Monday, July 2, 2007

How to fix a stuck pixel on LCD Monitor

WikiHow has a how-to guide to just about everything. This guide I found particularly interesting. I don't currently have a stuck pixel, but if I ever get one I'll know exactly where to go to find out what to do. The first method they list to fix a stuck pixel is called the Pressure Method. My luck using this method is that I'd break more pixels trying to fix the first one:
  1. Turn off your computer's monitor.
  2. Get yourself a damp washcloth, so that you don't scratch your screen.
  3. Take a household pen, pencil, screwdriver, or some other sort of instrument with a focused, but relatively dull, point. A very good tool would be a stylus.
  4. Fold the washcloth to make sure you don't accidentally puncture it and scratch the screen.
  5. Apply pressure through the folded washcloth with the instrument to exactly where the stuck pixel is. Try not to put pressure anywhere else, as this may make more stuck pixels.
  6. While applying pressure, turn on your computer and screen.
  7. Remove pressure and the stuck pixel should be gone. This works as the liquid in the liquid crystal has not spread into each little pixel. This liquid is used with the backlight on your monitor, allowing different amounts of light through, which creates the different colors.
The second method is the Tapping Method. This seems a bit safer than Pressure method, but still is risky in that you could cause more pixels to break.
  1. Turn on the computer and LCD screen.
  2. Display a black image, which will show the stuck pixel very clearly against the background. (It is very important that you are showing a black image and not just a blank signal, as you need the backlighting of the LCD to be illuminating the back of the panel).
  3. Find a pen with a rounded end. A Sharpie marker should be fine for this.
  4. Use the rounded end of the pen to gently tap where the stuck pixel is - not too hard to start with, just enough to see a quick white glow under the point of contact. If you didn't see a white glow, then you didn't tap hard enough, so use just slightly more pressure this time.
  5. Start tapping gently. Increase the pressure on the taps gradually for 5-10 taps until the pixel rights itself.
  6. Display a white image (an empty text document is good for this) to verify that you haven't accidentally caused more damage than you fixed.
And finally there's the software method which should probably be your first choice and if that fails try the other 2 methods.

1. Try running pixel fixing software (see external links). Stuck pixels can often be re-energised by rapidly turning them on and off.

A note of caution: These instructions will fix "stuck" pixels, not "dead" ones. Dead pixels appear black while stuck pixels can be one constant color like red, blue or green.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The pressure and tapping definitely work. I tested both. The software did not help.