# What is wrong with the blacks?  (laptop display question)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-the-blacks-laptop-display-question/470176>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 30, 2008, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-the-blacks-laptop-display-question/470176 "2008-10-30T00:41:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![newcrasher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b3f665/32.png) [@newcrasher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcrasher)\
**Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-the-blacks-laptop-display-question/470176/1 "2008-10-30T00:41:18Z")

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My laptop has recently developed an issue.

When I open it, the blacks are red. So a screen that should be completely black is completely red. It seems to be more likely to happen the farther I open the laptop. It seems to happen less often the less I open the laptop.

It also seems to happen less frequently the longer I have been using it during a session.

It’s about 2 years old.

Do you think it is a connection problem aggravated by something in the pivot point where the screen meets the actual computer? Or is it a video card issue? Something I can fix myself?

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**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\
**Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-the-blacks-laptop-display-question/470176/2 "2008-10-30T02:57:56Z")

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You almost certainly cannot fix it, no matter what it is. Can you identify what triggered it?

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**Author:** ![newcrasher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b3f665/32.png) [@newcrasher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcrasher)\
**Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-the-blacks-laptop-display-question/470176/3 "2008-10-30T03:11:35Z")

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Not sure what caused it. Just started recently.

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**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\
**Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-the-blacks-laptop-display-question/470176/4 "2008-10-30T03:21:19Z")

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Sounds like one of the ribbon cables connecting the screen to the computer is broken.

If that could be replaced, it would likely fix it. It may not be replaceable, though, laptops aren’t always a simple thing to repair.

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**Author:** ![Rhubarb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/59ef9b/32.png) [@Rhubarb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhubarb)\
**Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-the-blacks-laptop-display-question/470176/5 "2008-10-30T03:26:43Z")

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This happened on my last laptop, a Dell Latitude 610. The problem was a broken connector cable between the laptop and the screen. It also had an issue with the hinge on the same side as the cable and I think the two issues were related.

You probably could fix it yourself if it is the same problem and you had the replacement parts and a teeny, tiny torx driver. I have no idea what the cost of parts was, since it was a (leased) company laptop and was repaired under warranty. The entire repair took under 20 minutes (I watched).