Solo 9500. follow up and new problems.

[Denzil Hathway]

Thanks to all that wrote on my Solo 9500 "no boot" problem and my failed
attempt to fix it by swapping out the CMOS battery. A tech told me I should
change MB, for $300. I took note of your many comments to get a new Laptop.
Here's what I did. I bought a reconditioned MB for $49 and paid a tech about
$90 to out it in. Everything works fine, even better than before!




I mentioned that the LCD display while acceptable was cranked all the way
up - so I can expect trouble. I bought a new overstock external 17" LCD for
$80 and it works fine too. I have two new problems now though.




1.. I can't turn the Laptop LCD off. There is an LCD/CRT supplemental
button on the 9500 but pressing it and the Ln button at the same time
changes nothing. How can I turn the Laptop LCD off?


2.. The speakers on my new MPC LCD work - I get weak sound when I connect
a stereo mini-pin between it and the headphone output of the Laptop. When I
connect what I think is the external output, the middle one on the9500, I
get nothing. Do I have to turn something on - if so, what?


Thanks, Regards, Denzil.

[BillW50]

Post by Denzil Hathway
1.. I can't turn the Laptop LCD off. There is an LCD/CRT supplemental
button on the 9500 but pressing it and the Ln button at the same time
changes nothing. How can I turn the Laptop LCD off?
2.. The speakers on my new MPC LCD work - I get weak sound when I
connect a stereo mini-pin between it and the headphone output of the
Laptop. When I connect what I think is the external output, the
middle one on the9500, I get nothing. Do I have to turn something on
- if so, what?
Thanks, Regards, Denzil.

1) There are lots of utilities that turns off the display. Although I don't
like too many utilities. Nor do I like just a few with way too many
features. One you might like is called:

BattStat v0.98
http://users.rcn.com/tmtalpey/BattStat/

Right clicking on it in the System Tray has a screen off option. The rest of
it gives great battery and temperature readings. One of my *must* have
utilities for laptops.

2) You can't hurt anything by plugging speakers into a mic or aux mini jack.
So try those in case you guessed the wrong one for the output jack. Although
don't plug in a microphone into an output jack, as you *can* damage a mic
plugging it into the wrong jack.

Another possibility is that you need an amplified speakers for this jack. As
an headphone jack normally doesn't have enough power to drive external
speakers. This is true most of the time.

[Denzil Hathway]

Bill, thanks for the help. I installed the "Display Off" utility from the
link you provided and tried it out. As I suspected "Display Off" shut down
BOTH screens, the Laptop internal LCD and my External flat panel. My
objective is to shut down the internal LCD only and run entirely on the
external screen. Pehaps that was not clear in my earlier posting. Haven't
tried your Audio suggestions yet. Regards, Denzil.

======================

Post by BillW50

Post by Denzil Hathway
1.. I can't turn the Laptop LCD off. There is an LCD/CRT supplemental
button on the 9500 but pressing it and the Ln button at the same time
changes nothing. How can I turn the Laptop LCD off?
2.. The speakers on my new MPC LCD work - I get weak sound when I
connect a stereo mini-pin between it and the headphone output of the
Laptop. When I connect what I think is the external output, the
middle one on the9500, I get nothing. Do I have to turn something on
- if so, what?
Thanks, Regards, Denzil.

1) There are lots of utilities that turns off the display. Although I
don't like too many utilities. Nor do I like just a few with way too many
BattStat v0.98
http://users.rcn.com/tmtalpey/BattStat/
Right clicking on it in the System Tray has a screen off option. The rest
of it gives great battery and temperature readings. One of my *must* have
utilities for laptops.
2) You can't hurt anything by plugging speakers into a mic or aux mini
jack. So try those in case you guessed the wrong one for the output jack.
Although don't plug in a microphone into an output jack, as you *can*
damage a mic plugging it into the wrong jack.
Another possibility is that you need an amplified speakers for this jack.
As an headphone jack normally doesn't have enough power to drive external
speakers. This is true most of the time.
--
Bill
2 Gateway MX6124 - Windows XP SP2
3 Asus EEE PC 701G4 ~ 2GB RAM ~ 16GB-SDHC
2 Asus EEE PC 702G8 ~ 1GB RAM ~ 16GB-SDHC
Windows XP SP2 ~ Xandros Linux - Puppy - Ubuntu

