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Ack! My LCD has a big glitch!

mcs37

mcs37

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 2, 2003
192
13
Las Vegas NV
Hey everyone, I have a 12" PB (1.33 GHz). I've had it since late July and love it, but there is a big problem: about a month ago this circle appeared in my LCD, almost like a burn mark. I didn't do anything to it but I know it started showing up after I had shut the machine down and took it on a flight back to the east coast (it was in a Tucano sleeve). It was a small circle that I thought was a dirt mark, so I tried cleaning it with iKlear... no luck, it's still there, and in fact it has grown much more obvious in the past month. I'll try to take a picture of it with my camera but it's about 1/4 of an inch in diameter right in the middle of my LCD. With the default Apple blue wallpaper it appears a much brighter blue. When viewing white-background pages you can't notice it, but it's apparent when a darker color is taking up the screen.

I'm under my warranty still: do you know if Apple will fix this? It's painfully obvious. I don't think it's a dead pixel, and it wasn't there when I started, but it's really hurting my once delightful Apple experience. I'm going to take it to the nearby Apple store sometime but wanted to check with you all first.

Thanks!

Mike
 
take it to the apple store and see what they have to say. do you think the top of your PB and case could have taken a blow while on the flight?
 
diddy said:
take it to the apple store and see what they have to say. do you think the top of your PB and case could have taken a blow while on the flight?
Click to expand...

Not really a blow, but probably more pressure on it. One problem I do have with the PB design is when you close it, the keyboard touches the LCD ever so slightly, enough to leave prints of the keys. I can clean off the dust but a trace remains. Hopefully, some day, they will no longer have this problem. Maybe it's just with the 12" model?

Either way I am quite dissatisfied with what's happening now, given my overall overwhelmingly positive experience thus far.
 
ryan42 said:
If I get what you're saying it's from something heavy pushing a little pad against the back of the display.
Click to expand...

Will Apple replace this? It's a VERY noticeable glitch.
 
OF COURSE IT IS HARDWARE RELATED !!!!

jackieonasses said:
How is it a glitch though? Isn't hardware related?
Click to expand...

What a STOOOOPID thing to say . . . . . are you suggesting this is software ? - Actually I think I know what you mean . . . . it is not a glitch, rather a hardware fault ! Duh !
:confused:
 
Basically it comes down to this--if it's a flaw with the screen (something is misaligned or broken internally that caused the distortion), then they should and will replace it. If it's "your" fault--that is, due to physical damage to the machine from an outside source--they aren't obligated to do anything, although there's at least a small chance they will help anyway.

It sounds to me a lot like it got poked in the lid with the corner of something or got jabbed with something sort of sharp; that's the pattern you get when you put pressure on an LCD. It didn't necessarily have anything at all to do with the keyboard, though--much more likely it's due to the case flexing and impacting the back of the LCD screen, causing some damage to the liquid crystal film. You can probably illustrate this by just poking the back of the screen with it open--you'll usually see some distortion on the screen.

Have a look at the back of the lid on the other side of the mark--there might be a slight dent in the metal that's still pushing on the spot, making the mark. In which case not much you can do unless you're very brave about dismantling your PowerBook, but at least you'll know what caused it.
 
I hope they will replace it. It started out perfect when I got it, but within a few days I noticed this very very faint circle in the middle of the screen, and since then it's just gotten worse and worse. To me, that sounds like a hardware problem, and they will replace it. I'm heading to the Apple store in Bellevue this Saturday to see what they will do for me. Here's hoping!
 
davegoody said:
What a STOOOOPID thing to say . . . . . are you suggesting this is software ? - Actually I think I know what you mean . . . . it is not a glitch, rather a hardware fault ! Duh !
:confused:
Click to expand...
No what i am saying is that it IS hardware. I always thought the word glitch was software related, and you used it entirely to much.
 
mcs37,

i have the same issue with my powerbook 15" (i posted a thread about this, see https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/97745/) and haven't had a chance to take it in to the apple store yet.

a co-worker with the same model powerbook demonstrated how the ligher colored areas of my LCD look surprisingly like when one presses their finger to the LCD screen with a little pressure.

please keep us posted about your trip to the apple store. i plan to go on sunday and give them an earful (i treat my powebook like gold, i bought the keyboard protector they recommended, etc.)

- darren
 
mangydog said:
please keep us posted about your trip to the apple store. i plan to go on sunday and give them an earful (i treat my powebook like gold, i bought the keyboard protector they recommended, etc.)
Click to expand...

I went to the Apple Store in Montgomery Mall (Bethesda, MD) and asked about the LCD. I call it "glitch" even though it's not software. I told them that it had started to occur within a few days after having bought the PowerBook (the truth) and had gotten worse over the next few months. They said they will ship it back to Apple and have it replaced. I had not backed up my disk contents yet, so I haven't shipped it yet, but I plan to in the first month of January after I have used it over Christmas break. I need my PowerBook when I travel, even with the hardware imperfection!
 
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