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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July 11th, 2006 at 12:27 am
i tried to open the lcd of my presario v2140US but i can’t take off the bottom part after removing six screws. i was trying to see if there is loose connection to the FL inverter as suggested(faint lcd image). help please
July 8th, 2006 at 10:39 pm
[...] Here’s my previous post about troubleshooting and fixing notebook video problems. [...]
July 2nd, 2006 at 9:36 pm
Owen,
A new FL inverter costs much cheaper then a new LCD. There is a very good chance that a new inverter will fix your backlight problem (but not reddish hue). You should see a faint image even if the FL inverter is removed. FL inverter helps to light up the backlight bulb and doesn’t affect data transfer from the system board to the screen.
July 1st, 2006 at 9:22 am
Thanks for your help cj600. I removed the FL inverter board to take it to a computer shop and find that part. I wasn’t able to find one in the stores but I did find one on eBay that says it’s “NEW”. Should I buy a new FL inverter before I get a new panel? One thing that I can not understand is why I still get a faint image on the Panel even though I’ve removed the FL inverter? I see it mostly when the PC is starting up and the Windows Logo comes on with the little progress bar. I thought that by removing the FL inverter, I was severing any connections between the panel and motherboard.
June 28th, 2006 at 8:40 am
Jennifer,
Yes, it’s possible the screen is gone, but most likely it’s just a bad FL inverter. Check the lid close switch stuck, tap on it for a few times.
June 28th, 2006 at 8:35 am
Owen,
I’m almost positive that the battery is bad. A bad battery behaves exactly as you described below. You can charge it from 0% to 100% and it might take some time, but as soon as you unplug the AC power plug, the battery discharges very quickly, sometimes almost instantly.
I still think that you have a problem with the LCD screen (reddish hue) and this problem might not be related to the backlight. If the reddish hue is gone now, it will appear later. In most cases, when there is no backlight it the FL inverter board failure.
If you really want to try to fix the backlight problem, I would go with the inverter board first, but be prepared that you can get a red color on the LCD later.
June 26th, 2006 at 10:55 am
I have Toshiba Satellite A75-S209 LCD display is so dark that you can’t read anything on the computer. We had used the computer the night before and it was fine, we shut the cover and when we went to reopen the screen was almost black.
Is it possible that the screen is gone? Please Help.
June 24th, 2006 at 9:49 pm
There is no red on the CRT and there never was any. Just on the LCD and now it’s gone away. Instead I can barely see the faint white text on the black screen as it starts up. Won’t start on battery power alone.
June 24th, 2006 at 9:47 pm
I’m not getting the red anymore on the lcd. All I see is a very faint image. Another thing that is weird is that the battery says its 100% charged now but if I disconnect the AC adaptor then it starts to beep and it turns itself off. When I close the lid on the laptop I’ve set the alarm to go into standby and therefore I can rule out the stuck plastic switch problem. The only alarm that I have for the battery is a low battery text warning so I can’t understand why it shuts down unless it’s just a really bad battery. If so then why is it now at 100% and originally it was at 6% when I got the computer?
June 24th, 2006 at 9:06 pm
A reddish video might indicate a problem with the LCD screen itself. Do you have a reddish image on the external monitor? If yes, then the system board could be bad. If no, them most likely the screen itself. Most of the time a faint image on the internal screen is caused by a failed inverter, but with your reddish video I’m not really sure. Might be just a bad screen.