[BillW50]

Post by Denzil Hathway
Bill, thanks for the help. I installed the "Display Off" utility from
the link you provided and tried it out. As I suspected "Display Off"
shut down BOTH screens, the Laptop internal LCD and my External flat
panel. My objective is to shut down the internal LCD only and run
entirely on the external screen. Pehaps that was not clear in my
earlier posting. Haven't tried your Audio suggestions yet. Regards,
Denzil.

Oh I see. Well you can turn off one of the screens through Control Panel ->
Display. And go to the Settings tab. There select the monitor you want. You
should see monitor 1 and 2. Then check the "Extend my Windows desktop onto
this monitor". Now the one above it "Use this device as the primary monitor"
should be able to be checked too (ungreyed). And go ahead and check it.

This is the Windows way of doing it anyway. Depending on the video chip and
driver, it may work or not. Also many video drivers has their own utility
(usually in the Control Panel and/or System Tray). And it will be called
Intel something, ATI something, etc. And if you have one, can usually switch
to one of the displays as well.

[Denzil Hathway]

Bill, thanks for the comeback. I looked in Control Panel/Display/Settings
before. Idon't see Monitor 1&2 (with both on and working). I see a single
entry for Display, "Multiple Monitors on ATI Mobility 128 AGP 4X." I looked
in Devce Manager too. It shows four Default monitors with good drivers for
each. A Plug and Play Monitor appears when I connect my external LCD sreen
but like before, both screens are on, showing the same image. I'd like to
turn the Laptop internal monitor off, Regards, Denzil..

Post by BillW50

Post by Denzil Hathway
Bill, thanks for the help. I installed the "Display Off" utility from
the link you provided and tried it out. As I suspected "Display Off"
shut down BOTH screens, the Laptop internal LCD and my External flat
panel. My objective is to shut down the internal LCD only and run
entirely on the external screen. Pehaps that was not clear in my
earlier posting. Haven't tried your Audio suggestions yet. Regards,
Denzil.

Oh I see. Well you can turn off one of the screens through Control
Panel -> Display. And go to the Settings tab. There select the monitor you
want. You should see monitor 1 and 2. Then check the "Extend my Windows
desktop onto this monitor". Now the one above it "Use this device as the
primary monitor" should be able to be checked too (ungreyed). And go ahead
and check it.
This is the Windows way of doing it anyway. Depending on the video chip
and driver, it may work or not. Also many video drivers has their own
utility (usually in the Control Panel and/or System Tray). And it will be
called Intel something, ATI something, etc. And if you have one, can
usually switch to one of the displays as well.
--
Bill
2 Gateway MX6124 - Windows XP SP2
3 Asus EEE PC 701G4 ~ 2GB RAM ~ 16GB-SDHC
2 Asus EEE PC 702G8 ~ 1GB RAM ~ 16GB-SDHC
Windows XP SP2 ~ Xandros Linux - Puppy - Ubuntu

[BillW50]

Post by Denzil Hathway
Bill, thanks for the comeback. I looked in Control
Panel/Display/Settings before. Idon't see Monitor 1&2 (with both on
and working). I see a single entry for Display, "Multiple Monitors on
ATI Mobility 128 AGP 4X." I looked in Devce Manager too. It shows
four Default monitors with good drivers for each. A Plug and Play
Monitor appears when I connect my external LCD sreen but like before,
both screens are on, showing the same image. I'd like to turn the
Laptop internal monitor off, Regards, Denzil.. "BillW50"

Post by BillW50

Post by Denzil Hathway
Bill, thanks for the help. I installed the "Display Off" utility
from the link you provided and tried it out. As I suspected
"Display Off" shut down BOTH screens, the Laptop internal LCD and
my External flat panel. My objective is to shut down the internal
LCD only and run entirely on the external screen. Pehaps that was
not clear in my earlier posting. Haven't tried your Audio
suggestions yet. Regards, Denzil.

