Not recognizing second monitor after hibernate (Windows 7, Dell D630 laptop)

Question

I have a Dell Latitude D630 laptop which I've recently updated to Windows 7 64-bit. (The Dell site confirms that it's Windows-7-compatible.) Normally it lives in a docking station with a second monitor connected to the DVI port on the docking station, and I use the second monitor in a multi-monitor configuration with the laptop screen. Sometimes I undock the laptop and use it separately.

Here's the problem: If I hibernate the laptop while undocked, and then power it back up in the docking station, it does not recognize the second monitor. By which I mean that not only does it not share the desktop onto the second monitor, but if I go into the control panel for display settings and press "Detect", it does not even detect the existence of the second monitor. I can tell it to "use the VGA port anyway" for a second monitor, but the monitor is connected to a DVI port on the docking station, so that doesn't do anything useful.

If I entirely reboot the laptop while it's connected to the docking station, it has no problem recognizing the second monitor and using it. But then, if I hibernate, undock, de-hibernate while undocked and rehibernate, and then re-dock and de-hibernate, it's back to not recognizing the second monitor again.

I'm reasonably certain that this is not a limitation of the hardware; this worked fine on Windows XP.

I'm currently using the Windows 7 driver for my video card. I attempted to use the video driver from the Dell website for this laptop, but Dell only provides Vista 64-bit drivers, not Windows 7 64-bit drivers. Their "Windows 7 compatibility" page suggests that the Vista drivers should work, but when I attempted to install the driver, it gave me a "this operating system not supported" error and refused to install.

Any further ideas?

Solution

I have the same issue on my HP laptop. I found, though, if I pull the lid down just far enough to make the laptop LCD turn off, then pull it back up, it will come back up with both the LCD and the external monitor found and active. Of course, you would need to make sure that you haven't set your laptop's power settings to hibernate or shut off when you close the lid.

Comments

[Admin]

Same with my Toshiba M505 S6030 and Win7 after hybernation. Plug in, plug out. Tried intitiating the handshake by pre-selecting the HDMI port on the TV and cycling power. It's an intermitent problem. Sometimes it works after hybernate, but it fails often, and only lately. Worked fine for years. Rebooting fixes it but is a pain.

[Brooks Moses]

Good suggestion, but unfortunately it doesn't work for me. It also gave me the idea of using the "CRT/LCD" button that connects to an external projector, but that also didn't do anything.

[Brooks Moses]

Aha! Okay, so this gave me a further idea of de-hibernating with the laptop lid closed so it has to use the second monitor, and then opening it once the login window came up. That worked fine (it swapped over to putting the login window on the laptop screen as soon as I opened it, and left the external monitor powered up), and now that I've logged in it's got both monitors recognized properly without a reboot. Still feels a bit like weird magic, but if it works, it works. Thanks!