Windows does not recognize external display connected to a laptop

Hi Forum!


I have a HP Pavilion dm1z laptop. The laptop has a HDMI port. I am trying to connect it to my Samsung BX2335 display. The display has the DVI dual link port only. So I bought a HDMI - DVI adapter.
I have Win7 x64 on my laptop.
When I start the laptop with the external display connected, the picture is duplicated on both the laptop and the external display. But as soon as Windows starts, the picture will only be displayed on the laptop, 'Starting Windows' being the last picture shown on both displays.
After some investigation it seems that windows could not detect the external display successfully. In the 'Screen Resolution' window the external display is shown as 'Display the device on: VGA'.
It is impossible to view the properties of the external display, as the option is disabled, and the display is called 'Default Monitor'.
I tried updating the AMD Radeon Catalyst drivers, but this did not help. Tried to install the external display drivers, but these installed as the mobile device display drivers.


Any ideas to fix this are highly appreciated

Hello and welcome to the forum.
Take a look at you laptop keyboard.
Bottom left for an "Fn" (Function Key) usually Blue or Purple.
Hold that and look at the top row of keys for something that looks like a square within a square or rectangle within a rectangle icon also probably blue or purple.
Hold the Fn Key and tap the the other display key and see if you can get your desktop to move to the other monitor. Experiment, tap it once and see what happens, tap it again and then a third time, usually it will relocate the display from the laptop to the external monitor, then to both, then to the laptop again.
Keep us posted
Regards
Randy