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:
Fixing notebook LCD screen with water damage.
Screen inverter replacement. Fixing laptop backlight problem
Laptop has bad video on the LCD screen. What is wrong?
Laptop screen shows strange colors. What could be wrong?
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September 26th, 2006 at 7:24 pm
Bizza,
Check if the cooling fan starts when you turn on the laptop. Do you get any activity on startup (HDD start spinning, DVD drive makes some noise, etc…) at all?
September 25th, 2006 at 7:22 pm
email: shockwa2@pacbell.net
September 25th, 2006 at 7:21 pm
Like I said before. I replaced the LCD first then the Inverter but still no backlight. If I use a flashlight and point it at the screen I do see windows barely, and the external monitor hookup works just fine too. Should I use a voltmeter to see if the inverter is atleast working? I know it produces high voltage and the meter I have goes up to 1000 volts. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Use the email address provided. I’ll pay $ if someone can seriously help. again it’s a Fujitsu Lifebook S6210.
September 25th, 2006 at 4:25 am
I have a problem with my laptop, when i switch it on it gives the LED lights and then it switches itself off.
Help???
September 22nd, 2006 at 8:19 am
[...] Here’s my previous post related to a laptop video problems: How to troubleshoot and fix laptop video problems. [...]
September 21st, 2006 at 3:38 pm
Hi there! Last week i open my laptop, since it was displaying vertical lines. But i made a critical error: i forgot to take out the battery. When i was testing the connections on the display cable, my screw driver touch on the top of the display cable (it’s made of metal) and the GFX cooler. Then a big spark came out flying, and the lcd lights went off. Since the, they never turned on again. the lights in the lcd are ok, since i’ve tested with a power inverter from an desktop cumputer tunning kit. On the DC part of the lcd power inverter there’s some Voltage (Tested with a Voltimeter), and the power inverter fuse its ok, but there’s no high voltage output.
Other thing i’ve notice: when the computer restarts, the light turns on for almost a second, then come off…. So, on booting some of the power can reach the light.
I’ve tested also switch who turnos of the ligth when you close the laptop lid. it seems ok.
Can anyone help with these? Thx.
Miguel
September 20th, 2006 at 1:46 pm
Mark,
I think the labor charge would be somewhere between $100-$140. It will include the motherboard replacement and testing. Now about the motherboard itself. There are a few boards for ZV5000, it depends of the configuration of your laptop. You can find all boards listed on the page 171 of the maintenance and service guide for HP Pavilion zv5000 notebooks. In the same manual you’ll find instructions for replacing the main board, just in case you want to do it yourself.
To find out how much would it cost you to buy a replacement motherboard, I searched on eBay for “zv5000 motherboard” and found it on sale for about $300. If you buy the same motherboard through a repair shop, they will bump up the price and it would be around $500. So, if you take it to a repair shop, you are looking approximately at $600 -$700 plus tax. That’s a rough estimate, but you’ll get an idea.
September 19th, 2006 at 12:17 am
I have an HP zv5000z, a surge went through the s-video cable from my TV. The Internal and external monitor(s) dont work. I have a feeling the video card is completely shot, which would mean I would need to get the system board replaced completely.
Does anyone know, from experience, how much it would be to get the board replaced out of warranty?
September 18th, 2006 at 11:13 pm
SM,
It tells me that there is nothing wrong with the FL inverter and the backlight bulb.
If the external monitor works fine, then most likely the system board (video card) is not damaged and the problem is somewhere inside the display assembly.
I think that you might have a bad screen, a bad video cable or a loose connection between the video cable and the screen or the motherboard.
If I would get this laptop for repair, first of all I would open up the display and checked if the video cable is seated properly. It looks like the data is not coming from the system board to the screen. Check the video cable connection on the back of the screen first. Then check the connection on the motherboard. If all connections are fine, I would replace the video cable next and finally the screen.
You can find a link to my Toshiba disassembly guides in the “Links” on the right side. I don’t have a guide for Satellite P10, but I have created a few guides for other models. Taking apart LCD assembly is kinda similar for most Toshiba laptops.
September 18th, 2006 at 12:06 pm
This is a good service, thanks for keeping a free public access of useful information.
I have a satellite P10-S409, out of blue, the screen went blan/black. There is nothing that I can see on the screen, there is a tiny shad of backlght that increase and decrease little bit by clicking Fn+ F6 and F7.
I tried all the function keey combination, thinking that the key board is messed up or accidently wrong keeys were pressed. Nothing happened, I conneceted to the extra monitor (my desktop), I have a perfect video and I am using my laptop conntected to the extra monitor. It is not comfortable, but for emergency, It is working now.
What do you think would have happened, the inverter or LCD?. Is there any other tips or troubleshooting I can do, before I take this to a repair center to be get ripped for the repair?.
thanks,
SM