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:
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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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January 10th, 2010 at 7:37 am
hi, i have an HCL leaptop, which is two and half years old,the problem with it is that if i maximize a small size video,it appears just like censored videos i.e clarity drops significantly. i tried it on other laptops, they handle it fine.Even wallpapers are displayed properly but problem is with videos. Please help
January 8th, 2010 at 7:42 am
Hi, Thanks for your quick response. At this point, I am pretty sure it is the video cable. If I use an external monitor it works fine–does that rule out it’s not a motherboard issue? I have tested my backlight by plugging my backlight to an old laptop’s screen inverter and turning on my old laptop. I am able to see everything clearly! The downside of that is having to drag my old laptop and current laptop just to see the screen so it defeats the purpose of the laptop. My next question is instead of me fixing the video cable (last resort), is there a part I can purchase that can connect my backlight to say a USB or soemthing a little less bulky to get power?
January 7th, 2010 at 10:43 pm
Susan,
This laptop has a lid close switch located near the left hinge. Try tapping on the lid close switch when the laptop is running. Can you turn on the backlight when tapping on the switch?
There is no good test, but you can measure voltage on the left side of the inverter. Measure it between the ground trace and pin #1. It should be somewhere between 12-20VDC. It’s not a good test, but at least you can find out if the inverter is getting power from the motherboard.
If you tested your laptop with a known good backlight lamp and inverter board but the screen is still very dim, most likely you have either bad video cable or faulty motherboard. I cannot tell witch one is bad.
January 7th, 2010 at 1:36 pm
Hi. I have an HP DV1000 series laptop and tried a number of different things to diagnose my LCD problem. My backlight works (tested) and ordered a new screen inverter when the backlight test failed. I just received my new inverter but it is not working. I am wondering if it could be the LCD/video cable (the left side to what’s being plugged in the inverter?) Maybe there is no current to give power to the backlight? Is there any way to test the LCD/video cable without having to remove it from under the keyboard? I am able make out the images/words on the screen but there is no backlight so it is very hard to see anything. Any advice you provide will be helpful. Thanks!!!
January 6th, 2010 at 8:33 am
Cathal,
I think it’s either bad connection between the video cable and LCD screen or the screen itself is going bad.
1. Try reconnecting video cable on the back of the screen.
2. Replace the screen.
By the way, test your laptop with an external monitor. Set the laptop to output video on both screens. If video on the external goes bad when internal screen gets garbled, there could be a problem with the video card, but I really doubt it. Most likely external video will works just fine but test it just in case.
January 6th, 2010 at 6:01 am
Hi there,
I have a Lenovo N500 laptop and sometimes the screen goes solid white and then garbled. This happens intermittently and is fixed by a small tap to the LCD screen.
I would think that the cable is the problem. What do you think?
January 5th, 2010 at 2:48 pm
Richard Rossin,
Try fixing the problem by moving the video cable (do not touch the screw). Can you?
I’m thinking maybe there is a short inside the video harness and when you play with the screw, you actually moving the cable.
January 5th, 2010 at 2:28 pm
Phunter,
Sounds like a problem with the LCD screen. The screen has to be replaced.
January 5th, 2010 at 12:25 pm
TomG,
Take a close look at the laptop screen. Do it in a dark room.
Is it completely blank and black or you still can see a very faint image on the screen? The image could be very very dark, so look closely.
January 3rd, 2010 at 10:27 am
Hi, my Toshiba A105 screen went totally black so I hooked it up to an external monitor & it looks & operates normally. I toggled back to the LCD & it was initially pink…could see windows & icons & then it cleared up. Seems like something is on the way out…suggestions? Thank you!