Connecting laptop to TV

Hi, I need some help connecting my laptop to the TV. I have a Vostro 1500 with GeForce 8400M GS card. It has a VGA out and a 7-pin S-Video out. I need to connect it to a TV that has only composite input. I got a 4-pin S-Video to composite cable that is listed on Dell's accessories page ( http://www.startech.com/item/SVID2RCAMM6-6ft-S-Video-to-Composite-Video-Cable.aspx).

This is the procedure i followed: I changed the resolution to 800x600 and shut down the laptop. I connected the laptop to the TV. I started the TV and changed the channel to the correct aux input. I started the laptop and pressed Fn+F8. The laptop screen flickered for a moment but nothing else happened. I tried selecting the display from the nvidia control panel, but it shows only the laptop display in the list and nothing else. So I guess the TV isn't getting detected at all.

I've tried connecting to two different TVs. I read somewhere that I might have to change the TV settings to accept S-Video input but since the TV does not have S-Video input, there is no such setting. Apart from cable being damaged I can't think of any other reason, and unfortunately I dont have any way of checking the cable. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

My first recommendation would be to upgrade your video drivers. The Nvidia control application has an option to force detection of a display. That option is specifically designed for the situation you are describing.