External Monitor No Longer Recognized

[Synsensa]

I use a Lenovo Essential G770. A few weeks ago, I had the idea to buy a DVI-HDMI adapter so I could run a second monitor. It worked like a charm.

Last night, I turned off my laptop as usual, went to bed, etc, but now the second monitor is not recognized.

Here is a list of the things I've done:

I've checked the Device Manager. It only shows the laptop monitor.

I've checked the Display settings, it doesn't acknowledge that the monitor is plugged in. I can force it to search for a monitor through the VGA slot, but as I said, my monitor is DVI and I used an HDMI adapter.

I've tried googling the problem to no avail. Most of the time the people having problems are ones with Dell monitors.

My monitor is an LG Flatron W2353V, a discontinued model, and it is plug and play as far as I can tell. Pressing the "Source" and "Autoset" buttons on the monitor change nothing.

The monitor acts like it is going to display something when first booting up, but it then flashes "DVI Power Saving Mode" and the monitor light begins blinking.

Thinking it was maybe a problem with the monitor, I turned off the laptop, disconnected the monitor's power and connection to the computer, waited several minutes, reconnected everything, and tried again. Nothing.

Unplugging the HDMI adapter makes the monitor begin flashing "Check Signal Cable" on its screen, so I know that the monitor acknowledges that it's plugged in, yet the laptop does not.

Oddly enough, when forcing it to connect through VGA (which shouldn't work to begin with), the second monitor then works, but the screen is still in power saving mode. I can put my cursor on the second monitor, drag boxes back and forth, etc, yet still no display feed.

I have done the FN-keys, none have worked. I checked in the Intel graphics settings, to no avail. According to this laptop, there is only one monitor plugged in and that is the laptop monitor.

Nothing has changed since last night and I've honestly run out of ideas. Any suggestions are welcome.

[tony_j15]

Hi Synsensa, welcome to TechIMO!

I would start with making sure the harware is actually working properly. You should plug your monitor into a different computer and see if it functions. Test it with and without the adapter, if possible.

[Synsensa]

Hi Synsensa, welcome to TechIMO!

I would start with making sure the harware is actually working properly. You should plug your monitor into a different computer and see if it functions. Test it with and without the adapter, if possible.

I unfortunately do not have another system to test this on, or another monitor to try, which is why this problem is so frustrating.

Someone told me to update the video card drivers, I did, but it changed nothing.

Any other ideas?

[tony_j15]

You really need to test the hardware. We could go round in circles for days with ideas to tweak on the software side, but they won't matter at all if your monitor is damaged or your adapter is defective.
Based on the information you have provided, it sounds like you did a thorough job of testing the laptop, which makes me suspect it could be a hardware problem.

Some of our other members might have some better suggestions than I. Hopefully you'll get some additional ideas from other people in here.