I've got a now fairly old Dell M1530 laptop (that has had various problems due to the well documented overheating issues) that has in the last week had its LCD panel die on me. It's not the inverter so its not really worth fixing, but I'm happy using it as a desktop with an external monitor attached.
So I've bought a nice IPS panel (much recommended) and I've so far got it hooked up using the VGA out on the side of the laptop. Works much as you'd expect after I've hit the keyboard combo to turn on the external monitor (Win+P, then down twice on Windows 8).
However, I want to use the HDMI port instead for the obvious image quality reasons, and just plugging it in and doing the same as I have with VGA doesn't work. Because the built-in screen is dead I can't see if Windows 8 is detecting the port and asking me if I want to use it or something like that.
Can anyone help?