I have a Gateway laptop whose screen just broken and is cracked. However, I also do have an external Gateway monitor, model NO: FPD1730. I hooked up the external monitor to the laptop and it only works in Safe Mode - in normal mode, the external monitor remains blank. The Gateway laptop is running Windows Vista and the drivers I tried downloading for the external monitor are all for either Windows XP, ME or 98. I downloaded the drivers onto the laptop with the broken screen and am trying to add the monitor as a display adapter for the laptop. However, whenever I try to install it from the device manager, it says "The folder you specificed doesn't contain a compatible software driver for your device. If the folder contains a driver, make sure it is designed to work with Windows for 32-bit systems." All I'm trying to do is get this monitor to work completely with my laptop with the broken screen (which works in all other aspects) - can you please tell me what exactly to do? Which drivers would make this work? Thank you. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Excuse me if I'm talking below you level of expertise...

With an external monitor on a laptop you usually have to activate the plug where you've connected the external monitor cable . This requires pressing 2 keys in combination, usually a FUNCTION button + a specific function key. Yeah, they're named almost the same thing, but I'll try to keep it straight.

On your keyboard's function keys (above the numeric keys typically) should be small pictures besides the standard F1, F2, etc. which are usually in white. You're looking for the picture that resembles a monitor. On my Thinkpad the small pictures are colored blue, and the monitor is on the F7 key. It so happens that my FUNCTION button (different than the function keys we were just talking about) which is located in the lower left of my keyboard is also blue. Yours might be in a different position, but I'm giving you an idea when to look.

When you find the Function Button, press and hold this key and the correct Function key (F1, F2, whatever). You might need to press this 1 or 2 times to get the correct monitor setting. I'm not exactly sure of the order but you'll activate the external monitor, then another combination press will activate both displays, then a 3rd will do another setting, then back to the beginning. If you miss it the first time just slowly press the combination until you get what you're looking for. Be patient, and press once every 5 seconds or so, giving the computer enough time to change its settings.

Hope this helps!