Hair caught between glass and LED of MBP display

[Winglet]

A couple of days ago I powered on my 15" MBP and noticed this "hair like" line coming from the left edge of the screen. It was about 1/2" long and was bent at the end. I was convinced it was dead pixels. Tried a few screen exercise programs to no avail. Turned off the computer and turned it back on and it was gone. The next day back again, but twice the size.

Off to the Apple store and to a genius appointment. He looked at it and said, it looks like a hair. Took it in the back, to the repair tech, and came back to tell me "it is a hair that got there during manufacturing. It is nothing you did." I was relieved, I could not remember trying to shove a hair between the glass and the LED's of the display.

They said we will replace it and we will need your computer for two days. Two days later, I have a new display and all is well.

Who knew that hair can get in between the glass and LED during manufacturing? You would think that they are wearing the Tyvek suits with the hoods, etc. while manufacturing a computer component.

Anyways, just thought I would describe this situation in case anybody else notices a hair like thing behind their screen.

 

[UltraNEO*]

A couple of days ago I powered on my 15" MBP and noticed this "hair like" line coming from the left edge of the screen. It was about 1/2" long and was bent at the end. I was convinced it was dead pixels. Tried a few screen exercise programs to no avail. Turned off the computer and turned it back on and it was gone. The next day back again, but twice the size.

Off to the Apple store and to a genius appointment. He looked at it and said, it looks like a hair. Took it in the back, to the repair tech, and came back to tell me "it is a hair that got there during manufacturing. It is nothing you did." I was relieved, I could not remember trying to shove a hair between the glass and the LED's of the display.

They said we will replace it and we will need your computer for two days. Two days later, I have a new display and all is well.

Who knew that hair can get in between the glass and LED during manufacturing? You would think that they are wearing the Tyvek suits with the hoods, etc. while manufacturing a computer component.

Anyways, just thought I would describe this situation in case anybody else notices a hair like thing behind their screen.

How can you be so sure it's "hair" ? Perhaps it's a crack on the backplate?

Well if the machine still in warranty, you can always ask apple to change the display, cause it's more than likely to be a fault.

Mine seems to have a few patches of trapped water vapour or oil - I dunno...
I can only see them in dark sections or when i'm cleaning the TFT in the light,
doesn't seem to affect the functioning of the system - thank god.

 

[Winglet]

They were sure it was a hair because it was migrating. One minute it would be 1/8 inch exposed, next time you turned it on, it was over an inch long. Per the tech, that is indicative of a "hair" not pixel problem or damage. The static electricity of the display makes the hair finally work its way into view and move around.

Apple replaced the display, no questions asked, and the new one is great.

 

[kalimba]

...I could not remember trying to shove a hair between the glass and the LED's of the display.

I have moments like that sometimes. Glad to "hair" that Apple took care of the problem.

 

[viggen61]

I've a similar issue with a used 20" Cinema Display I have. There's one little speck of dust that's hardly noticeable, unless that area of the screen is white or a very light color. I never noticed it until one day, the vertical scroll bar of one of the windows had the speck dead in the middle. I thought I was going nuts, because as I moved my head from side to side, the speck moved relative to the black pixels at the sides of the scroll bars.

Glad yours worked out OK.

Cheers!

 

[jhamerphoto]

there's a hair stuck in my laptop right now. I don't know how, but I think it got there when my friend blew some dust off the back with compressed air. I don't know how to get it out and my warranty is over. I used to be more concerned with this, but since my logic board fiasco, it seems to be the least of my worries.

 

[TheCookie]

I caught a hair trying to sneak under the bezel this afternoon. Took me a good 5 minutes to work the thing out--and I knew if I didn't it would only be a matter of time before it found it's way behind the glass... that's just the way my luck works.

