[moscatomg1]

Hi all, I'm having such bad cust. service experience that I'm coming to the real experts here! I've gotten a toshiba recently. Everything is working perfectly right out of the box--except the dual monitor setup (w/ a maxent moniter as the secondary).

The maxent works fine w/ other laptops, so that item is not the problem. It has to be the toshiba. When the toshiba starts up, the images like the toshiba logo and very initial windows splash will show up. But then it stops, and the maxent just goes back to its blue screen. In addition, the line out sound will only play right speaker sound (on the maxent and other devices) . . . but w/ headphones it is fine.

Please advise on any suggestions. Drivers are all up-to-date and windows updates are good, so I'm really lost.

This should be basic, so it's pretty disappointing this isn't working. Thank you!

system info:
toshiba nb505-508BL
OS Windows 7 Home Premium, 32 bit

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Hi moscatomg1,
Not sure if you have already done this but what happens if you toggle the screens by pressing the Fn and F5 keys together (it may be the Fn key and one of the other F1 to F12 keys if not F5 on a Toshiba)

In addition, the line out sound will only play right speaker sound (on the maxent and other devices) . . . but w/ headphones it is fine.

Have you checked the speaker balance settings, the volume could be turned down on the left channel.

[phillpower2]

Hi moscatomg1,
Not sure if you have already done this but what happens if you toggle the screens by pressing the Fn and F5 keys together (it may be the Fn key and one of the other F1 to F12 keys if not F5 on a Toshiba)

In addition, the line out sound will only play right speaker sound (on the maxent and other devices) . . . but w/ headphones it is fine.

Have you checked the speaker balance settings, the volume could be turned down on the left channel.

[moscatomg1]

thanks for the speedy reply, phillpower2,

dual monitors: yeah, toggling fn + f5 (like you said) and/or the display settings (under windows "appearance & personalization") should make the dual/extra monitor setup work, as usually it does--but neither method works w/ this sys. as it is currently. and both methods "combined" (i.e. messing w/ them somewhat at once) won't work either.

line out sound: and, yep, the sound is balanced and everything else looks good as far as the sound utility is concerned. And I tested with the windows sound diagnostic and same problem. . . . but one thing I neglected to mention that's probably relevant: since the out jack on the laptop is a single jack and the inputs on the tested devices (maxent monitor and a small stereo) are dual red & white audio cable inputs, I have to use a "y-splitter"(?) coming out from the laptop's headphone/line out jack. . . . but this was never an issue with the couple of dell laptops I've used in the past.

So I'm really stumped.

[phillpower2]

To be on the safe side I would suggest you return the laptop to the store and have them test it, whilst you wait if possible, it looks like you may have rogue machine there and being new it is not your job to fix it, sorry but I cant think of anything more to try + voiding your warranty must be avoided.

Edited by phillpower2, 27 February 2011 - 03:11 PM.

[moscatomg1]

update:

sound line out: Apparently the speaker on that maxent monitor flat out just doesn't work anymore--no matter what input. And I suppose my hearing is such that it may well have been like that for a while, as it's unlikely the toshiba just happened to blow out that speaker these few recent times I hooked it up to the maxent (as there was no such indication, like a pop or the like).

dual monitor: Testing w/ other monitors successfully, this seems to be more a compatibility issue w/ the Maxent itself (though there may be other monitors it won't work w/, too). So I mostly wanted to put this out there still if wide compatibility w/ dual/external monitors is something that others are considering this sys. for, too. . . .

Otherwise, the netbook is working fine, and I have no other complaints--though I found this dual monitor issue rather disappointing (still I feel it's quite possible that a RAM upgrade may resolve this, since others have cited that upgrade as rather essential for getting the most out of this little sys., but I haven't tried that yet).

[phillpower2]

Thanks for the update moscatomg1,

still I feel it's quite possible that a RAM upgrade may resolve this,

Possibly as the laptops onboard video chip uses shared memory, upgrading to the max
2GB may work, it will be a welcome upgrade and improve your system performance in any
event.
What size is the Maxent monitor?

[moscatomg1]

It's pretty big, so again that may be a reason for the problem--along w/ the "shared memory" issue you mention. But here are the specs.: "Maxent MX-42VM11 42" 852x480 / 3000:1 Contrast Ratio / DVI / Plasma."