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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December 1st, 2006 at 3:25 pm
The video card drivers or something. Looks like a nintendo game when it isnt all the way in!!:p
try checking the conection from the monitor to the board too!
November 29th, 2006 at 1:20 am
T.C.
When you apply pressure on the screen casing, you indirectly apply pressure on the screen itself. If the video changes when you press on the screen, then most likely it’s a bad screen.
November 28th, 2006 at 10:07 pm
hi my problem doesnt seem to be mentioned or i just havent looked hard enough but i am very frustrated, ive had my laptop for over a year but today i had been using it a lot at school and pulled it out for my last class and the screen coloring looked inverted, if i applied a little pressure at the top of the casing (not the actual screen) i could get the color to go back to normal and if i would hold it that way for a long time, it would stick to being normal for a long time…any suggestions?
November 27th, 2006 at 12:00 am
i guess dats vot wrong. thanx pal. i shall come back to you as soon i get a solution…. thanks one again cj.
regards V.S.
November 26th, 2006 at 11:34 pm
V.S.
I’m not really sure what is wrong. I wouldn’t think that disconnecting the video cable from the motherboard can affect video on the external monitor.
In the comment 79 you mentioned that the laptop LCD has lines of dots moving from top to bottom. If the external screen would have the same lines, then it would say it’s the motherboard/video card failure. But you say that when you unplug the video cable from the motherboard the external screen shows perfect video. So I’m not really sure what’s going on.
May be you have a faulty video cable and there are shorted wires inside the cable? When it’s plugged into the system board it shorts something making the laptop LCD to display these lines of dots and also the VGA port not to work properly. But when the video cable is unplugged the problem is gone and the external screen works just fine. That’s my guess.
November 26th, 2006 at 10:46 pm
hello cj,
Well i tried to connect to the external monitor, but there was no display. Then i removed the lcd video connector, to my surprise the external monitor showed perfiect display. but when i connect the lcd monitor and use fn keys to swap display on the external monitor there’s nothin but a blank screen. Is there a system board issue?
November 26th, 2006 at 7:44 pm
Dan,
The problem starts from the Toshiba logo screen before Windows begins loading, so it’s not software problem. I think you might have a bad screen, because the problem you described sounds like a screen related issue.
Just in case test the video output on an external monitor. If it’s a video card related issue (I doubt it), you’ll get the same bad video output on the external screen. The video card in this model is integrated into the system board and if the video card goes bad it’s necessary to replace the system board.
November 26th, 2006 at 7:20 pm
V.S.
Did you see any lines on the external monitor? I think you might have a video card related issue and if it is, the lines of dots will appear on both screens – internal and external.
November 26th, 2006 at 7:10 pm
Ozy,
I think your problem might be software related.
You can download the display driver from the manufacturer’s website. I believe Toshiba Satellite P30-145 is a European model, so here’s a link to the website. Before you make any conclusions, try to uninstall the video driver and install it again.
November 26th, 2006 at 5:38 pm
d.h.
It depends. Some LCD screens are not very expensive and it makes sense replacing just the screen. Some LCD screens are very expensive and it’s better to buy a new laptop. Make a research on the Internet and find out how much you have to pay for a new screen. Add $100-120 if you going to replace the screen in a laptop repair shop and you’ll see if you want to go this route.