Dust Behind My Laptop's LCD
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Today while I was using my laptop computer, I noticed a dark speck on my screen. At first I thought it was dust, but it wouldn't rub off. Then I thought, "Oh no - it's a dead pixel!" I looked closer though, and saw that the speck was behind the pixel layer - if you look really closely, the pixel layer looks like it's floating above the speck, and when I move my head from side to side, it moves in relation to the pixels on the screen. It is also visible when the screen is turned off. I rubbed the screen a bit and the speck broke up into smaller bits and now I've got several specks instead of one. This sucks! :sigh: :mad: To make matters worse, this laptop is lent to me by my client, who won it in a Microsoft contest[^], and the machine is apparently still registered to Microsoft, so I can't get support on it unless the support contract is transferred. Darn, darn, darn! :(( So... I have some questions for CPians:
- Have you ever had this happen to you before?
- How did this dust get in there? :confused: I've been very, very careful to keep it clean (especially since it's on loan to me), and the display assembly seems pretty tight.
- Any ideas on how to fix this without opening the display assembly up and voiding the support contract? I figure the dust is probably sticking there with static cling, but I haven't reliably been able to move the dust around using static electricity after the first attempt - although I don't think I was able to generate very much - and it seems like it could be a rather futile thing to try.
:sigh:
--Justin Microsoft MVP, C#
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Today while I was using my laptop computer, I noticed a dark speck on my screen. At first I thought it was dust, but it wouldn't rub off. Then I thought, "Oh no - it's a dead pixel!" I looked closer though, and saw that the speck was behind the pixel layer - if you look really closely, the pixel layer looks like it's floating above the speck, and when I move my head from side to side, it moves in relation to the pixels on the screen. It is also visible when the screen is turned off. I rubbed the screen a bit and the speck broke up into smaller bits and now I've got several specks instead of one. This sucks! :sigh: :mad: To make matters worse, this laptop is lent to me by my client, who won it in a Microsoft contest[^], and the machine is apparently still registered to Microsoft, so I can't get support on it unless the support contract is transferred. Darn, darn, darn! :(( So... I have some questions for CPians:
- Have you ever had this happen to you before?
- How did this dust get in there? :confused: I've been very, very careful to keep it clean (especially since it's on loan to me), and the display assembly seems pretty tight.
- Any ideas on how to fix this without opening the display assembly up and voiding the support contract? I figure the dust is probably sticking there with static cling, but I haven't reliably been able to move the dust around using static electricity after the first attempt - although I don't think I was able to generate very much - and it seems like it could be a rather futile thing to try.
:sigh:
--Justin Microsoft MVP, C#
Looks like it may have been a tiny air bubble, that you broke into multiple tinier air bubbles.
Regards, Nish
Nish’s thoughts on MFC, C++/CLI and .NET (my blog)
C++/CLI in Action (*E-Book is out, Print version April 6th*) -
Today while I was using my laptop computer, I noticed a dark speck on my screen. At first I thought it was dust, but it wouldn't rub off. Then I thought, "Oh no - it's a dead pixel!" I looked closer though, and saw that the speck was behind the pixel layer - if you look really closely, the pixel layer looks like it's floating above the speck, and when I move my head from side to side, it moves in relation to the pixels on the screen. It is also visible when the screen is turned off. I rubbed the screen a bit and the speck broke up into smaller bits and now I've got several specks instead of one. This sucks! :sigh: :mad: To make matters worse, this laptop is lent to me by my client, who won it in a Microsoft contest[^], and the machine is apparently still registered to Microsoft, so I can't get support on it unless the support contract is transferred. Darn, darn, darn! :(( So... I have some questions for CPians:
- Have you ever had this happen to you before?
- How did this dust get in there? :confused: I've been very, very careful to keep it clean (especially since it's on loan to me), and the display assembly seems pretty tight.
- Any ideas on how to fix this without opening the display assembly up and voiding the support contract? I figure the dust is probably sticking there with static cling, but I haven't reliably been able to move the dust around using static electricity after the first attempt - although I don't think I was able to generate very much - and it seems like it could be a rather futile thing to try.
:sigh:
--Justin Microsoft MVP, C#
J. Dunlap wrote:
Have you ever had this happen to you before?
Yes, on about 20 or so monitors.
J. Dunlap wrote:
How did this dust get in there? I've been very, very careful to keep it clean (especially since it's on loan to me), and the display assembly seems pretty tight.
It probably got there during assembly of the lcd. No clean room is 100%, completely and totally dustproof. As long as you have things that have been touched by humans or humans going into a room, skin flakes, hair flakes, or (as evidenced by the last time I was near young kids) corn flakes will get into it.
J. Dunlap wrote:
Any ideas on how to fix this without opening the display assembly up and voiding the support contract?
If you can rub the screen in firm, yet non-screen shattering circles with a clean, soft cloth, you can eventually work the dust over to the edges or the corners where no one will care about or see the dust again. If that doesn't work, have your client get with Microsoft and do a change of ownership at http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/change_order/en/tag_transfer[^] You definitely need to be able to say who bought the system, where it was delivered and what not before they'll allow you to do a transfer. After a few days or so, Dell will know your client owns the system and you can have the lcd replaced under the dead pixel policy. Although if memory serves me, the dead pixel policy is still 6 dead pixels or a clump of three near the center.