This is a companion guide to Configuring and connecting your

laptop to a projector for a presentation. Before you proceed, you should either be

technically savvy, or I recommend you read the other guide first.

If this guide was helpful to you, or if you have some suggestions for improvement, please let

me know.

Technology - This guide assumes you are using Windows®, but the issues should be

easy to relate to other platforms.

Step 1. Get help if possible

• If you are at a conference, there should be conference technicians and
  
  student volunteers. Use the latter to go get the former. If you are at a company, someone
  
  usually has responsibility for A/V, and most other staff will know who that person is. Again, use
  
  the latter to go get the former.
• Given that the technician might not arrive in time, because they are busy with
  
  other poor souls, start tackling the problem. If there is a cautionary label on the projector
  
  which says something like "changes allowed only authorized personnel", ignore
  
  it. The equipment should be insured, and you have to make a presentation. The technician
  
  might be on coffee break, so get cracking!

Step 2. The projector Menu (cycle the input)

Many projectors can accept input from multiple video sources, including s-video, regular video,

multiple computers, and more. Remarkably, when only one thing is plugged in to certain

projectors, they might not automatically know this, and therefore they have to be told...

• If there is an INPUT or SOURCE button on the top of the
  
  projector (or even the remote control for the projector), then this is your best place to start.
  
  Press it repeatedly until the display on screen matches the label of the hole that the cable is
  
  plugged into (e.g. COMPUTER IN or VGA IN). Remember, you might have to cycle your
  
  own laptop display in order to get an image.
• If the above fails, or if there isn't an INPUT or SOURCE button,
  
  on top of the projector there should be a MENU button and left/right/up/down buttons for
  
  navigating the menu. It is a case of finding the correct menu to change the projector input
  
  and/or match the display resolution to your laptop (which should already be set to 800x600).

if that doesn't work... then...

Step 3. Look at the cable and connections, including in-between connections

Cables and connectors can go bad. But, if someone else has a laptop and theirs works with

the cable in its original configuration, you don't have a bad cable!

• The connector cable needs to run uninterrupted from your laptop to the
  
  projector. Follow it and make sure it does. If it doesn't, find the end and plug it back in the
  
  projector. It should go into a hole marked COMPUTER IN or VGA IN.
• There might be other connectors between your laptop and the computer. Perhaps
  
  the system has been set up using extension cables. Try moving your laptop and use the shorter
  
  cables individually to see if you have a bad cable. Try again cycling the screen and/or change
  
  the projector input.

Switch boxes - Occasionally, there might be a switch box between your laptop and the

projector. This box might be used to switch the source from different laptops, or from a VCR to

the projector etc. Just find it, figure it out, and switch it over, or failing that, try every

switch position.

if that doesn't work... then...

Step 4. Try different resolutions and settings (start with...800x600)

800x600 is a good place to start. Your laptop should already be setup for this resolution (if

you are following the guide to Configuring and connecting your laptop to a

projector for a presentation).

• The projector might not be good at 800x600, and the screen is wobbly, or the
  
  lettering on the fonts is jagged or just plain crappy. If this is the case, try other resolutions
  
  (use the display settings dialog box on your laptop). Start with 1024x768 (which should work with
  
  a modern projector), or 640x480 (if it is a vintage projector).
• You could have a top-of-the-line super-duper projector, and high resolutions
  
  like 1280x1024 or 1400x1050 might work. This might make your presentation look super too!
  
  Remember though, always start with 800x600 and work your way up.
• Another thing you might try to change is the number of colors you are sending
  
  to the projector. Go into the display properties dialog box. Many laptops can display in
  
  "256 colors", or "High Color", or "True Color". The latter ones
  
  just mean "lots and lots of colors". Try 256 colors to start with, and work your way
  
  up. Remember, if you have subtle shades of color in your slides, "256 colors" may make
  
  those slides look crappy.

if that doesn't work... then...

You might try changing the refresh rate of the external monitor, which will probably

be found under the "advanced" display properties box, which is covered next...

Step 5. Your laptop's "Advanced" display properties

It's called the "Advanced" display properties, but in reality, it is a bizarre

fantasy land! A programmer's idea of a joke. This is where settings are random and indicators are

useless, but you might just get the setting you need somehow...

Go into the Display Properties Control Panel, "Settings" tab and click on

"Advanced Properties". In the new dialog box, click on the "displays" tab and

you might get a screen which has a picture of a monitor, a laptop, and perhaps a TV screen. It

may look different, but the buttons and indicators are what you are concerned with: [Monitor

on/off], [Panel on/off], [Primary] and [Secondary] buttons.

What to do?

• Just start clicking away and hit "Apply" at each guess. This is a
  
  crap-shoot! The buttons have no bearing on reality whatsoever. It's just some nutty scheme to
  
  frustrate people that a bored programmer once did, and it stuck.
• Primary or secondary? What do you care? You just want them turned on?!
  
  Sometimes you even get a check mark. What does the checkmark indicate? Absolutely nothing at all.
  
  The on and off buttons for the monitors are nutty too - they can show that they are off when you
  
  can clearly see they are on, or the buttons just plain don't operate.

Good luck!

if that doesn't work... then...

Step 6. Try percussive engineering

• If all else fails, hit the projector (remember, it is insured). You
  
  never know what loose connections you might re-establish¹.
• If hitting the projector fails, try jiggling the cable.
• If jiggling the cable doesn't work, try hitting your laptop near the cable
  
  connection. Just a sharp tap or two. You don't want to hit your laptop as hard as you hit the
  
  projector, because you don't want to damage it and lose your data.

if that doesn't Vwork... then...

Step 7. Present without slides

If all this fails, you'll have to do your presentation without slides.

• When it comes to present, don't apologize for your lack of slides - just act
  
  like that's how you were going to do it anyway. Most of the audience won't know.
• If you need to use a figure to explain your presentation, use an easel and a
  
  marker pen, or an overhead projector with plastic transparencies.

Summary Checklist

1. Get help if possible...
   but don't wait for help to arrive (time is short!)...
2. The projector Menu (cycle the input)
   if that doesn't work...
3. Look at the cable and connections, including in-between connections
   if that doesn't work...
4. Try different resolutions and settings (start with...800x600)
   if that doesn't work...
5. Go into your laptop's "Advanced" tab of the Display Properties Control
   
   Panel and start playing with stuff
   if that doesn't work...
6. Try percussive engineering (start hitting things)
   if that doesn't work...
7. Present without slides