Laptop display very dull and has no image
My laptop displays a very dull green/gray screen when started. It doesn’t change throughout the boot up process and there’s no ghost desktop. An external monitor works, and when toggling to an external monitor the dull green/gray on the laptop screen goes to black (like it would look switched off).
I’ve used a test inverter and replaced the cables running to the LCD screen, and the result is the same.
Any ideas about this one as it seems its not the inverter. Could it be that the whole LCD screen has failed?
Any help would be much appreciated.
I’m almost positive that this problem is not related to the inverter because when you turn on the laptop the screen changes color. When you have a faulty inverter board, the screen remains dark and you can see very dull image when you turn on the laptop. In your case the screen changes color and there is no dull image on the screen, so most likely this problem is not related to the inverter board.
You have eliminated the video cable so it’s either a bad LCD screen or faulty motherboard/video card.
At this point you’ll have to guess with one is causing the problem and I know only one reliable way to find the culprit – test the laptop with a known good LCD screen.
If I would have to guess, I would go with the LCD screen first. The external video in your case still works fine, so most likely there is nothing wrong with the motherboard/video card. That’s why I would go with the LCD replacement first.
By the way, what laptop do you have?
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:04 am
Thanks for your response. Its a Fujitsu Siemens s7010.
Checking the LCD screen makes a lot of sense. There arn’t any s7010 screens on ebay; do you know if there are any alternative laptop screens I can use?
October 3rd, 2007 at 8:07 am
Did you get anywhere with this? I have the same problem with a gateway notebook. Thanks
October 3rd, 2007 at 9:06 am
http://www.screentek.com
Great supplier of LCDs. Give them your manufacturer part number on the back of the LCD and they’ll get you a compatible one.
October 3rd, 2007 at 9:07 am
P.S. Did you test a new FL inverter by chance? That’s often the failure when the unit is producing dim video.
October 5th, 2007 at 2:17 am
Most of time such type of problem coming in our PC because it has LCD screen and it is very sensitive and can be damage in little force. If it’s in guarantee period just replace it.
November 6th, 2007 at 5:42 am
Hi, Ei systems laptop, model 3103 asks for password after switching on. I belive that someone has set a bios password without my consent but no-one seems to know what it is! Is there any way that i can remove it without having to change the security chip. Phoenix backdoor passwords don`t work. Thanks.
November 25th, 2007 at 5:24 pm
I am having a similar problem…
I have a Dell Inspiron 9400, which has been working great for the last year. I just bought a 24″ Samsung monitor and set it up for dual display, and everything was, at first, working great. I opened a game to test it on the new display, and ever since I have lost the graphics on my laptop’s monitor – the backlight is still functioning, and when I do a reboot it switches to white before going to its light grey shade, but cannot get graphics to display on the laptop itself.
At first I lost graphics on both monitors, and it was only after a dozen reboots that I was able to get picture on the samsung.
Any ideas as to why this has happened, or how I can fix it?? I am running Windows XP, by the way.
Thanks for your feedback.
November 26th, 2007 at 12:58 am
Sarah,
Can you see the Dell logo on startup or the screen switches to white as soon as you turn it on?
Maybe the problem is related to the screen resolution? Turn on your laptop with an external screen and then set resolution to minimum, something like 800×600. See if you can get video on the laptop screen when resolution is low.
Try switching video signal from the external screen to the laptop LCD using Fn+F8.
December 28th, 2007 at 5:05 pm
When I turn my laptop (hp pavilion dv 6544eo) on, there is only black, there should be HP-logo. Black screen becomes grey, laptop sounds loading normal but there is no “Windows XP”, only grey. I have 22″ samsung lcd screen, there is no image or grey.
Can you help me?
January 30th, 2008 at 9:39 pm
I have almost the same problem. the screen is grey colour at every angle. Except, If i tilt it up at about 45 degrees or more I can see the picture faintly. Would you guess this is a bad screen??
January 30th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
I can also see messenger in windows and it kinda looks like all the words are melting
February 8th, 2008 at 5:34 am
I’ve had a backlight problem on my Toshiba Satellite A100 for a while now. After researching for days on the net i was sure it must have been an inverter problem. My screen would show everything perfectly fine for a little while but would then go black but the screen was still there as you could see when shining a torch on it and the whole system also runs fine when an external monitor is used. So i replaced the inverter but in the excitement i forgot to put the little flap thing under the screw ( between the screw and the inverter board) when i put the new inverter in. I closed up the laptop and booted up and it ran fine for about 10 minutes then the same problem started again. Im still almost certain its an inverter problem, could i have damaged the inverter by having the screw directly in contact with the inverter board? When i opened the screen back up and discovered that id forgotten that little flap i unscrewed the board , put the flap in place and tried again but still have the same problem…
Any help would be greatly appreciated
Cheers
Andrew
March 21st, 2008 at 2:37 am
Computer was fine one day, the next all h**l broke loose!
So basically when I turn on my computer it loads up to a light gray blank screen. you can sign into windows, but cannot see the box where I would normally login. Just a blank screen. No letters appear as well when I’m typing. So I press enter after typing username and password and it appears to logon, if you were blind, and was just listening, but nothing happends except for two short clicks and the fan kicking on. The gray screen still stares me in the face. Clueless here and cannot afford the local GEEK compter guys to come out and fix the problem. Please help.
Sincerely,
Brandon Adam
March 21st, 2008 at 9:01 am
DELL Inspiron 8600 display works for a few seconds then blanks out.
