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, 2010 at 11:52 am
I have a Sony VGN-SR290 with a 13.3″ screen and the ATI graphics card. I began to develop vertical lines of distorted color about 2 months ago, starting with a small flicker in the lower left corner on the windows logo, and gradually growing. Now the lines take up exactly the left half of the screen. The lines are evenly spaced at ~15 lines per inch. The lines generally do not show up on plain black or white areas, unless there is significant color parallel to the black or white area, and then there is a fade with lines.
Is this a bad LCD, or could it be an inverter or connection problem. I have connected an external monitor and the lines do not show up on that, so I ruled out the video card.
Also, windows only recognizes the monitor as a “Generic PnP Monitor.” I don’t recall if it always referred to it as such, but I feel like it should be more specific.
Thanks
October 7th, 2010 at 1:43 pm
Gagan,
First of all, you don’t fix the video cable. If you suspect that your video cable is bad you replace it with a new one.
Second, your description sounds to me more like LCD screen failure, not the video cable failure. If you have a single vertical line running from top to bottom of the screen, most likely it’s bad LCD screen.
October 7th, 2010 at 3:57 am
hi cj2600;
i have a thin blue vertical line in my laptop sceen.
It is coming on both Windows as well as Linux.
so i feel it is hardware problem .
Have googled around and got the idea that video display cable may have sm problem.
can you tell me how to fix the display cale.
Thanks
September 27th, 2010 at 10:55 am
liar killer,
LOL
I’ve been fixing laptops for many years and let me tell you something. Sometimes it’s impossible to tell if your problem is related to the LCD screen or video cable even for an experienced technician. The only way to find which one is causing the problem is testing the laptop with another known good screen OR cable.
How many laptops have you fixed? Five, ten??? If you go through thousands of different brand, you’ll understand what I’m talking about.
On this site I’m trying to help people by sharing my experience.
If I would be able to give a 100% correct solution to everyone without even seeing the problem, Warren Buffet would pay $$$$$ just to have one hour lunch with me.
Where exactly an I selling brand new LCD screens? Maybe my advertisers selling them but not me.
Now piece off and get back to work. Do something useful.
September 27th, 2010 at 5:25 am
you’re not telling the truth..you’re a liar.it seems that the real issue is the flex cable.at some point those horizontal/vertical lines are the effects of a bad flex cable not the lcd screen .you wanted to earn money by selling brand new lcd screens.well,in fact the issue is the flx cable .you’re a liar and a con artist.get a life will ya! you cheat!
September 27th, 2010 at 3:41 am
Albeee,
I meant replacing the motherboard AKA system board AKA main board AKA main logic board.
In my case the graphics card was integrated into the motherboard and couldn’t be replaced separately. That’s why I had to replace the whole motherboard.
September 27th, 2010 at 3:20 am
Dave B,
Correct. Sounds like this is LCD screen failure.
You’ll have to replace the screen. What is your laptop model? Maybe I can link you to the disassembly guide.
September 27th, 2010 at 3:17 am
leroy,
You are correct, this problem is not related to the inverter failure. That’s for sure.
Have you tried playing with the screen resolution? Maybe your resolution settings are wrong?
If all settings are correct, this could be the video cable failure. You said the external video works fine, so I assume the motherboard video card works properly.
September 27th, 2010 at 3:04 am
manyu,
Is it like a transparent vertical band running from top to bottom?
If yes, most likely this is LCD screen failure.
Just in case, test your laptop with video on the external monitor. If external video works fine, I think you have a bad screen which has to be replaced.
September 27th, 2010 at 2:49 am
slicendicen,
Could be just bad graphics card.
By the way, I believe that Satellite X205-s9800 has a discrete graphics card (not onboard video). It’s a GeForce 8700M GT card.
There is a chance that replacing the graphics card will fix both problems. Unfortunately, this card is not cheap.