Diagnose your own laptop screen problem

By Evan Asher April 7th in Blog

Laptop Screen Repair

Laptops often have display issues when their LCD screen backlight burns out, or they encounter video problems.  Some problems, like loose connections, are inexpensive fixes, while others like replacing the screen or video card can be more expensive.  Being able to diagnose your own laptop problem can help determine whether it’s worth fixing.  Below are some common symptoms:

• No display whatsoever: May mean the screen has died or the video card is having a problem
• Very dim screen: Sometimes a screen will appear to be dead or black, but when you look very closely you will see that you can still make out some images on the screen. This means your backlight has died.  In this case, the repair can sometimes be less expensive than having to replace the entire screen
• Video artifacts: If you get strange lines, shapes or static on your screen, you may be having a video card problem.  The cost for a video card repair can vary widely based on what type of motherboard and card you have
• To determine if you’re having a screen problem or a video card problem on your notebook computer, plug in a monitor to the laptop and see if the problems above are duplicated on the screen.  If so, you’re having a video card problem.  If not the problem lies with the display!

Laptops take a lot of abuse so it’s not uncommon for the screen to be the first thing to go.  Don’t worry, though, we can still recover your information from your computer whether you opt to fix the problem or not.  If you need more help diagnosing, don’t hesitate to give us a call at (805) 564-3273.