Graphics card aka video board
A graphics card also known as a video card or VGA board is a laptop component responsible for creating images on a laptop screen.
In most low-mid range laptops the graphics card is integrated into the motherboard. In other words, it’s a part of the motherboard. If that’s the case, the graphics card is not removable or upgradeable. If the graphics card fails, you have to replace the whole motherboard.
A discrete graphics card can be found in high range models and high end gaming laptops. Discrete graphics cards can be removed and in some cases they are upgradeable.
Here’s another example of the discrete video card in a high end gaming laptop. As you see the video card can be separated from the motherboard.
GRAPHICS CARD RELATED PROBLEMS
You can use the following method for troubleshooting problems related to graphics cards.
Let’s say your display stopped working properly. The image is distorted or garbled. Is this problem related to the VGA board or LCD screen?
Connect your laptop to an external monitor and take a look at the external video output. If you see the same problem as on the internal LCD screen, most likely it’s related to the VGA board. If video on the external monitor works fine and the problem appears only on the internal LCD screen, most likely your problem is related to the LCD screen or LCD cable.
TYPICAL VIDEO CARD FAILURE
Below you can see a few pictures taken from a laptop with a faulty video card.
1. When you start the laptop, the initial screen with manufacturer’s logo is not displayed properly on both internal LCD screen and external monitors. You can see random characters, vertical lines running through the logo, random colors, etc…
2. Same problem appears when the laptop displays the boot menu. The screen is either not readable at all, or there are some random characters all over the image.
3. Finally, the laptop starts loading Windows, but the image on both screens is still garbled.
A problem like that is not related to the laptop screen or inverter board.
Again, if the video card is integrated into the motherboard and it fails, you’ll have to replace the motherboard.
August 20th, 2010 at 4:50 pm
Thanks for your quick response.
Yes, default BIOS settings loaded to no effect. My reason for suspecting the cable was that at least one of the wires going into the motherboard connector felt like it might be broken. Thought perhaps that if not all wires were connecting properly, might make a difference as to how the video card saw the panel. Didn’t realize the LCD panel had a controller board.
With current laptop prices getting so low, replacing the LCD may be more than the owner wants to spend.
August 20th, 2010 at 4:24 pm
Nick,
I think this is LCD screen failure, not the cable failure.
When video cable fails, the laptop video can go garbled, fuzzy, or disappear completely but… I really doubt that bad video cable can “support” only 800 X 600 and 1080 X 768 resolutions.
Probably the LCD screen has failed controller board which means the screen has to be replaced.
You tried loading default BIOS settings, right?
August 20th, 2010 at 3:08 pm
In 25 years of working on computers, I’ve never seen anything quite like this.
I’m working on a neighbor’s HP dv5t-1000 laptop w/4 GB RAM. The laptop had previously been dropped and broken case parts replaced by another tech. After that repair, it worked fine for a number of months before developing a new symptom.
Regardless of mode (BIOS, Safe, or full), the LCD panel (a WSXGA+ with 1680 X 1050 resolution) will only display 1080 X 768 on the left side of the screen, leaving the right quarter of the screen blank. The LCD displays at full brightness and full screen area with no flicker, lines or other anomalies or artifacts.
An external monitor displays all available modes. I have confirmed latest BIOS and drivers are installed, although the fact that this issue is present even in BIOS suggests a physical hardware issue rather than driver.
It appears that the on-board video is not properly recognizing the LCD panel as it only shows two available resolutions: 800 X 600 and 1080 X 768, neither of which fills the wide-screen panel.
When I opened the display panel, the video cable appears to be a different part number than HP lists for this particular model (per HP’s part search based on serial number). I have re-seated all video cable connections with no change.
Based on the above, I’m leaning toward a bad cable, but could this also be an LCD issue? If so, is there any way to determine (short of trying one of each) which part is likely to be at fault?
Thanks for your help.
August 14th, 2010 at 4:29 pm
Srini said:
A few days back a thick pink band started appearing on my dell lcd. This caused my pictures to appear bad, but i was still using the laptop. A few days later the laptop screen started displaying poor artifacts, flickering and blanked out after a while. All through when connected to an external montor the display was perfect.
Today i replaced the LCD, inverter and video cable with those i pulled from another working inspiron e1505 (my friend’s).
While the pink band is gone on my e1505, the poor display artifact, flicker and blanking out continues.
When i boot up the Dell logo will appear some times and the display will flicker all the way till i land on log on page. Once i select the user and land in the desktop screen will blank out after a while. All through the picture i seen on the lcd is of poor quality.
The display is perfect on external monitor even now.
Repair Man said:
Strange failure.
You mentioned a few times that your laptop works fine with the external monitor, so I assume the video card is fine.
You’ve replaced all major display parts but the problem is still there. Weird!
Maybe you have bad video cable connector on the motherboard? I’ve seen it happening before but it’s very uncommon failure.
Here’s what you can try.
Turn on the laptop and apply some pressure on the video cable on the motherboard while the laptop is running. Will it affect image on the screen?
Srini’s reply: No that did not have an impact. I replaced my nVidia 7300 graphics adapter with ATI X1300. This fixed the flicker issue.
