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?
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June 12th, 2006 at 12:09 pm
Thank you for the trouble shooting advice! My LCD screen became very dim, just as you described and after following your advice-it turned out to be the lid close switch!! I have a Satellite P35 17″ and I have experienced quite a few problems with my LCD Screen, primarily BAD PIXELS!! My lap-top is used as a desk top PC, so I am not sure what is causing these issues! I know that Toshiba has claimed issues similiar to this one, but not for my model. Has anyone else experienced this problem?
June 12th, 2006 at 11:46 am
I have a Toshiba Sat. 1115-S123 I was having problems with the display so I carefully opened the LCD cover and found that the plastic connecter that connects the inverter to the cable that goes to the backlight is broken. When I hold the cable in it works fine but I need the plastic piece to keep the cable in. I really do not want to have to purchase a complete inverter for 60-80 bucks in order to replace a small 1 cent plastic piece. Any ideas?
June 10th, 2006 at 12:57 pm
Hi all, I have the same problem as Guido in post 38. I own a Toshiba P35-S609. A couple of months ago two vertical lines appeared on each side of the screen. Since then they have multiplied and I now have more than 20 lines of different colors in two groupings at each end. As in Guido’s case the lines do not show up on an external monitor. Did anyone manage to solve this problem without replacing the LCD (i.e. by replacing the video cable)? My computer is out of warranty and I am not keen to shell out $600 for a new screen. Any comments would be much appreciated.
June 9th, 2006 at 7:47 pm
[...] More laptop video troubleshooting tips. Posted by Laptop Freak on June 9th, 2006 Filed in Video Problems [...]
June 4th, 2006 at 9:19 pm
[...] I would say that everyone who gave you an advice is right in some degree. The problem might be caused by a failing video card, the video cable, the FL inverter board, the LCD screen or just by a loose connection. It depends on how your screen flickers. You can find some video troubleshooting tips here. Here are my thoughts. [...]
May 31st, 2006 at 1:13 pm
When the screen is white I would try to reseat the video cable on the back of the LCD screen first. There is a very good chance that the video cable is half-way or completely out and reseating the cable will fix the problem.
May 31st, 2006 at 5:45 am
dear repairer
All of a sudden the screen on my Toshiba Satellite A60 went outand become white. I turned the machine off and could hear it boot but the screen would not come on. it stays white
but when i put it on an external monitor it works fine
i want an help from you
May 28th, 2006 at 10:14 pm
Hey Lauren,
I have seen it many times. In this case I usually try to replace the memory first. If it doesn’t help I remove the wireless card because it might hold the system from booting. After that I minimize the system completely and leave only the system board, the CPU (with cooling module) and my test memory. If still there is no video, either the system board or the CPU is bad. From my experience, the system board fails much more often then the CPU.
May 26th, 2006 at 4:57 pm
Problem: All of a sudden the screen on my Toshiba Satellite M35X-S161 went out. I turned the machine off and could hear it boot but the screen would not come on.
I am out of my warranty since I have had the machine a little over a year so I brought it to a local shop. He held a flashlight up to the screen and couldn’t see anything. He also hooked it up to an external monitor-again nothing.
Just got the call that the motherboard is bad and a refurbished one is about 400-500 bucks. Have you seen anything similar with this model?
Sadly,
Lauren
May 24th, 2006 at 8:17 am
Wow my invertor is bad, i think im going to check that other laptop out (one i never said about, because it actually works lol, but its too slow to use really)
Only thing is, if that lid switch is stuck, then i would get the same reading, so i will have to check that befor i can confirm it, but i have a feeling its the FL invertor.
Oh ya, my ext monitor works just fine.
Reading to FL…0 vac im going to take a reading on the other one now…
Wow its a weird reading, around 4.1.0 (yes 2 . in it) Thats on 600vac setting. other did read 0 so now its either the switch or invertor… be back with more news lol.
Maybe i should team up with you on this sight to help people
.
New news, the button is “NOT” stuck down my invertor is acting up/bad
. Time to price check on ebay lol, or maybe i will be lucky and be able to fix the one here 
.