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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September 3rd, 2008 at 12:08 pm
cj,
yes that is what i was planning but i found the a way to do it but i found a cheap flat monitor so i am using that instead (less hassle), if you anyone wants to figure out how its not too bad you are just running it via a network instead a direct connect (its more like redoing the laptop and putting a program on it so it is used as a monitor instead of a laptop. but it is possible i just found a cheap monitor and am using it instead.
September 2nd, 2008 at 10:01 pm
Mychal Pelham,
Do you mean loose connection between the video cable and LCD screen? I guess it’s possible, try reconnection the cable. If no help, probably it’s the LCD screen problem.
Did you test your laptop with an external monitor? The external video works fine?
September 2nd, 2008 at 9:59 pm
ferratus,
Do you mean using this LCD as a screen for a desktop computer? I doubt you can do that.
September 2nd, 2008 at 9:56 pm
Paul,
To me your description sounds like a problem with the LCD screen.
September 1st, 2008 at 2:47 pm
With my laptop, it starts out with the image jumping and flashing. It works its way to the all-white screen. Do you think that is the same problem???
September 1st, 2008 at 5:09 am
The new screens ie LED screens dont have an inverter. I have heard that most laptop companies want to use these new screens. I still havent seen a white screen on an led yet. Thanks for the comments
August 28th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Ok i know this is kind of a stupid question but could you tell me the name of the connector that would connect into the video card. I am working with an Inspiron 5100 (yes i know ancient) but i am taking the screen out and converting it to be used somewhere else anyways if you know the name please tell me.
Thanks
August 28th, 2008 at 5:50 am
Ok guys, this is driving me nuts. I have a HP Pavilion dv6000 and it works fine. The backlight works but I do have a screen problem. The bottom third of my screen looks like a large bar code. It doesn’t display anything except a bunch of vertical lines. When I plug into an external monitor, everything is fine. Any suggestions?
August 26th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
Colin,
Usually it’s bad connection between the video cable and LCD screen. Did you try reconnecting the cable? Just remove it from the connector on the back of the LCD and then connect back.
If reconnecting the cable doesn’t help, it’s possible that you have bad cable. Could be faulty LCD and even motherboard, but I would try replacing the cable first. It shouldn’t be very expensive.
August 26th, 2008 at 6:42 am
Hi. I have a problem where the screen is normally white, but I get an intermittent display depending on how I move the laptop. It generally works best when I tilt the laptop backwards.
This is seemingly indicative of a faulty connection, but I’m not sure exactly where. I’ve opened-up the laptop and ensured the video cable is attached properly at both ends, but the problem persists. Is it more likely that the faulty connection is on the motherboard or in the video cable?
Advice/ideas welcome.