Here are some tips and tricks for troubleshooting and fixing laptop video problems. Video issues are very common within portable computers and with the following tips you should be able to detect and eliminate basic laptop video problems.
Laptop LCD screen has a faint image.
Look at the LCD screen very closely and check if you can see a faint image on the screen. It’s possible that the LCD lid close switch stuck in the “closed” position and the backlight stays off even when you open the LCD screen or turn on the laptop. The switch turns off the backlight when you close the LCD display to save the laptop battery power. Check the LCD lid close switch. Usually it is a small plastic pin located close to the LCD hinges. Try to tap on the switch a few times to turn on the backlight. If after tapping on the LCD lid close switch the backlight stays on, you fixed the problem.
It is also possible that after tapping on the LCD lid close switch the backlight works fine, you see a normal video on the screen for some time and then the backlight turns itself off again. In this case I would blame the FL inverter board. Try to reseat cables on both end of the FL inverter to make a better contact between the cables and the FL inverter board. If it doesn’t help I would try to replace the FL inverter board.
Laptop LCD screen is solid white color.
Most likely it is just a bad connection between the LCD display and the system board. I would try reseating the video cable connector on the back of the LCD screen first and check if it fixes the problem. After that I would try reseating the video cable connector on the system board. I would also try reseating cables if there is no video on the LCD screen at all.
The video on the LCD screen is garbled.
Try to connect the LCD screen to an external monitor. If the external video is fine, you have a problem with the LCD screen or the LCD video cable. You can try to fix the problem by reseating the video cable on the back of the LCD and on the system board.
If you see the same garbled video output on the external monitor most likely it is not the LCD screen problem. In this case the system board (with onboard video) is bad or the video card is bad.
I understand that these tips will not cover all video problems with portable computers. If you have a different problem, you are welcome to leave a comment and I will try to help you if I can. 
Are you looking for a new LCD screen for you laptop? Try searching here.
Here’s a notebook display assembly diagram and tips for finding spare notebook parts.
Related articles:
How I took apart and repaired my notebook LCD screen with water damage
Screen inverter replacement. Fixing laptop backlight problem
Laptop has bad video on the LCD screen. What is wrong?
If you find this article useful, please consider making a donation to the author. Thank you!
May 10th, 2006 at 4:54 am
I was afraid you’d ask that. Unfortunately, I tried an external monitor and the screen was perfect. But it could be that it’s just in a behaving mood right now.
I’ll have to troubleshoot by turning my laptop off and on throughout the day on the external screen to see if I get the garbage. I was hoping the intermittent nature of my problem would be a clue to something.
Thanks very much for your help!
Peggy
May 9th, 2006 at 10:52 pm
Peggy,
Have you tried to start the laptop with an external monitor? What video do you have on the external monitor?
BTW, I was troubleshooting IBM ThinkPad A31p notebook this morning. The laptop had a faint image on the screen, the external video was fine. At first I thought about a failed FL inverter board. I took apart the display assembly and removed the screen. After that I connected my test screen and got the backlight! So, I had to quote to the customer a new screen. Our price from IBM was over $600!!! He declined the repair.
May 9th, 2006 at 1:26 pm
My ThinkPad A31p’s screen has horizontal lines going across it. They look like the matrix.
Sometimes they cover a small section of the screen, sometimes they cover the whole screen and flicker.
I can reboot and the screen may be perfect for the rest of the day, or the lines may be there right at boot-up, or they may appear after an hour or so.
This has been going on for a week. Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you!
Peggy
May 7th, 2006 at 9:34 pm
Thanks for the info! The guy at the warranty center said they replaced the entire assembly, but the paperwork only said the LCD screen, so I dont know entirely. I am going to take the thing apart on Tuesday to clean out my heat sink, and while I am in there I will give all the video connectors a check.
Thanks so much!
May 7th, 2006 at 8:28 pm
Hi Ed,
The warranty center replaced the entire LCD assembly (screen, video cable, FL inverter) or just the LCD screen? If they replaced the entire LCD assembly then it is possible that the video connector on the system board is failing or loose. Try to reseat the cable on the system board. If they replaced only the LCD screen then it is possible that the video cable is bad or the connection on the system board is loose. First, I would try to reconnect the video cable on the back of the screen and on the system board. If it doesn’t fix the problem, the next step would be replacing the video cable. Finally, if a new video cable doesn’t help I would suspect that the video connector on the system board or the system board itself is bad.
May 6th, 2006 at 7:03 pm
Hey,
I am having a video problem on my Satellite A75. About an inch to the right of center there is an inch wide vertical stripe that is adding a significant blue tinge to any video displayed there and certain colors get streaked across it horizontally. It happened a couple months ago and I took it to a warranty center (it was still covered then) and they replaced the whole LCD assembly. It has come back now and is no longer covered. I am thinking that there may be something simpler than a bad LCD given that it is happening in exactly the same place as last time. I was wondering if it might be a loose video cable or something like that. I don’t think it can be a software issue because it happens whenever the screen is on (including during BIOS). Any ideas would be great.
Thanks,
Ed
May 6th, 2006 at 12:19 am
Aaron,
Check out comment 112 where I responded to comment 108. It looks like you have a similar problem. Toshiba Satellite A75 has the video integrated into the system board. If you get the same lines on an external monitor then most likely the system board is bad itself and should be replaced. When you press on the LCD screen cover you also flexing the system board, so it’s hard to say witch part is failing. Try to connect the external monitor first.
May 6th, 2006 at 12:10 am
Heather,
You project is getting costly. Are you sure that the FL inverter board you installed was 100% good? It is a reasonable risk to replace the motherboard, the FL inverter board and the video cable, but the LCD screen might be too expensive. That is the most expensive part in any laptop. May be it’s time to invest money into a new laptop?
May 5th, 2006 at 11:59 pm
Craig,
Connect the laptop to an external monitor. Check if you have the same lines on the external video. If you do then you have a problem with the system board or the video card, I’m not sure if the video card is a separate module in your laptop. If the laptop displays lines only on the internal LCD screen then the problem is somewhere in the display assembly. The LCD screen is bad itself, the video cable is bad or the connection between the cable and the screen is loose. First step would be reseating the video cable on the back of the laptop screen. If it doesn’t help then you have to try to replace the video cable or the LCD screen. One more test. You can grasp the screen for top left and right corners and try to twist it a little bit, put some tension on the screen. If lines go away when you twist the screen, then I would suspect the LCD screen itself.
May 5th, 2006 at 11:44 pm
Michael,
It is possible that the problem is caused by the video cable. Check if the cable is seated properly on the system board and on the back of the LCD screen.