Broken Laptop Screen, No Output to External Monitor During Windows Setup (Reset)

Long story short, my son's Predator laptop screen broke and he removed it in an attempt to replace. He abandoned the effort and is now in the USAF. I use a giant monitor and we decided to try it on the monitor using a DP to C connector. Success! Got son's permission to reset the computer and started the process.

Windows being Windows, this is where we ran into trouble. I can see the boot logo. I can boot into BIOS and see that no problem. However as soon as it says "Hi! I'm Cortana and I'm here to help!" or some such garbage, the screen goes blank and there is no signal. I've tried HDMI and of course the DP to C cable, both work with Boot screen and BIOS. I've ordered a DP to DP cable just to see if that might help.

Any suggestions? I don't have external media (like a Windows boot USB) but I suppose I might try that next. Was running Windows 10. I could also try a Linux boot thumb drive also, but I'm not sure I want to run it as a Linux machine.

Accepted answers

emrjackson

I solved it! I used Windows installation media on a USB thumb drive with the monitor connected via HDMI. My guess is that the reset had some generic driver missing so HDMI was not default output.

Now looking into making it a dual boot with Linux anyway. SO excited, this thing is a beast!!

All comments

emrjackson

Correction, I only see the Boot Screen with the HDMI connector, not the DP to C.

emrjackson

I solved it! I used Windows installation media on a USB thumb drive with the monitor connected via HDMI. My guess is that the reset had some generic driver missing so HDMI was not default output.

Now looking into making it a dual boot with Linux anyway. SO excited, this thing is a beast!!

emrjackson

Installing an updated Nvidia driver broke the connection to the external monitor again. It kind of reminds me of the problem of the black screen with the white arrow that happens when the internal graphics driver conflicts with the graphics card driver, except there is simply no signal from the laptop.

I have powered off and on several times, and now once Windows loads I DO see the screen with the time; when I press enter it does not give me any options for log in; kind of like an extended display might do. Fn/F5/F6 does not work, windows key + P does not work. I have the feeling I'm going to have to start over with the installation.

In addition, I did partition the drive in anticipation of installing Linux as well, but when I boot with a Linux distro thumb drive I get no output to the monitor, although the drive is clearly being read. Separate issue I suppose. Should I update to the latest BIOS?

Commodore_1995#

What is the exact model of the laptop? Example AN515-55-58VH.

emrjackson

It's a Predator G9-593.

Is that specific enough? Thanks!

Installing again was not easy; for example I installed the Acer Intel chipset drivers first and I lost the monitor output. Next time I installed VGA driver first, then chipset and it's working. But I'm terrified of Windows or other updates taking out the HDMI output again, so it's off for the time being. I re-installed Windows 5 times; hope it's the last.

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