will47 Loc: Indianapolis, IN

I was working on problem #1 from my previous post, LG external monitor not working on a HP Laptop as of today, when I found something that came up that said (I am close here not exact) to switch to external monitor. I did. And now I have no screen on either of them. The laptop screen works but I switched it off. The LG external does not. How di I get the laptop screen back?

VogtGuy Loc: Fort Wayne, Indiana

The same function key that turned off your monitor should turn it on. Press the same key again.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

The key or key combination used to switch displays usually cycles between all off, internal only, external only, and all on (or all off, internal only, and all on). At least that's how it always worked on PCs I've used. So keep using the same keystroke to see what happens.

Macs are a different story. They have a setting in Preferences called Displays, where you can control internal and external monitors separately.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

Get anything other than a HP computer. I had their top of the line 18" model and it was nothing but trouble. These days I us Dell Towers with no problems. Bad experiences breed brand disloyalty.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

right click on an open area on your desktop and there should be a path to selecting monitors or displays or something like that. 1 sould be the lap top screen and 2 an external. As my HP died the screen would go blank even when windows was running but you could only use the keyboard then. I was able to access the screen for about a minute at a time to set up copying my files off the machine. Yours hopefully is just turned off, but I did not know you could select no display.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Selections vary among brands, but there is usually a function key or control key sequence to toggle among various monitor states. Laptops need this for presenters who use video projectors. The idea is that you can quickly set up what you want on screen without the audience viewing it until you're ready.

On my old Dell, it was F4, F8, or CTRL+F8, or SHIFT+F8, or something like that. It was very handy when doing training with a PC. The key was marked with little screen icons.

chrissybabe Loc: New Zealand

Easiest test for #1 is to substitute in another monitor. You don't say what model it is but if it is connected via an HDMI cable then you could use a TV as a temporary test. Also be suspicious of the cable as these often crap out also. I just biffed an old monitor as it was giving classic symptoms of failing capacitors (intermittent cutting in and out). The new monitor worked for a few days and then did the same thing. I checked the cable and found it was one of the same type I had problems with years ago. Replaced the cable and no problem since. Fortunately I have several spare monitors of the same type.
This is all assuming you get the right key strokes to get your laptop screen back.
Monitors can fail for a whole heap of reasons (as can a PC) but a frequent cause is faulty capacitors inside it. They dry out. Other than trying to fix it the best cure is a new monitor.

DeanS Loc: Capital City area of North Carolina

Rebooting often solves myriad problems. Try it, nothing to lose.

Hal81 Loc: Bucks County, Pa.

The constipated account. He worked it out with a pencil.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

Yes, I've been in photo classes a few years ago where the instructor seemed to be trying to do just that. A few of them seemed to be having a problem remembering the keyboard quick access to the monitor selections. Also the digital projector they had was funky and was hard to focus so they were not able to surprise us with a ready to go presentation.

As I also said, I found my old HP 18" LapTop to be odd and nonstandard and not even well understood by HP Techs themselves. Some of the keyboard and special commands never functioned correctly, so I probably never knew about the CTRL+F8 or like commands. So I learned the Windows / Microsoft commands and accesses.