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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September 26th, 2006 at 10:26 pm
Dear Matt
you problem could possibly be the vga cable, or connection of the vga cable. when you check this problem please make sure that your laptop in completely turn off the battery is removed, whit screen is signe of fauly cable or disconnected cable, that is the case if the laptop works on external monitor, else check you video memory. this sort of problem could also couse by dry joint, at mother board chip, or cable connection area.
good luck
September 26th, 2006 at 8:31 pm
Thanks for your reply…
This is what happened when the technician came out…
Well first of all he had the wrong video card, an ati x1400
was supposed to be bringing a Nvidea 7900 go gs. Anyway he changed the motherboard and then later i reinstalled the blue tint video card. ( i had to do it later because he installed the ati x1400 and i had to uninstall it then put back in the nvidea. When i did the blue tint was still there but not on the external monitor. Now this is really wierd. Remember the card i mentioned that was doa? Well i installed that just to see if it would work it did this time… not sure if it will die later on… Here is the thing with that i noticed about the Nvidea Cards today as i was looking at them… The 2 cards that i had 1 was the blueish tint one and the other one was the DOA card each of them had different Assembly Revision Codes on them…The Blue Tint one had A001 (JULY 06)
and the DOA had A000 (Feb 06)
I was wondering if it had a reaction to the bios of the motherboard.. cause the bios has changed from A01 to A02 when the motherboard was installed…. i dont know i am still lost
They are sending out another card…. Dont know What assbly revisions are only that i BM both cards and the newer (blue tint ) A001 revised card had a 900 score and when i tested the A000 (DOA) had 600 score???
September 26th, 2006 at 7:58 pm
Brian,
I haven’t seen a laptop screen with bluish tint yet, but I’ve seen a reddish tint many times. In most cases, if the reddish tint appears on both screens – internal LCD and external monitor, it’s the system board/video card problem. If the reddish screen appears only on the internal LCD screen but not on the external monitor, then I would suspect the screen itself first. I guess the same would apply to a bluish tint.
I think they are replacing the motherboard just as a precaution. Please, let us know what parts Dell technician will replace and if it fixes the problem.
September 25th, 2006 at 12:13 pm
Great Site, thank you so much for helping us figure out our lcd problems!!
I have a dell 9400 with a wuxga true life display. Recently the video card was changed and then the lcd had a blueish tint and no blacks whatsoever. When plugged into a crt all the colors are fine and the video card works good as well. Dell is sending someone out to replace the motherboard and video card, i was wondering if you have ever run into this problem and the cause…Before the lcd was replaced it was wavy and the windows logo during start up was shadowing.. along with distortions to the color. The wavy ness is pretty much gone but no blacks color distortion and a blue tint remaiins… any ideas? why would they change the motherboard?
September 22nd, 2006 at 8:12 am
I was a laptop technician in a company that only uses Dell, IBM and Compaq. I just recently started my own business in a Flea Market and have come across Toshiba laptops that recently needed screen replacements due to accidents and dc-inline jacks that need to be replaced. Your website is a life saver for a tech that is new to the Toshiba brand. I will continue to contribute what I can as I use your website.
September 22nd, 2006 at 4:29 am
Thanks for your response. I took the laptop apart and checked every wire in the cable going to the display and could not find any problems with the cable. Even found there is a fuse on the circuit board but that was OK. I put the unit back together and now it’s working! I think you were right, probably just a loose cable as the connection to the LCD itself does not feel that secure.
September 20th, 2006 at 10:03 pm
Matt,
It’s hard to guess. First of all, I would check if the video cable on the back of the LCD screen makes a good connection with the screen. I’m not sure if it’s going to help you, but I know that on some Toshiba laptop the same white screen appears when the video cable is not seated properly.
If reseating cables doesn’t help, then it could be either the motherboard or the screen problem. I would say most likely it’s a bad screen but I’m not 100% confident.
It would be nice to hook up a test screen and see if it also goes white.
September 20th, 2006 at 9:58 pm
Greg,
Have you tested if the laptop works fine with an external screen before you replaced the internal LCD? Disconnect the internal video cable from the motherboard and test it again with an external screen. If you still get the same lines on the external video, even when internal LCD is disconnected, then I would say that’s a bad motherboard (video card if it’s a separate module).
If the external monitor works fine after you disconnect the video cable from the motherboard, connect the cable back and test it again. It might be just a loose connection. If you still have the same bad video, then you might have a bad screen.
September 20th, 2006 at 9:45 pm
Bernie,
If the line appears even before the Windows load, then it’s a bad screen. Unfortunately, you don’t have a lot of choices here. If you don’t want to replace the screen and this line really bothers you, then you can use the laptop as a desktop replacement but you’ll have to remove the display assembly first. After you remove the display, you can connect an external monitor and you get kinda small version of the desktop replacement. Very compact by the way, like a computer under the keyboard.
In order to remove the display you have to remove the keyboard and the keyboard bezel first. If you want to do it yourself, you can use my Toshiba Satellite P30 disassembly instructions as a guide. Follow steps 6,7,8,9,10,11 to remove the laptop display and after that you install the keyboard with the bezel back and your PC is ready, just hook up an external screen. Some tips: remove the battery before you start, disconnect antenna cables from the Wi-Fi card (step 2) before you pull the screen from the base (step 11). After you remove the screen, you will not be able to use the external wireless card, because Wi-Fi antennas are located in the display assembly witch is removed. If you need wireless connectivity, you can use a wireless PC card.
I think that’s the only alternative, if you don’t want to replace the screen.
September 20th, 2006 at 7:20 pm
I have a Gateway 400SD4. When you first turn on the laptop you can see data on the screen but just for s second then the screen goes white, quite brite too! You cannot see any data on the screen. The external monitor looks great. Any ideas? Thanks!