How to troubleshoot and fix laptop video problems
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?
Entry Filed under: Laptop Tips and Tricks
807 Responses to “How to troubleshoot and fix laptop video problems”
Pages: « 81 … 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 [3] 2 1 » Show All
Pages: « 81 … 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 [3] 2 1 » Show All
April 5th, 2006 at 9:25 pm
Hey Mike,
Usually a power problem will not affect the display. It might be just an FL inverter problem and the faint image is not disappearing, you just cannot see it. You say that the video on the external monitor goes blank after the Windows welcome screen. I’ve seen that before on some Toshiba laptops. I guess you can get a normal video on the external monitor if you pres Fn+F5 a few more times. I think that the system board is OK, and you have a problem somewhere in the display module.
April 5th, 2006 at 4:17 pm
I have a Toshiba A75-S229 that has issues with the video. I get the backlight just fine, and I can use an external monitor with no problems. I pulled the cover off of the LCD and all the connections look good. The one thing I did notice is the wires going to the connection on the left side has what I would call a severe bend or kink in the cable. Is there anyway to test the cable? And where would I go to get a replacement cable for this?
Thanks for your help.
April 5th, 2006 at 6:29 am
Hi:
My wife’s Toshiba M35X-S161 LCD screen just went black last night. I have jiggled the switch for the backlight as you have suggested here and occaisionaly a faint image would appear, but it disappears pretty much right away. I have since hooked up an external monitor and rebooted the machine, but any image on the external monitor disappears after Windows XP starts to boot up. External monitor then goes blank and then shows a “No Signal” error. Prior to all this happening, the laptop had been running on battery for quite awhile, so the power level was way down. And, now even under AC power the display is blank. But the compter shuts down after a little while. She supposedly had this fixed a year ago under warranty. Could the display problem be a result of a power problem?
April 4th, 2006 at 7:49 am
yeah im sorry, it works perfect in external and backlight is lit just fine but there are no images (not even faint under flashlight) appearing at all. i have checked close lid switch and all connections.
April 3rd, 2006 at 9:45 pm
Hey Simon,
It is not very clear what problem are you experiencing? No image on the screen or something else?
April 3rd, 2006 at 7:16 am
hey great help here, i just have a major issue that i cannot fix. toshiba satellite p25-s509 has lit backlight and boots up perfect with an external monitor. I have reseated all the connections and run out of ideas. Do you have any more not suggested here already?
March 29th, 2006 at 12:06 pm
Hi Paul,
I am pretty sure that is a hardware issue. If you see the same horizontal lines on an external monitor, then the system board or the video card is bad. I am sure if the video card is integrated into the system board or it is a separate board. If the external video works properly, then either the LCD screen itself or the video cable is bad. When you have a garbaged output on the LCD screen you can try to twist the display a little bit (not too much or you can crack it). When you twist it you put some tension on the screen. If during twisting you see that pattern of lines is changing or you get a normal video then most likely the LCD is bad itself. Be very careful with the screen during the test.
March 29th, 2006 at 11:53 am
HI THERE
I OWN AN ACER ASPIRE 1360 AND EVERY NOW AND THEN MY DISPLAY GOES GARBAGED WITH ALL HORIZONTAL LINES ACROSS THE SCREEN.WHEN THIS HAPPENS I HAVE TO REBOOT MY COMPUTER TO GET THE DISPLAY BACK TO NORMAL.THIS HAPPENS ABOUT ONCE OR TWICE A WEEK OTHERWISE THE PICTURE IS FINE. IS THERE SOME SETTINGS I CAN MAKE IN WINDOWS XP TO CORRECT THIS OR IS THIS A PROBLEM WITH THE VIDEO HARDWARE.
THANKS
March 28th, 2006 at 10:05 pm
Hey Jeff,
With a bad FL inverter you still should see some data on the screen. It would be a normal video output but very dim. You should see some data if you look at the screen at different angles. The problem might occur because of a bad FL inverter or a bad connection. There is a possibility that the backlight bulb is dying.
In a case like yours, we usually try to spray connectors with ProGold and reseat the FL inverter. If it doesn’t help we replace the inverter board.
March 28th, 2006 at 9:53 pm
Hi Julies,
Yep, it looks like a video card problem. If you can, try to reseat the video card first. It might fix the problem. Sometimes the problem occurs because of a bad connection between the video card and the system board.