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 2nd, 2008 at 10:31 pm
tony,
I could be wrong but I think it’s the VGA board problem and this board is not cheap. You’ll find the video card replacement instructions in this disassembly guide.
Spend your money wisely. I think it could be a better idea to spend this money for a new laptop.
August 31st, 2008 at 9:59 am
thanks cj…
It works fine now.
August 30th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
Hi, I have a Sony Vaio, and recently I have the same problem as in Example 2, but they’re horizontal lines at the very top of my screen. Is there anything I can do, short of replacing my LCD screen?
August 30th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
Hi everyone,
I’m facing problem on my computer as above in example no.4 suspect board problem but not sure which board either system board or NVIDIA Geforce4 440 Go graphic, anyone out there can help.
My mobile computer :- Toshiba Satellite
Model :- 5105 S 701
August 28th, 2008 at 9:00 am
I have a smashed white screen, changed it with a suposedly good one from ebay, still white but vga out is good. will try the lead next. any thoughts
August 26th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Arun,
I would try to reconnecting the video cable first, just in case, but most likely it’s bad screen.
August 26th, 2008 at 6:26 am
Hi,
I have a Sony Vaio. The display suddenly divided into two uneven diagonal parts. The lower part (the greater part) is completely white. the upper part has the usual display.
Should i change the display???
Please help with your advise.
Thanks
Arun
August 25th, 2008 at 11:10 pm
Joanne,
It’s not the inverter.
Could be:
1. Bad connection between the video cable and LCD screen. If that’s the case, reconnecting the video cable will fix the problem.
2. Bad video cable.
3. There is a problem with the LCD screen and it has to be replaced.
Before you do anything, test your laptop with an external monitor. If this problem appears on both internal and external screens, there could be a problem with the motherboard but I doubt it.
August 19th, 2008 at 4:08 am
Hi, my toshiba M105 is displaying horizontal noise/lines which clears or gets worst when I pivot the screen. I am assuming that I have a cable being pinched, the inverter perhaps? I have determined to keep the laptop in the open position in order to prevent the problem from getting worst. i would like to repair the problem rather than buying a new laptop. Any suggestions?
August 15th, 2008 at 3:55 am
hi everyone,great site,and yeah i need help,i run a karaoke and just recently,well after a serious computer crash i have everything more or less back to normal,except when i extend the screens ,the desktop picture pixalates very badly,the pic on the computer is fine,as is the words of the songs when they come up,it’s only the desktop picture on the extended screens…….hope that makes sense to someone and that some one may be able to help……thanx in anticipation.
gb