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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December 25th, 2006 at 7:59 pm
Edmundo,
I’m not sure 100% what is wrong . You’ve replaced the screen and still experience the same problem, so it’s not the screen problem. There are two more parts that can affect the video output – the system board and the video harness. It’s also possible that you have a loose connection between the video harness and the motherboard. I would check the video cable connection first. You’ll have to remove the bottom cover from the laptop in order to access the video cable connector. You can follow steps 1-3 and 10-12 on this disassembly guide to remove the bottom cover. Reseat the video cable, make sure it’s properly connected to the motherboard. Test the laptop. If reseating the video cable makes no difference, then at the next step I would replace the video cable. Man, that’s a pain if you are going to replace just the video cable. I usually replace the entire top cover assembly that includes the LCD cover, palmrest and video harness because it’s hard replacing just the video harness in this model. It’s possible that you have a bad motherboard, but I doubt it. Basing on my experience, if you have lines on the LCD screen but the external video works fine, there is nothing wrong with the motherboard.
December 25th, 2006 at 1:52 pm
hi i bought a toshiba satellite p30-145 red top laptop. one day suddenly the screen quality turned poor. it seems like there are very thin vertical lines all over the screen. the screen size is 17 inches. one more thing if i press between the key board and the screen the display chnages but doesnt turn to its original quality. some times there are pink patches over the screen. some times it looks like the screen has more of blue color. even if i place my hand on the laptop to type something the screen chnages colors some times improves sometimes worst. i attacvhed an external crt to check and its just fine. preesing above the keyboard tick me that there is some hardware problem. can you help please. one more thing, once there was some over heating problem, so i send it to toshiba and they changed the board.
thanks
December 24th, 2006 at 7:24 am
Hi
My laptop screen is not working good it has horizontel lines on it and if i connect he laptop to external moniter than also it give the same horizentol line
i donot where is the problem?
Thank you
December 20th, 2006 at 1:46 pm
I have the same problem and I’ve just find where the problem comes from. Between motherboard and LCD screen, there is a cables linking them. When I touch these attached cables, screen remains correct but some colors may disapear. One or more of these cables may be cutted, and it seems to be the reason of the problem. I change it and I will tell you if my problem disapears.
(Sorry, I’m not english fluent )
December 20th, 2006 at 10:50 am
Hi! very frustrated, my Toshiba M200 never had a problem until one day the LCD only showed color lines (it was sitting in my desk, no moving or hitting that I recal) , on external works perfect, bought a computer for parts on e-bay, and tried everything first the LCD, then LCD plus inverter, and dedicated ram for graphics card, do you have any knowledge that this could be a system board problem, right now it seems the only answer, I really dont know where else to look, I would really appreciate some light at the end of the tunnel. Best Regards
December 18th, 2006 at 7:31 pm
Condrad Klug,
I’m not sure about the video connector on the LCD but to me it sounds like a bad LCD screen.
December 18th, 2006 at 7:28 pm
Abs,
If you take the laptop to a Toshiba repair center, then you’ll have to pay approximately $450 for a “new” system board (most likely it will be a refurbished motherboard) plus $100-140 in labor. If you decide to replace the system board yourself then the final cost might vary. Sometimes you can find really good deals on used parts online.
December 16th, 2006 at 3:24 pm
Hi i love this site
well anyway, im having a problem with my monitor on a compaq presario v2414NR, and the lower half is all white while the top half is fine, it works with an extrenal moitor, ive reseated the connectors, but im getting the feeling tht it may just be the video connector to the lcd
December 16th, 2006 at 2:04 pm
umm… about that about replacing the system board… how much would it cost for replacing that for a Toshiba Satellite P-35 series laptop/…. I put in the power yesterday, the screen froze and when I rebooted it, it showed exactly as the one the picture shows in example 4… thanks for the help
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