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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October 12th, 2006 at 10:32 am
Hi there. Who wrote this article ? I was wonder what he meant exactly about the 5205 failed board, that ‘failed the microscope utility test’ on the BGA video memory.. What does that mean ? You’ve inspected the ball grid array, and some of those balls were cold soldered ? Why didn’t you just reflow it ?
Thanks, cheebster.
October 10th, 2006 at 6:29 am
Hi – great site.
I have a Tecra 8100 with video problems.
Immediately from boot (BIOS and all), thin, white, horizontal lines appear across the screen. Looks like interference and/or loose wire.
External video works/looks great.
I removed the plastic front of the laptop that holds the screen in.
I have seated and re-seated all connections – no luck
What does work though is if I leave the lcd screen connected but remove it from the case (so it’s not touching the laptop) the lines go away. Is this a grounding issue. It seems like I am close to fixing it but can’t figure it out…
Thanks for a great site.
October 8th, 2006 at 10:32 pm
Bernie,
In the top navigation bar there is a tab “Laptop Parts”. In there I listed 2-3 companies who sell LCD screens for Toshiba. We worked with Spare Parts Warehouse and AG Parts (used to be ID parts) and don’t have any complaints. Man, screens are expensive.
October 8th, 2006 at 10:21 pm
hi
now my screen has developed a diminished colour to the left hand side ,
where can i get a lcd display 17”
October 5th, 2006 at 10:14 am
Raymond,
I would try reseating the video cable on the motherboard first. You can access the video cable connector if you remove the keyboard bezel. Use Toshiba Satellite P30 guide on http://www.irisvista.com
When the keyboard bezel is removed, turn on the laptop. Tap lightly on the video connector and see if the video output changes. It also could be a failing connector. Check out comment 45 and check the video connectors for bent pins.
October 5th, 2006 at 8:49 am
Don,
I’ve never seen that FL inverter causes such a problem. You a right, the inverter convert voltage for the backlight bulb, but from my knowledge it cannot affect colors on the screen. I guess you might have a failed video cable, but most likely it’s a bad screen.
BTW, look inside the video connector on the motherboard and video connector on the back of the LCD screen. Check if there are any bent pins. Last week I had to repair Toshiba Satellite P30 with a backlight problem. After 15 minutes of testing I discovered that couple pins inside the connector on the motherboard were bent and the video cable didn’t seat properly. The problem was fixed after I carefully straightened the pins.
October 4th, 2006 at 11:31 pm
I recently purchased a toshiba satellite p35-s609 from ebay, my problem is similar to bernie’s in which when booting up there will be a couple red lines on the left side of the screen, while installing windows xp I noticed that there is a reddish hue and diminished color (the white sunburst gradient cirles on the background of the windows turn into reddish circles), this problem is not duplicated on an external monitor. I found that if I tilt the laptop a little will reset the color and brightness to its normal display and stay like that as long as it is kept in that position (which is a little awkward at times). Could this hopefully just be a loose connection from the LCD to the motherboard? I have yet to open it up and wondering what my current options are.
October 3rd, 2006 at 4:14 pm
I have HP ZE1210 LCD screen, The problem was black screen,
at night when i shine flourecent lamp to screen i can barely see
some icon.
i replaced the back light-still not light up.
i order inverter board-it light up but the back ground is white, character is black and desk top icon or windows had bad color like low 16 bit color ressolution, the color look like example 2 above but no line. Hook up SVGA work ok.
I have reseated cable hardness from lcd to mothe board so many time. My question is…is it the inverter i have ordered and replaced is bad. I think the invert board is to convert small dc voltage into high RMS voltage to ignite the backligh and control
the brightness not have to do with color? LCD bad? inverter…not sure. Any body have any ideas or comment please reply. DL1909@yahoo.com
September 27th, 2006 at 10:48 am
Leo,
I’ve posted some laptop video troubleshooting tips in this post. Most likely it’s just a failed FL inverter board on both laptops. If Acer Aspire 3000 has a regular lid close switch (not a magnetic one), make sure it’s not stuck and moves freely.
September 27th, 2006 at 10:28 am
Thank you for providing all of the laptop lcd tips. I have 2 laptops with pretty much the same issue with a very dim screen or no backlight. Both laptops are fine on external monitor.
The first laptop is an Acer Aspire 3000 that is dim throughout the boot process but a Toshiba M45 has a good screen for about 10 seconds, flickers and then goes dim. I am suspecting both laptops to have a bad FL inverter that needs replacing. Do you have any other suggestions to try? Thanks.