Laptop screen started showing strange or wrong colors. What could be wrong? I’ve been asked this question many times and today I’m addressing the issue.
In this post I explain some basic troubleshooting techniques in case if your laptop screen started showing strange or incorrect colors.
You have to know how to disassemble the laptop in order to use following troubleshooting techniques.
TEST LAPTOP WITH EXTERNAL MONITOR.
The main step is testing how laptop outputs video on an external monitor (or TV).
You can connect your laptop to an external monitor using VGA cable, DVI cable, HDMI cable or S-Video cable, it depends on a type of connector you have on the laptop. Most laptops have VGA connector, so it would be the most common way to connect.
In my example I’m connecting to an external monitor via VGA connector.
Some laptops detect external monitor automatically and start showing image on both screens right from startup.
Other laptops can detect the monitor but display image only on one screen (internal or external). In this case you’ll have to switch video between internal and external using the Fn key and one of the F* keys in the top row of the keyboard. This combination varies for different laptop brands, for example it’s Fn+F5 for Toshiba, Fn+F4 for HP, Fn+F8 for Dell, Fn+F7 Lenovo etc…
WHAT VIDEO ON EXTERNAL MONITOR CAN TELL?
If both, the internal screen and external monitor (or TV) show strange or incorrect colors or any other image distortion, this is the graphics card failure.
If only the laptop screen shows strange colors or any other distortion but external image appears to be normal (as in my example), the problem is somewhere inside the laptop display. It could be bad connection, bad LCD cable or bad LCD screen.
Let’s narrow down the problem one by one.
TRY RESEATING LCD CABLE CONNECTOR ON MOTHERBOARD.
The laptop screen receives data signal from the motherboard via LCD cable. If the LCD cable not making good connection with the motherboard, it might cause image or color distortion on the screen. Try reseating the LCD cable connector and see if it fixes the problem. Make sure the LCD cable connector plugged correctly.
In most laptops the LCD cable connector located under the keyboard bezel (aka keyboard cover). If it’s not there, most likely you’ll find it somewhere under the keyboard.
WIGGLE THE LCD CABLE.
The LCD cable runs inside the laptop display, under the LCD screen. For this test it’s necessary to disassemble the display, so you can access the cable.
A pinched or damaged wire inside the LCD cable also can cause color distortion.
Try wiggling the LCD cable while the laptop is running. If wiggling the LCD cable affects image on the screen in any way (it starts shown different colors, lines, or image clears to normal, etc…) most likely the LCD cable is defective and has to be replaced. Try replacing the cable.
On the other hand, if wiggling the cable doesn’t affect image on the screen at all, most likely the cable is good and your problem related to the LCD screen failure. In this case you’ll have to replace the LCD screen.
APPLY SOME PRESSURE TO THE DISPLAY.
Try applying some reasonable pressure to the top part of the display assembly. Squeeze it with your fingers.
If the screen starts showing different colors, lines, or clears to normal when you squeeze the top part of the display panel, most likely this is LCD screen failure. In this case you’ll have to replace the LCD screen.
Also, you might be interested in the following posts:
Troubleshooting laptop with backlight failure.
How to test LCD screen inverter in a laptop.
Laptop has bad video on the LCD screen. What is wrong?
How to troubleshoot and fix laptop video problems.
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February 19th, 2012 at 2:07 am
hi could you please help with my laptop problem,sony vaio pcg 7164m. works fine except for all white areas of display are showing as a pink tint?? have tested with external moniter and the disply is fine, what could be the cause of this,and how will i fix it.
thanks for any help.
February 17th, 2012 at 5:34 pm
@ ashish,
I would suggest testing the laptop with an external monitor. Connect your laptop to the monitor and start playing a game.
What happens with the external image? Will it disappear the same way as on the laptop?
February 12th, 2012 at 4:12 am
i am having lenovo y510 there was hinge problem in it so that i have repaired thru service centre but after receiving from them when ever i start to play any game ever solitare or if i zoom my photo screen becomes blank fully dark . i have shown it to service station the told me to change the new screen so i would like to know that is this problem of laptop screen or something else?
February 12th, 2012 at 1:08 am
The connecting place between ma lcd screen and keyboard( ie. The the bottom of bezel is broken. Can i replace it?
February 2nd, 2012 at 9:20 am
@ Seid,
I don’t understand your question. Does it show a single line on the screen?
February 2nd, 2012 at 8:12 am
@ Vighnesh,
What is your problem? Bad image, no image, garbled image? Have you tested laptop with an external monitor?
January 31st, 2012 at 1:51 am
I have Toshiba L610 . i have problem in my lcd show under line and close tollbar start windows. i need have solution, how to repair?
January 24th, 2012 at 5:52 pm
hi gentlemen!i have a very strange doubt.on testing the pins of my monitor cable when the monitor is ON,the tester shows the flow of current.is this normal or is there any problem with the monitor?can anyone tell
January 16th, 2012 at 9:40 pm
Hey, My HP laptop started making weird teal cloured lines and black images show up as blotchy and red. At the end of your article, you said that squeezing the screen could affect it so I tried, and it did. I’m not sure why but when I formatted my hard drive, while it was deleting files, it looked fine for about 20 seconds without me touching it and then it went all wanky again… if i press along the area above keyboard it also changes minorly… Any suggestions?
January 6th, 2012 at 11:59 pm
Thanks man!!! Awesome article. I had the same problem with my Dell Vostro 1400. Just pressed the area below the point at which my screen is attached(just below the hinge).Presumably, this is where the LCD connector is connected. The weird colours went away.