[Jerry D. Penny]

Is it possible to use an external USB Video device on my laptop to bypass internal display card that has failed? I never use laptop built in display, but rather have an external LCD display connected via the HDMI output from the laptop. Replacing video cards is not an option due to cost of $379.00 each(there are 2 for SLI capability). I mainly use laptop for general surfing and to play World of Warcraft. Any help you could give would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

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Hi Jerry and

If the notebook's graphics solution is the only problem, then the adapter "should" work. But without your internal graphics working, installing the drivers for this adapter might be a tough challenge.

[Digerati]

Hi Jerry and

If the notebook's graphics solution is the only problem, then the adapter "should" work. But without your internal graphics working, installing the drivers for this adapter might be a tough challenge.

[Jerry D. Penny]

The internal adapter works fine for general surfing(email, Facebook and its' games that I play, and web surfing in general) as a standard VGA adapter using Microsoft's driver. Adapter shows unavailable video ram, and 3D capability is not present as well as support for Direct X technology so World of Warcraft will not run at this time. Am running external monitor at 1280 x 1024 at this time with no issues to speak of other than sometimes slow to repaint screen.

[Digerati]

The internal adapter works fine for general surfing

Oh, note you said in your opening post,

bypass internal display card that has failed

I personally would expect one of those adapters to provide good "game play". For one, I don't think any come with their RAM.

[Jerry D. Penny]

System has 4GB of system RAM but do not see option in BIOS for allocating some system resources to video. Is there a particular brand of external USB display device that I should consider? Will Windows 7 allocate some resources for video RAM? Adapter must have HDMI output as that is what I am using to power external display from the laptop. It has 1 HDMI out port on it but if external adapter has the same, should be able to use that one, correct?

To be more specific about video problem, if I install either of nVidia or Toshiba's version of video driver, Windows will not start in normal mode, only safe mode. When I boot in this manner, a conflict shows with card 1 under resources where it shows it is attempting to use resources allocated to PCI controller and option to change resource allocation is disabled, card 2 shows no conflicts. If I disable card 1 and leave card 2 enabled, windows still goes into an endless reboot sequence. When I disable both, Windows starts normally and shows that it is using a standard VGA adapter with no RAM for video. Although performance is degraded, it is still usable to a degree.

At one point, I was very adept at systems and hardware as I was a programmer for 11+ years. That ended in Dec. of 2001 so I have been out of the loop so to speak since that time.

I hope I have clarified things to a degree for you guys. I appreciate your feedback and support greatly. Thanks.

[Digerati]

Two graphics cards in a notebook? What is the model number of this Toshiba?

[Jerry D. Penny]

It is a Toshiba Satellite Model X205-SLI2; Part Number PSPBUU-01900J. I bought it in Dec. of 2007. It has dual 160GB hard drives; 17 inch display and came with Windows Vista Home Premium installed. The video adapter(s) as stated earlier is nVidia GeForce 8600M GT dual 512MB supporting 720p native display running at 1440 x 900 resolution and it was blazingly fast for video and gaming. Using the external monitor via HDMI, I can run(or could run) at 1920 X 1440 resolution although I usually kept it in 1440 X 900 mode.

[Jerry D. Penny]

Correction to last post regarding resolution for external display. Correct display mode was 1920 x 1080 for 1080p mode. Sorry for the confusion.

[Digerati]

I just don't see a USB adapter being better than what you already have. If nothing else, the bandwidth of the USB port would be a bottle neck.

[Jerry D. Penny]

Well, I was afraid that was going to be the answer. Guess it is time to replace this laptop then because I can do that cheaper than I can repair this one. Thanks for your support and feedback.

[Digerati]

As far as your problem, I would use the latest driver as found on the Toshiba website - uninstalling the old, rebooting then installing the new.

[Jerry D. Penny]

I have done that as well as trying the latest nVidia driver. Both had same result(continuous reboot at startup). Both drivers show a conflict when I boot in Safe Mode with Networking and do not allow resolution of conflict except to disable the adapter(s) in Windows Device Manager. At that point, I can boot normally.

I have copied and pasted current System Information->Display entry below..:

Name Standard VGA Graphics Adapter
PNP Device ID PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0407&SUBSYS_FF001179&REV_A1\6&B2FB15D&0&00080008
Adapter Type Not Available, (Standard display types) compatible
Adapter Description Standard VGA Graphics Adapter
Adapter RAM Not Available
Installed Drivers Not Available
Driver Version 6.1.7600.16385
INF File display.inf (vga section)
Color Planes Not Available
Color Table Entries Not Available
Resolution Not Available
Bits/Pixel Not Available
Memory Address 0xF3000000-0xF5FFFFFF
Memory Address 0xC0000000-0xDFFFFFFF
Memory Address 0xF4000000-0xF5FFFFFF
I/O Port 0x00003000-0x00003FFF
I/O Port 0x000003B0-0x000003BB
I/O Port 0x000003C0-0x000003DF
Memory Address 0xA0000-0xBFFFF
Driver c:\windows\system32\drivers\vgapnp.sys (6.1.7600.16385, 25.50 KB (26,112 bytes), 7/13/2009 6:25 PM)


Do not know if this will help or not but thought I would include it anyway.

[Jerry D. Penny]

Here is information from System Information-> Problem Devices below..:

3D Video Controller PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0407&SUBSYS_FF001179&REV_A1\6&1B4B69F4&0&00000008 The drivers for this device are not installed.

When I attempt to install driver, appears to succeed, then rolling reboot begins again. Same problem arises when I boot in Safe Mode and review display adapter settings.

[Digerati]

I generally recommend using the drivers from the notebook maker and not NVIDIA as notebooks tend to be proprietary.

Correct display mode was 1920 x 1080 for 1080p mode

You were right the first time - the "native" resolution is 1440x900 with 720p content - at least according to these specs.

Standard VGA mode is the industry standard default for all operating systems, graphics (cards or integrated), and monitors. This is basically the lowest common denominator (default drivers) so all devices will on the same page out of their respective boxes. This is the same as used in Safe Mode. I would boot into Safe Mode and make sure the resolution is set to the native 1440x900.

This still sounds like a driver issue to me. Or maybe you need to disable then re-enable SLI.

[Jerry D. Penny]

I cannot even gat that far as to enable or disable SLI technology with Toshiba driver. As soon as I install driver and allow system to reboot to complete installation, it crashes at the opening screen for Windows 7. Video develops vertical lines then goes blank followed by blue screen showing windows failure, then reboots. If I do not press F8 to boot in Safe Mode, it simply continues to boot over and over. When I go into Safe Mode, I do not have the option to enable or disable SLI options, nor to change the memory resources for the video adapter. I tried updating the driver from inside Windows in Safe Mode and got the same results described above. At this point, I no longer think this is a driver issue as I have downloaded and installed the latest driver from Toshiba and it always produces the same result.

I have read reviews online that state that the nVidia series of graphic adapters in laptops have a reputation for overheating at some point and failing. I really believe that is what has happened here.

I was hoping to find a satisfactory alternative to replacing the laptop or replacing the video adapter via a USB adapter. Your responses tell me that I have no valid alternative at this point.