Hooking up computer to my flat screen tv

I got the dvi hmdi cord which was male to male but i ended up buying a a female adapter to the male end of the dvi,I switched the input on tv to hmdi 1,the screen says no signal,so i went ol to figure out what I need to do,alot of people said to change the screen display and press fn + f8,some said f6 or f7 i did still nothing,I need help what am i doing wrong. I really would love to enjoy watching tv shows from computer on my flat screen tv.
Thanx

It worked for me on Win 7 out of the box when I went through a HDMI to Composite video adapter. You do have to set Windows up to use the display sometimes. The only possible trouble I had was that the adapter detected the HDMI settings when the HDMI plug was plugged in, but I'm not sure. I've done it only a few times. The HDMI box doesn't have a power switch.

I had a much harder time getting XP to work when I had S-video out.

Not all laptops/desktops are the same and may use different function keys. If you let us know the computer model and operating system it might be a lot easier for someone to identify the proper configuration.

You may even have to go to Start-->Control Panel-->Display and change the settings there. Not sure about it, but you should be able to do there whatever you'd be able to do with fn keys, plus some.

I have 2 desktops both are emachines one with xp the other well it use to be vista but a friends cousin replaced it with windows 7 which was only a trial so now i have nothing really he was suppose to back up my files on disks and none of them worked.but i guess it still has runs like window 7 but not all components cause it say I don't have a genuin windows,but i dont think that really matters,i tried the display it still says no signal i dont freaking get it

ok, try to right click on the desktop, then select screen resolution, then a window will pop up. Under the Multiple display select extend these displays, like I have it. I have two 27" LED TV and both work ok like this. see the picture I attached. Make sure that you have the display set for PC, VGA etc, not hdmi, you are using different video protocol, not hdmi, unless you are using a hdmi cable, that might be your problem.

How do I find what kind of video card i have and how would i know if my flat screen is compatiable?