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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December 2nd, 2006 at 11:27 pm
HELP!! I have an HP dv2020, this one is 3 weeks od. I’m experiencing monitor toggle problems. This is my second laptop of the same model with the same problem, the first I returned for a replacement. HP tech support seems to not understand the problem, let alone be able to solve it, and claims this has not been an issue with other customers. Perhaps it IS just me, but I wanted to get some more advanced thoughts before I take this laptop back. I use the function/f4 to goggle from my laptop screen to my monitor and have had no issues doing this on a regular basis. A houseguest disconnected my laptop to plug his into my monitor, and then when he was finished replaced my computer back where it was reconnecting the monitor. I believe he did NOT toggle back to the laptop screen, as I do, when disconnecting. The bottom line is that now my toggle is stuck. I have a backlight on my laptop monitor that was not happening before as well. When I press the function/f4, the monitor screen goes black, but then flashes back on. There is no change in my laptop display…I simply have a blank screen with the backlight running. Please help me!! I can’t find this issue anywhere online and HP has been NO help at all. Thank you.
November 30th, 2006 at 5:05 pm
Hi,
I have a Toshiba Tecra S1 laptop. I turned the computer upside down to look at something on the back and when i turned it back around the screen has thin verticle lines going through it and even the mouse is followed has a small box around it depending on the colour of the page (on a white page, everything is normal except taskbar and top display). I connected my laptop to an external monitor and it is just about the same as my laptop. I believe this means something is wrong with the system board or video card from reading other responses on this site. I was planning on selling this laptop before this happened and it sells for 600-800 AUD on ebay. It is out of warranty and not sure what can be done to fix it. Is it worth taking it to a professional to fix it?
November 30th, 2006 at 6:15 am
Weird Laptop Display problem: I’ve a HP NC6120 notebook which displayed strange behavior lately. When I start-up Windows XP Pro, I can logon and work for mostly 30 minutes or so. Sometimes this is longer, sometimes this period is shorter around 5 minutes. And then my display blacks out (still showing a faint image).
So I thought the back light was broken. I called HP support and they told me my warranty had expired and replacing the display would cost me €550 ex tax. Then I tried to figure out if it was really the back light. I noticed that whenever the back light turns off and I shut down my notebook. If I turn it on again the back light always lights up so I figured it may be some software problem.
So I decided to reinstall Windows XP Pro after reinstalling everything worked great again. And I used my notebook for a weekend. After this I decided to install auto updates. After installing the critical update my display started to black out again (still showing a faint image)
I got really disappointed and decided to install UBUNTU 6.10. After installing everything worked great. And still does. I would rather use windows xp because of some programs but I don’t dare to because of the problem showing up again.
My question is: Do you have any clue why my notebook display back light is falling out only when I use Windows?
THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!!
November 29th, 2006 at 12:36 am
Riddhi,
How it flickers?
If the display is loosing the backlight for a while, then probably it’s a bad FL inverter board. In this case I would try reseating the inverter board cables first and if it doesn’t help I would replace the inverter.
If the backlight is fine, but the display is loosing the image then it could be a loose or bad video cable. In this case check if the video cable connectors are seated properly.
November 29th, 2006 at 12:12 am
David,
I wish I could. You went through basic troubleshooting steps already. The external video works fine, so most likely the problem is not related to the system board. You reseated the video cable, so it’s not a loose connection. From here I can see only two things. Either a bad screen or a faulty video cable. Yeah, I’m not a wizard. I would go with the cable first, you can find it here for about $25.
November 27th, 2006 at 7:06 pm
Hi
I have a dell laptop and the problem is that whenever i start it the screen starts flickering. When i place the screen down and pull it up, the screen is normal but after 4-5 minutes it again starts to flicker. So is the problem with the backlight or inverter, or is there something else problem. Please help me with this.
Thanks,
Riddhi
November 27th, 2006 at 3:28 am
Hi you seem to know all things laptop so maybe you can even help me. I have a dell 9300 and the backlight works but no image. External digital and analog works fine, I checked the cable and both ends have been re-seated but still nothing. Is it the screen or maybe the cable? It’s never been dropped though I did have to replace the front speakers but that was weeks ago… I’m at a loss I can’t afford a screen right now so please do so amazing wizard stuff and please make it an easy cheap fix!
Thanks in advance,
David
November 26th, 2006 at 1:25 am
Tony,
I would be very careful with buying a LCD screen from another model. Even though it has the same size, it might have a different connector for the video cable, different connector for the FL inverter board and different screw hole location on the side.. I would search for the original screen.
November 22nd, 2006 at 7:50 am
I am searching for replacement lcd on internet. one question about the LCD compatibility, I found one on ebay, same size 12″ lcd, about same position connector, but a different model (sony z505)
which is made by hitachi, mine(sony v505) made by toshiba, can I still use that lcd since the size and connection is about the same?
November 22nd, 2006 at 12:00 am
Tony,
So it’s not a software issue. The external video displays normal video so most likely it’s not a faulty video card.
I’ve never seen the video cable causing a problem like yours. If I would guess, I would say a bad LCD screen.