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?
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December 13th, 2008 at 9:18 am
I have a Toshiba P205-S6237(with Vista), It is about 18 months old and I havent had a problem with it until a couple of days ago when the black or dark pixel areas of the display monitor turns red (actually reall red fine lines). I have figured out that when the screen is approx. 0-45 degrees open the display is correct but when i move the screen pass that point to 120 degrees then get the red fine lines. I have been through several different websites but can not find anything on this problem.
The only thing that i can think of is that a wire may be pinched at certain angles of the monitor being opened. Anything that i may be missing.
December 12th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
Hi, thanks for the tips. Though I may have figured I left the screen cable off after yet another monitor dismantle…a big thanks for saving me the time…thank you. I am beginning to sort of enjoy this buying broken down lcd monitors and getting them to work….
December 7th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
Josh,
Sounds like a problem with the motherboard, apparently related to the video card.
You cannot prevent that. You just use the laptop the same way as before. If it fails, it fails.
December 7th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
I’ve had the same serious problem before. I was playing Madden NFL 2004 on my emachines laptop and then the video on the screen went garbled like Identical vertical colored bars on the screen and the sound just stopped and the fan kicked into HIGH speed. I pulled the battery out of the back and I restarted the computer. It didn’t boot, I tried again it did and I had the same problem right when I got to the welcome screen. I tried over and over and had the same series of events. Then it didn’t boot at all. Any thoughts? I need Help. I got it fixed and they said it was my video chip how can I prevent the problem? Josh
December 5th, 2008 at 10:39 pm
Emanuel B,
First of all, check the laptop with an external monitor. If video on the external monitor works the same way and you have to apply pressure on the motherboard in order to make it work, it could be related to the system board or video card.
If video on the external monitor works all the time and you experience this problem only with video on the laptop LCD, here’s my guess:
1. Could be loose connection between the LCD cable and system board. Try reconnecting the cable.
2. Could be bad video cable.
December 5th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
Steve H,
If the external monitor works fine, most likely your problem is not related to the motherboard (or video card).
The screen lights up, so the inverter works properly.
You’ve checked the cable connections, so it’s not a connection related problem.
From your description I can assume:
1. The video cable could be defective. I would try replacing the cable first because it’s way cheaper than replacing the LCD screen.
2. If replacing the cable doesn’t help, apparently it’s bad LCD.
In the comment 780 you said:
Sounds like a bad/defective video cable to me. I could be wrong, but that’s my guess.
Also, just in case check the version of BIOS installed on your laptop. If it’s below v1.30, update the BIOS. Toshiba issued a fix for LG screen in the version 1.30.
Version 1.30 – 2007-04-04
* A workaround was added for a LG panel LP171WP4-TLB1 garbage issue.
December 5th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Frederick B I’m still waiting as well for suggestions. Not really sure it’s the cable. Except for the tension thing changing colors, I cannot find any other discrepancies. Cable doesn’t appear to have any sheathing cut through. And I don’t want to just throw money at this. We’re having other problems as well. I can’t believe an expensive machine like this fails at 18 months old.
December 5th, 2008 at 7:55 am
hello, I have a compaq presario and when i push down and put pressure on the motherboard or when i move the lcd in different position the screen turns on. I replaced the bulb and also the inverter and i still have the same problem the light goes off and won’t turn back on until i put pressure or move the screen. could you or anyone help.
December 4th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
Steve H post 787, I was waiting for you to find a fix for me on the exact same problem, but alas,I could not wait. Replaced the LCD cable for $70 FTW!
December 3rd, 2008 at 8:28 am
update to post 789 – I was able to use an external monitor just fine so I ordered an inverter off ebay and hoping for the best. Thanks