 

[Winglet]

there's a hair stuck in my laptop right now. I don't know how, but I think it got there when my friend blew some dust off the back with compressed air. I don't know how to get it out and my warranty is over. I used to be more concerned with this, but since my logic board fiasco, it seems to be the least of my worries.[/QUOTE

I am pretty sure there is no easy way to get it out or they would have done that for me. Instead, the genius spent time explaining that it would be sent back to Apple and in a positive pressure clean room, they would remove it and refurbish the display. Now I have a new, probably refurbished display, and all is well.

I have 2 years and a couple of months left on my applecare and it has already paid for itself. I have a new battery and new display. Applecare definitely was worth it for me!

 

[204353]

I had a Sony Vaio FE notebook which must have had an opening in its hermetic seal. Little hairs and dust were entering the screen just below the hole for the screen lock...
And I had a Vaio AR which had even more problems (especially stuck pixels), so I just gave up on Sony and only used my MacBook Pro.

I'm glad that since last year Apple appears to have adopted a no stuck or dead pixel policy. My family has three iMacs and four MacBook Pros, and only the 2006 MBP (early revision) has a stuck pixel! Not bad, I'd say!

 

[ivnds]

It's definitely hair. I had a hair in my previous macbook, took it to the store, the first lady genius dismissed me as dead pixels and sent if off to fixing and got don't nothing, I went back and asked again, got another screen.

A year later, I get another hair! this time on my MBP, I haven't taken this one to the store, I've been busy, but it's for sure a hair, and the second one!

I'm not so happy about this, I maybe thought it was someone's hair from the factory, but I'm now more inclined to think it's my own hair. 2 hairs on the same spot on different computers, gosh. Apple has got to put some sealer or cushion or plastic there! this is really frustrating and clearly a sealing problem.
Now I'm just paranoid whenever anything gets close to my screen.

 

[ivnds]

I am pretty sure there is no easy way to get it out or they would have done that for me. Instead, the genius spent time explaining that it would be sent back to Apple and in a positive pressure clean room, they would remove it and refurbish the display. Now I have a new, probably refurbished display, and all is well.

I have 2 years and a couple of months left on my applecare and it has already paid for itself. I have a new battery and new display. Applecare definitely was worth it for me!

Applecare has worked for me too. On my previous MB They replaced my display (800+ said the service paper) plus a battery connector, a part of the case (where your arm rests), plus my AC adapter blew up like a week after the original one-year warranty was up. so definitely worth it for me aswell.

This MBP has been perfect though (besides the hair thing). I still bought applecare for it .

 

[el3ctone]

a hair is nothing, mine had a "bug" stuck between the display and the background. I requested them to replace it immediately.

 

[hank-b]

They should only employ bald people in that factory...

 

[ivnds]

I don't think it's the people in the factory, I think that's my hair. How could there be a hair just there on the corner for my lcd and all of a sudden it decides to move to the right and invade my screen. It must've fallen from my head and landed there. More of a sealing-the-lcd problem I think.

By that logic, I'll have to shave my head

 

[FightingEntropy]

Here's a pic

So I'm glad I found this thread - I have the same problem!

Here's a picture snapped with my cell phone

 

[ivnds]

Yup Pretty much like mine, but i'm also getting little specs of dust stuck, it's definitely a sealing problem, I should go to the store, you can aswell, i had a macbook with the same problem, they swapped it out, just make sure the genius knows its a hair and not dead pixels, cause they wont replace it if they're a bunch of pixels.

 

[LLJessR]

hmm.

you know, this JUST happened to me this morning! (yes, i realize i'm two years late to the conversation, but here's hoping you guys subscribed to the thread.)

i was photoshopping last night, it wasn't there. i put my laptop in it's sleeve, and then into my backpack. i woke up this morning, opened the laptop up to the photo i left off on last night, and there it was in the bottom left corner, ruining my life.

i took it to the Glendale Apple Store Genius Bar, and they told me it was my fault and sent me on my way!!!

I'm really happy I found this thread, so I can have it open when I go to my next Genius Bar appt. I'm obsessed and meticulous about my laptop and ALL of my equipment, I don't even use my laptop w/o washing my hands first, so I was pretty bummed when they blamed the problem on me.