
> I have a Dell Inspiron 600m laptop whose screen has gotten somewhat
> unreliable.  I bought a Dell 17'' LCD monitor (last years' model) in order
> to remedy this problem.  Under Windows, I just plugged in the monitor into
> the laptop's monitor output jack and it worked.  Under Dapper Ubuntu,
> however, the monitor just turns on for a few seconds and then off for a few
> seconds and then on again and so on.  What is the solution to this problem?
> Is there something I need to do with my xorg.config file to get this to
> work?

1.  There is an entry in the Dell BIOS (F2 when booting) that affects
whether the default monitor is the laptop one or the external one.
Double check that.

2.  Have you tried Fn-F8 to cycle between laptop only, external only, and both?

3.  There are a bunch of things you can do in your xorg.conf file.  Do
you have an NVIDIA or an ATI video card?

-- 
John DeCarlo, My Views Are My Own