Sometimes the pixels on an LCD can become stuck, displaying only some colors or appearing completely dead. These black or oddly colored spots are a pain in the neck but they’re not always permanent. At some point last summer the Mac laptop I was working on got a stuck pixel and after scouring the internet for information on how to fix such things I came across instructions for fixing stuck pixels on the PSP that involved playing a particular video file, containing RGB pulses, and massaging the screen around the stuck pixel. The PSP technique worked fantastically and in a few moments my screen was free of stuck pixels. I have a similar problem on the machine I’m using right now but this machine has no means of playing .mp4 files (which the PSP pixel fixing video is) and rather than trying to figure out how to make it play .mp4 files, I thought I’d ImageMagick myself up a quick solution. To that end, I created three animated gifs that pulse at different frequencies (rgb3.gif, rgb5.gif and rgb7.gif), which serve the same purpose as the video and are substantially smaller in size (1.2KB vs 1.5MB). The great thing about these is they’re essentially platform independant and require no video codecs at all. To fix your dead pixels, just fire up a graphical web browser, point yourself at one of the images, move the browser window so that the image is under your dead pixel, massage the screen a little and with luck the pixel may start working again. If you don’t have any luck try one of the other frequencies and if that doesn’t work, I’m sorry.
UPDATE: If you’re here, you might be interested in Unsticking Stuck LCD Pixels: A Script
Well… did it work for you?
I have a pixel stuck on red, and unfortunately, your animated gif didn’t help it. It was, however, good for raving to.
Sadly no, maybe one needs a specific frequncy.
When you say “massage”, do you mean to literally rub your thumb on the dead pixel?
You are a legend! The first time i turned on my new notebook i discovered a pixel permanantly white! I had a headache from abusing people at Acer Support Line so i tried your little program. About ten seconds of strobing funky colours and circular masaging later and… hey presto… one fully functioning pixel. Thanks
Michael: Yes, but preferably with a tissue or cloth between you and the screen; I recommend a circular motion.
Simon: I’m glad that I could help; you’re welcome.
my brand new acer 20.1″ inch TFT seems to have 2 very strange pixels, one small red one and a bigger brighter purple.
I’ve run some mp4 video with the same stuff as the gif image and it’s managed to fix the red one after just a few minutes but the purple one is still beeing worked on.
it’s strange how its not vissible when there is white imagery.
update:
i ran the gif image, the fastest one just over the defective pixel all night and it still hasn’t fixed the pixel, so im going to talk to the store i bought it from and see if they can send a new one, if not I’ll return it on my 14 days distans buying law that applied when buying over the internet and phone.
Yeah, I’ve encountered mixed success as well. I’m inclined to believe that there is more than one way that a pixel can break and that the color cycling trick only works for certain types of broken pixels.
Good luck and I hope everything works out for you in the end.
My Ilyama 17″ LCD came with one pixel stuck on white, and the second image and some massaging fixed it. Now it’s came back (a couple of days later) stuck on green, and the first image fixed it, I’ll have to see if it works permanently this time.
son of a bitch it does not work it is a waste of time
Wow! It worked immediately for me. I’ve had that dead pixel for a couple years. I ran the first GIF (3) and very lightly touched the pixel/screen and it came back instantly. Hopefully it will stay that way.
I just got a new LCD and it had one pixel stuck on white. Your gifs fixed it. It would go away for a bit while I was massaging, then reappear, but on the third gif it went away for good (so far). Thanks!
I just got a thinkpad x61 with one stuck pixel. I played rgb3.gif inside mozilla for a minute while massaging the stuck pixel. fixed!
thanks for making these gif’s available!
scott
THANKS!!! I just ordered a new monitor and thought I had a dead pixel! But it was revived with your method of massaging the monitor while watching the video and chanting.
Worked great in a few seconds for a sticky blue pixel! thx!
Thanks so much. The first gif and some fairly heavy massageing fixed my bright blue pixel.
My Stuck pixels weird, you cant see it with the blue background or the red one, it only shows against a green background.
Shakey: That is not weird; it is often the case that only one of red, green or blue is dead. In your case, only the green pixel is dead. My gifs are about as likely to help you as any other case so I wish you the best of luck.
i just touched the pixel and it disapiaed
DAng! I got home with my new monitor from christmas, and i find a pixel stuck on green!! i was so pissed, but your thing worked!! Thank you so much!
Thank you!!! I just got a brand new LG 25.5″ W2600H and it had a pixel stuck green right in the middle of the screen. I tried both 3 and 5 with some strong pressure and rubbing and I took my finger away and pop, it disappeared. You are a saint! Since newegg only takes it back if it has 8 dead pixels I woulda been screwed.
Thanks alot mate!, bought a new Hanns G 22″ Monitor, had a stuck red pixel… used the first gif with some firm massaging and it disappeared! =D great stuff… legend haha
Holy Shit!!! It did work! I had my doubts at first but when I rubbed the screen presto GONE! Thanks Gwax.
I had a blue stuck pixel, but this strobing images and a small bit of massaging unstuck it in only about 10 seconds! Thanks!
I’ve tried many of these but I just can’t do the massage as I have a 2009 iMac which has a glass panel in front of the screen so I can’t touch the pixels. What can I do?
Apple have an up to 8 defective pixels for me to get it replaced and I only have 1 pixel stuck bright blue a few inches from the bottom of the screen.
Yeah… ditto peter. 2009 imac, stuck red pixel on the right. damn apple.
Koolbeans, it worked! I have a new Acer 8930 laptop with an annoying red pixel
hi gwax, if it’s not much trouble, can u upload a 640x360 version of the images? if i view it on my fone it displays right smack in the center and if i stretch the image, it no longer changes the colors rapidly.. =(
adrielt: Unsticking Stuck LCD Pixels (Redux)
You genius. I purchased a brand new Dell Inspiron 1764 last week, fired it up today and bam — pixel dead centre stuck on green. Rubbed the screen very gently with my thumb and it flickered and went away. It would never have even crossed my mind to do this. Cheers!