My notebook screen just blanked out after it had started rolling and flickering
Hi, I have a Toshiba A75-S231. I have been reading all of the postings and not sure my topic has been answered specifically. My computer is now 13 months old and after about three months of owning my notebook the screen one day just blanked out after it had started rolling and flickering and it would work with an external monitor. I took it to a repair center under warranty, they had it for three weeks and said they tried every test but could find nothing wrong so I took it home and it worked for a while. In the meantime it has started overheating so I have gotten stands for work and home and never let it sit flat and it has not overheated in a while. Now, it has started again, blinking and flickering, the picture jumping in and out, scrolling, and going crazy image on screen. If I can catch the start button, I can shut it off or turn it on. But with an external monitor it is fine. I have updated driver, but did not help. So my question is, do I start taking it apart and trying to look for loose connections? Bad inverter, etc? Please help.
I am pretty positive that it is not the FL inverter issue. A defective FL inverter would cause a problem with the backlight, but not with the image on the screen. Apparently there is no problem with the video chip on the system board because you can get the external monitor to work properly. With the image going crazy, jumping in and out and scrolling, I would suspect the video cable first. It could be a problem with the video cable itself of just a loose connection. I would start with reseating connectors. If you feel comfortable, you can open the laptop and reseat the video cable on the system board and on the LCD screen. Reseat the cable on the system board first, because it’s not very difficult. Opening the display assembly is more complicated. There also could be a problem with the LCD screen itself or with the video connector on the system board, but I would check the cable first.
Here’s a guide for opening Toshiba Satellite A75 laptop. The video cable connector on the system board is pictured on the step 8.
Here you’ll find more information regarding laptop overheating and how you can fix the problem.
March 27th, 2007 at 6:34 pm
Hello Laptop Freak,
I have a Toshiba Satellite 2405-S221 that seems to have had a similar problem. A couple weeks ago, one day the screen on my laptop began rolling and flickering. Intermittently, it would work normally, but after a few hours the screen went dark. However, a very dim image could still be seen on the screen and the flickering stopped after the screen was dark. I connected it to an external monitor and everything works fine with that. So essentially, the screen now exibits the problems that you have mentioned with a failed inverter, that of a dimmed screen but with a faintly visible image. So I replaced the inverter with one I bought off Ebay, but that also did not solve the problem. Any ideas on what the problem might be?
And thank you so much for your website. It’s very informative and a wonderful help to many.