Spontaneously the laptop screen will “freeze” the current image and then slowly turn white with some faint gray blotches. If I move the top of the laptop toward me, sometimes the image comes back to normal. If I move it backward, then the image freezes and goes white again. The laptop works fine with the external monitor.

Possible cause:

1. Bad connection between video cable and LCD screen.
2. LCD screen failure.

Possible troubleshooting steps and repair solution:

First of all, try reconnecting the video cable on the back of the LCD screen. It’s possible that video cable is not making good contact with the LCD screen.

If reconnecting the cable doesn’t help, most likely this is LCD screen failure. Apparently there is a faulty component or solder joint on the screen controller board. In this case the LCD screen has to be replaced with a new one.

There are horizontal flashing lines running across the laptop screen. The laptop starts fine and you still can see the picture, but there are flashing lines running across a part of the image.

Possible cause:

1. Video card failure.
2. Bad connection between video cable and LCD screen.
3. Bad LCD screen.
4. Faulty video cable.

Possible troubleshooting steps and repair solution:

1. First of all, test the laptop video output on the external monitor. If you see same flashing lines running through the image on the external monitor, you have a problem with the video card. If flashing lines appear only on the laptop screen, the failure is not related to the video card.

2. Just in case, try re-seating the video cable connectors on the motherboard/video card and maybe the back of the LCD screen. It’ s not likely but possible that connection is loose and reconnecting the cable will fix the flashing lines.

3. If re-seating the cable connectors doesn’t help, most likely you have a faulty LCD screen. The LCD screen has to be replaced.

4. If replacing the screen doesn’t help, try replacing the video cable. It’s very unlikely that this problem is related to the video cable but there is a slight possibility of that.

The laptop has green flickering dots in all black images on the screen. The green dots appear in different spots without any pattern. There is not problem with light images, you can see green dots only in dark images.
The image is perfect on the external monitor.

Possible cause:

1. Bad connection between cable and video card.
2. Faulty video cable.
3. LCD screen failure.

Possible troubleshooting steps and repair solution:

The green dots appears only on the laptop screen and the laptop works perfectly with the external monitor. That means the laptop video card works properly and it’s not a software related problem.

1. Check connection between the video cable and video card/motherboard. Make sure the cable is plugged correctly, all the way into the connector. Try reconnecting the video cable.

2. It’s possible that there is a pinched wire inside the video harness and because of that the LCD screen is not getting proper data signal from the motherboard. As a result of that you see all these green dots in black images. Try replacing the video cable.

3. If reconnecting or replacing the video cable doesn’t fix the problem, most likely this is related to the LCD screen failure. Try replacing the LCD screen.

The laptop screen shows wrong colors.

Possible cause:

1. LCD screen failure.
2. Video cable failure.
3. Corrupted video driver.
4. Video card failure.

Possible troubleshooting steps and repair solution:

1. Test the laptop with video on the external monitor. If wrong colors appear only on the laptop screen and video on the external monitor works fine, the problem could be related to the LCD screen or video cable.
- try reseating the video cable connection on the LCD screen.
- try reseating the video cable connection on the motherboard.
- replace the LCD screen.
- replace the video cable.

If colors on the screen appear to be inverted and the image looks like a negative, most likely it is the LCD screen failure.

2. If wrong colors appear on both internal and external screens, the problem could be related to the corrupted video driver or faulty video card.
- try reinstalling the video driver.
- try reinstalling the operating system from scratch and installing the video driver.
- if first two steps do not help, most likely you have a failed video card.

Most newer laptops have video card integrated into the motherboard. The integrated video card cannot be removed and replaced separately from the motherboard. When integrated video card fails, it’s necessary to replace the whole motherboard.

Horizontal lines appear on the laptop screen when the laptop display panel is moved. Video on the external monitor works fine even when you move the laptop display. This problem appears only on the laptop screen.

Possible cause:

1. Poor connection between video cable and LCD screen.
2. Bad video cable.
3. LCD screen failure.

Possible troubleshooting steps and repair solution:

If horizontal lines appear only on the laptop screen, the problem is somewhere inside the laptop display panel.

1. Could be poor connection between the video cable and LCD screen. Reconnecting the video cable connection on the back of the LCD screen can fix the problem. Make sure the video cable is plugged correctly, all the way into the connector.

2. Could be damaged or defective video cable. Try replacing the video cable with a new one.

3. If reconnecting or replacing the video cable doesn’t fix the problem, most likely this is the LCD screen failure. Replace the LCD screen.

The laptop was dropped and the screen is white now. Video on the external monitor works fine but the laptop screen shows only white color, nothing else.

Possible cause:

1. Video cable disconnected from the LCD screen.
2. Damaged LCD screen.

Possible troubleshooting steps and repair solution:

1. Check connection between the video cable and LCD screen. It’s possible that the video cable got disconnected when the laptop was dropped. Try reconnecting the video cable first. Make sure the video cable seateed all the way down into the connector on the back of the LCD screen.

2. If reconnecting the cable doesn’t help, most likey you damaged the LCD screen. The screen has to be replaced.

The lower part of the laptop screen displays horizontal lines running from left to right and flickers. Moving the screen makes the image better or worse. The top part of the screen displays image properly. You’ve tested the laptop with an external monitor and the external video appears to be normal.

Possible cause:

1. Bad connection between the video cable and motherboard/LCD screen.
2. Bad video cable.
3. Bad LCD screen.

Possible troubleshooting steps and repair solution:

1. Try reconnecting the video cable connection on the motheboard.

2. Try reconnecting the video cable connection on the back of the LCD screen.

3. Try replacing the video cable with a new one.

4. Try replacing the LCD screen with a new one.

The laptop screen works normal but one or few colors are missing. All colors are displayed properly on an external monitor connected to the laptop. The colors are missing only on the laptop screen.

Possible cause:

1. Poor connection between the video cable and LCD screen or motherboard/video card.
2. Defective video cable.

Possible troubleshooting steps and repair solution:

1. Try reseating connection between the video cable and LCD screen. Unplug the video cable from the LCD screen and plug it back in. Make sure the video cable connector plugged all the way into the connector on the screen.
Check connection between the video cable and motherboard/video card.

2. If reconnecting the cable doesn’t help, try replacing the vidoe cable with a new one. Apparenlty, the video cable is defective and has to be replaced.

Image on the laptop screen has slight ghosting behind letters and icons. If you adjust the display and find the right position the ghosting disappears but it comes back if you move the display again. The laptop doesn’t have any ghosting on the external monitor. The ghosting appears only on the laptop screen.

Possible cause:

1. Video cable failure.
2. Bad connection between the video cable and LCD screen.
2. LCD screen failure.

Possible troubleshooting steps and repair solution:

Most likley this problem is related to the video cable failure. The video cable transfers data signal from the motherboard to LCD screen and apparenlty there is a short isnide the cable. When you adjust the display, you actually flexing the cable. When you find the right position, there is no short inside the cable and the video goes back to normal.
If that’s the case, you’ll have to replace the video cable.

Before replacing the video cable try reconnecting it on the back of the LCD screen, just to make sure it’s not a connection related problem. Reconnect the video cable and test the laptop.

If replacing the cable doesn’t help, most likely it’s the LCD screen failure. You’ll have to replace the LCD screen.