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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November 9th, 2009 at 11:02 pm
Hania,
Sounds like you have a failed LCD screen.
Tell your dad to replace the LCD screen. And while he’s fixing the laptop do your homework.
November 9th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
My problem is that my laptop screen’s colors’ are inverted (opposite)black shows as white red as light blue and it’s driving me insane!!! please if anyone knows what i should do please e-mail me at queen_hania@hotmail.com PLEASE I REALLY NEED YOUR HELP!!
(oh! and don’t tell me in a fancy nerdy way I’m only 11 i barely know anything!!)
-Hania ^_^”
October 29th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
Tsewayod,
Do you mean the video on the screen is fading? What disappears, the backlight? You push what?
This part of your description sounds like a faulty LCD screen.
October 28th, 2009 at 5:51 pm
Hello sir,
mine problem is my computer fading and some time disappear the brightness and if i pushed than after come back normal screen. in front of screen there is three different vertical color line all the time. i don’t know what should i do than.
can you plz explain me.
thank and have a good day !
October 15th, 2009 at 8:32 pm
Hi My problem is some rare like example 7 like when I were waching the tv with noise well I did try to change the inverter, the lcd cable and the screen and nothing happend I have other laptop hp dv6000 working 100% and I try chek the parts on my broken laptop I did try with 3 screens and nothing happen the rare is on external monitor the laptop works well I am confuse because I never seen this before I hope you can help me
October 13th, 2009 at 8:28 am
Mukesh Soni,
To me this sounds like a problem with the LCD screen. Apparently, you got a bad one. Can you call the seller and replace it with another one?
October 13th, 2009 at 6:12 am
My problem is like Ex 5 and 9…the screen contents is alright for 2/3 width from left….right 1/3 is filled with (mostly white) colored vertical lines.
other details:
Machine:
Lenovo 3000 N200 Model 0769-AH8
Problem:
I had my original LCD screen broken – LTN154X3-L06 / LTN154X3S2LV3.1 (on PCB)
so ordered one from a US based online store. The new one i got has this written on its pcb: LTN154X3S4LV3.2 (on PCB) and LTN154AT07-002 on a white sticker.
The new screen has same size and resolution and backlight type.
After changing the LCD, I get contents only on 2/3 of the screen…1/3 of the right width of the screen is filled with white and other colored vertical lines. (picture attached)
Any suggestion what is the problem? are the two screens not compatible? Any help will be greatly appreciated…I am in deep trouble due to this problem.
Thanks.
Soni
soni _dot_ on _dot_ net _at_ googlemail _dot_ com
October 8th, 2009 at 5:48 pm
hi, i have a 5month old MSI CR-400 and i’m having problems with my LCD screen. it starts out normally then after a while, the screen washes out and displays vertical and/or horizontal lines. you can’t see the display. shutting it on and off makes it work fine again. but the washing out is becoming frequent now. and just recently, the laptop has taken a bit of a knock and now, all is see are a mix of colorful vertical and horizontal lines.. please help..
October 8th, 2009 at 12:47 am
Hope you can help. I have an Alienware 5500i R3 also called m5550. Screen is black. When hooked up to external monitor it shows blocks of all colors and sizes not what I’d really call a picture. Have a new graphics card on the way. Do you think that will fix it or should i also get a new lcd? or will it require a new moboard?
thanks
Don
October 2nd, 2009 at 7:27 am
To cj2600
No, with cable everything is ok. Actually, this problem started with smth like example 4. Sorry. I mixed up picture numbers. It was smth like green snow, some patterns, waves to all screen. looks like damaged colour setup. And sometimes when shake the laptop a little, it becomed better, all this things disappeared. And now the screen is grey only. Can hear the sound, but cant get the video.