W520 external monitor not connecting properly

Question

W520, Windows 7 (64 bit), NVIDIA Quadro 1000M 2GB DDR3, purchased November 2011.  External monitor: HP 2511x.
Haven't been able to find this issue in a previous thread.
In Optimus (preferred) mode, when I plug an external monitor VGA, HDMI or DVI (via displayport) cable into the laptop or mini dock, the laptop LCD goes completely dark (black).  This happens whether the external monitor is turned on or off, for the VGA and HDMI plugs.  If the external monitor is turned off when the displayport plug is inserted, nothing happens:  the laptop screen stays on, but when the external monitor is turned on, with the displayport plug in use, the laptop LCD goes dark.When the plugs are removed, the laptop LCD comes back on, except when the displayport plug is removed (then, the laptop screen stays dark).
In all cases, the external monitor is not recognized by the laptop, and if turned on at the time (the external monitor), shows a message which reads that it is going to sleep.
Device Manager shows the Intel and NVIVIA display adapters and does not show the external monitor (because I cannot hook it up without darkening the laptop screen).
A few months ago I had the Optimus arrangement working, using the NVIDIA control panel to set up a clone mode.  The external monitor worked beautifully.  Then I disconnected from the external monitor for several weeks, and now it will not work.
The external monitor was used until very recently on a separate PC, which I no longer have, and the external monitor driver was reloaded this morning.
I welcome sugestions on how to plug into the laptop without causing the laptop screen to go dark, which I think would then allow me to set up the external monitor as desired.
Thanks,
RR

Answer 1

But did you RUN the nVidia driver file that you downloaded???  It is an EXE, and you must RUN it after downloading.
The fact that your Device Manager -> Display Adapters still shows "Video Controller(VGA compatible)" specifically tells us that you have NOT YET INSTALLED THE CORRECT DRIVER FOR YOUR VIDEO CARD!!!  You are still running with the vanilla generic Microsoft VGA drivers which will work generically and support only minimal capability for EVERY SINGLE VIDEO CARD MANUFACTURED.  It doesn't support all of the capabilities of the K1000M.
YOU MUST ACTUALLY RUN THE DOWNLOADED DRIVER INSTALLATION FILE EXE, in order to perform the process of actually installing the driver for your "Video Controller(VGA compatible)" device, which of course is really the K1000M.
Once that driver is correctly installed, it will now appear as "NVIDIA QUADRO K1000M", instead of "Video Controller(VGA compatible)" as you currently show.
The reason your desktop icons are currently very big, and that everything else is currently very big/enormous, is because your desktop resolution is not set correctly... although it may be set as high as it can go for the moment.  Only when you finally install the true nVidia driver will your default resolution be presented at what the hardware monitor "recommended" resolution should be, which is likely at least 1920x1080 if not 1920x1200.  Then everything will appear "normal size", and at the very least will not appear to be ENORMOUS as you currently see.
Also, I'm expecting that once you get the correct nVidia driver installed for the K1000M that your external monitor will now work perfectly, and will not black out.
So... even while you're still using the current vanilla generic MS VGA driver (although again, your mission is to install the nvidia driver for your K1000M), just right-click on the desktop and select "screen resolution" from the popup menu, to get the "screen resolution" dialog window.
Then click in the "screen resolution" dropdown list to get a dropdown (with a slider) offering you to change resolutions.  Pull the slider up to whatever you want and click, and then push the OK button. You'll then be offered a confirmation dialog window allowing you to click OK or CANCEL within 15 seconds to accept the resoluton change. Click OK to keep what you just set.
Your desktop icons and everything else will now appear smaller (or at least "normal").  Temporarily, you've got things satisfactory at least.
But you'll do the same thing again AFTER INSTALLING THE NVIDIA DRIVERS.  This time the dropdown "screen resolution" list will have a slider whose top value will show "recommended", and will probably be 1920x1080 or 1920x1200. Pull the slider all the way up to that value and click. Then again, push OK, and OK to the confirmation.
Again, your absolute test goal is to see  "NVIDIA QUADRO K1000M" in Device Manager.  You should NOT BE SEEING "VIDEO CONTROLLER (VGA COMPATIBLE)".
The installation of the nVidia driver will also get you "nVidia Control Panel", where you can then perform additional customizations, such as whether or not you want to use BOTH the laptop screen as well as external monitor configured in either "laptop screen only", or "clone mode" (i.e. duplicate of single desktop on both screens), or "extended mode" (i.e. double-wide desktop extending across both screens), or "external monitor only," (with laptop screen dark).
Again... YOU MUST RUN THAT DOWNLOADED NVIDIA DRIVER INSTALLATION FILE EXE. It doesn't run itself, unless that's what you have set in your browser when offered the choice of RUN or SAVE.  But if you SAVE it, then you must yourself manually run it after the download completes.
IT MUST BE RUN TO INSTALL THE DRIVER.  Then you'll see "NVIDIA QUADRO K1000M" in device manager. Until and unless you see that value, if you still see "VIDEO CONTROLLER (VGA COMPATIBLE)" then you have NOT YET DONE WHAT YOU NEED TO DO.
Understood?