Possible dead pixel??? Anything I can try?

[GFSarah]

I think I may have a dead pixel in my MBP. I've got the October 2008 model, the LED display. Today I noticed a little grey-ish speck in the display. And trust me, it is IN it, not ON it. Believe me, I wouldn't be wasting anyone's time if this was something that could simply be cleaned off. It is not visible when the display is off; when that area is dark, the spot is visible as a lighter grey as compared to the surrounding area; when that area is white/light, it appears as a darker grey color compared to the surrounding color. Having said all that, I have still cleaned the screen thoroughly several times but to no avail. It is visible from the boot screen (white screen with the apple) and as long as the screen is on, but again it disappears when I turn it off.

From all this, I gather that it is likely a dead pixel. I have reset the PRAM and of course that didn't help. I called Apple and they agreed with me, so I went ahead and set up an appointment for the Genius Bar (almost an hour away ).

The whole point of this is to ask if anyone out there has any ideas of other things I can try to get rid of this problem short of the Genius Bar (obviously I'm hoping it's not a hardware problem). If anyone has any suggestions as to what else the problem may be or anything else I can try to avoid going to the Genius Bar, I will be eternally grateful.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[MacDawg]

Sounds like it is indeed a dead pixel
Different from a stuck pixel and not much you can do about it

You can try the massaging of the screen methods
You can try the flashing different colors methods

But if it is dead, it is likely dead

 

[GFSarah]

Thanks so much for the reply, MacDawg.

If it was a stuck pixel, wouldn't resetting the PRAM have fixed it?

I'm trying the flashing thing and I'm going to look up massaging.

Thanks again.

Anyone else?

 

[MacDawg]

Thanks so much for the reply, MacDawg.

If it was a stuck pixel, wouldn't resetting the PRAM have fixed it?

I'm trying the flashing thing and I'm going to look up massaging.

Thanks again.

Anyone else?

Nope, resetting the PRAM won't fix a stuck pixel
Sometimes you can unstick a pixel with massaging or flashing
But those success stories are not the majority

Dead pixels are usually that... dead

 

[kny3twalker]

Nope, resetting the PRAM won't fix a stuck pixel
Sometimes you can unstick a pixel with massaging or flashing
But those success stories are not the majority

Dead pixels are usually that... dead

but you cannot massage a pixel when it is behind glass. All you can do is find something like dead pixel buddy but for mac and hope it will come unstuck.

I know you have said it is not there when the screen is off, but could it possibly be dust trapped between the glass and the display. I have read that this can be an issue and is considered a manufacturer's defect.

 

[GFSarah]

I think I might cry.

If it were dust, I'd bet they'd replace it, but seeing as it's a year and a half old and I just noticed the spot (it's pretty noticeable), I doubt it's dust.

I've used Dead Pixel Buddy through my Windows partition and a few other similar tools on the Mac side, and the spot shows up on every color except black. Does this help anyone else in terms of diagnostics?

I'm afraid ... I can't be without this computer for any length of time for repairs or anything. I know no one can tell me what they will say or do tomorrow, but if anyone cares to speculate, do you think they will dismiss it because it's a tiny spot, take it in for repairs (for goodness knows how long), or give me a replacement?

I just want this spot to go away.

 

[kny3twalker]

I think I might cry.

If it were dust, I'd bet they'd replace it, but seeing as it's a year and a half old and I just noticed the spot (it's pretty noticeable), I doubt it's dust.

I've used Dead Pixel Buddy through my Windows partition and a few other similar tools on the Mac side, and the spot shows up on every color except black. Does this help anyone else in terms of diagnostics?

I'm afraid ... I can't be without this computer for any length of time for repairs or anything. I know no one can tell me what they will say or do tomorrow, but if anyone cares to speculate, do you think they will dismiss it because it's a tiny spot, take it in for repairs (for goodness knows how long), or give me a replacement?

I just want this spot to go away.

It probably depends on how many pixels are dead in the cluster and where it is located. You can tapping the glass lightly where the dead pixel is, but thats about it for massaging.

 

[Hmac]

I think I might cry.

If it were dust, I'd bet they'd replace it, but seeing as it's a year and a half old and I just noticed the spot (it's pretty noticeable), I doubt it's dust.

I've used Dead Pixel Buddy through my Windows partition and a few other similar tools on the Mac side, and the spot shows up on every color except black. Does this help anyone else in terms of diagnostics?

I'm afraid ... I can't be without this computer for any length of time for repairs or anything. I know no one can tell me what they will say or do tomorrow, but if anyone cares to speculate, do you think they will dismiss it because it's a tiny spot, take it in for repairs (for goodness knows how long), or give me a replacement?

I just want this spot to go away.

Unfortunately, dead pixels are a fact of life on bit-mapped displays. Apple's general policy has always been that replacement is only on the basis clusters of pixels or pixels in the center of the screen. It would be unusual, but not impossible, that Apple would replace a computer or display for one dead pixel, but the only way to know for sure is to take it in and ask.

 

[GFSarah]

Thanks for the suggestions, advice, and opinions. I've tried all the flashing in the world (even let it sit doing that for 45 minutes and the spot remains. I was really hoping to avoid the long drive in to the Apple Store tomorrow, but I guess I'll be there bright and early for my 10:15am appointment (that's early for a Saturday when you have to drive nearly an hour to get there!).

I'll post the prognosis incase anyone is interested or can benefit in the future.

 

[GFSarah]

As expected, the guy at the Genius Bar said it does appear to be a dead pixel (actually two), not stuck or anything else, and he said that a couple of dead pixels does not warrant any action on their part. It's not like I wanted a new computer or anything, but I WAS hoping there was SOMETHING that could be done to fix this. I guess I'll just have to try and get used to it. He did say that if it were more like "several" (though he didn't give a specific number) or if they were in a cluster, then that might warrant a replacement, but not as it is now.

I just thought I'd post the results in case anyone has a similar experience in the future.

 

[jjahshik32]

As expected, the guy at the Genius Bar said it does appear to be a dead pixel (actually two), not stuck or anything else, and he said that a couple of dead pixels does not warrant any action on their part. It's not like I wanted a new computer or anything, but I WAS hoping there was SOMETHING that could be done to fix this. I guess I'll just have to try and get used to it. He did say that if it were more like "several" (though he didn't give a specific number) or if they were in a cluster, then that might warrant a replacement, but not as it is now.

I just thought I'd post the results in case anyone has a similar experience in the future.

My experience with previous 2 Mbps with dead/stuck pixels (both had 1) Is that I always got an exchange. One of the time the genius told me that they couldn't warrant an exchange either but I asked nicely while being persuasive (by saying cmon it's a $2500 computer that I have to live with for a long time!) and it worked everytime!

I say go back and hopefully on a day when there is a different genius there and plead for an exchange. If that doesn't work, I would try going to another apple store near you.

I always make sure I have no dead/stuck pixel not even one because it sucks for resale value since you would have to disclose it on your listing.

 

[kny3twalker]

As expected, the guy at the Genius Bar said it does appear to be a dead pixel (actually two), not stuck or anything else, and he said that a couple of dead pixels does not warrant any action on their part. It's not like I wanted a new computer or anything, but I WAS hoping there was SOMETHING that could be done to fix this. I guess I'll just have to try and get used to it. He did say that if it were more like "several" (though he didn't give a specific number) or if they were in a cluster, then that might warrant a replacement, but not as it is now.

I just thought I'd post the results in case anyone has a similar experience in the future.

I think the policy is 3 or more, so thats not very cool that they would not help you.