Thank you for your reply !
August 11th, 2010 at 10:13 am
DAVID,
What videos?
August 11th, 2010 at 12:47 am
I NEED THE VIDEOS ON LAPTOPS REPAIRS, HOW CAN I GET IT? THANKS.
July 29th, 2010 at 9:22 pm
MOHD AIJAR DAR,
Could be memory related problem. Try reconnecting memory modules. If you have two memory modules installed, try removing them one by one. Test your laptop with each memory module separately.
July 29th, 2010 at 9:20 pm
Brian,
First of all, test your laptop with an external monitor. Do you have a problem with video on the external monitor and it works fine, or external video fails too?
Also, when the video stats pixelating, try moving/torquing the screen. Will it affect image on the screen at all?
July 25th, 2010 at 5:29 am
honrable concerns
i have a probleum related to graphics…….
some times my compaq presaino gives graphics. but on restarting graphics fail to console. after some i turn off pc illegality. on switching on it gives again graphics.
plz tell me what may be the problem.
can it be due bios cell if bios cell is low or dead
July 24th, 2010 at 9:00 am
dell precision m60 – lcd working normally then starts pixilating and becomes unreadable and screen goes black. Restart with dianostic boot, screen is barely readable with lots of vertical lines, but hardware tests are passing. It gets to graphics test & screen returns to almost normal. Let it run another couple tests and as soon as I see that the dialog box running a test looking normal I can escape the test and windows reboots normally and graphics work fine – all day! I updated the video drivers but it didn’t make any difference. Any advice as to whether this is software or hardware related would be appreciated.
Thank you
July 22nd, 2010 at 11:41 pm
Srini,
Strange failure.
You mentioned a few times that your laptop works fine with the external monitor, so I assume the video card is fine.
You’ve replaced all major display parts but the problem is still there. Weird!
Maybe you have bad video cable connector on the motherboard? I’ve seen it happening before but it’s very uncommon failure.
Here’s what you can try.
Turn on the laptop and apply some pressure on the video cable on the motherboard while the laptop is running. Will it affect image on the screen?
July 22nd, 2010 at 11:13 pm
Brenda,
I believe this laptop has integrated ATI MOBILITY™ RADEON™ 7500 video card which cannot be removed and upgraded.
July 22nd, 2010 at 11:04 pm
nikosmantis,
If the laptop shows no video on the internal LCD screen and has vertical lines on the external video, most likely this is video card failure.
If the video card integrated into the motherboard, you’ll have to replace the motherboard. There is not much you can do to fix this problem.
If the video card is a separate module, you can replace just the video card.
July 20th, 2010 at 11:39 am
A few days back a thick pink band started appearing on my dell lcd. This caused my pictures to appear bad, but i was still using the laptop. A few days later the laptop screen started displaying poor artifacts, flickering and blanked out after a while. All through when connected to an external montor the display was perfect.
Today i replaced the LCD, inverter and video cable with those i pulled from another working inspiron e1505 (my friend’s).
While the pink band is gone on my e1505, the poor display artifact, flicker and blanking out continues.
When i boot up the Dell logo will appear some times and the display will flicker all the way till i land on log on page. Once i select the user and land in the desktop screen will blank out after a while. All through the picture i seen on the lcd is of poor quality.
The display is perfect on external monitor even now.
Here are some details about my laptop.
Windows 7 Home Premum -Version 6.1.7600 Build 7600 (about a year back upgraded from xp professsional)
Processor Genuine Intel(R) CPU T2080 @ 1.73GHz, 1733 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 2 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date Dell Inc. A14, 4/2/2007
SMBIOS Version 2.4
NVidia GeForce Go 7300 display adapter
The old LCD was an AU OPTRONICS B154EW01 15.4 LCD
The new LCD is a Samsung taken from my friends e1505.
I have checked the connections multiple times. Please let me know what could be causing the poor lcd display.
Should i be using the old inverter connected to the faulty lcd instead of the one that come attached with the working lcd ?
Should i reinstall my OS from an old image ?
Should i change my NVidia graphics card ? (Does the good external display rule out this)
As mentioned the LCD, inverter and video cables are from a perfectly working laptop running XP media center os.
`
July 15th, 2010 at 8:43 am
I have a Sony Vaio PCG-GRX670 and would like to know if the video card is upgradable or if it is integrated into the motherboard.
I really love this laptop and don’t want to replace it because I need a better video card.
Thanks in advance for your help………….Brenda
July 14th, 2010 at 3:17 am
hi, i have a tecra S5 13D laptop and there is a problem with vga card i think, i connect external lcd screen and i saw vertical lines,tha lcd of laptop don t start and laptop don t boot without external lcd screen,what i need to do?
thanks
June 7th, 2010 at 10:33 am
I figured it out. It was a faulty drive, replaced drive and reloaded software and no problems.
June 3rd, 2010 at 8:10 am
I have a DEll Inspiron 8600 that when booting you see a boot menu going thru its process and then the screen goes blank as if if completed boot but no graphics are on the screen. Could I be having problems with my video card or drivers, or is this a sign of a faulty HD.