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 31st, 2006 at 11:40 pm
mr.cj2600,
thanks for every bit of little help youve given me.now, my laptop is working fine. before i go to toshiba center to buy a new fl inverter, i try to remove the sensor switch magnet out of the main board just to make sure that it is not the source of my problem. after removing it, i test its continuity with my tester and it is always in close position. the sensor switch magnet in my laptop(P10-792) should be in open position whenever a magnet is not present (lid is open) so when i assemble my laptop again without the sensor switch magnet, my laptop is back to life again.i found out also that this switch is preventing my laptop from booting.
thank you very mr.cj2600!
July 29th, 2006 at 8:59 pm
Hi! i checked the power and it is ok.while i was doing it i came across with the cd mode in front panel and try to play some cd.it is working but when i press the power switch while playing a cd an amber light is flashing slowly from the power switch itself and the power LED. i tested the memory module with my friend’s laptop (same model) and it is working very fine.regarding the booting behavior of my laptop, when i did not use it for about 2-3 days it will boot fine but after shutting it down it will not boot anymore.not even bios.it is intermittent sometime after few hours it will boot again.
thanks!
July 29th, 2006 at 7:44 pm
Hi, cj2600 and All,
In response to post 194, the right side of the screen is blank during BIOS info at startup, as well as durning the Dell and Windows start screens. Once the desktop is loaded, the right side of the screen (exactly from the middle to the right) is generally the same color as the desktop background but displays no other information. The mouse pointer just disappears if you go over there. Sometimes it is blank or contains colored verticle bars. When booting in safe mode, I have the same problem. I have also installed the latest drivers for the ATI mobility card. But still the same problem. As you know, I had also replaced the cable and swapped in another video card. I have not updated the BIOS because I have heard it can mean trouble for the 7000. I don’t want any more trouble. But I’ll probably do it anyway, because I am running out of options. Thanks for any advice,
John
July 29th, 2006 at 12:43 pm
Maxell,
First of all, confirm that the laptop is getting power when you plug the AC adapter. The power LED on the laptop should light up when you plug the adapter. Try to wiggle the power plug and see if the power LED flickers when you do that. If the LED flickers, then you might have a problem with the power jack of with the power plug on the adapter.
If the power is stable, then I would try to reseat or replace the memory module. If the memory module is bad, the laptop will not boot.
By the way, the laptop will not boot into Windows or it will not start at all?
July 29th, 2006 at 12:41 am
mr. cj2600 thanks for your reply(193).now that i figure out that fl inverter should not give booting problem what will be the next step for me?is it a power problem?
thanks once again.your site is very helpful.
July 28th, 2006 at 5:16 am
About the reply #166:
I got a test lcd (same model) with a good backlight, so I check and the problem was not the Inverter, the problem was the CCFL (This Hannstar 15″ lcd have only 1 CCFL on the botton of the display) so I changed the CCFL fron the test lcd to my lcd and It is working fine!!!.
Thank you for all your help!!!!!
July 26th, 2006 at 9:14 pm
John,
Did you try to boot the laptop in Safe Mode? If the laptop video works fine in Safe Mode (system uses standard VGA device driver), then you might have a corrupted driver. I would also try to re-flash/update the BIOS.
Do you get a garbled video on the screen even before the OS is loaded?
July 26th, 2006 at 8:58 pm
Maxell,
I think that you might have more then one problem in your laptop. The laptop still should boot fine (without video on the screen), even though the FL inverter is bad.
July 26th, 2006 at 8:51 pm
Pat,
Start the laptop with an external monitor and wait until it goes to a standby mode. After that resume it from standby and see if you experience the same problem with an external monitor. If the laptop works fine with the external monitor, then the problem is somewhere inside the display assembly, possible the FL inverter is going bad. If you still having the same problem with the external monitor, then it’s not the display. Call to the manufacturer and ask them if there is a BIOS update for you laptop.
July 25th, 2006 at 1:14 pm
Hi,
I have a Dell Inspiron 7000 running a clean install of Windows ‘98 se. Out of nowhere the right half of the screen is a garbled combination of the colors and icons on the left side of the desktop. The display works properly if I go vga out to a monitor or s-video out to the tv. I changed the cable to the display and swapped in another video card, but still have the same problem. any advice would be appreciated! thanks, John