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
792 Responses to “How to troubleshoot and fix laptop video problems”
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Pages: « 80 … 71 70 69 68 67 [66] 65 64 63 62 61 … 1 » Show All
May 25th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
My HP dv1000 series laptop has a curious video issue. When first powered on, the display (built-in OR external) lights up for about 1.5 seconds, then goes dark. Cycling through the LCD/LCD+CRT/CRT keyboard commands causes the display (internal or external) again lights up for 1.5 sec then goes dark. If I am using the external only, after it goes dark I can turn the display (not the laptop) power off, then back on, and I get another 1.5 seconds of illumination. I’ve tried removing CMOS battery, BIOS is latest version (F23). Laptop runs fine except for display problems. Any ideas would be more than welcome!
May 24th, 2008 at 10:54 am
I have an IBM R 50e laptop. Recently, I find that the four sides of the screen have turned red. This is similar to what you have in a CRT monitor in the presence of the magentic field. The problem is very much evident on a black background, but is not significant otherwise. Another problem I find is that in the safe mode or at the time of starting normally, the screen occupies only the central portion, with the display scaled accordingly. However, once it starts, the display expands itself to fill the entire screen.
Could you please let me know why the problem occurs and how it can be rectified.
May 19th, 2008 at 7:24 pm
How to repair ibm Pentium laptop w/out beep?
and w/out video..
am I right that the memory is failed?
May 19th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Larry Sitkiewicz,
Most likely this problem is related to the inverter board. The inverter board works as a power supply for the backlight lamp and when it goes bad, the backlight stops working but you still can see a very faint image on the screen. Of course, this problem could be related to the backlight lamp witch is located inside the LCD screen, but I would try replacing the inverter board first. It’s way cheaper than replacing the whole screen and you have a good chance to fix the problem.
If I understand correctly, the LCD screen works fine when then laptop runs on the battery and doesn’t work when the laptop works on AC power. Did I understand you correctly?
Here’s my guess. It’s possible that your LCD screen has two different brightness settings. One for the AC mode and one for the battery mode. Find out if you can change these settings in the BIOS setup menu. It’s possible that the LCD brightness it turned all the way up for the AC mode and your faulty FL inverter cannot handle it. Enter the BIOS setup menu an lower the LCD brightness for the AC mode if you can. After that test the laptop on AC power. This is just a guess.
May 19th, 2008 at 11:53 am
Robert Jones,
Does this problem appear as soon as you turn on the laptop, even before Windows starts loading? Is the IBM logo displayed correctly, right in the middle?
May 19th, 2008 at 11:49 am
Adom,
I think when you dropped the laptop you damaged the LCD screen. This sounds like a problem with the screen.
May 19th, 2008 at 7:20 am
I have a Dell 9100 laptop. My screen powers up at start up but after 30 seconds goes dark. There is a faint image but can’t make out anything. Dell says it’s the screen. Have been looking for a used Dell to replace the screen with no luck. A remote display worked until a week ago then that stopped. Took the laptop to another monitor (unpluged the powercord & worked off battery only), powered it up & my laptop screen now works. When on the power pack it doesn’t. While on the battery it works. It has been working for over a week now this way. Any ideas what would cause this? Any help would be appreciated.
May 19th, 2008 at 7:12 am
I have an old IBM ThinkPad (600) where the image on the screen is about 1/4 of the space on the screen. When I hooked the laptop to a regular monitor it was fine.
Is there a problem with the screen or can I made some type of adjustment to fix. Thanks for any suggestions!!!
May 14th, 2008 at 2:51 am
Just reverse everything to the original manufacturer’s specification.
May 12th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
I have a Dell 700m. The computer was being used when it was dropped perhaps 2 ft, mostly onto the battery side. Then the screen when blank. Here is the current situation: When first turned on and booting, the screen is bright and pale white with thick (~1.5 in) bands that are very similar in color and shade. Then, as it continues to boot, the screen begins to fade to dark (not black) and some thin banding begins on the right side. I’m not sure is if this is due to XP being finally loaded or simply due to time. At all times, I can control the brightness with the computer controls, except that as stated, the general brightness is greatly diminished after boot up. I have attempted to reseat all cables and everything works when attached to an external monitor. Anyone’s help would be appreciated.