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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May 19th, 2008 at 10:47 am
Adom,
I think your LCD screen has been damaged and has to be replaced. I don’t know what else can cause this problem.
May 19th, 2008 at 10:38 am
Brandon Davis,
I think you are right, this sounds like a problem with the video card. I’m not familiar with Acer 5000 but it looks like the video card is integrated into the motherboard. If that’s the case, you’ll have to replace the whole motherboard, you cannot replace just the video card.
Here’s something you can try before the motherboard replacement. This laptop has shared video memory – a part of the RAM is used for video purposes. If the part of the RAM allocated for the video card is bad, it can cause video problems too. You can download Memtest86+ and test the memory. I don’t know if your laptop will have video long enough to finish the test but you can try. If the RAM passes test, apparently you have a problem with the video card (motherboard).
May 19th, 2008 at 10:20 am
Donny G,
I just compared both laptops, M35X-114 and M35X-149. It looks like both laptops have same motherboards. The only difference between 15″ and 15.4″ laptops, they require different video cables. If you want to install 15.4″ screen from Satellite M35X-149 into Satellite M35X-114 laptop, you’ll have to transfer the video cable too. If you replace both the LCD screen and cable, it should work.
Proceed on your own risk.
Now about the processor. Toshiba lists a bunch of different CPUs for a Satellite M35X laptop. They range from Celeron M360 1.3GHz to Pentium M755 2.0GHz. I’m not sure if the motherboard installed into your Satellite M35X-114 can support a Pentium M 1.5GHz CPU. Most likely it can, but I’m not sure.
Usually, when I’m not sure, I just replace the CPU and see if it works.
May 19th, 2008 at 9:57 am
Justin Restifo,
If you replaced the inverter board and video cable, but still experience the same problem, this could be related either to the LCD screen or motherboard. There is no simple answer to your question because both parts can cause the same problem. If you want to narrow down the problem, you’ll have to test the laptop with another working LCD screen. If you don’t have another LCD, you’ll have to make a guess or take your laptop to a repair shop so they can test it.
Make sure the video cable is properly connected to the screen. On some laptops you’ll get a plain bright white screen if the video cable not making good connection with the screen.
May 14th, 2008 at 2:19 am
hi
I have a hp pavillion ze2000 laptop. the right side of the screen flickers and has colors inverted going all the way down horizontally. i hooked it up to another monitor and it was fine on there. is there a solution to it?
May 12th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
I have a Dell 700m. The computer was being used when it was dropped perhaps 2 ft, mostly onto the battery side. Then the screen when blank. Here is the current situation: When first turned on and booting, the screen is bright and pale white with thick (~1.5 in) bands that are very similar in color and shade. Then, as it continues to boot, the screen begins to fade to dark (not black) and some thin banding begins on the right side. I’m not sure is if this is due to XP being finally loaded or simply due to time. At all times, I can control the brightness with the computer controls, except that as stated, the general brightness is greatly diminished after boot up. I have attempted to reseat all cables and everything works when attached to an external monitor. Anyone’s help would be appreciated.
May 10th, 2008 at 6:11 pm
I had a question for you!
i was reading over your site very nice by the way!!
My question is i have a accer aspire 5000 and my screen use to come on sometime and sometimes not, and also when it would come on it would look good for a lil bit then BAM….thousands of lines and when i would move the mouse you could see lines get more bold and move also. then i would try and hook it up to a crt monitor and once in a while it would show sometiimes not at all! In your proffessional opinion what do you think is wrong? I was thinking a bad video card!!BTW i replaced the lcd and still had these problems
May 10th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
I have a m35x114 in excellent shape with 15″ screen and 1.30 GH processor. I also have a m35x-s149 with a bad motherboard and and a good 15.4 screen and 1.50 GH processor. Question, can I switch the wider screen and faster processor to the m35x s114 with out any conflicts, or major problems. Thank you for your time Don
May 5th, 2008 at 8:38 pm
i have a gateway 450ROG, lcd went, but external CRT worked fine. i replaced the inverter board, nothing. i replaced the lcd cable and i got just a plain bright white screen, but no actual video. the CRT still works. any ideas? is it the actual LCD screen?
May 1st, 2008 at 5:18 am
Oh and when I use the center keyboard mouse knob, it is a Dell Inspiron 8500, It seems to distort also, that is located above the ram compartment. When can you help me with this, today?