A while back my laptop screen flickered, became very pixelated and faded to a solid bright white. The only way to get a response from the computer was to press and hold the power button. After turning it back on the bios splash page (logo, version, etc.) was also pixelated in random colors. The computer would go through post with no issues and proceed to the windows loading screen and the screen would again fade to solid white. I would press and hold the power button to turn off and turn it back on. Again bios start page is pixelated. This time it says windows was not shut down properly and I choose to boot into safe mode with networking. The computer boots with no issues – no graphical distortion at all. I run the resolution at 1920 x 1200 and in safe mode this resolution was still used, however any loading of graphics was very slow (e.g. Scrolling through content in IE 7).
I don’t think that your problem is related to the LCD screen because the laptop has good video in safe mode. With a bad LCD screen it would fail in safe mode too.
Your description sounds like a problem with the video card. You can test your laptop with an external monitor. If you see distortion on the external monitor (or external video not working at all), it’s definitely a problem with the video card.
In most laptops the video card is integrated into the motherboard and cannot be removed and replaced separately. If that’s the case, you’ll have to replace the whole motherboard.
