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 24th, 2006 at 8:12 am
Revision to problems below:
I just noticed that the battery IS charging now just fine. I think it’s because I’ve turned the LCD off and I’m using a CRT monitor now. When I toggle to the LCD display I still get the faint image. I’m not sure why it was bright that one time though. Any help would be appreciated.
June 24th, 2006 at 7:54 am
My lcd screen comes on sometimes when I start my computer with red letters while the computer boots up and then a very faint image once Windows is running. I also have a funky loose connection on my AC adapter and my battery is not charging. I’m not sure if these are related issues or not. One time I fiddled with the AC charger and I turned on the laptop. To my surprise the backlight came on pretty good. It was still a little reddish and flickering kind of but I could actually work through the LCD display pretty well. I stopped working and came back and it had gone back to being dim again.
I think it is the FL inverter board based on what I’ve read here. I’m not sure how to reseat the cables and all of that or to install a new FL inverter board but maybe I’ll look into it.
June 22nd, 2006 at 10:24 pm
Jack,
Where did you stuck, witch disassembly step?
June 22nd, 2006 at 3:11 pm
I have a Toshiba M35X-S161. I’m having problems with the dc connector also…How do you get the computer apart to resolder the connector.
I have taken out about 30 screws and it still wil not come apart…
Any help would be appreciated.
Jack
June 21st, 2006 at 1:57 pm
Luis,
I think that you might have a different problem then just a bad CCFL. I just talked to other technicians and we all agreed that if CCFL goes bad, it might flicker, it might not to work at all or it might work fine for a short period of time, but you say it stays on for 3-4 hours. It’s hard to say what is wrong. The best way to test it would be connecting a test screen. Check if the connection between the screen and the FL inverter board is fine.
Might be it’s just a bad inverter again?
June 20th, 2006 at 3:18 am
Thanks for your answer. I think too that the problem would be a bad CCFL. My only concern is to know how is the behavior of a bad CCFL?.
In my case, Always I cut energy to the lcd assembly (Turn-off and turn-on or Put XP in Standby and resume) the CCFLs always works fine, and after that, sometimes works fine for 3-4 hours!!!, but when the backlight turn off, I noticed that the lcd screen is hot, and if I press the “backlight turn off switch” (that supose cut the energy to the backlight too) the CCFLs not
respond… very weird!!!
Based on your experience, do you think that a bad CCFL could work for 4 hours before to fail (work intermittently)?, could be a bad solder joints?, CCFL Overheat?, CCFL Cracked??
Any sugestions will be apreciated
Thanks again for your usefull help!!!!
-Luis
June 19th, 2006 at 10:38 pm
Luis,
You’ve replaced the FL inverter and the cable, so the only part left is the screen itself. I do not think that inverter can turn itself off for safety. From my knowledge, the main function of the FL inverter board is to provide a necessary voltage and amperage to light up the backlight bulb. Correct me if I’m wrong. I think that in your case the CCFL is bad itself (if your new inverter is OK of course).
Also, there is a possibility that there is something wrong with the system board. The FL inverter is getting power from the board, right? What if the inverter is good, the cable is good and the screen is good but something wrong with a circuit that provides power for FL inverter? That is just a guess. I think that’s would be nice if you can find a second (test) screen or just a bulb and connect it to your laptop.
When we get a cracked screen with good backlight bulb, we always remove the bulb for testing purposes. That’s would be very useful in the case like yours.
June 19th, 2006 at 5:24 am
I have a Compaq Presario 1500 Laptop, with a 15″ LCD HSD150PX14-A
When turning the laptop on the display light is ok and boot perfect. LCD’s Bright and Color Perfect. If I work for some time (1 hour, 4 hours, 15 minutes – the failing time is random) or when I move the LCD Assembly (to open or close) then the backlight goes dark, but I can see barely the desktop image.
If I press the little “latch switch” that the screen frame hits when it closes then let that pin go again, nothing change.
If I put Windows XP in Standby (suspend) mode and resume to normal mode or turn off and turn on the laptop, the screen will light again with the brightness and color perfect.
I think that the problem would be the Inverter, Inverter Cable or the CCFLs, so I decided to buy an Inverter and Inverter cable. After replace them, the problem still happens.
I read in other forums that if the CCFL goes bad, the Inverter detect it and turn off itself for safety, Is that true???. At that point I not sure if the new inverter is bad too, or the problem is inside the LCD.
Any Ideas?????
Thanks in advance!
Luis
June 15th, 2006 at 11:17 pm
[...] According to the failure description I would say that you are having a problem with the FL inverter board. It is possible that the screen is bad itself, the video cable is defective, but I would suspect the inverter first. It might be just a loose connection or a bad inverter. [...]
June 13th, 2006 at 11:03 pm
Hey Kelly,
Are you talking about small white 2 prong plastic connector with 2 wires coming out? If yes, them this connector is not a part of the FL inverter board. This connector is a part of the LCD screen.
I’ve seen some cables with this small connectors already attached to it. This cables are used to extend the lengths of cabling from the LCD screen to the inverter board. I guess that’s what you need. When you find one, you can cut off the old connector and solder new cables with the plug already attached to it. After that you just plug it back into the inverter board. I do not know the correct name for this cables, I would call it something like “LCD screen backlight cable extension kit”. I hope I understood you correctly.