What can you do if the laptop LCD screen turned completely white? From my experience I can tell that this problem may be related to the following:
1. Loose connection between the video cable and the LCD screen.
2. Defective LCD screen.
3. Defective motherboard (I assume the graphics card is integrated into the motherboard).
Here’s an example of a laptop with white screen. When you turn on the laptop, it starts but the image on the screen is completely white right from the beginning. In my case it was a Toshiba Satellite M45 laptop but this problem may occur with any other brand.
Most likely you still can use the laptop with an external monitor. Just connect the monitor to the VGA port on the back or side of your laptop and then switch the video output from internal to external mode.
On Toshiba laptops you can toggle between internal and external screens using Fn+F5 keys. Hold down Fn and press on F5 until you get video on the external monitor.
On IBM laptops use Fn+F7.
On HP laptops use Fn+F4.
It’s possible that you have to use a different key combination on your laptop but you get the idea.
On some laptops, in order to be able to use the external monitor, you have to connect it to the laptop and then restart the laptop so the external monitor is detected by the laptop.
I noticed that in some cases the laptop screen may turn white because of poor connection between the video cable and the LCD screen. If you want to check this connection, you’ll have to take apart the display panel because the connector is located on the back side of the LCD screen.
These laptop service manuals and disassembly instructions may be useful.
I always check the video cable connection first. Reconnecting the video cable may fix your problem.
If reconnecting the video cable doesn’t help, most likely you have a problem either with the LCD screen or with the motherboard.
The best way to find out witch one is causing the problem is testing the laptop with another working LCD screen. Without this test you’ll have to guess because as I mentioned before this could either bad motherboard or bad LCD screen.
You’ll have to disconnect the video cable from the LCD screen (connector 2) and the inverter board (connectors 3 and 1). After that you connect another working screen and test video.
For this purpose I’m using one of my test LCD screens. My test screen is cracked and because of that you see a wide white band in the center but it still works fine for this test.
The original screen is white but my test screen works normal (except the crack of course) and I can see the image. After this test I can tell that the problem must be related to the screen.
After I assembled everything back together and connected the original LCD, it’s still white.
CONCLUSION. In my case this problem is related to the LCD screen and it has to be replaced.
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July 14th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
Gamer,
Do you mean connecting a laptop LCD screen directly to the VGA port on another laptop? I don’t think you can do that.
July 14th, 2008 at 4:18 pm
Hello
Thank you for this step by step explanation it was very helpful.
I have a question well i came up with an idea but I don’t know how do able it is. Is there anyway to connect the LCD of the laptop to the external VGA?
is there such a cable ?
or can i cut 2 of the cables and make it on my own?
I’m just curios
July 4th, 2008 at 4:21 am
I just want to thank you for your advice on making sure that the video cable is securely inserted. That fixed the white screen trouble with my HP laptop.
June 15th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
i Got a Problem With my toshiba Laptop When i Turn it on it Turns Like orange Pink Color N i Tried My Computer screen didnt Work either. and if U Can Help Me Fix this Problem N thank You.
June 4th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
Benjamin,
It looks like they use different video cable with different connectors. I don’t think that you can replace your 12″ LCD with a 15″ LCD screen.
You can search for both cables here and compare pictures. Both cables are different.
June 3rd, 2008 at 8:00 pm
I was wondering… do you know if all latitude c series laptops use the same lcd panel connector?
Would it be possible to frankenstein a larger lcd panel from a model with a larger lcd? Would there be voltage issues??
Would it be totally safe to assume that at least the same model, but different cpu speed, would be usable for testing whether a larger lcd would fry the system?
I have a c400, it has heating issue and 12 inch lcd. There is a c800 with a 15in lcd (I believe). I want to put my c400 in a totally custom case, and need to find out if a c800 lcd plug is the same as on my c400… and whether the system can take the strain of the larger panel (battery life is nothing to me)…
any ideas are appreciated!
Cool site!!!
May 31st, 2008 at 3:38 pm
t2dano,
I would try replacing the inverter board first.
May 31st, 2008 at 3:35 pm
H.P.
If you never disassembled the laptop, I would recommend taking it to the repair shop.
But if you decide to do it yourself, these links can be useful:
Removing broken screen from Compaq notebook
HP Compaq laptop manuals with step-by-step disassembly instructions
May 31st, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Patrick,
You can try reseating the video cable connector on the motherboard. Also, this can be a problem with the motherboard or graphics card. When you apply pressure on the keyboard, you are flexing the motherboard.
May 31st, 2008 at 3:27 pm
Helvis,
No, I don’t. I work mostly with Toshiba laptops and they have 3-4 different connector types.
Be careful when you buy a cracked screen for test. If the screen is cracked badly, it’s possible you will not get any image on this screen, so it’s not really good for test.