VGA cable

[J4M8000]

I was wondering if someone could offer some advice...

I recently bought a 5m VGA cable off ebay to connect my LCD screen to my laptop. Now this is the preffered length and with the 15m+ cables i've seen for sale I didn't think this would be a problem. Having said this, I was wrong...

My lap top is registering that there is something connected but my TV won't let me select the PC source when I try to select it. I have had it working with a 1.5m cable (of what quality I don't know, it is ancient).

Do you think it could be the quality of the cable (it was cheap)?
or
Is 5m simply too long? (I doubt this giving the length of cables available)

Please help as I have become extremely frustrated and would prefer not to dish out £50 for a "high quality" cable if it is not needed...

Thanks for any help

[Kymmy]

Moved to the correct forum

PS..Welcome to the forum

[Aragorn]

5m shouldn't be a problem for VGA, per se.
Can you try the cable on any other screens?
If you have previously had the laptop connected to the TV, I would suggest the new cable is dodgy, but you may need to prove this on more than one TV / PC to get your money back.

[J4M8000]

yeah tried it on my desktop computer monitor - nothing just a black screen so I coiled it up (dont know if that makes a difference-thought i'd give it a go) and set the resolution really low. it was working slightly. really dark and ghosty - in know way useable, which led me to believe the cable was too long for the quality? signal is too weak?

[Graham M]

Ive run VGA over 20 odd metres before with no issues

[SMG]

I have a 15m VGA cable which I use from my PC to TV. Its fine.

[J4M8000]

so its a quality issue or a dodgy cable then?

[Aragorn]

Originally Posted by J4M8000

so its a quality issue or a dodgy cable then?

Yes