Use VGA Monitor Before OS loads

[Lare2]

I have a Thinkpad Edge 14 with a broken screen due to falling down. The machine is ok because i can still see part of the screen and was able to rescue all my files using a vga monitor with puppy linux. When I put the puppy linux cd on the machine nothing shows on the VGA monitor until the os loads.

For some reason my machine can't go past the windows logo screen. I already moved all my files to my NAS and wanted to do a system restore using the VGA monitor, howver i can't, because the vga monitor wont show me anything while using the thinkvantage recovery tool.

Is there a way to force the machine to use the vga monitor as soon the machines turns on so I can restore the machine.

I already posted the same question over at the lenovo forums but they don't seem to be as active as the neowin ones.

[TheDisneyMagic]

I don't have that model computer but is it possible to press the FN key and one of the F buttons at the top of your keyboard to switch to an external monitor?

[Lare2]

It has one but doesn't seem to react unless is already booted into the OS

[TheDisneyMagic]

Are you able to access the BIOS? Some BIOSs let you select the default output.

[Lare2]

I'm trying to get in from the small corner that are still visible

[lars77]

Maybe try getting into the BIOS screen first, then switching over to the monitor via FN key, then reboot & see if it sticks to the monitor output? Last time I worked on Lenovos it wasn't really a bit deal with the FN key, it'd switch output regardless of Windows running or not. Just keep in mind that it may have 3 modes that it'll switch through which may get confusing:

- Laptop screen on, VGA output off

- Laptop screen off, VGA output on

- Laptop screen on, VGA output on (simultaneous mode)

[Lare2]

I got it.

The button that changed outputs was there shared with the F4. It wasn't working because a change was made on the BIOS to disable the special functions. Once enabled I was able to make it work.

Thanks to all