Is my laptop lcd cable loose or do I need a new screen?

acoster · May 30, 2019

Hi :)

First off thanks for taking the time to help me.

I'm trying to figure out if I should order a new screen or if I just need to check the lcd cable.

The first issue I noticed was the gamma, the screen wasn't as bright despite being on 100% and the colours weren't as vibrant and were darker, I noticed though that if I pressed the back of the lid (mainly on the right side) the problem went away, the more I press the more it goes back to normal, if I press too hard this makes the gamma go higher than it should be, this is what has made me think that it might be a loose lcd cable... If you lower the gamma on your screen by 10/20% it'll look exactly like mine... Also if the screen wobbles ever so slightly it causes the same change, which makes the colours look like they're flickering between bright/dark.

A new problem has arised where the image on the screen is being retained if the image is on the screen for a while, however I did notice that this started after I was leaving the laptop on 24/7 for a whole month (I know you're not supposed to do this but I had another issue with the laptop where I couldn't let it turn off), I did have the laptop screen closed for a majority of the time, also the laptop has switched off from overheating a few times because I accidentally blocked the fan, so there are a few things that could have damaged the screen which aren't related to the gamma/cable... However I'm speculating that perhaps the image retinition is only showing because the gamma is messed up.

I hope I've explained the issue well enough.

BrownZeus · May 30, 2019

If its a recent macbook, then your cable itself is probably screwed cause of the way apple designed it, Rossman mentions it often.

If its not a recent macbook, just go ahead and crack open the backplate, make sure your cables are all connected well and aren't loose, lookout for anything that looks off-color. Turn it back on and if the problem persists, its an lcd issue and you like;y need to replace it

Edit: If your screen is OLED then I think you might've screwed your panel entirely with overheating

acoster · May 30, 2019

3 hours ago, BrownZeus said:

If its a recent macbook, then your cable itself is probably screwed cause of the way apple designed it, Rossman mentions it often.

If its not a recent macbook, just go ahead and crack open the backplate, make sure your cables are all connected well and aren't loose, lookout for anything that looks off-color. Turn it back on and if the problem persists, its an lcd issue and you like;y need to replace it

Edit: If your screen is OLED then I think you might've screwed your panel entirely with overheating

Thanks for your reply.

It doesn't have an OLED screen, it's an LED-backlit screen.

I think I will just give it a go and see if it is a loose cable.

I noticed that if I pressed the back of the screen then the image retention disappeared, so it does appear to be entirely down to the gamma issue, which I'm still uncertain could be caused by a loose cable and not an old/damaged screen, guess I'll find out

BrownZeus · June 6, 2019

On 5/30/2019 at 2:35 PM, acoster said:

Thanks for your reply.

It doesn't have an OLED screen, it's an LED-backlit screen.

I think I will just give it a go and see if it is a loose cable.

I noticed that if I pressed the back of the screen then the image retention disappeared, so it does appear to be entirely down to the gamma issue, which I'm still uncertain could be caused by a loose cable and not an old/damaged screen, guess I'll find out

Definitely a damaged screen on the component level. If the issue disappears with pressure to the screen that indicates a component somewhere isn't making contact with something. Certainly not the connector as connectors/cable for laptop screens will typically be along the bottom edge somewhere to reduce tension and length of the cable