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 20th, 2008 at 11:27 am
Paul,
I’ve seen this problem before and most likely it’s related to the LCD screen. My guess – you’ll have to replace the screen. I don’t think that your problem is related to the video cable or bad connection between the cable and LCD.
September 20th, 2008 at 11:12 am
Omar,
Fn+F7/F8 will work only for the laptop LCD, not for the external monitor. I believe you cannot change brightness on the external screen using these hot keys, they will work only for the internal screen. I think by using Fn+F7/F8 keys you increasing or decreasing output voltage on the inverter board and as a result you are increasing or decreasing the backlight lamp brightness.
Man, I understand you. It’s really frustrating but it’s possible that one of your new parts, LCD or inverter, is defective. Are they still under warranty, can you replace them?
September 17th, 2008 at 8:19 pm
I just recieved my new screen inverter and installed it. Yet I am still getting the same problem…. However, I did notice, when I boot up my computer with my old inverter installed, the HP symbol when the computer first boots up is completely dim. But when I use my new inverter, the HP symbol lights up brightly for a split second then goes back to being dim….
This is getting really frustrating. I have replaced my LCD screen and my screen inverter and I’m still getting the same problem!
I also noticed that when I connect an external monitor to my laptop and try using the fn hotkeys, all of them seems to work except for f7 and f8, which are increase and decrease screen brightness. Could it be that there is nothing wrong with my inverter or LCD screen and the only issue is with the hardware not allowing me to higher the brightness on my screen?
Thanks for any help or suggestions, I really appreciate all the help I’ve received so far.
September 11th, 2008 at 6:15 pm
i have a hp pavilion 6700 laptop. the problem im facing right now is ” LCD Remains Blank or Displays an Error Code 83 When Resuming From Hibernation/Sleep Mode” as noted in hp website. i believe i read some useful hints about how to update BIOS and everything. But the first problem is how can i get rid of blank screen and start up the windows? then i would have follow the BIOS update instruction. if anyone has any hint, please share it with me asap. im dying without laptop:). thnx
September 11th, 2008 at 4:34 am
Hello,
Having some problems with my laptop monitor and just looking to see if you know what the problem might be before I start ordering and throwing parts at it…
Laptop monitor will start to fade to white starting at the edges and move to the center of the screen. If you move the monitor it pops back to full color and the white goes away, but slowly starts again until the whole screen is white. Sometimes if you play around with the monitor position you can get the screen to stay normal, but a small knock will cause it to bleed to white again…
Repair shop told me over the phone that I needed a new monitor at a cost of $250…wasn’t sure if this was the case or not.
Any Ideas?…
Thanks!
Paul.
September 10th, 2008 at 8:50 am
In regards to what cj2600 said, when I went to pick up my laptop from the repair place, he said that they tested my laptop with there own working inverters, I believe that’s how he came to the conclusion that my lcd screen was bad. Also, he said that he tested it with there own working lcd screen and said it worked fine.
However, for some reason, I don’t believe him and think he was just trying to get $500 out of me for the repair. I have a new replacement inverter on order right now so hopefully that fixes the problem.
September 7th, 2008 at 1:57 am
pls i need to troubleshoot my laptop for example my laptop is not coming up. and is on .what will l do .and if the power cable is not charging and is pug is not showing in the system but ,if i pug power cable the system will be bright and if i remove it ,it will don so what will i do thank u god bless.
September 2nd, 2008 at 9:31 pm
Paul,
Why do you think your original screen was bad? Did you test your laptop with an external monitor? Did your laptop work fine with an external monitor?
When the inverter board or backlight lamp is bad, you still should see a very faint image on the screen.
September 2nd, 2008 at 9:25 pm
Did you ask them if they tested your laptop with another LCD screen (or inverter) or they just guessed that your inverter was working fine?
No, if your external display is working fine it means the motherboard is working fine.
If you purchased a new LCD screen from a reliable source and properly connected it to the laptop, but still experience the same problem (dim image/no backlight), I would assume it’s not a LCD problem.
Could be bad inverter, bad video cable and even motherboard problem. I cannot tell you witch one is causing the problem without testing your laptop using known good parts.
I would talk to a technician who troubleshooted your laptop in first place and asked him how he tested the inverter board with LCD screen.
September 2nd, 2008 at 8:25 am
I have a Sony VGN S- 150 screen was bad. I replaced it. I still have no screen image on it is it possiable the back lite or inverta is bad?