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?
If you find this article useful, please consider making a donation to the author. Thank you!
November 24th, 2008 at 8:09 am
My daughter has a Toshiba P205-6287. I’m having some dsplay problems. First, the screen frequently goes blank after it starts to boot up although it looks like the backlight is working. The second issue is more puzzling. When you tilt the screen more than 90 degrees, the background color changes to red. I’ve checked the cables and they appear to be ok. Anything else to look for?
November 19th, 2008 at 11:36 am
Hello CJ2600,
First of all, great handle. Secondly, I’ve got a Toshiba L25-S1194 with an intermittent screen issue. The output is fine in general, but when I have the screen open to a particular position I get a lot of colorful noise on the display. All I have to do is move the screen a couple of degrees forward or back and it goes away, but of course the position in which the problem exists is also the one which is the best viewing angle normally. I’m thinking this is probably related to the cable flexing where it passes through the hinge and was wondering if you had any thoughts.
Thanks,
Chopin.
November 13th, 2008 at 5:32 am
Hi, I have a Toshiba Satellite P205-S6237 notebook. When trying to connect a dual monitor display, my main screen goes blank (the second screen never responds) and the computer freezes all together. I’m running Windows Vista. The freeze happens the second I click “apply” or “ok” under the display menu after setting up the second monitor.
This also happens if I simply connect the second monitors video cable and just try to start the computer this way. The computer never starts and completely freezes exactly the same way it does if I go through display settings.
I’ve tried multiple second monitors with no luck.
Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!
November 6th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
My laptop screen will just get a black blotch in the bottom left corner sometimes randomly, if I move the screen back and forth it will go away in some positions. I have a 3 year warranty on hardware, will this be covered when it goes black and wont turn on?
November 5th, 2008 at 5:28 am
help me please i have a dell inspiron 1100 i took it apart to clean out the fan and now it seems to stuck in standby mode.there is no display and if i tap the power button it shuts it off rather than have to hold it down
November 3rd, 2008 at 7:57 am
The colours on my screen start normal then gradually become green tinged. LCD
Please help especially if there is a programme to repair I would be extremely grateful.
October 30th, 2008 at 8:15 am
I have an acer aspire 3000 and I need to find a good diagram of the inverter. I also need to know if other model inverters will interchange with the aspire 3000 inverter.
Thanks.
October 24th, 2008 at 11:12 am
I have a toshiba 1905 s301 with windows xp home. I have changed the fl inverter once. I have lines appearing where they shouldn’t be when the laptop is ‘cold’. Once it’s warmed up on the AC adapter, the lines start disappearing. I also go to display properties and change the refresh rate back and forward and it fixes the problem once the laptop has been connected to AC for a while. Any idea what the problem may be?
Thanks for such a valuable site!
October 23rd, 2008 at 1:04 pm
Hi, you are my only hope!
I have a Toshiba P100 PS3A3C MA502C laptop which displays always vertical lines from boot time. Nothing new so far, I’ve read hundreds of similar problems. What’s the difference:
When I took the plastic case apart, a small cracked component felt down from inside the laptop. It looks like a small cylinder (5×10mm approx), made from ferromagnetic material (like some solenoids), empty inside. My guess is that that piece was cracked long time ago, but when I moved the laptop (usually I don’t carry with me) , felt inside the laptop and the video card doesn’t accept to work because it sees some weird currents or voltages. I can run win Xp but with generic VGA driver – when I try to install or enable the driver – BSOD – nv4_mini.sys not working.
What drives me crazy is that I can’t find where is the broken piece from. I’ve been steering many hours at the dismounted motherboard and video card, but nothing. Can it be somewhere else., like on a cable to protect for interferences or … I don’t know, Google doesn’t help me.
If you can give me an advice where could that piece be from, I would be always grateful.
Thanks in advance,
G.
October 22nd, 2008 at 6:39 am
Hi, i have a laptop of IBM old model, it lights on for about half an hour and then goes blank, all of a sudden. Then i have to wai for a few minutes and then restart it again, but it goes off again in an half an hour. Pls let me know what is the problem thanks