The screen on my netbook has been destroyed courtesy of Virgin baggage handling, and i need to get a few items from it – so i tried hooking it upto a monitor via VGA cable, only to find nowt happens. The cable and monitor are fine as i can connect other laptops no problem.

Is there any way i can get the display onto the monitor without having to go into setups…which i cant access due to the knackered display? Its running XP.

Any ideas?

normally you need to do the alt switch creen button to get the netbook to use the external monitor. Might be tricky if you can’t see when it’s booted through…

Most netbooks / laptops have a function key + f4/f5 or whatever combination to switch on the external screen, it should be a little icon of a monitor or similar…

What model netbook?

Either the button as mentioned or if you’re a bit more savvy take the thing apart and unplug the display connector for the LCD from the board. This should make it look for another way of displaying i.e. external monitor (worked on my Dell Vostro anyway…it’s now a headless box running as a server :))

What Mogrim said.

Failing that, whip the hard disk out and slave it on another machine.

i need to get a few items from it

You need to delete your porn before sending it in for an insurance repair, you mean? (-:

as cougar said or get a USB External Disk Caddy
you can get ’em for a fiver