Monitor troubles !

I have a 4 year old laptop... The screen recently went haywire. On the left side of the screen are 2 blacked out bars which are the same width. They either are blacked out or white when I restart.... When I leave the computer on they will flicker and change colors. Sometimes , most times they have small vertical lines in them that will change colors. The right bar sometimes flickers and almost shows the image but then goes black or colored vetical lines. Any ideas ? Cable problem , driver , ... i have no idea please help !

 

If the screen is still producing plenty of light I would look at the connections first.

Does it have an external monitor connection and does it work with one?