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.
If you find this article useful, please consider making a donation to the author. Thank you!
June 3rd, 2009 at 9:05 am
Hi, I have a toshiba satellite, it works fine but when I try to play Virtua Tennis 3 The screen turns white? Why and how to fix it? Thanks.
June 3rd, 2009 at 3:52 am
I have HP Pavilion ZD8000. it boots Ok but there ia 3inch vertical line to the left of screen. After copmletion I can see WindowXP logo and finaly for moment or two I can see mosuse pointer the the screen goes completely white. I have tried external monitor and it shows some red and orange bars. Can you help me as if motherboard was faulty, I should not get all bootup info, windoXP logo etc. Please can you diagnose from this info , problem with my laptop. The inverter works OK.
Rgds
JSM
June 1st, 2009 at 8:34 am
john,
To me it looks like you have a problem with the LCD screen.
In order to confirm that you’ll have to test your laptop with an external monitor attached to the VGA ports. Can you get video on the external monitor?
If you can, most likely it’s bad LCD.
You might have to use Fn+F8 key combination to switch video from the internal to external mode.
Before you replace anything, test the laptop with an external monitor.
June 1st, 2009 at 7:10 am
PLEASE HELP ME, I DO NOT KNOW WHERE TO TURN TO….
HERE i made a video of it so you guys can see clearly :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meqokDHolw8
THE main PROBLEM: OK i have an inspirion 1520 with 8600mgt. i was playing a video game but then my graphics drivers crashed, so i went to start> shutdown and i restarted the computer. when i turned it on again everything was ok so i turned on the game again. this time graphics driver crashed again but this time i had to shut down by holding down the power button for 10 seconds. now when i restarted the computer, the screen is BLANK AND BLACK, nothing shows up..no bios boot page, no windows logo, nada. i reckon that the system still runs b/c i can still hear the windows sound when i log into my account (yes i logged on blindly). also i can turn up and down the brightness, but i just can’t see anything, CAN ANYONE PLEASE HELP ME? i update my computer regularly and had the newest bios, i was running windows xp sp3/
ANOTHER PROBLEM: so alot of people from other forums are saying its my gpu, but here is the other problem, MY DELL WARRANTY EXPIRED. is there any way for me to replace my 8600mgt with another 8600m gt? i can’t send it to dell cause my warranty expired. i looked at the online manual and it seems like you could take out the 8600m gt on the inspiron 1520 with ease, but my problem now is finding another 8600m gt that is compatible with dell. i’ve googled and found nothing, DELL does not have one neither. does anyone know any place where i can get another 8600m gt card and remember my comp gpu is not mxm. anyone know any sites?
my DELL WARRANTY EXPIRED 5 MONTHS ago, is it possible to still extend my warranty? i haven’t played my laptop the whole before it crashed. i only turned it on for 30 mins and i noticed that it was running hotter than usual and i checked the temps and noticed that the 8600m gt gpu was really hot, THEN BOOM NOW I CAN’T SEE ANYTHING ON MY COMPUTER. PLEASE HELP PLZ.
May 29th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
I have a compaq presario 1500, the monitor is white but works with a external hooked up. How do I fix this problem? I see someone fixed it but was still white and the screen needs replacing. But I need to make sure if it can be hooked up on the inside first. This would help very much. Thank you for reading this.
May 26th, 2009 at 7:08 am
Hi,thanks for useful site.
I have a Sony VGN-S150 laptop. One day when i pressed the power button, the screen went “white” (gray-bright actually)and held there,HDD still running, nothing else, and my laptop could not start, even the boot logo.
But the interesting thing is, when the laptop not responding, if i turn off (by press-n-hold power, wait for HDD stops) and then turn on immediately, it will work as normal ( boot, starting windows,…), but the screen gets white again if at screen saver mode (turn off display).
What could be the problem?
I really need help. Thanks
May 23rd, 2009 at 7:18 pm
My T-60 has a white screen. Hooked up to external monitor, everything fine. Bought a new screen, still white. Bought new cable, still white.
Could it be inverter? Can’t think of any other possibility.
Stumped on this one.
Thanks for any help.
Rob
May 21st, 2009 at 7:34 am
Im in a bind. My screen is completely white. I have the toshiba satellite. Can u help me fix the problem because, i have so much memory on it. For me just to take it to a computer repair store is 100.00. Thats for the estimate. And no telling how much to fix the screen. I really do not want another laptop. I love this one. Please help me out of this crisis.
May 19th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
good day i need help.. i have compag presario 2100. the problem is when i turn on the screen appear pure white but after 15minutes waiting i see on screen working fine but if i restart it back to white again then wait another 15minutes.. i check all the video cables but it plug properly.. thank you please reply
May 18th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
Alright, I know this is asking a lot, but I think I might need a bit of help.
I started without this guide. (Headstrong and have issues with instructions >.>) Halfway through I decided it might be a great idea to have a diagram displaying and informing about what I was looking at.
I came across this article, but now I need help.
Over the course of a few weeks, my LCD display has been acting off. I could turn the computer on, but whenever the screen refreshed completely, it would come up white with faded lines. Sometimes, depending on the angle of the lid, the screen wouldn’t come on at all.
Does any of this make sense? Is it possible that you might be able to help?