I can't get my TV working as a second monitor anymore..

So, I have an HDTV in my room, (a Sharp), and I used to be able to use it as a second monitor for my Gateway FX laptop using a standard video connection (the pre-DVI kind). I tried getting it hooked up when I started college again with an HDMI cord, and I have had no success. I've also tried the standard video cord again, and that didn't work either. Does anyone have any suggestions? My laptop picks up the monitor (I can drag windows to where the second screen should be), but the tv has no display.

Most likely it's because the TV simply does not like you.

I imagine you have tried pressing fn + f4 and you have the right channel on the TV?

If it is a TV you need to look for a button that says "VIDEO" or "INPUT" on your TV and press that a few times until you see like "HDMI" or "COMPUTER1" or something like that. Usually you can find the name of the input right where you plugged it in on the TV.

I'd recommend playing around with the input settings. Everytime I use my TV as a monitor with HDMI, I need to switch the video source to HDMI 1.

I know my TV's HDMI input is Video 4, as I use the same HDMI cord to hook my XBox to my TV, so I know the cord is working. I've also tried FN+F4 already as well.