Running a DELL 8600. Boot up and the display works for a few seconds and then blanks out. I am able to see the splash screen for Windows but that’s it. If I get into the Bios settings, that works for a little while and then blanks out. Doesn;t matter what I do, it only works for a few seconds.
Recently, however, I had the computer on for several hours .. heard some buzzing (like a short circuit sound) but the display kept working. After reboot, same problem as before.
Connected to external display and it works fine.
Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance
–
Brian
March 31st, 2008 at 12:40 pm
I had a spare IBM T23 xga LCD left over from a laptop that had died. I bought another T23 laptop on ebay that claimed to work fine but had a bad screen. My spare screen did not fit the connector of the newly purchased laptop because it turned out that it required a SXGA+ screen. So i purchased a SXGA+ screen on ebay and installed it. It fit the connecter just fine but the screen was simply white with no image. Images appear fine on an external monitor, but laptop LCD is just plain white. I even tried swapping out the SXGA+ harness and LCD with the XGA screen and harness but it didn’t light up. What is broken on a laptop when the screen is blank and just plain white like a light bulb?
April 6th, 2008 at 7:22 am
Hi …thanks for your advices. My laptop is an HP Pavillion ze5375us. I had the same black screen problem. I already replaced the inverter, but now my screen is white ( all you can see is like a bright light, but any image). I toggled it to an external monitor and works fine.
What may be the problem…what should I do?
April 14th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
my HP DV2000 turns on normally until 2 weeks ago when sometimes, when i turn it on, i hear three beeps, but the screen remains black. if i do a forced shut down and restart it again, sometimes it goes back to operating normally. but often times, it beeps three times again.
i did not do anything differently on the times it starts up normally or the times it doesn’t so i really am very perplexed what is wrong with it.
can anybody help me figure it out?
May 23rd, 2008 at 5:20 am
Hello i have bought an old laptop (targa visionary 1600) and it has a faint picture problem.
I purchased a new inverter but nothing.
I worked the lcd with an external inverter works fine.
Checked the cables seem fine.
Jiggled the on off cover button nothing happens.
Any ideas before i through away more money on another inverter?
May 26th, 2008 at 7:19 am
i have an advent laptop
every so often, or in quick succession the laptop will go very dark but u can still slightly see everything.
if i close and reopen it it comes back.
this isnt a permanent problem sometimes i can go large periods of time withoutt his happening.
i am running of power from the plug and don’t have a bettery.
thanx
May 27th, 2008 at 12:38 am
Jamie Says:
May 26th, 2008 at 7:19 am
“i have an advent laptop
every so often, or in quick succession the laptop will go very dark but u can still slightly see everything.
if i close and reopen it it comes back.
this isnt a permanent problem sometimes i can go large periods of time withoutt his happening.
i am running of power from the plug and don’t have a bettery.
thanx ”
When it does it again try to move the cover button
If that works maybe thats your problem it gets stuck
May 27th, 2008 at 11:34 am
I have Toshiba Satellite M35X. When I connect external monitor, picture is pertfect, but when I switch to laptop LCD the picture is like I am in safe mode ( VGA resolutio 640×480 16-colors). Please help me to identify the souce of the problem. Thank you. Alex
June 25th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
I cracked the LCD screen on my HP Pavilion laptop. When it cracked, there was only a red tinted picture on the left third of the screen. I replaced the LCD screen and when I turned the computer on, you could BARELY see a faint image. I got a new inverter and put it in and the image remains very dark and basically unviewable. Where do I go from here?
June 25th, 2008 at 7:42 pm
Greg,
I published your question and some suggestion in this post.
I replaced LCD screen but the image is very faint
September 15th, 2008 at 9:07 am
My laptop one night the scree went back and then came back ok again and it did this for 2-3 time and i turned it off and when it turned on the screen its not showint anything except shads of back and Grey and i can not see anything on it i use another monitor hooked up to the laptop and it will not turn on on it either only in the safe mode i can see something on the other monitor and there are some blue vertical lines on the other monitor too
September 18th, 2008 at 12:18 am
i have sony vaio the is dull or glay if i boot it and i have try different screen,invetors,but no avail when i give it to extenal monitor i works well what is the problem can any boby help
October 11th, 2008 at 10:59 am
pleas ehelp, I have a Advent 7093 which has a black grey white screen,
Starts black then Fades to gery then white, I have checked the dims, processor and HDD, all ok.
My husband reckons its knackered please help, I have 12weeks of study left out of 4.5 yrs and need my laptop to finish.
Regards Maggie
February 12th, 2009 at 7:27 am
I just had this same problem (laptop screen grey, but no picture). It turned out to be the cable on the back of the LCD had crept out just enough to break the connection. I shoved it back in and it works great now. Who says chip creep isn’t around anymore!
February 26th, 2009 at 10:06 pm
ok… I have a dell inspiron 6000. I replaced the screen today and I have no picture at all. I can see the backlight come on and an external monitor works fine… a friend said maybe a driver but I am lost at this point.. this computer has been hooked to an external monitor for about 3 years if that matters at all.
February 26th, 2009 at 10:17 pm
charlie,
It’s hard to tell what’s is wrong. Could be:
1. Loose connection between the video cable and motherboard.
2. Bad video cable.
3. Problem with the motherboard.
I posted your question and some suggestions here:
I replaced laptop screen but have no picture at all