A laptop I have comes with standard VGA output, miniDP and HDMI for running external monitors. When I try the VGA I cannot seem to get any output on external screen altough I used to be able to. More recently I got messages of insifficient power to display or something like that, then nothing at all. When I use miniDP output with a VGA convertor (as most of the external screens I have only have VGA) I get mixed results (ext screen on for a while then dead). When I use the HDMI/with VGA convertor I get constant use and all is good.

My question is two fold:

1. Are VGA and miniDP ports linked in someway as to make both them unreliable? Or have I got a laptop with 2 unique faulty output ports?

2. HDMI works ok, so I presume this is totally independent or is it likley to fail soon also?

Curious, I bought this laptop for its ability to run more than one external screen but only one of the 3 ports seems to work. The 1 yr warranty expired last week!

try a system restore to a date when the vga did work, if that fails do a driver update, if you do not have a driver update program uniblue do driver scanner a link to a review is here - http://www.themilwaukeetimesweekly.com/uniblue-driver-scanner-2013-serial-key.php

with a link to a free serial direct from uniblue here - https://store.uniblue.com/278/?scope=registration&id=28o0HiiXUa&crel=deliveryCountryId

once you have done a graphic card update try the vga port again.

try a system restore to a date when the vga did work

Yes, did a complete factory system recovery on two occasions and nothing changes, so I suspect the ports are failing. It started with VGA, now miniDP is 50% on or off and HDMI is my last choice that still works. I don't think it is the drivers.