How to turn off the laptop monitor when using an external monitor?

windows-7 laptop external-display

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There is NO support in Windows 7 to turn off the laptop monitor completely with the backlight and leave the external monitor on. This was most likely a bug in Windows Vista.

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Author by

paradd0x

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Updated on September 17, 2022

Comments

paradd0x almost 2 years

I have a Toshiba Laptop and I have searched all over the place for a solution to the following problem.

I use a Toshiba DynaDock to connect to an external monitor. I used to have Windows Vista, and while using that OS, whenever my external monitor was connected, the laptop monitor turned off completely. I recently upgraded to Windows 7 and that does not happen anymore. The screen stays blank, but the backlight is on.

Since it did work on Windows Vista, and since 7 is extremely similar to Windows Vista, I trust there is a way to set that up.

So my question is, is there a way to completely turn off the laptop monitor whilst using an external one, and whenever the external one is not connected, the laptop monitor works normally?

Also, I cannot use the power settings in 7, I have tried setting the monitor to turn off after a few mins, but it just dims and leaves the backlight on.
paradd0x over 13 years

When I updated the DynaDock drivers a few weeks ago, it broke the whole thing and I had to do a system restore. The Toshiba updates do not seem to like the DynaDock and break it. Also, the updates for the computer from Toshiba, I can't find them. There are literally 20 different version numbers for my laptop model.
FJ de Brienne over 13 years

On the underside of the laptop is a sticker with Model Name and Part No on it. Mine is Satellite Pro L500-1D4 and PSLS1E-00U00CEN - what's yours?
uxout over 13 years

If it's the backlight this IS a driver problem, there's no two ways around it. If your machine doesn't support Win7 officially you may just have to live with this.
Tamara Wijsman over 13 years

Use Speccy to figure out your hardware and then download the drivers from the sites of those brands, the drivers don't have to come from the Toshiba site itself. You'll want to look for chipset and graphics drivers...
paradd0x over 13 years

It's a Satellite L355-S7915. I will look on the Toshiba site for the drivers and see what I can get from there.
paradd0x over 13 years

All the drivers are up to date. The issue is still occuring.
Pacerier about 9 years

What about windows 8?