Here I’m going to post some laptop screen photos showing bad video output. I’ll explain what was wrong with the screen and how I fixed it. I plan to ad more examples as soon as I get new pictures. If you have your own example (and know how to fix it) please let me know and I’ll post it too.
Here’s some help for finding a correct part for your laptop.
Other post related to troubleshooting laptop video problems:
How to troubleshoot and fix laptop video problems
Taking apart notebook LCD screen
Replacing LCD screen inverter
The newly installed screen is not working
Example 1.
Here’s a picture of Satellite M55 LCD screen I made this morning. I got this video output as soon as I started the laptop. There were a lot of vertical lines, and they were changing color without any pattern. To me it looked like Northern Lights (never seen in real life) 
. The external monitor worked fine.
As soon as I applied some tension to the screen it changed the pattern. Some horizontal lines appeared in the middle of the LCD.
Here’s the difference. When I torque the screen, the image appears but it’s distorted with some horizontal lines running across the screen.
Reseating the video cable didn’t make any change and the problem was fixed after I replaced the LCD screen.
Example 2.
I took this picture from Toshiba Satellite M65. I think that this example is very typical. One day you wake up, turn on the laptop and see one or a few hair-like vertical lines in different colors.
When you move the LCD screen some lines might disappear or more lines appear on the screen. A video output on an external screen would be perfect, without any lines. Unfortunately, these lines indicate a screen problem. I’ve never seen this kind of video output caused by a bad video cable or bad FL inverter board. My laptop was fixed after I replaced the LCD screen.
Example 3.
The photo below comes from Toshiba Satellite 5205. The laptop displays identical vertical lines all over the LCD screen as soon as I turn it on. Sometimes these lines are red, sometimes they are blue, sometimes they become wider and change color to white.
The same pattern appears on the external monitor. It displays same vertical lines. When the same video defect appears on both monitors – internal LCD screen and external screen, then most likely it happens because of a bad video card. On some laptops the video card is integrated into the system board, on other models it’s a separate module.
In this example, the vertical lines were caused by a failed video memory on the system board. I’ve tested the video memory with Microscope utility and it failed the test. In Toshiba Satellite 5205 the video memory is integrated into the system board. To fix the problem, I’ll have to replace the board. (We do not have equipment to replace the memory module itself).
Example 4.
Here’s another example of a bad LCD screen. My bad! It wasn’t the LCD screen problem.
As soon as I turned on the laptop, I was getting these reddish marks on the LCD screen but not on the external monitor. Reseating and replacing the video cable didn’t help. The problem disappeared when I installed my test LCD screen. Yes, for some reason I wasn’t able to reproduce the problem on my test LCD screen. But the reddish video appeared again as soon as I replaced the screen. I guess it happened because the system board had some kind of intermittent problem with onboard video or video connector. Long story short, I had to replace the system board and it fixed the problem. Yep, I misdiagnosed this laptop.
Example 5.
Here’s one more example of a faulty LCD screen. The left half of the screen works just fine but the right side is completely white.
Example 6.
Here’s another laptop with a bad LCD screen. This time it’s a tablet PC.
Example 7.
This screen looks like the screen on the example 1. I hooked up an external monitor and the external video works perfectly fine.
Here’s the difference. When I torque the screen, the image appears but it’s distorted with some horizontal lines running across the screen.
After a few seconds the image washes away.
I had to replace the LCD screen.
Example 8.
This laptop displays inverted colors right from the startup. As you see, the Toshiba logo is light green instead of red. The background is light gray instead of black. The Intel logo should be blue on a white background but it is red on a black background.
When your laptop displays inverted colors as on the picture above, this is an indication of a bad screen. You’ll have to replace the screen.
Example 9.
Here are two more screens. In both cases this problem is related to the LCD screen, witch means the screen has to be replaced.
On the image below you see a white band running from the top of the screen to the bottom. This band appears right from the laptop startup and runs through the logo too.
On the following image only the left side of the screen is working properly. This problem is caused by faulty LCD screen.
Are you looking for a new LCD screen for your laptop? Try here.
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August 19th, 2010 at 1:05 am
Hi cj2600,
I have the same probles as in example 2 (a few hair-like vertical lines with different colour). My laptop is an acer travelmate 4003LMi 15″ LCD.
Do you think changing only the lcd inverter will solve the problem here? Thank you.
August 17th, 2010 at 8:14 am
I have a 5 year old Dell Inspiron 9300 with WUXGA 17” LCD display (LINK 1). For the last couple of weeks the bottom 1/3 of the Display would flicker with a set of vertical lines that would quickly disappear. After a few days the vertical lines would appear but this time they would stay until I moved the laptop screen angle (LINK 2). That technique worked for 10 days or so. Now, no matter what I do the screen always have the bottom 1/3 of the screen with a series of vertical lines with no specific pattern. Thinking it was a short on the LCD video cable I bought a replacement cable and installed it with no success. Also, I tripled checked all connection with no recovery whatsoever. I connected my laptop to my TV via DVI video and the image on the TV is perfect (LINK 3). That leads me to conclude that my problem is a faulty LCD screen. A replacement screen for my laptop runs for about 240 (shipping and tax included). Now I found a couple of instances on the web of people having similar problems, following my general troubleshooting steps. They decided their problem was the LCD screen and bought a new one. Only to find out that they still had the same problem. What do you think?
LINK 1: http://img826.imageshack.us/im.....mg5952.jpg
LINK 2: http://img814.imageshack.us/im.....mg5953.jpg
LINK 3: http://img576.imageshack.us/im.....mg5954.jpg
LINK 4: http://www.techsupportforum.co.....ssues.html
August 15th, 2010 at 10:08 am
eKeR,
It’s hard to tell what is causing the problem without testing your laptop with another LCD screen.
I think you have a bad LCD screen.
August 15th, 2010 at 9:55 am
Evgeny,
Did you buy this laptop used? If it’s new and covered by the warranty, do not disassemble yourself.
First, I would check the cable connection on the motherboard. Reconnecting the cable might help.
Second, I would try moving the cable while the laptop is turned on. If moving the cable affects video on the screen and the blinking strip disappears, it’s likely you have a bad video cable.
August 11th, 2010 at 6:39 am
Hi,i have bought asus x83v and first couple of weeks it worked perfect, but later i have got a blinking strip at the bottom of monitor. Strip appear and disappear every second. I connected external monitor and it is no problem with that, works perfect. How can i check if it is problem with my screen or may be with video card or connection problems? Thank you.