What is wrong with my Cinema Display?

[mgartner0622]

Hello Everyone-

I just sat down to use my computer. As I was opening Safari, I noticed that the dock seemed to have a white line to it in addition to the reflection.

As such, I opened DVD player to confirm this large line. I took a picture with my iPhone 3GS so everyone can see. It looks like a white/grey haze near the bottom of the screen.
As I'm writing this now (about 5 minutes later) the line has since disapeared, and I'm wondering exactly what the problem could be.

At first I thought it was that cleaning fluid had seeped up under the LCD, as that is what happened on my PowerBook G4 15" a while back.

I use the Cinema Display 23" (2006 Model) connected to my older 13" 2.53GHz MacBook Pro with the Nvidia 9400M Via a Minidisplayport to DVI adapter.

From your opionion, is it the screen that is causing this? My computer?
The Adapter? What could it possibly be. I am very puzzled.

All my stuff is in mint condition, apart from the Cinema Display having 2 stuck pixels. (on a side note, is there anyway to fix them, one is red and one green and they are near the centre and very annoying )

Thanks for your help everyone! Attached is a poorly taken picture of the issue.

 

[Makosuke]

Older LCD screens can start to show some ghosting--when a static pattern has been displayed for a while, it will persist for a while after the image changes. I see this on my very old studio display when I've been reading a website with a hard dark-light border for a while and navigate to another page; there's a faint line where the transition was that persists for maybe 30 seconds.

LCD TVs can show this when you watch a lot of 4:3 pillarboxed video; I can see it easily on my parents' TV, which is on nearly 24/7 pillarboxed.

The Dock itself could cause ghosting like that, since it's completely static, and that would also explain why it would go away after being on a black screen for a while. This wouldn't, however, really explain why you'd see it on top of the Dock--since it's ghosting, you'd expect it to be invisible until AFTER the Dock was gone. Unless there was something under the Dock that might have caused such an afterimage.

Otherwise, no suggestions; it's not a bad line of pixels, since that would be a solid, sharply-defined line from edge to edge, not partial like your photo shows (those also tend to be vertical, I think, at least in the bad screens I've seen).

On stuck pixels, gently massaging them (say, with the top of your fingernail) can sometimes kick them in, although that usually only works with pixels that go bad, rather than ones that were bad from the factory. I've fixed a stuck pixel on a Dell monitor this way, although it would come back after a while. No real harm in trying, so long as you don't push so hard you scratch the screen or break it.

 

[mgartner0622]

Thanks!

I'm glad it's not a major issue and my screen is not starting to Self-Destruct

I guess it would qualify as an old display, it is 4 years old now.

I'm glad you could help and I appriciate the info.