I recently picked up an HP Compaq nc6220 and a docking station for it. Looking at the back, I saw a port that I didn't recognize:

It's too small to be a normal DE-9 connector. What is this port? What is it used for?

The docking station has HP product number: EN488AA

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2 Answers

It could be a non standard video output - the image above it is identical to the one I see on S-Video TV outs on laptops (VGA outs would have a symbol like a box with lines on either side).

A little research shows that the manual for what may be another dock refers to a similar port as a monitor stand port.

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It is to connect to a HP Monitor Stand (PA507UT), unfortunately documentation for all the models is poor but I did find this Link and this Link

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I can shed light on this whole thing: Here is a product link:

It is a cable for the LEDs on the HP monitor stand. Henc why it called monitor stand port.

As per the description in the product details in the link, it says that the monitor stand lights up when laptop on on and docked etc. just like the docking station does. It is because when it is in the stand, you couldn’t see the lights on the docking station as it sits at the back, under the monitor.

Took me alot of research and thought to figure this out!