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 … 75 74 73 72 71 [70] 69 68 67 66 65 … 1 » Show All
July 20th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
Firstly these guides and help are awesome!
I have looked at all the display problems above and cant really find anything similar to my problem. i have a kinda mixed up mish mash on the display but can just about see some stuff to navigate around a little. I have reseated the display plugs at both ends with no joy. I dont have another monitor to try but as soon as I have access to one, I will. see what you think
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t8/surfersaiyan/080721_111316.jpg
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t8/surfersaiyan/080721_111340.jpg
cheers, surfersaiyan.
OS is backtrack that you can see.
July 20th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
Bernard jr dacs,
Usually the screen becomes pinkish when the backlight lamp is dying.
Try reseating cable on both ends of the inverter board, maybe connectors got oxidized.
July 20th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
Kris Granger,
Test the laptop with an external monitor attached to the VGA port. Can you get video on the external monitor?
Does the laptop starts at all when you press on the power button? Do you see any LED light or hear any noises coming from the laptop?
July 20th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
Anjan,
If you have this problem only with a few pixels, most likely it’s related to the LCD screen.
July 20th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Alejandro Salgado,
Sounds like a problem with the video card. Most likely you’ll have to replace the video card if it’s a discrete module. If the video card is integrated into the motherboard, you’ll have to replace the whole board.
Also, try reseating the video card if it’s a separate module. Unplug the video card from the motherboard and plug it back in.
July 16th, 2008 at 11:39 pm
i have dell latitude 800 laptop just recently the color changes in the screen it becomes pinkest, sometime when i move the cover it returns to normal then shortly it goes back.
i try to use my extension monitor the display is okey, so i concluded that my primary monitor is defective i just don’t know whether the fl inverter or the back lights or the cable loss connection.
can i find help here?
thank you very much,
dacsb
July 15th, 2008 at 5:18 am
hi my laptp monitoris totally blank, as there is no power going to it or its broke. do u have a bit on your website explaining how to troubleshoot and fix this prob. as i see u have alot o help advice on here. i have basic comp knowedge and i am pretty good atfollowing info. any hep would be great. thanx kris
July 10th, 2008 at 4:34 am
Hi
I have Acer Aspire 5610Z, when I was working my kid threw a plastic ball (very low weight) which hit the top edge left corner of the screen. It didnt hit the lcd screen at all. But after this I found my LCD screen is changing colors intermittently(few pixels colors changing). I checked video memory which is fine. I tried to move the screen to check if there is any loose contact but no use. Even though if I dont touch the screen, it will become normal by itself. Please help me to point out the actual problem.
Thanks and regards
Anjan
July 3rd, 2008 at 7:24 pm
hi,
I have a dell precision m70, I’ve had it for 3 years and it worked fine until now, when I try to start the computer, the bios takes for ever to load and the display has a dirty image, vertical and horizontal lines, but they are not continuous, I think it has something to do with the nvram but I’m not sure, please help!!
alejandro
June 24th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
Paul,
I posted some tips for troubleshooting a laptop with a white screen in this post, but your problem is a little bit different. In addition to the white screen you have some very fine colored lines and I’ve never seen this kind of failure before.
For some reason, I think your problem is related either to the LCD screen or to the video cable, I cannot tell witch one is causing the problem without testing the laptop with another working LCD screen.
Can you get video back to normal if you torque the screen a little bit? Grab the top left corner of the screen with your left hand and the top right corner with your right hand. Now move these corners in opposite directions. Be careful, do not torque the screen too much or you can crack it. Does it make any difference? If it does, most likely you have a problem with the screen.