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 8th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
I have an Inspiron 9400/E1705 Lapop with 1.664Mhz Solo Core, 512Mb Ram and Intel 945GM Graphics Board. All Drivers are updated, including the Video Driver. Bios has been flashed to A09. When the internal LCD is enabled, there is flashing (pulsing) on the screen at the Start icon. And, the mouse begins to get jerky and sometimes, blue and yellow vertical lines appear on the LCD and then the whole screen fades out like losing contrast. Sometimes there is one horizontal line in the middle of the screen. Does not happen on Desktop, Solitare, Control Panel or other utility screens, only with Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player, etc. I figured they were maybe only VGA resolution? Now, if I plug in an external LCD Monitor, it will work all day and night with no problems, no pulsing and no lines. And, the mouse works smooth! Laptop does not get overheated. Any ideas other than a defective LCD Screen?
October 6th, 2008 at 12:31 am
Hello, I am looking for an expert in displays,
The problem is that the screen resolution horizontal seems to be divided.
So my Screen from the evo N800c is a UXGA with the resolution of 1600×1200 and i have checked every connector and installed several ATI video Driver for the internal video card Radeon Mobility 7500. Letters and signs are very cryptic in the Resolution 1600 (very bad), better with 1280, good with 1024 and best with 800×600(half of physical resolution). So my idea is that only every 2 Pixel works horizintal?!?
Is the display defektiv? It seems like a systematic error…
Has someone experience with this problem?
Thanks in advance!
October 6th, 2008 at 12:03 am
please help my laptop screen keeps going pink and i dont know why! also im hopeless with tecnical things !! can you help?
please!
thank you
sue
October 4th, 2008 at 9:13 am
My Toshiba laptop screen has yellow vertical line on the left side of the screen like example#2..what can i do for it
October 3rd, 2008 at 5:15 pm
hey mate, i have the excact same laptop as your EXAMPLE 7 model. and its doin the line thing but not fixing it when i torque the screen, it does however fix it when i close the lid and open it again.. also the line thing appears when i tap or bump the laptop itself.. it boots up fine. the screen work awesome 99% of the time. its only when i bump my laptop (like when picking it up to put it on my lap whilst sitting on the couch) even more sensitive touchs, like just resting my palm on it to type something..
what do u think could be the problem?
September 29th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
LM,
I think the backlight lamp is getting old. It’s very hard to replace the backlight lamp because it’s mounted inside the LCD screen. I would suggest using the laptop as is until the LCD screen dies completely.
September 29th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
Paul,
That sounds more like cable problem to me. Check connection between the video cable and LCD screen.
September 29th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
Bea,
Check connection between the video cable and LCD screen. Reseat the cable.
Also, take a look inside the connector on the LCD screen. Make sure there are no bent pins inside the connector.
Check out this post: You replaced broken LCD screen but the new screen is not working.
September 29th, 2008 at 9:52 am
I have a Dell Inspiron 6400 and the right side of the screen has recently started showing dimmer than the left side. Is the LCD screen bad and need to be replaced or is it something else? Thanks for your help.
September 29th, 2008 at 1:34 am
crap! I fixed the problem mentioned earlier but now got another problem. If the screen is bend backward more than 100 degree the screen gets fuzzy. Any idea? Do i need a new LCD screen?