E167FP, PC HDMI to VGA cable not working?

I currently have an hp laptop and a Dell E167FPf monitor. Using my old acer laptop, I used a VGA-VGA lead to connect to the second monitor and it worked fine and very easily. On purchasing my new hp laptop, it only has an HDMI output. I now use an HDMI-VGA lead to connect to the monitor, however when I turn on the monitor there is only a floating "Self Test Feature Check" with Red, Green, Blue, White. There are four buttons in the bottom right hand corner of the monitor: furthest right is the power button, then a positive sign, a negative sign, and a symbol that looks like a menu button (or a bit like a calculator). Pressing any of these buttons in any combination does not give any options. Can anyone help suggest how to fix this?

Thanks in advance.