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!
December 1st, 2008 at 10:20 pm
i have IBM thinkpad 2647
its fallen down floor, when i switched it on, its showing light, but nothing displaying on screen, i connected it to another moniter checked but there also same problem, just a black screen,
some machine is running inside, but nothing displaying,
please solve my problem
thank you
November 30th, 2008 at 9:15 am
I have a Toshiba A75-S209 about 4 years old. I had the static discharge thing fixed by Toshiba within the 1st year and haven’t had any problems since. I tried to boot up yesterday and the machine runs and boots up fine but the screen is blank. Had no prior warning of any screen problems. Was fine a few days ago and now screen really messed up. I can see a very faint Windows logo on boot up but can only see my normal desktop if I press the white lid close switch and then release it – I can see my regular desktop for about a second then it all goes black again. From what I read it may be the inverter? How can I determine if it is the inverter or the LCD screen? If I hook it up to an external monitor and it is fine – will that help determine what is going bad? thanks.
November 28th, 2008 at 10:24 pm
Hi, Please Help.
I have a white line down the middle of my Fujitsu Laptop. I run the Fujitsu driver update utility and it says that everything is up to date. I have tried a external monitor and the line does not appear.
Does this mean my screen is faulty or do I need to update the video card driver.
Having trouble updating the driver. Is there a site that doesn’t require you to pay for driver updates.
Any help or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
November 28th, 2008 at 10:05 am
Update on comments 780 and 786. I can get the display to come up on an external monitor. All the connections appear tight. I took them apart and reseated them to make sure. Backlight appears to be working as the back of the LCD lights up when I turn it on. If I put tension on one side of the video cable behind the LCD it changes from a dark blue color to a much lighter blue color for a few seconds. However, there is still no writing or images on the screen. Where do I go from here?
November 26th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
Update to my problem with a Toshiba P205-6287. When I now boot I get nothing on the screen. It does get a dark blue color versus totally black but I have no image what so ever. I’m assuming the blue is coming up because the backlight is working. Is this correct? I can get the video to work on an external monitor. Where do I go from here? Supposedly the cables are tight. Does this mean the LCD is bad? How do I check to make sure the cables aren’t somehow broken?
November 26th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
Thanks for the info….unfortunately it doesn’t seem like I will be getting free repair.
November 26th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
no, it’s a HP Pavilion zv5000.
November 26th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
Megan,
Do you have one of the following models?
HP Pavilion dv2000, dv6000, dv9000.
Compaq Presario v3000, v6000.
If yes, read this article about free laptop repair from HP.
November 26th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
Hello there! I hope you can help me. I have a HP Pavilion laptop that will not display via the internal LCD monitor. The screen is COMPLETELY black. No dark images, I’ve tried searching w/ flashlights and bright light. When I attach an external monitor or my TV to the laptop, the screen appears with no trouble.
Another weird thing (I’m running Win XP) is that this coencided with a virus. THe virus is now cleaned up, I don’t see any remaining issues with that, but the LCD monitor internal to the laptop still will not display.
I’ve tried in Display Properties to make the LCD monitor my primary, however, the “use this device as the primary monitor box is unchecked yet greyed out on the LCD monitor. On the external monitor it is greyed out and checked along w/ the extend windows deskop check box.
Any help or suggestions of things to try would be GREATLY appreciated. I’m at a loss. I don’t even know if it could possibly be the LCD or the inverter or anything else hardware wise. Pretty sure it’s not the video card or driver since the external monitor works w/o issue.
THANKS!!!!
November 25th, 2008 at 11:59 am
Thanks…..I had the same issue and it was the switch. Just pricked the switch and viola …..it worked. Thanks again.