Mac external monitor with Windows

[Nevins]

Alright, so I recently acquired a Mac 24'' 1080p, and have run into a temporary problem. Right now I am looking at a squid cable that has 4 cables, a firewire, a USB, something that I am guessing is Apple proprietary, and then a DVI output. I do not have any HDMI in ports on any of my comps right now (laptop only has VGA and HDMI)

After scrounging around the web, I have been unable to find the answer to a pretty basic question: how exactly does this work, and is it fully compatible with a totally non Apple laptop? I am guessing that the monitor draws power from the USB, but can't be sure (only plugging in the USB cable yields no result, power button does nothing) Any help from a mac person would be greatly appreciated, I want to know if this can be useful or if its junk before I go out and buy a DVI to HDMI converter.

Thanks in advance, any help is appreciated.

Note: There is no AC power cord, and no place to plug one in. I can upload pics if necessary.



^that is exactly what i am looking at, the white cable is the squid i describe above.

UPDATE: So I have whittled down the problems. It seems to be something wrong with the external power brick, as my friends comp picked up the monitor but it would not power on.