Oh I see. Well you can turn off one of the screens through Control
Panel -> Display. And go to the Settings tab. There select the
monitor you want. You should see monitor 1 and 2. Then check the
"Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor". Now the one above it
"Use this device as the primary monitor" should be able to be
checked too (ungreyed). And go ahead and check it.
This is the Windows way of doing it anyway. Depending on the video
chip and driver, it may work or not. Also many video drivers has
their own utility (usually in the Control Panel and/or System Tray).
And it will be called Intel something, ATI something, etc. And if
you have one, can usually switch to one of the displays as well.

Yes that is what I am talking about. You should be able to turn off the
laptop display and keep the external monitor on through the Display
Properties or through the ATI utility.

[Ben Myers]

Post by BillW50

Post by Denzil Hathway
Bill, thanks for the comeback. I looked in Control
Panel/Display/Settings before. Idon't see Monitor 1&2 (with both on
and working). I see a single entry for Display, "Multiple Monitors on
ATI Mobility 128 AGP 4X." I looked in Devce Manager too. It shows
four Default monitors with good drivers for each. A Plug and Play
Monitor appears when I connect my external LCD sreen but like before,
both screens are on, showing the same image. I'd like to turn the
Laptop internal monitor off, Regards, Denzil.. "BillW50"

Post by BillW50

Post by Denzil Hathway
Bill, thanks for the help. I installed the "Display Off" utility
from the link you provided and tried it out. As I suspected
"Display Off" shut down BOTH screens, the Laptop internal LCD and
my External flat panel. My objective is to shut down the internal
LCD only and run entirely on the external screen. Pehaps that was
not clear in my earlier posting. Haven't tried your Audio
suggestions yet. Regards, Denzil.

Oh I see. Well you can turn off one of the screens through Control
Panel -> Display. And go to the Settings tab. There select the
monitor you want. You should see monitor 1 and 2. Then check the
"Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor". Now the one above it
"Use this device as the primary monitor" should be able to be
checked too (ungreyed). And go ahead and check it.
This is the Windows way of doing it anyway. Depending on the video
chip and driver, it may work or not. Also many video drivers has
their own utility (usually in the Control Panel and/or System Tray).
And it will be called Intel something, ATI something, etc. And if
you have one, can usually switch to one of the displays as well.

Yes that is what I am talking about. You should be able to turn off the
laptop display and keep the external monitor on through the Display
Properties or through the ATI utility.

Name brand manufacturers often provide somewhat crippled or minimal
(lacking some features) utility software with their computers. It might
be worthwhile to download and install ATI's version of the
driver-and-utilities for the Mobility 128... Ben Myers

[Denzil Hathway]

Ben, actually I might do that, when I have a little time. I was puzzling why
I couldn't find the ATI utility that Bill is talking about. I certainly
couldn't find answers in Windows. I'll let you all know how it works out.
Regards, Denzil

===================

Post by Ben Myers

Post by BillW50

Post by Denzil Hathway
Bill, thanks for the comeback. I looked in Control
Panel/Display/Settings before. Idon't see Monitor 1&2 (with both on
and working). I see a single entry for Display, "Multiple Monitors on
ATI Mobility 128 AGP 4X." I looked in Devce Manager too. It shows
four Default monitors with good drivers for each. A Plug and Play
Monitor appears when I connect my external LCD sreen but like before,
both screens are on, showing the same image. I'd like to turn the
Laptop internal monitor off, Regards, Denzil.. "BillW50"

Post by BillW50

Post by Denzil Hathway
Bill, thanks for the help. I installed the "Display Off" utility
from the link you provided and tried it out. As I suspected
"Display Off" shut down BOTH screens, the Laptop internal LCD and
my External flat panel. My objective is to shut down the internal
LCD only and run entirely on the external screen. Pehaps that was
not clear in my earlier posting. Haven't tried your Audio
suggestions yet. Regards, Denzil.

