Colored stripes on the laptop screen - you can do that

Colorful stripes on the screen of your laptop may indicate a broken display due to overheating or loose contact. The article shows you how to isolate the error and what you can still do to save the notebook.

Colored stripes on the notebook screen or graphics card defective?

First of all, you should find out whether the screen of your laptop or the graphics card is the cause of the colored stripes. The easiest way is to connect an external monitor.

1. Find the external graphics port on your notebook. If you are not familiar with this, we will show you in this manual where you can find it.
2. Find a monitor that you can connect to your laptop. Tip: If there is an HDMI connection on your laptop, you might be lucky with the flat screen TV at home - provided the right cable is used.
3. Connect the monitor to your laptop and start it up. If your external monitor is unimpressed by the colored stripes and you can see everything without interference, there is a display error.
4. If you also see the colored stripes on the external monitor, it is probably due to the graphics chip. The exchange is something for hobbyists, there is no guarantee of success. It is safest to replace the device in this case.

Step 2: Narrow the causes further - loose contact on the cable or display heat damage

If you were able to exclude the graphics card as the cause in the first step, two causes remain: a slipped cable and heat damage on the screen. Heat damage occurs if you accidentally leave the laptop under a blanket for longer or forget it in the sun. If you can rule out heat damage and dare to straighten the cable, it is well worth trying.

1. First, pull the battery out of the laptop and remove the power plug. In the CHIP professional tip for laptop dipslay exchange, we show you how to get to the cable. Sometimes you can find repair instructions for exactly your laptop at ifixit.com. There you can find out how best to open your device.
2. Get the necessary tools and a few bowls. There you can store the small screws without losing or confusing them. Then slowly open the laptop until you have removed the entire cover and display frame. Tip: Many laptops have a removable keyboard, which hides additional screws. Take photos to remember the order for later assembly.
3. Now look for a very flat cable, about two to three centimeters wide. It is often golden brown or silver and is led from the mainboard to the screen panel. There is a wide plug at both ends, which is secured with a small lever. This is the video cable.
4. Check that the lever is loose and that the cable has come loose at one end. If you find the cable slipped, you can carefully put it back in and use the tip of a ballpoint pen cover to press the small lever evenly on both sides. Be careful: if the lever is defective, the laptop will also become unusable.
5. Now you can put the display back in its place and mount the covers again. Pay attention to small screws and other metal parts. Nothing metallic may touch the contacts of the electronics later.

• Now it's time for a test: when the laptop is closed, you can plug in the power adapter and start the laptop. Now you can see if you were successful. If the stripes are still not gone, the display has irreparable damage. Unfortunately, only exchange helps here.

If the rest of your laptop is still working properly, only the display doesn't want to, you can also connect an external monitor to your laptop.