April 18, 2008, Newsletter Issue #115: Projector troubleshooting: Projector displays no image

Tip of the Week

If your LCD or DLP projector displays no image, this could be a variety of problems. First, check that the projector has power. On the top of the LCD or DLP projector should be some lights. With power, those lights will be on. If it has power, check to make sure that the projector lamp is firing. If so, go to the source. Make sure that it is connected with a VGA cable or USB cable to your computer, or with an RGB cable, S-Video cable or DVI connection to your VCR/DVD Player. From a laptop computer, the VGA cable should be connected to the VGA out connection, and into the VGA in connection on the projector. Are both ends tight?

If everything has checked out so far, the solution probably lies with the external monitor port. Check this by holding the Fn key on the keyboard, then press the F7 key. (On some computers, the key might be F5 or F3. Try these if F7 doesn't work) Each time you press the Fn / F7 combination, you will cycle your display through the following settings:

* Press Fn / F7 once: The laptop screen only
* Press Fn / F7 twice: The projector port only
* Press Fn / F7 three times: Both the laptop and projector port
* Wait a few seconds after each time you press the key combination to let the LCD or DLP projector refresh. Nine times out of ten this will result in seeing your projected image.

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