Oh I see. Well you can turn off one of the screens through Control
Panel -> Display. And go to the Settings tab. There select the
monitor you want. You should see monitor 1 and 2. Then check the
"Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor". Now the one above it
"Use this device as the primary monitor" should be able to be
checked too (ungreyed). And go ahead and check it.
This is the Windows way of doing it anyway. Depending on the video
chip and driver, it may work or not. Also many video drivers has
their own utility (usually in the Control Panel and/or System Tray).
And it will be called Intel something, ATI something, etc. And if
you have one, can usually switch to one of the displays as well.

Yes that is what I am talking about. You should be able to turn off the
laptop display and keep the external monitor on through the Display
Properties or through the ATI utility.

Name brand manufacturers often provide somewhat crippled or minimal
(lacking some features) utility software with their computers. It might
be worthwhile to download and install ATI's version of the
driver-and-utilities for the Mobility 128... Ben Myers

[Ben Myers]

Post by Denzil Hathway
Ben, actually I might do that, when I have a little time. I was puzzling
why I couldn't find the ATI utility that Bill is talking about. I
certainly couldn't find answers in Windows. I'll let you all know how it
works out. Regards, Denzil
===================

Post by Ben Myers

Post by BillW50

Post by Denzil Hathway
Bill, thanks for the comeback. I looked in Control
Panel/Display/Settings before. Idon't see Monitor 1&2 (with both on
and working). I see a single entry for Display, "Multiple Monitors on
ATI Mobility 128 AGP 4X." I looked in Devce Manager too. It shows
four Default monitors with good drivers for each. A Plug and Play
Monitor appears when I connect my external LCD sreen but like before,
both screens are on, showing the same image. I'd like to turn the
Laptop internal monitor off, Regards, Denzil.. "BillW50"

Post by BillW50

Post by Denzil Hathway
Bill, thanks for the help. I installed the "Display Off" utility
from the link you provided and tried it out. As I suspected
"Display Off" shut down BOTH screens, the Laptop internal LCD and
my External flat panel. My objective is to shut down the internal
LCD only and run entirely on the external screen. Pehaps that was
not clear in my earlier posting. Haven't tried your Audio
suggestions yet. Regards, Denzil.

Oh I see. Well you can turn off one of the screens through Control
Panel -> Display. And go to the Settings tab. There select the
monitor you want. You should see monitor 1 and 2. Then check the
"Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor". Now the one above it
"Use this device as the primary monitor" should be able to be
checked too (ungreyed). And go ahead and check it.
This is the Windows way of doing it anyway. Depending on the video
chip and driver, it may work or not. Also many video drivers has
their own utility (usually in the Control Panel and/or System Tray).
And it will be called Intel something, ATI something, etc. And if
you have one, can usually switch to one of the displays as well.

Yes that is what I am talking about. You should be able to turn off
the laptop display and keep the external monitor on through the
Display Properties or through the ATI utility.

Name brand manufacturers often provide somewhat crippled or minimal
(lacking some features) utility software with their computers. It
might be worthwhile to download and install ATI's version of the
driver-and-utilities for the Mobility 128... Ben Myers

Gateway may well have provided drivers only for the Mobility 128 on the
9500, and no utility software.

Ackkk! I can't find Rage Mobility 128 drivers on the ATI web site.
They've taken them away.

Try the IBM ones, a 10MB download:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?sitestyle=lenovo&lndocid=MIGR-41604

It's all the same software for the same chip, so it does not matter
which manufacturer's driver package you use. Gone are the days when a
name brand mfr was either stupid enough or had enough clout to insist on
a custom chip with a slightly different hardware-software interface
special just for them... Ben Myers