Compaq laptop, external vga problems

[Ken Bloom <kbloom@gmail.com>]

I'm having trouble using an external monitor/projector with my Compaq
Presario v2310us [1]. The computer doesn't activate the VGA port when I
do the Function-F4 (monitor switch) thing. If I reboot while the VGA
monitor is attached, then it boots up and runs X mirrored on both the
LCD and the external monitor, but if I don't boot up that way, then I
haven't gotten it to put out an image on the external port yet.

How can I fix this?

[1] http://www.iit.edu/~kbloom1/Main/Compaq_Presario_v2310us

--Ken Bloom

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