How do I get 3 displays working (or 2 external monitors) from a laptop?

[PaulKitching]

Hi,

I have a user who has a HP ProBook 4515s running Windows 7 Professional. He wants to use two identical HP external monitors plugged into a Toshiba DynaDock U10 (one through VGA, the other through DVI) and have the laptop lid closed.

I recently updated the displayLink drivers so his laptop could use 32-bit colours (it used to freeze the screen previously), and it now has this version on:

DisplayLink Core Software 5.6.31854.0 DisplayLink Corp.
DisplayLink Graphics 5.6.31870.0 DisplayLink Corp.

The laptop has an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4200 in it.

When I click on the DynaDock icon in the SysTray, I get two options that give graphics properties, but both seem to be the standard Windows options. When the lid is closed I only see 1 monitor in the settings, and both physical monitors show the same screen, and when the laptop lid is open I see 2 monitors in the Windows settings (the DynaDock one is called something like "No Monitor"), and I get both externals showing the same screen and the Laptop one with a different screen.

I have set the options to extend the desktop, but both externals always show the same thing, and are identified as the same monitor in Windows 7.

I expected to see three screen shown in the Windows monitors setup (two for the DynaDock and one for the laptop). I've read that I can use 3 displays with this model.

Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong, or how I fix it?

[Wim]

This should be possible to configure.

First you will probably need to change the lid close behaviour. This can be done under Control Panel-> Power Options -> Change what closing the lid does. You should set this to "Do Nothing"

Then open the Windows Screen resolution settings, either right clicking on the desktop and choosing "screen resolutions" or under the DisplayLink GUI and "Advanced config..."

Make sure all of the displays are set to "Extend desktop to this display", then choose the laptop display (probably display 1) and disable that display. Note: You will probably need to make one of the DisplayLink displays the main monitor first.

You should now have a blank laptop screen and be able to close the lid and just use the USB displays.

Wim

[PaulKitching]

Thanks for the reply.

I got to "...and disable that display". I can't see any way to do that. Should there be an option, or are you talking about the <Fn><F4> laptop screen changing function?

[edit]
I've managed to get it to only show the display on the two external monitors by choosing something like "only show desktop on 2". I now only see one monitor in the display settings and both are the same.

I was stuck with the monitors saying "out of range" after closing the laptop lid, for about an hour (I tried installing monitor drivers and the GFX drivers without success). I pulled out the VGA cable and plugged it back in and now I can shut the lid and still see the monitors.

[PaulKitching]

Sorted!

We all thought that the whole point of the DynaDock with the two video outputs was to allow you to plug in two monitors. We were wrong.

I've realised that you can only use one of the outputs at once (or get two displays the same).

I've now switched off the laptop monitor by setting the <Fn><F4> to projector only, then I have one monitor plugged into the laptop VGA port, and the other from the DynaDock.