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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June 11th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
tiago ribeiro,
Apparently, you have a broken display hinge. All laptops are different and there is no universal guide for replacing display hinges. In some cases it’s necessary to take the whole laptop apart, in some cases you’ll have to disassemble only the display panel, it depends on the laptop model. Check out the Laptop Service Manual category for the laptop disassembly instructions.
June 11th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
gordon brown,
That is LCD related problem. I don’t think it’s related to installing the computer game.
June 11th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
I have an Dell Inspiron 8100 that is having screen issues. Upon first turning on the system I see a white bar covering the bottom 1/4 of the screen. After windows has started the white bar disappears and a green/blue or purple bar runs vertical through the center of the screen. I have checked the video output via an external monitor and it worked fine. I believed that the problem was a faulty screen and ordered a replacement, however the new screen is displaying the exact same problems. I have tried reseating the video cables. This problem started out as an intermittent problem with part of the screen going blank, but on reboot the problem disappeared only to reappear later. All connections are tight. Thanks in advance for any advice.
June 10th, 2008 at 10:25 am
basicaly what holds my screen up has broken . i would like information on how i can fix it . i will send pictures if neccessary
June 9th, 2008 at 10:17 am
i have a dell inspiron 6400. my screen is typical of example #2 except there is only one line. i first noticed it after installing a computer game last night.
if there is any advice, i will listen.
thanks.
June 8th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
Kevin McIntosh,
I mean connect an external monitor to the VGA connector (DB 15) on the rear of the laptop. After that set the laptop to output video on the external monitor. If you see exactly the same problem on both internal LCD and external monitor, this is related to the video card. On most laptops the video card is integrated into the motherboard. If the video card is bad, you’ll have to replace the whole motherboard.
June 8th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
cj2600 … thanks so much for such a prompt response … how do you manage to field all these inquiries?
… just to clarify … when you say try an external screen, do you mean connect an external monitor to the D15-pin SVGA connector at the rear of this laptop, or, substitute a known good 14.1″ LCD screen in place of the existing unit?
Thanks, Kevin
June 8th, 2008 at 7:02 pm
Cesar,
Do you see these color bars even before Windows start loading? When you turn on the laptop the first thing that appears on the screen is Toshiba logo. Do you see color bars on this screen?
June 8th, 2008 at 6:57 pm
Kevin Mclntoch,
Test your laptop with an external screen.
If external screen has the same problem, most likely it’s related to the video card.
If external screen is fine and this problem appears only on the laptop LCD, I think you have a problem with the LCD screen.
June 8th, 2008 at 6:50 pm
Debbie,
1. First of all, test the laptop with an external monitor, just in case. Most likely video on the external monitor will be fine and it means that most likely your graphics card on the motherboard is working properly.
2. There is a cable witch runs from the motherboard to the LCD screen – the video cable. It’s possible that the video cable is not making good connection with the motherboard. In this case reseating the connection on the back of the LCD screen may help.
3. Also, this problem could be related to the video cable itself. The video cable can be bad. In this case you’ll have to replace the video cable.
4. Could be bad LCD screen and it has to be replaced.
I cannot tell you what exactly is wrong with the laptop but I listed the most common problems and solutions.