I recently picked up for very little money a broken Toshiba laptop, an E105 series. The LCD panel is unusable, but it has HDMI output (no VGA or DVI), I figured it wouldn't make a bad little media center computer.
The problem has been that on boot, I can't get it to use an external monitor. I can get it to start up from a linux live CD, so I know the HDMI output is working, but I'd rather have it running Windows 7 as a media server.
When I boot from Windows 7, I can tell that it is using the disc, but no video comes to the external screen, just the internal. The hotkeys to change display modes don't seem to work when in the installer, though they work fine again when I'm in Ubuntu.
Does anyone know of a way to get the installer to use just the external display? Booting, then closing the lid and pressing a key on an external keyboard doesn't do it, either.
If it comes to it, I can salvage the RAM and HD and still make up for what I'd paid, but I'd still rather use this as a media center if possible.
The problem has been that on boot, I can't get it to use an external monitor. I can get it to start up from a linux live CD, so I know the HDMI output is working, but I'd rather have it running Windows 7 as a media server.
When I boot from Windows 7, I can tell that it is using the disc, but no video comes to the external screen, just the internal. The hotkeys to change display modes don't seem to work when in the installer, though they work fine again when I'm in Ubuntu.
Does anyone know of a way to get the installer to use just the external display? Booting, then closing the lid and pressing a key on an external keyboard doesn't do it, either.
If it comes to it, I can salvage the RAM and HD and still make up for what I'd paid, but I'd still rather use this as a media center if possible.