Inspiron 17R vga output doesn't work for games (skyrim)

Hi pkcoff,

Inspiron 7720 is shipped with switchable graphics and it uses Optimus technology from nVidia. The HDMI port on your system is directly connected to the nVidia video card and that is the reason skyrim is getting sufficient video capability when connected to the HDMI port. On the other hand, there is a possbility that the VGA port is connected to the Integrated (Intel) video card due to which the external monitor goes blank as soon as the game starts when connected to the VGA port. To isolate this, enable an additional icon in the notification area to see which graphics card is being used:

1. Click Start and then Control Panel. Select Classic View from the left side of the window.
2. Double-click NVIDIA Control Panel.
3. Click View and next Display GPU Activity Icon in Notification Area.
4. Click the new icon in the notification area. A pop-up will show applications using the NVIDIA graphics. When the NVIDIA graphics is not used, it will show None.

Connect the external monitor to the HDMI port and play skyrim and see which video card is working. Once checked, switch the external monitor to VGA port and check which video card is working.

Note: Make sure you select the extended mode on the laptop when connected with VGA port. By doing this, you will be able to view your system's desktop even if the external monitor blacks out. To enable extended mode, press  Fn >< F1 > to open the screen resolution panel.

Keep me posted. Please reply for any further questions.

I got the 'display gpu activity' working, however when I plug in the hdmi and set the display to extended and start skyrim, the game just plays on the laptop display - how do i make it choose the hdmi display instead?

Actually if I choose to run the game in 'windowed mode' then it works if I just set the 'pc only' display option - so i have the game running in say a 800x600 window and I can still see the gpu activity - however there is no gpu activity for hdmi or vga....

Hi pkcoff,

Thank you for the reply. I will recommend you to update the video drivers on your system:

• Click on the link: http://dell.to/QjjZDA
• Enter the Service Tag and select the operating system.
• Go to 'Video' and click on Intel video driver for your system.
• Click on 'Download File'.
• Select 'Single-file download' and click on 'Continue'.
• Click on 'Save' and save the driver on the desktop.
• Right click on the driver from the desktop and select 'Run as administrator'..
• Install the driver following the on screen instructions.
• Restart the system after the installation is done.
• Install nVidia video driver from the above link following the same steps. Restart the system after the installation.

Once done, assign the game to the Graphics Processor:

 Open the NVIDIA Control Panel

* Select Manage 3D Settings

* Click on the Program Settings tab

* In 1: Select a program to customize, click on Add

* Browse to the application/game and open the executable file by clicking Open

* In 2: Select the preferred graphics processor for this program, click on the tab and select High Performance NVIDIA processor

* Click on Apply and the settings will be saved

You may also refer to the link for more information: http://dell.to/Jr8vds

I instelled the latest ndvidia driver and assigned the nvidia card to the game but it still won't display via the vga connection to the external monitor when I play the game.

I figured out what the problem was - my external monitor is a panasonic led tv, the pc input only supported 1366x768 and I was trying to run at 1920x1080.  When I set the game to play at 1366x768 now it works with my vga connection.