Common LCD screen problem

If there a line on screen

• It is possible to replace with a new laptop LCD screen. The presence of lines could indicate a problem with the screen, the video cable or the video card.

If  LCD screen is dim

• It may or may not need to replace with new LCD screen if the LCD screen is dim. If LCD screen is dim it may be as a result of either 

1. A faulty backlight or 
2. A faulty inverter.

• The backlight is basically the light bulb in the laptop LCD screen which as one would suspect has an average useful life. The inverter, though, is a separate piece from the LCD screen. The inverter essentially 

1. Takes the DC power which the laptop runs off of and converts it into AC power and 
2. Steps-up the voltage to light up the cold cathode fluorescent backlight.

When a laptop LCD screen is dim the majority of the time it is a result of a faulty inverter (especially for HP laptop components). Unfortunately, the best way to determine which is the cause of the dim screen is through process of elimination by trying either a new LCD screen or a new inverter and seeing which solves the problem. It is highly recommend to purchase an inverter first as inverters are less expensive than LCD screens.

Symptoms which point to motherboard problem

The following are symptoms which point to motherboard problem: 

• Onbard devices start acting strange. For example the network card simply does not react with the network although does get IP address; sound device will arbitrarily stop working or crash its device driver 

• USB connectors might stop working 

• RAM frequency reported incorrectly can be check by CPU-z software

• BIOS information changes arbitrarily or resets 

• A software reset will crash with a blank screen

Identify Laptop or Notebook Display Problem

Laptop LCD screen has a faint image or is very dark

Look closely at the laptops LCD screen, and see if you can see a very faint image. If you can then it is possible that the Laptop's LCD lid close switch is stuck in the closed position. In this mode the backlight stays off, even with the LCD lid open. This is to conserve power when the laptop is ON with the LID closed. Check the LCD lid close switch. It is a small plastic pin located close to the back LCD hinges. Try tapping the lid switch a few times to see if you can turn on the screen backlight. If that does not help, then I would suggest to replace the FL inverter board.

Laptop LCD screen is solid white colour or garbled

Connect an external computer monitor to the laptop. If the external monitor display is fine, then you have a problem with the Laptop LCD screen or the LCD cable connection. If the external monitor image is the same as on the Laptop LCD, then it is likely to be a faulty integrated onboard video, this means replacing the motherboard of the Laptop.