Rogue pixels on laptop screen...

In the last couple of days I've noticed at least a couple of pixels on my screen (Dell Inspiron 9300 with 1920x1200 60Hz screen, XP Pro SP2, ATi Mobility Radeon X300) that aren't showing the proper colours they should be.

From some angles they just look like two small specks of grit or dust on the screen, but from other angles they show up as colours, usually red or green.

I've tried looking on google, but not been able to figure out search terms that offer anything useful at all.
Does anyone have any idea what might be causing this, and how I could go about fixing it?

Thanks.

 

Likely just dea pixels. Happens on LCD disaplys sometimes and there's not a whole lot you can do about them. If you have a few in a centralized region you can contact Dell if its under warranty and they MAY replace the screen.

 

The warranty ended 1 month and 2 days ago.

Flippin' TYPICAL! These things never seem to happen during warranty, or more than a month or so after it ends. Irritating.

I suppose the only alternative outside that is to buy a new screen? The pixels are pretty central and really interfere with my work. Sounds like an exaggeration but I work in AutoCAD and on the black workspace with lines the same colours as the pixels are showing, it looks like lines or points in the wrong place. Does not make life easy.

 

I definately understand. Dell can still repair it but screens aren't super-cheap. A local shop may be able to do it but they will likely just order the part from Dell anyway. I'd say give them a call regardless and see what they can do.

An alternative, although it may not be feasible for you, is to hook up an external monitor.

 

Well by the time I get an external, I'll have a desktop for working on - the laptop is purely so I can work on the move.

I'm waiting for a call back from Dell's service department about replacing the screen (I'm told that's the only option) but basically was given the big "P.R.O." (in less blunt terms) by tech support who wanted me to "be kindly informed" that my warranty was out.

Interestingly, the warranty began not on the day I received it, or even the day I ordered it, but on the day I first contacted them about buying it.
This basically translates to 2 weeks of warranty I should have had, but didn't.

It wouldn't have helped me in this case, but it is a very sneaky tactic to use. My opinion of Dell is steadily going down and down. If it wasn't bad enough that their customer service is among the worst in the known universe (I've known criminals who give better customer service to their clients than Dell seem to) - reps who speak something slightly below pigeon English for starters - they actually try to cheat people out of weeks of warranty. That could be the difference between an in warranty repair for free, and an out of warranty repair costing a fortune.

I think I can say with absolute confidence that when it comes to my desktop, I will not even be considering a Dell machine.


Thanks for your replies Valhallis, I'll probably post up again with the end result for completeness, but it does look a lot like a dead end.


This is definately a hardware-only problem though isn't it? No way it could be fixed with some kind of software tweaking or something?

 

Here's a nice guide on potential pixel recovery but use it at your own risk. It works on stuck pixels (sounds like you have some) but not dead pxiels.

http://www.wikihow.com/Fix-a-Stuck-Pixel-on-an-LCD-Monitor

 

If its intermittant might be the same as I fault I have on a laptop, a Compaq Presario 700, where the pixels go nice red blocky patterns when I move the screen backwards or forwards. Dunno what the fault is but I bet its got something to do with the connectors from the screen to the mb, though other ideas welcomed.

 

rik na - as far as I can tell it's not intermittant. Thanks for the input though. If I stumble across anything related to your problem I'll let you know.


Valhallis.
What can I say? Thanks for the link.
I was feeling a bit reckless when I read it so got to the bottom of the page and figured I'd give one of the suggestions a shot.
One suggested "gently massaging" the stuck pixels. I put a soft cloth over the end of my finger and gave one of the pixels a rub (like an idiot I went to one right in the middle of the screen instead of at an edge just in case it made it worse) and it actually did the trick.

The stuck pixel "jumped" a few times, moving about half an inch along the screen, and then was gone.
I'm going to need to clean my screen before I declare it a complete success though. There are a few points where the colour seems to fade a little when looking at the background of this page, but that looks like it could be grease on the screen (i.e. fingerprints) rather than a problem with the crystal. I might have made a small problem into a bigger one though. I'll post again when I know which it is.

I'm currently pretty much dead-pixel-free, though that could just be the screen packing its bags before giving up on me completely after using a rather clumsy method.
For now though it does seem to have worked.


For anyone else reading this with a similar problem, I'd advise caution trying this method. I'm the kind of person who, once something is out of warranty, says "well it's out of warranty anyway..." and tries silly things.

I pulled apart and mp3 player to look for a fault this week - I didn't have a clue what I was doing but found a broken connection, bought a soldering iron and some solder and fixed it (the last time I soldered anything was about 12 years ago in High School and my soldering was anything but neat)
It now works perfectly - but I nearly destroyed the player completely when opening it up as I just guessed how and had missed some screws I needed to remove.
I say this to give an idea of the kind of approach I sometimes take - cautious yet reckless at the same time.
Be careful.




Thanks again folks.

 

Thanks for posting back Bigshot, many a time a poster will follow advise given and never let us know if it works. This is frustrating, and does not help those that come to this site to seek advise, without registering or posting, and they are in the Majority. Again Thanks for the "Heads Up", and Thanks to Valhallis for finding the solution Great Job

 

BCGray - I've seen loads of threads on various forums where people ask for help, get answers and then say absolutely nothing. It really annoyed me when I was looking for info to solve a problem and didn't know whether or not the solutions were of any benefit. (It also struck me as a little bit rude, but maybe that's just me)

I'm more than happy to post a follow-up, in part to thank those who gave advice, and in part to complete the thread for future reference.


Now I'm posting I should add - the marks that I said might be grease on the screen, aren't grease.
I'm not sure what is causing it, they aren't in the same place as the stuck pixels, but I didn't notice them before I "massaged" the pixels back.

My suspicion is that now my attention has been drawn to flaws on the screen, that I'm noticing things that have been there for ages and I've not noticed before (I found dead pixels numbering into double figures since I started fixing them, but only saw one on Thursday evening) but there is a chance that fixing one problem has caused another. I don't think that's the case, but it could be.

As was said earlier. Use the methods on that page at your own risk.