Here is a simple diagram that will help you to understand how a notebook display assembly works and how an image appears on the screen. I’m not an artist and I tried my best drawing this diagram, so if you cannot see a laptop in this picture, don’t be mad. 
A generic display assembly includes a very few parts and knowing them will help you to understand witch part can cause a problem if you laptop video not working properly.
Video cable. A video signal from the motherboard goes to the LCD screen through the video cable. The video cable connects to the motherboard (or video card) through the connector 1. The video cable connects to the LCD screen through the connector 2. The video cable (in most cases) is also responsible for supplying a necessary voltage for the FL inverter board. The video cable connects to the FL inverter board at the point 3.
FL inverter board. This board is responsible for converting low voltage DC power (point 3) to high voltage AC (point 4), necessary to light up the backlight bulb. If the FL inverter board is bad, the LCD screen (backlight bulb) will not light up when you turn on the laptop, but you still should be able to see a very dim image on the screen.
Looking for a new screen, video cable or inverter board? Find it here.
CCFL (backlight bulb). When the backlight bulb lights up, you can see an images on the LCD screen. In most cases the backlight bulb is a part of the LCD screen and if it’s bad, the entire screen has to be replaced. By the way, some specialized repair shops can replace the backlight bulb itself.
Lid close switch. The lid close switch is a small button that locates close to the display hinges. On some newer models there is no button, because the switch is magnetic. You can set up your laptop to go to a hibernation mode or to a standby mode when the LCD is closed. It’s done through power management software. These modes are triggered when the display is closed and the lid close switch is pressed down. If the LCD screen on your laptop will not light up when you open the display assembly, check the lid close switch is stuck inside (it might happen because the switch is dirty).
Related articles:
Fixing notebook video problems.
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May 3rd, 2007 at 4:07 am
I have a sony vaiopcg9522. It starts upon moniter good but laptopLCD show lining . Get a good picture when I hook it up to another monitor. If the bulb is bad would I see all the windows start up? If it is the inverter I have the same question… I live in the jungle of Indonesia so taking
May 2nd, 2007 at 6:15 am
thx again cj ill probably take the laptop to a repair guy how much would fixing this kind of problem cost? do u know?
April 24th, 2007 at 10:40 pm
Aaron N,
IBM hardware maintenance guides have detailed disassembly instructions. You have an IBM ThinkPad R60e, right? Download the manual and take a look at pages 88 (video cable connects to the motherboard) and 111 (video cable connected to the back of the LCD screen). It’s not easy, if you feel uncomfortable tearing it apart, take the laptop to a repair shop.
April 23rd, 2007 at 7:21 pm
Hello again i have hooked up my laptop to an external monitor and it works perfectly so now i need to know how i can re-connect the video cable to the laptop display screen but for now i have it hooked up to a docking station so take ur time
April 20th, 2007 at 8:10 pm
[...] Here’s a notebook display assembly diagram [...]
April 17th, 2007 at 7:17 pm
Did you ever get anywhere with this problem? I have the same problem.
April 16th, 2007 at 9:46 pm
Thx Cj for the info, unfortunately i have no experience with laptops so i dont know where to start in checking the connection or how to take the laptop apart if you could help me out with that it would be great, ill also check on the external monitor.
April 16th, 2007 at 6:07 pm
Aaron N,
Sometimes you might experience this problem because the video cable doesn’t make a good connection with the motherboard or LCD screen. Check the connections first, make sure the video cable makes a good connection with the screen and system board.
Check video on an external monitor. If you get the same fuzzy picture and messed up colors on the external screen, you might have a bad video card.
April 11th, 2007 at 5:40 pm
The screen gets cluttered with garbaged pictures that are all fuzzy and the colors are all messed up, its kind of hard to explain but thats what it generally looks like but some time it will just be black.
April 10th, 2007 at 10:45 pm
Falk Werner,
I doubt that you can use the laptop display as an external monitor. I don’t know how you can do that.